Bhakti and Embodiment

by Barbara A Holdrege

  Such strategies, including a variety of other modes of assimilation, have been utilized not only by exponents of the brahmanical hierarchy but also by nonbrahmanical Hindu groups to invest their sacred texts with the transcendent authority of the Veda.17 The domain of Veda is thereby expanded beyond the brahmanical Sanskritic canon of śruti and smṛti texts to include texts derived from nonbrahmanical origins, including a variety of vernacular texts that are authoritative for particular bhakti communities. For example, the Tiruvāymoḻi of Nammāḻvār (c ninth century CE)—the collection of Tamil hymns composed by one of the most acclaimed of the South Indian Āḻvārs—is said to represent the four Vedic Saṃhitās and is designated as the “Dravidian Veda” or “Tamil Veda.”18 The Rāmcaritmānas of the poet Tulsīdās (c sixteenth century CE), a Hindi version of the Rāmāyaṇa popular throughout North India, has been ascribed a similar status as the “fifth Veda” or “Hindi Veda.”19 Even scriptures derived from non-Hindu traditions have at times been identified with the Veda. For example, in South India certain Tamil Christians deem the Bible to be the “true Veda,”20 while Tamil Muslims invest the Qur’ān with an equivalent status.21 While some groups have thus sought to legitimate their texts through assimilating them to the Veda, certain bhakti traditions and tantric movements have responded to the Veda by rejecting or subverting its authority.22 Whether the Veda is revered or rejected, appropriated or subverted, it remains a symbol invested with authoritative power that must be contended with by all those who wish to position themselves in relation to the brahmanical hierarchy.

  From Purāṇa-Veda to Kārṣṇa-Veda: Purāṇic Constructions of Canonical Authority

  The Bhāgavata Purāṇa, in claiming for itself the preeminent status of the culminating śāstra of the brahmanical canon, builds upon and extends many of the arguments that are used by other Purāṇas to establish their canonical authority. In order to highlight the distinctive nature of the Bhāgavata Purāṇa’s claims, I will provide a comparative analysis of the Bhāgavata’s arguments and the arguments advanced by other Purāṇas concerning the transcendent authority of the Veda and the Vedic status of the Purāṇas generally. I will then focus more specifically on the strategies deployed by the Bhāgavata Purāṇa and the Bhāgavata Māhātmya of the Padma Purāṇa to establish the unique status of the Śrīmad Bhāgavata within the śruti and smṛti canon.

  Transcendent Authority of the Veda

  The Purāṇas, although technically classified as smṛti texts, are nevertheless concerned with appropriating the status of śruti, the Veda, and more specifically of the core śruti texts at the center of the brahmanical canon: the Vedic mantras contained in the Saṃhitās. The Purāṇas, like other brahmanical texts, utilize a variety of strategies to assimilate themselves to the Veda. These vedacizing strategies have their starting-point in a series of sustained reflections on the transcendent authority of the Veda that are found in most of the major Purāṇas, often in the form of standardized descriptions and formulaic statements that are shared by many of the Purāṇic texts. Four types of formulations are of particular importance in that they serve to ground the Purāṇas’ own claims to Vedic status. These formulations are concerned with establishing the relationship of Veda to Brahman and to the three principal agents in the process of Vedic transmission: the creator Brahmā, the Vedic ṛṣis, and the sage Veda-Vyāsa.

  Veda and Brahman

  In the Purāṇas Brahman is represented as assuming a personalized form as the supreme Godhead who, in accordance with the sectarian emphasis of the particular Purāṇa, is celebrated as the object of devotion—whether Viṣṇu, Kṛṣṇa, Śiva, or Devī (the Goddess). The Purāṇas emphasize that the nature of the supreme Godhead, as Brahman, is knowledge, and the Veda constitutes both the inner essence and the outer form of this reality.

  The Viṣṇu Purāṇa, for example, celebrates Viṣṇu as Brahman, whose essential nature is knowledge (jñāna-svarūpa),23 who is knowledge incarnate (jñāna-mūrti),24 and who is one with the Vedas,25 his form being composed of the Vedic mantras.

