33. See Bhāgavata Purāṇa 10.5.26; 10.7.33; 10.11.21, which are the only verses that explicitly refer to Bṛhadvana by name.
34. Bhāgavata Purāṇa 10.6.2–44.
35. Bhāgavata Purāṇa 10.7.4–17.
36. Bhāgavata Purāṇa 10.8.32–45.
37. Bhāgavata Purāṇa 10.8.27–31.
38. Bhāgavata Purāṇa 10.9.1–10.11.6. For an illuminating study of representations of Kṛṣṇa as the butter thief in literature, the visual arts, and dramatic performances, see Hawley 1983.
39. Bhāgavata Purāṇa 10.11.21–36.
40. Bhāgavata Purāṇa 10.11.28.
41. See, for example, Bhāgavata Purāṇa 10.11.36; 10.15.9; 10.15.47; 10.46.18.
42. See, for example, Bhāgavata Purāṇa 10.11.35.
43. Bhāgavata Purāṇa 10.18.2–3, quoted earlier, on p. 203.
44. Bhāgavata Purāṇa 10.18.4–8; cf. 10.15.1–4.
45. Bhāgavata Purāṇa 10.13.59–61.
46. Bhāgavata Purāṇa 10.15.1; cf. 10.30.24.
47. Bhāgavata Purāṇa 10.21.10.
48. Bhāgavata Purāṇa 10.15.1; 10.15.4.
49. Bhāgavata Purāṇa 10.21.18.
50. Bhāgavata Purāṇa 10.25.19–28; 10.43.27. This līlā episode will be discussed subsequently.
51. Bhāgavata Purāṇa 10.24.35–37.
52. Bhāgavata Purāṇa 10.15.47–10.17.19.
53. Bhāgavata Purāṇa 10.24–10.25.
54. A yojana is approximately eight miles.
55. Bhāgavata Purāṇa 10.12.13–39.
56. Bhāgavata Purāṇa 10.36.1–15.
57. Bhāgavata Purāṇa 10.37.1–8.
58. Bhāgavata Purāṇa 10.29–10.33. The gopī-maṇḍala and rāsa-maṇḍala are mentioned in 10.33.3; 10.33.6. For a recent translation and study of the rāsa-pāñcādhyāyī, see Schweig 2005a.
59. Among verses that use the term dhāman to designate Kṛṣṇa’s transcendent abode, see, for example, Bhāgavata Purāṇa 1.3.45; 10.81.40; 10.85.59; 10.90.50; 11.6.27; 11.31.6.
60. See, for example, Bhāgavata Purāṇa 1.1.23; 2.9.9; 3.2.6; 10.28.11; 10.28.14; 10.28.16; 11.12.5; cf. 12.2.29–30.
61. See, for example, Bhāgavata Purāṇa 11.6.27; 9.4.60. See also 3.15.13–26; 3.15.37–41, which give an extended description of Vaikuṇṭha as the transcendent dhāman of Kṛṣṇa in his four-armed form as Viṣṇu. A parallel description of the transcendent loka of Bhagavān is given in 2.9.9–16, although it is not explicitly called Vaikuṇṭha in this passage.
62. See, for example, Bhāgavata Purāṇa 11.6.27; 2.9.9–10; 3.2.6; 3.15.13; 3.15.25–26; 10.28.14–15.
63. Bhāgavata Purāṇa 3.15.14; 2.9.11; cf. 7.1.34.
64. See pp. 264–266, where I quote Bhāgavata Purāṇa 10.28.11–17 and provide an analysis of Jīva Gosvāmin’s commentaries on this passage in Kṛṣṇa Sandarbha 116 and Digdarśanīṭīkā on Brahma Saṃhitā 5.5.
65. Bhāgavata Purāṇa 3.2.4–6.
66. See, for example, Bhāgavata Purāṇa 10.81.40; 10.85.59; 10.90.50.
67. See Bhāgavata Purāṇa 11.12.5–13.
68. A Māhātmya, when associated with a particular pilgrimage place, extols the greatness of the place and the fruits (phala) derived from visiting it.
