Materials for the Study of the Early History of the Vaishnava Sect c8.172

c8.172

This fact forbids the acceptance of the theory of Mr. A. Govindāchārya Svāmin that the Bhāgavata Śāstra was “not originated by Vāsudeva—the son of Vasudeva—i.e., Kṛiṣṇa,”² because forsooth, the word Vāsudeva also means “He who permeates all” and the Pādmatantra distinguishes between the two Vāsudevas. The name Sātvata Dharma applied to the Bhāgavata religion also shows that it originated in the Sātvata prince Vāsudeva. The association of Vāsudeva with Saṅkarṣaṇa in the Bhāgavata inscriptions of the first and second centuries B.C. also proves that Kṛiṣṇa, the brother of Saṅkarṣaṇa (Saṅkar-shanānuja),³ was the real Vāsudeva worshipped by the early Bhāgavatas.