  He is composed of the ṛcs, of the sāmans, of the yajuses, and he is the Self (Ātman). He whose Self is the essence of the ṛcs, yajuses, and sāmans, he is the Self of embodied beings. Consisting of the Veda (veda-maya), he is divided; he forms the Veda with its branches (śākhās) into many divisions. Creator of the śākhās, he is the śākhās in their totality, the infinite Lord, whose very nature is knowledge (jñāna-svarūpa).26

  Another passage in the Viṣṇu Purāṇa describes the Vedic mantras and their supplements, the Vedāṅgas and Upavedas, together with the Itihāsas, Dharma-Śāstras, and other sacred texts, as the body (vapus) of Viṣṇu in the form of śabda, sound (śabda-mūrti).27 The Veda as such is Śabdabrahman, Brahman embodied in sound.

  In the Bhāgavata Purāṇa it is Kṛṣṇa—variously designated as Viṣṇu, Nārāyaṇa, Vāsudeva, and Hari—who is identified with Brahman and celebrated as the supreme Lord, Bhagavān, whose Self is the threefold Veda (trayī-vidyātman)28 and whose very substance is Veda (sarva-veda-maya).29 The Bhāgavata emphasizes that the Veda constitutes both his inner nature and his outer form. The body (tanu or mūrti) of Kṛṣṇa is identified with the Veda as Śabdabrahman30 and is said to be composed of the Vedic mantras.31 He is celebrated more specifically as the embodiment of Veda when he assumes the form of a boar, Varāha, whose body (tanu, rūpa, or vapus) is constituted by the Vedic mantras and the elements of the sacrificial ritual, so that he can rescue the earth from the cosmic waters in which it is submerged.32

  Viṣṇu-Nārāyaṇa is extolled as the embodiment of knowledge whose form is constituted by the Vedas not only in Vaiṣṇava Purāṇas such as the Viṣṇu Purāṇa and Bhāgavata Purāṇa, but also in nonsectarian Purāṇas such as the Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa and in cross-sectarian Purāṇas such as the Matsya and Kūrma Purāṇas that contain both Vaiṣṇava and Śaiva material.33 For example, the Matsya Purāṇa, in its account of creation, eulogizes Viṣṇu-Nārāyaṇa, who is identified with Brahman, as the secret essence of the Vedas (vedānām rahasya) whose very substance is Veda (veda-maya).34

  In Śaiva Purāṇas such as the Śiva Purāṇa, it is Śiva who is extolled as the supreme Brahman whose Self is knowledge (jñānātman) and who is composed of the three Vedas (trayī-maya).35 Moreover, Śiva in his manifest form is described as Śabdabrahman, his body (tanu or rūpa) constituted by the forty-eight varṇas or akṣaras (phones) of Sanskrit and the Vedic mantras.36

  Veda and Brahmā

  Brahmā, the creator principle or demiurge, is described in the Purāṇas as the manifest form that Brahman—whether identified with Viṣṇu, Kṛṣṇa, Śiva, or Devī—assumes for the purpose of fashioning the forms of creation. The creator Brahmā, as a manifest expression of the nature of Brahman, is extolled as the embodiment of knowledge and Veda incarnate.

  The Viṣṇu Purāṇa describes Brahmā as “Hiraṇyagarbha, that form of Brahman which consists of Lord Viṣṇu and which is composed of the Ṛg-, Yajur-, and Sāma-Vedas.”37 The Kūrma Purāṇa declares the ṛcs, yajuses, sāmans, and atharvans to be the inherent form (sahaja rūpa) of Brahmā,38 and he in turn is said to be the embodiment of the Vedic mantras (chando-mūrti)39 as well as their repository (veda-nidhi).40

  In the Bhāgavata Purāṇa the creator Brahmā is at times identified with Śabdabrahman,41 and in this capacity he is celebrated as Veda incarnate, who is composed of Veda (veda-maya)42 and the abode of Veda (veda-garbha).43 The various parts of Brahmā’s body (deha), as Śabdabrahman, are described as constituted by the Sanskrit varṇas and the Vedic mantras and meters.44

  While on one level the creator Brahmā is depicted as Veda incarnate whose body is composed of the Vedic mantras, on another level he is said to be the source of the Vedic mantras. It is in this latter capacity that Brahmā assumes his role as the first agent in the process of Vedic transmission. The Vedic mantras are often depicted in Purāṇic cosmogonies as emerging
from Brahmā at the beginning of creation as the expressions of his speech. A number of the Purāṇas contain a standardized description of the four types of Vedic mantras—ṛcs, yajuses, sāmans, and atharvans—issuing forth from the four mouths of Brahmā—eastern, southern, western, and northern, respectively—along with certain Vedic stomas (lauds), sāmans, meters, and sacrificial rituals.