69. For a discussion of the representations of Vraja found in the Skanda Purāṇa, Nārada Purāṇa, and Ādi Purāṇa, see Entwistle 1987: 240–241, 243–245.
70. See Entwistle 1987: 228–231.
71. For an overview of the contents of the Mathurā Māhātmya of the Varāha Purāṇa and its significance in relation to other works dealing with pilgrimage places in Vraja, see Entwistle 1987: 232–235. Regarding the multilayered composition of the extant Varāha Purāṇa, see Hazra 1975: 96–107; Rocher 1986: 241–242.
72. Entwistle 1987: 234–235.
73. Mathurā Māhātmya of the Varāha Purāṇa 150.8; 150.11.
74. Mathurā Māhātmya of the Varāha Purāṇa 158.19; cf. 154.6; 155.20; 155.22; 158.32–35; 158.51–52; 167.2–3.
75. Mathurā Māhātmya of the Varāha Purāṇa 167.1–3.
76. Mathurā Māhātmya of the Varāha Purāṇa 161.14–20.
77. See Mathurā Māhātmya of Rūpa Gosvāmin 154, 156–161, quoted on p. 240, which cites a variant of this passage and identifies the source as the Mathurā Khaṇḍa of the Skanda Purāṇa. I will discuss the Mathurā Māhātmya attributed to Rūpa Gosvāmin in a later section of this chapter.
78. See Grapard 1982 for a discussion of the “maṇḍalization” of geographic areas that occurred in Japanese constructions of sacred space as a result of the influence of Buddhist tantric practices.
79. See Mathurā Māhātmya of the Varāha Purāṇa 161.14–20, quoted earlier. See also 161.61–62.
80. Mathurā Māhātmya of the Varāha Purāṇa 161.21–61 recounts the story of how Rāma recovered the mūrti of Varāha, which was initially established by the sage Kapila, from the demon Rāvaṇa and gave it to his brother Śatrughna, who installed the mūrti in Mathurā. According to a local tradition cited by Entwistle (1987: 330), this original mūrti of Varāha is still located in Mathurā and is “one of a pair of dark (nīla) and white (śveta) images of Varaha that are housed in shrines owned by Chaubes at Manik Chauk, behind the temple of Dwarkadhish.”
81. See Mathurā Māhātmya of the Varāha Purāṇa 161.15, quoted earlier.
82. Mathurā Māhātmya of the Varāha Purāṇa 156.6–8; 156.30; 156.32; 158.2–3; 161.62–63; 167.39. For a brief overview of the history of the site that is now referred to as Kṛṣṇa Janmasthān, the birthplace of Kṛṣṇa, and the temples dedicated to Keśavadeva that have been built on that site, see Entwistle 1987: 125, 176–177, 181, 319–320.
83. See Entwistle 1987: 311.
84. The Mathurā Māhātmya of the Varāha Purāṇa discusses the twelve southern bathing tīrthas, along with Viśrānti-tīrtha, in 150.33–65 and the twelve northern bathing tīrthas in 151.1–4; 152.7–26. The half-moon configuration of the twenty-four tīrthas, with Viśrānti-tīrtha located in the center, is discussed in 167.4–19.
85. Mathurā Māhātmya of the Varāha Purāṇa 150.34–37; 165.27. See also 158.1–2; 161.19; 161.62–63; 167.18; 167.39; 174.56–57.
86. Mathurā Māhātmya of the Varāha Purāṇa 158.1–2. As Entwistle (1987: 460–466) has emphasized, the rest of chapter 158 of the Mathurā Māhātmya of the Varāha Purāṇa presents a version of the pilgrimage itinerary for the circumambulation of Mathurā that was most likely obsolete by the middle of the sixteenth century, as it is not included in the Mathurā Māhātmya attributed to Rūpa Gosvāmin.
