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That the Bhagavata doctrine is meant to facilitate the understanding of the sense of the Veda which by itself is difficult of comprehension, is declared in the Paramasamhita,'I have read the Vedas at length, together with all the various auxiliary branches of knowledge.
In the same way the Bhagavata Purana has a long, silly, and rather obscene narrative about the sacrifice offered by Pururavas, and the new kind of sacred fire. Before attempting to offer our own theory of the legend, we must examine the explanations presented by scholars. The philological method of dealing with myths is well known.
The Rasika Priya and the Bhagavata Purana, the texts so greatly favoured at Udaipur, were discarded and in their place Basohli artists produced a series of isolated scenes from Krishna's life the child Krishna stealing butter, Krishna the gallant robbing the cowgirls or exacting toll, Krishna extinguishing the forest-fire, Krishna the violent lover devouring Radha with hungry eyes.
The names of Vâsudeva and Sankarshaṇa occur in old inscriptions and the Greek Heliodoros calls himself a Bhâgavata on the column found at Besnagar and supposed to date from the first part of the second century B.C. The Pâncarâtra was not Brahmanic in origin and the form of the Sânkhya philosophy from which it borrowed was also un-Brahmanic.
One of the main theses of the Nârâyaṇîya is the identity of Nârâyaṇa and Vâsudeva, the former being a Brahmanic, the latter a non-Brahmanic name for the Deity. The celebrated Bhagavad-gîtâ which is still held in such respect that, like the New Testament or Koran, it is used in law courts for the administration of oaths, is an early scripture of the Bhâgavata sect.
Śat. Brâh. See also the strange legend Ib. XI. 1. 1 where Vishṇu is described as the best of the gods but is eaten by Indra. IV. and Census of India, 1901, vol. Compare too the worship of Gopi Nath and Zinda Kaliana in the Panjâb as described in Census of India, 1901, vol. The Bhâgavata Purâṇa, I. 3. 24 seems to make the Buddha incarnation future.
Between the years 1645 and 1660 there accordingly occurred a systematic production not only of pictures illustrating this great poetic text but of the various books in the Bhagavata Purana most closely connected with Krishna's career.
We have seen how on one occasion in the Bhagavata Purana, Krishna disappears taking with him a single girl, how they then make love together in a forest bower and how when the girl tires and begs Krishna to carry her, he abruptly leaves her. The girl's name is not mentioned but enough is said to suggest that she is Krishna's favourite. This hint is now developed.
During the next two hundred years, from the tenth to the twelfth century, the Krishna story completely alters. It is not that the facts as given in the Bhagavata Purana are disputed. It is rather that the emphasis and view-point are changed. Krishna the prince and his consort Rukmini are relegated to the background and Krishna the cowherd lover brought sharply to the fore.
On at least three occasions they had illustrated scenes from the Bhagavata Purana Nanda celebrating Krishna's birth, Krishna rescuing Nanda from the python which had started to devour his foot, and finally the game of blind man's bluff but their chief subject had been the tender enchantments of courtly love. Ladies were portrayed longing for their lovers.
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