  From his eastern mouth he [Brahmā] manifested the gāyatrī meter, the ṛcs, the trivṛt stoma, the rathantara sāman, and the agniṣṭoma sacrifice. From his southern mouth he brought forth the yajuses, the triṣṭubh meter, the pañcadaśa stoma, the bṛhat sāman, and the uktha portion of the Sāma-Veda. From his western mouth he brought forth the sāmans, the jagatī meter, the saptadaśa stoma, the vairūpa sāman, and the atirātra sacrifice. From his northern mouth he brought forth the ekaviṃśa stoma, the atharvan, the aptoryāman sacrifice, the anuṣṭubh meter, and the vairāja sāman.45

  The Bhāgavata Purāṇa provides a variant of the standard account that explicitly links the emergence of the Vedic mantras from Brahmā’s mouths to the cosmogonic process through which he brings forth the forms of creation.

  While he was contemplating, “How shall I bring forth the aggregate worlds as before?” the Vedas issued from the four mouths of the creator.… From his eastern and other mouths he brought forth in succession the Vedas known as Ṛg, Yajur, Sāma, and Atharva.…46

  There is creative power in the primordial impulses of speech that issue forth from the mouths of Brahmā as the Vedic mantras. When the demiurge wishes to call the forms of creation into being, he simply recites the Vedic mantras, which are represented as the eternal, archetypal plan through which manifold worlds and beings are projected into concrete manifestation. Purāṇic cosmogonies regularly incorporate a standardized description of Brahmā structuring the names, forms, and functions of all beings from the Vedic words.

  In the beginning he [Brahmā] formed, from the words (śabdas) of the Vedas alone, the names (nāmans), forms (rūpas), and functions (kṛtyas) of the gods and other beings. He also formed the names and appropriate offices of all the ṛṣis as heard (śruta) in the Vedas.47

  Vedic Ṛṣis

  The Vedic ṛṣis, who “see” (root dṛś) and preserve the primordial impulses of speech that issue forth from the mouth of Brahmā, are the second link in the process of transmission of the Vedic mantras. Purāṇic representations of the Vedic ṛṣis are embedded in cosmogonic speculations concerning the various cycles of creation that, as discussed in Chapter 1, distinguish between sargas, primary creations, which occur at the beginning of each new lifetime of Brahmā, and pratisargas, secondary creations, which occur at the beginning of each new day in the life of Brahmā, or kalpa. In this context the ṛṣis’ cognitions of the Vedic mantras are depicted not as a unique, one-time event but rather as an eternally recurring process that takes place at the beginning of each new kalpa as well as at the beginning of each of the thousand mahā-yugas (cycles of four yugas, or ages) that make up a kalpa.48

  The ṛṣis are represented in the Purāṇas as semidivine beings of extraordinary knowledge and power who know the past, present, and future and who remain unaffected by the minor pralaya, or dissolution, that occurs at the end of each kalpa when Brahmā sleeps for a night. When the three lower worlds and all lower beings are absorbed within the body of Brahmā during the pralaya, the Vedas become unmanifest and the ṛṣis retire along with the gods to the higher worlds.49 When the next kalpa begins the ṛṣis reappear and assist Brahmā in bringing forth various types of beings and also in reintroducing the Vedas onto earth. At the end of each of the thousand mahā-yugas that make up a kalpa the Vedas once again disappear from the earth, and at the beginning of each new mahā-yuga the ṛṣis assume their cyclical role of reintroducing the Vedas.

  At the end of the four yugas the disappearance of the Vedas occurs. The seven ṛṣis, having come down to the earth from the heavens, again introduce them.50

  The special cosmic dharma of the Vedic ṛṣis, according to the Purāṇas, is thus to reintroduce the Vedic mantras at the beginning of the various cycles of creation. The Bhāgavata Purāṇa provides an account of the role of the ṛṣis in establishing the Vedic recitative tradition through which the mantras are preserved and transmitted generation after generation. In this account the creator Brahmā, as the “first seer” (ādi-kavi),51 brings forth the Vedic mantras from his four mouths in the beginning of each kalpa and then transmits them to his mind-born sons, the brahmarṣis (brahmin seers). The brahmarṣis preserve the Vedic mantras through recitation and subsequently teach the mantras to their own sons, thereby inaugurating the tradition of recitative transmission through which the Vedas are passed down to each succeeding generation.52

