SANSKRIT
Critical essays
SRIMAD BHAGAVATA TATTVA BINDUH: Vindhyeshwari Prasad Mishra `Vinay'; New Bharati Book Corporation, Shop No. 18, II Floor, 5574A, Ch. Kashi Ram Market, Durga Complex, New Chandrawal, Delhi-110007. Rs. 800.
THIS BOOK is collection of 21 research papers which discuss textual and topical matters on the Bhagavata Purana. The content of the papers has rich variety beginning with the author's textual citations for the Pre-Bhasa origin of the Bhagavata considered to be post-Bhasa by western researchers and their followers, his textual evidence for the composition of the work on the western bank of the River Sarasvati in Vyasa's hermitage and his averment of the genuineness of Vyasa's composition of the work on the basis of the internal evidence, set against modern views of the origin of the work in or near the Tamil area, inspired by the emotional devotion of the Azhwars.
The author does not deal in detail with the arguments adduced by scholars about the period of the Azhwars for the Bhagavata and satifies himself with setting out an unnoticed piece of evidence from the text for further consideration.
After these questions on the composition of the Purana, its many facets of textual, philosophical, and theological orientation are discussed. Each paper has a short statement in verse on its contents. The total coverage of the essays focussing on the textual evidence is impressive. According to the author, the Bhagavata Purana is the fourth scriptural text synthesising the three accepted one — the Upanishads, Bhagavad Gita and the Brahmasutras.
The great scriptural distinction of the Purana is its marriage of Bhakti yoga, absorption in devotion to the theistic God identified with Brahman. It is a Purana, a Sastra (scripture) and a poem in one and these various aspects with their subtleties are discussed on in the papers.
With its thoughtful and original approaches to the study of the great scripture of the Bhagavata, this book will be welcomed by the world of Sanskrit scholarship and others interested in our religio-spiritual tradition.
J. PARTHASARATHI
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