87. Mathurā Māhātmya of the Varāha Purāṇa 151.32–49; 159.4–7. For discussions of the central significance of the twelve forests in constructions of Vraja, see Entwistle 1987: 299–302; Haberman 1994: 48–51.
88. Haberman 1994: 51.
89. Mathurā Māhātmya of the Varāha Purāṇa 154.6–22.
90. Mathurā Māhātmya of the Varāha Purāṇa 161.18; 161.62; 151.48–49; 155.29–30. The Varāha Purāṇa’s Māhātmya thus suggests that there was a mūrti of Govinda in Vṛndāvana prior to the mūrti that is held to have been discovered by Rūpa Gosvāmin in 1533 and installed in the Govindadeva temple. I will discuss the establishment of the Govindadeva temple in a later section of this chapter.
91. Mathurā Māhātmya of the Varāha Purāṇa 154.9–22.
92. Mathurā Māhātmya of the Varāha Purāṇa 162.1–10. Cf. Mathurā Māhātmya of Rūpa Gosvāmin 433–434, which in its discussion of Brahma-kuṇḍa at Govardhana cites a variant of Varāha Purāṇa 162.2–3 and identifies the source as the Ādivarāha Purāṇa.
93. Regarding the central place ascribed to the mūrti of Harideva in the pilgrimage itinerary of Mathurā-maṇḍala generally and the circumambulation of Mount Govardhana more specifically, see Mathurā Māhātmya of the Varāha Purāṇa 161.17; 161.62; 162.12; 162.15; 162.18; 162.37–38; 162.42. The mūrti of Harideva at Govardhana mentioned in the Var�
�ha Purāṇa’s Māhātmya predates the temple dedicated to Harideva that was established in the last quarter of the sixteenth century by Rājā Bhagavānadāsa of Amber (r. 1574–1589 CE), the father of Rājā Mān Siṅgh of Amber (r. 1589–1614 CE), whose role in building the Govindadeva temple will be discussed in a later section. For a brief discussion of the Harideva temple, see Entwistle 1987: 343–344.
94. Mathurā Māhātmya of the Varāha Purāṇa 162.11–42.
95. Mathurā Māhātmya of the Varāha Purāṇa 155.1–2; 155.21.
96. Mathurā Māhātmya of the Varāha Purāṇa 157.1–18.
97. Mathurā Māhātmya of the Varāha Purāṇa 157.12–13; 157.18.
98. The Southern recension is also at times referred to as the “Western” recension. Regarding the two recensions and the composite structure of the Padma Purāṇa, see Hazra 1975: 107–127; Rocher 1986: 206–214. Regarding the argument that the Southern recension was produced by the Śrīvaiṣṇavas, see Entwistle 1987: 237, with n. 44. For a discussion of the differences between the two versions of the Pātāla Khaṇḍa found in the Southern (Western) recension and the Bengali recension, see Rocher 1986: 209–210. Among the printed editions of the Southern (Western) recension of the Padma Purāṇa, the Vṛndāvana Māhātmya is found in chapters 69–83 of the Pātāla Khaṇḍa in both the Veṅkaṭeśvara Press (Veṅk) edition (1927; reprint 1984–1985) and the Ānandāśrama Sanskrit Series (ĀnSS) edition (1893–1894). All citations of the Vṛndāvana Māhātmya refer to the Veṅkaṭeśvara Press edition of the Padma Purāṇa, which I cite as “Vṛndāvana Māhātmya of the Padma Purāṇa (Veṅk).”
99. See, for example, Vṛndāvana Māhātmya of the Padma Purāṇa (Veṅk) Pātāla 69.84; 69.86.
100. Vṛndāvana Māhātmya of the Padma Purāṇa (Veṅk) Pātāla 69.14; 69.23.
101. As mentioned in an earlier note in Chapter 4, a yoga-pīṭha is the “seat of union” where the deity is stationed in the center of a maṇḍala. As we shall see, in the Vṛndāvana Māhātmya the yoga-pīṭha serves as a focal point for meditation on Kṛṣṇa in his abode in Vṛndāvana.