  Veda-Vyāsa

  The Purāṇas emphasize that the primordial Veda that issues forth from Brahmā’s mouths at the beginning of each kalpa is a single unitary totality, which, according to Purāṇic calculations, comprises 100,000 (one lakh) verses. The primordial Veda consists of four quarters (catuṣ-pāda), which remain as one whole as long as human understanding is capable of grasping knowledge in its totality. However, as the mahā-yuga, or cycle of four yugas, progresses—from Satya or Kṛta Yuga to Tretā Yuga to Dvāpara Yuga to Kali Yuga—the strength, understanding, and morality of human beings progressively decline and their knowledge of the Veda gradually diminishes. For this reason, in each Dvāpara Yuga it becomes necessary to divide the Veda into four distinct parts in order to facilitate its preservation and understanding as well as to promote the performance of the Vedic yajñas.

  The Purāṇas ascribe the task of dividing the Veda to Veda-Vyāsa, who thus assumes the role of the third principal agent in the process of transmission of the Vedic mantras. In the Purāṇas Veda-Vyāsa is not the name of a specific individual but rather the designation for a particular position—“divider of the Veda” (Veda-Vyāsa)—that is filled by different ṛṣis in successive Dvāpara Yugas. Kṛṣṇa Dvaipāyana is the ṛṣi who fulfilled the function of Veda-Vyāsa in the most recent Dvāpara Yuga. As the twenty-eighth in the sequence of Vyāsas in the current manvantara, Kṛṣṇa Dvaipāyana Vyāsa is acclaimed in the Purāṇas as the supreme ṛṣi among ṛṣis, who is himself a partial manifestation of Viṣṇu and who is the author of the great epic, the Mahābhārata.53 He is also credited with compiling the eighteen principal Purāṇas. Vyāsa’s dual role as divider of the Veda and compiler of the Purāṇas is of central concern to the Purāṇas in their claims to Vedic status, as I will discuss in a later section.

  The Bhāgavata Purāṇa celebrates Kṛṣṇa Dvaipāyana Vyāsa as a partial manifestation (kalā, literally, “fraction of a portion”) of the supreme Godhead, Kṛṣṇa.54 Like the ancient ṛṣis who cognized the Vedic mantras, this greatest of all ṛṣis is said to be endowed with the faculty of divine sight (divya cakṣus) and unerring vision (amogha-dṛś) through which he knows the past, present, and future.55 As we shall see, the Bhāgavata Purāṇa is especially concerned with Kṛṣṇa Dvaipāyana Vyāsa’s role in cognizing and recording the Bhāgavata itself as the Kārṣṇa-Veda that is the culmination of the entire śruti and smṛti canon.

  The Bhāgavata Purāṇa and other Purāṇas generally concur in their accounts of the process through which Vyāsa divides and disseminates the Veda, with the Viṣṇu Purāṇa providing the most extensive account.56 In order to make the Veda more comprehensible, Vyāsa separates out the four types of mantras—ṛcs, yajuses, sāmans, and atharvans—and arranges them in sections (vargas), forming four Saṃhitās, or collections, of mantras.57 In this conception the distinction between the terms mantra and Saṃhitā is vital, for although the four kinds of mantras emerge in the very beginning of each kalpa, the formal collections—Ṛg-Veda Saṃhitā, Yajur-Veda Saṃhitā, Sāma-Veda Saṃhitā, and Atharva-Veda Saṃhitā—only come into existence in the third of the four yugas through the agency of Vyāsa.

  Having separated out the ṛcs, t
he sage compiled the Ṛg-Veda; having separated out the yajuses, he compiled the Yajur-Veda; and with the sāmans he compiled the Sāma-Veda. With the atharvans the master formed all the ceremonies suitable for kings and the function appropriate for the brahman priest.58

  The Purāṇas go on to describe how Vyāsa transmitted each of the four Saṃhitās—Ṛg, Yajur, Sāma, and Atharva—to his four main disciples, respectively. His disciples subsequently divided their respective Vedas into branches, śākhās, and passed them down to their own disciples, who subdivided them even further, and so on.59 In this way the one vast tree of the Veda, having been divided by Vyāsa into four stems, developed into an extensive forest consisting of countless branches.60 After giving a detailed description of the process through which the Veda is divided into four parts and subsequently into innumerable śākhās, the Viṣṇu Purāṇa asserts that this process does not affect the eternal status of the Veda: