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[Y-Indology] Dating the Bhagavatha Puranas

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Dear Krishnan,

 

1) The date of the BhP is generally placed at 9th-10th century, thought

there are certainly dissenting opinions. For a thorough review, see Ludo

Rocher's _Puranas_, pp138-151. Rocher gives an interesting chart of

scholarly datings that range from 1200-1000 BC (!) to 1200-1300 CE (!!).

The work of Friedhelm Hardy (_Virahabhakti_) is also useful in this

question. The Bhagavata is generally thought to have been composed in

Tamil Nadu, influenced by the devotional poetry of the Alvars.

 

2) There are some theories that the DBhP was the 'original' Bhagavata,

composed in 300-800 and then superceded by today's Bhagavata (Sanyal -

see C. Mackenzie Brown, _Triumph of the Goddess_, 220-222). However, the

more sensible accounts place the Devibhagavata in the 11th-12th

centuries (P.G. Lalye, Hazra, Brown), with later influences from the

Brahmavaivarta in the 15th-17th centuries (Brown, pp224-225). Hazra has

suggested the purana was composed by a Shakta Brahman from Bengal

working in Kashi.

 

Hope this is useful,

 

Adheesh Sathaye

Ph.D. Candidate

Dept. of South and Southeast Asian Studies

University of California, Berkeley

 

Harihara Krishnan wrote:

 

>Dear Listeners,

>

>I have two queries. Both relate to the dating of the various Puranas. It is

>commonly accepted that

>mArkandeYa, vishnu, BrahmAnda and vAyu are the earliest among the puranas

>with the first two

>dated around 3rd Cent CE and portions of the last two dated between 4th and

>5th Cent CE. I'd like

>to know,

>

>1) Where do the BhAgavatha Purana figure in the list? Given the logical

>ordering and sequencing

>of chapters in the text and the preponderance of references to Krishna as

>the Supreme God throughout

>the text, it seems to have a late origin. But how late..and I find there are

>several archaic verses akin

>to the language of the Vedas, in the 4th, 5th Skandhas that could imply an

>earlier origin?

>

>2) Where do the DevI BhAgavatha Purana fit in? Some puranas include the DB

>among the list of

>18 Puranas and exclude the BhAgvatha Purana. However there are several

>references to Radha worship

>and Goloka in the DB that definitely point to a late origin (akin to the

>Brahma Vaivartha and Bhavishya

>Puranas).

>

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