Materials for the Study of the Early History of the Vaishnava Sect c8.58

c8.58

Dr. Macnicol, indeed, sees some hints in the *Brāhmaṇa* literature of the progress which Viṣṇu was making behind the screen of Brāhmaṇic ritual, to the position he has held so long as the Supreme God of those in India whose hearts are filled with Bhakti.¹ But these hints are extremely dubious. Dr. Keith rightly observes² "That the Brāhmaṇas treat Viṣṇu as identical with the sacrifice and ask him to make good its defects do not show that he was 'on his way to his place as the God of the worship of men's hearts,' or 'was recognised in his aspect of grace as a saviour.'" If the Vedic or Brāhmaṇic accounts of Viṣṇu-worship do not furnish any clue to the origin of Vaishṇavism as we know it, what is its source?