[Advaita-l] Bhaagavata khandanam

[Raghav Kumar Dwivedula]

Also the oldest commentary on the srimad bhagavatam by sridhara svAmin is a
late 14th century work. Is this date for sridhara svAmin acceptable?

On Wed, 25 Dec, 2019, 1:02 PM Jaldhar H. Vyas via Advaita-l, <
advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:

> Another old post I didn't respond to at the time...
>
> On Thu, 18 Jul 2019, V Subrahmanian wrote:
>
> > This is not just one article refuting the idea that the Srimadbhagavatam
> is
> > not the 'real' Bhagavatam but the Devi Bhagavatam is the true Bhagavatam
> > composed by Veda Vyasa.
>
>
> Even when Aryasamajist filth give correct information it is for nefarious
> purposes.  That Dayananda cared not a whit for the Devi Bhagavata or
> Krishna Bhagavata.  He just wants to slander the authority of Puranas in
> favor of his fantasy version of Vedas.
>
> > There is a popular opinion that the former is a  much later work,
> > attributed to one 'Vopadeva.'
> >
>
> I wouldn't call it popular.  This was a spat between two factions of
> Pandits in 17th century Kashi only.  Several Sanskrit pamphlets and
> broadsides from the disputants survive and it is interesting to note that
> several of the authors in the pro-Krishnabhagavata camp are themselves
> Smartas not Vaishnavas.
>
> As you yourself have pointed out there is much Advaitic material in the
> (Krishna) Bhagavata itself.  And we also discussed in this list that the
> earliest commentators on that work are Advaitins.  Shridhara Swami who is
> considered the preeminent interpreter by no less than Chaitanya himself
> was Shankaracharya of Puri. He mentions Chitsukhacharya and Punyaranya as
> predecessors though their commentaries no longer survive.  Shankaracharya
> is said to have quoted from the Bhagavata in a couple of his prakaranas.
> Many North Indian Vaishnavas even believe he wrote a commentary.
>
> Vopadeva was a protege of Hemadri acharya author of the influential
> dharmashastra nibandha called chaturavarga chintamani (thoroughly Smarta
> and Advaitic in ethos) and the minister to the last two Rajas of Devagiri
> (modern Daulatabad Maharashtra) before that kingdom was destroyed by
> Muslim invaders in the 13th century.  The Devagiri royal family belonged
> to Yadava vamsha and considered themselves to be descendents of Krishna
> Bhagavan so it natural they would have comissioned works that honored
> their ancestor.  Vopadeva wrote Muktaphala which is a collection of
> subhashitas from the Bhagavata and Harililamrta which is a concise summary
> of the contents of that Purana. Hemadri acharya wrote tikas on both texts.
> There is a third work Paramahamsapriya which deals with difficult
> grammatical constructions in the Bhagavata.  This is the source of the
> theory that Vopadeva wrote the Bhagavata itself but obviously neither work
> could have been written unless the Bhagavata was already in existence.
>
> Vopadeva wrote on other shastras too and one grammatical work of his
> called Mugdabodha became very popular in Bengal especially because it was
> easier than Panini.  Probably as a result his other works became well
> known in that area as well.  We know that the origins of the Gaudiyas are
> in renagade branch of Dashanami sannyasis of Bengal.  It is possible that
> as an Advaitin with great love for Krishna, Vopadevas works may have
> inadvertantly fueled that break.  On the other hand we have Swami
> Madhusudana Saraswati who was also Bengali, a Krishnabhakta, and
> influenced by Vopadeva but remained firmly in the Advaita camp.
>
> --
> Jaldhar H. Vyas <jaldhar at braincells.com>
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