102. Vṛndāvana Māhātmya of the Padma Purāṇa (Veṅk) Pātāla 69.12–55.
103. Vṛndāvana Māhātmya of the Padma Purāṇa (Veṅk) Pātāla 69.80–83; 70.2–65.
104. Entwistle 1987: 237–238, 249. See also Haberman (1988: 128; cf. 89, with n. 105), who notes Niradprasād Nāth’s observation that chapter 83 of the Pātāla Khaṇḍa of the Padma Purāṇa, which forms part of the Vṛndāvana Māhātmya and provides a detailed description of Kṛṣṇa’s daily līlā with Rādhā, is not quoted by the Vṛndāvana Gosvāmins even though it closely agrees with their own reflections on the daily love-play between Kṛṣṇa and Rādhā. Nāth concludes that this chapter may have been added to the Padma Purāṇa after the time of the Gosvāmins.
105. Entwistle 1987: 237.
106. For example, Rūpa Gosvāmin and Jīva Gosvāmin both cite variants of verses found in Padma Purāṇa (Veṅk) Pātāla 73.18–27, which forms part of the Vṛndāvana Māhātmya. Rūpa cites a variant of Pātāla 73.18–19 in Laghubhāgavatāmṛta 1.5.399, where he attributes the verses to the Padma Purāṇa but does not specify the Khaṇḍa. Jīva cites a variant of Pātāla 73.18–19 in Kṛṣṇa Sandarbha 106 and a variant of Pātāla 73.18–20 in Kṛṣṇa Sandarbha 93, and in both cases he attributes the verses to the Nirmāṇa Khaṇḍa of the Padma Purāṇa. Rūpa cites a variant of Pātāla 73.23–26 in Laghubhāgavatāmṛta 1.5.400–401 and a variant of Pātāla 73.26–27 in Laghubhāgavatāmṛta 1.5.507, and in both cases he attributes the verses to the Padma Purāṇa but does not specify the Khaṇḍa. He cites a variant of Pātāla 73.26–27 in his Mathurā Māhātmya 127, where he attributes the verses to the Nirvāṇa Khaṇḍa of the Padma Purāṇa. Jīva cites a variant of Pātāla 73.22–25 in Kṛṣṇa Sandarbha 104 and a variant of Pātāla 73.26–27 in Kṛṣṇa Sandarbha 117, and in both cases he attributes the verses to the Nirmāṇa Khaṇḍa of the Padma Purāṇa.
107. For a discussion of the Bṛhadbrahma Saṃhitā, including a summary of the forty chapters contained in its four sections (pādas), see Smith 1975–1980: vol. 1, 297–315.
108. Entwistle 1987: 247. For a summary of the contents of this chapter, see Smith 1975–1980: vol. 1, 307–308.
109. Entwistle 1987: 247–248.
110. I will discuss the parallels between the two texts’ representations of the thousand-petaled lotus-maṇḍala on pp. 221–228.
111. Vṛndāvana Māhātmya of the Padma Purāṇa (Veṅk) Pātāla 69.12–14.
112. Vṛndāvana Māhātmya of the Padma Purāṇa (Veṅk) Pātāla 69.15–16. In the standard lists of the twelve forests from the fourteenth century CE onward, Śrīvana is generally called Bilvavana.
113. Vṛndāvana Māhātmya of the Padma Purāṇa (Veṅk) Pātāla 69.23–25; 69.70.
114. Vṛndāvana Māhātmya of the Padma Purāṇa (Veṅk) Pātāla 69.24–36.
115. Vṛndāvana Māhātmya of the Padma Purāṇa (Veṅk) Pātāla 69.37–55. Among the twelve forests that are enumerated in Pātāla 69.15–16, mentioned earlier, the only three forests that are not identified with particular petals are Vṛndāvana itself; Madhuvana, the forest in the immediate vicinity of Mathurā; and Khadīrakavana (Khadiravana).
116. Vṛndāvana Māhātmya of the Padma Purāṇa (Veṅk) Pātāla 69.57–59.
117. Vṛndāvana Māhātmya of the Padma Purāṇa (Veṅk) Pātāla 69.63–67.
118. Vṛndāvana Māhātmya of the Padma Purāṇa (Veṅk) Pātāla 69.6–11.
119. Vṛndāvana Māhātmya of the Padma Purāṇa (Veṅk) Pātāla 69.60; 69.66–69; 69.71. Cf. the parallel verses in Bṛhadbrahma Saṃhitā 3.2.7–8; 3.2.11–14, quoted on p. 226.
120. Vṛndāvana Māhātmya of the Padma Purāṇa (Veṅk) Pātāla 69.72.
121. Vṛndāvana Māhātmya of the Padma Purāṇa (Veṅk) Pātāla 69.70; 69.74–75; 69.78.
122. See, for example, Vṛndāvana Māhātmya of the Padma Purāṇa (Veṅk) Pātāla 69.6–7; 69.57–58; 69.71.
123. See, for example, Vṛndāvana Māhātmya of the Padma Purāṇa (Veṅk) Pātāla 75.13, quoted immediately below, and Pātāla 74.13; 74.49. See also Pātāla 82.69, in which Kṛṣṇa declares that his form (rūpa) cannot be seen (adṛśya) with the material eye (carma-cakṣus).
124. Vṛndāvana Māhātmya of the Padma Purāṇa (Veṅk) Pātāla 75.8–13.
125. Variants of this passage, Vṛndāvana Māhātmya of the Padma Purāṇa (Veṅk) Pātāla 75.8–13, are cited by Rūpa Gosvāmin in his Mathurā Māhātmya 385–388 and by Jīva Gosvāmin in Kṛṣṇa Sandarbha 106 and in his Digdarśanīṭīkā on Brahma Saṃhitā 5.43. Both Rūpa and Jīva identify the source of this passage as the Bṛhadgautamīya Tantra. I will discuss how the variants of this passage are employed in the works of Rūpa and Jīva on pp. 246, 248–249, 262.
126. Vṛndāvana Māhātmya of the Padma Purāṇa (Veṅk) Pātāla 69.80–83. Cf. the parallel verses in Bṛhadbrahma Saṃhitā 3.2.16–18; 3.2.20–21, quoted on p. 226.
127. Vṛndāvana Māhātmya of the Padma Purāṇa (Veṅk) Pātāla 69.83–116.
128. Vṛndāvana Māhātmya of the Padma Purāṇa (Veṅk) Pātāla 70.2–7.
129. Vṛndāvana Māhātmya of the Padma Purāṇa (Veṅk) Pātāla 70.2–4; 70.7.
130. Vṛndāvana Māhātmya of the Padma Purāṇa (Veṅk) Pātāla 70.8–10.
131. Vṛndāvana Māhātmya of the Padma Purāṇa (Veṅk) Pātāla 70.10–18.
132. Vṛndāvana Māhātmya of the Padma Purāṇa (Veṅk) Pātāla 70.18.
133. Vṛndāvana Māhātmya of the Padma Purāṇa (Veṅk) Pātāla 70.18–21. The four gopas are Śrīdāman (west), Vasudāman (north), Sudāman (east), and Kiṅkiṇī (south).
134. Vṛndāvana Māhātmya of the Padma Purāṇa (Veṅk) Pātāla 70.21–25.
135. Vṛndāvana Māhātmya of the Padma Purāṇa (Veṅk) Pātāla 70.25–47.
136. Vṛndāvana Māhātm
ya of the Padma Purāṇa (Veṅk) Pātāla 69.103.
137. Vṛndāvana Māhātmya of the Padma Purāṇa (Veṅk) Pātāla 70.59–64.
138. Bṛhadbrahma Saṃhitā 3.2.7–8; 3.2.11–14. Cf. the parallel verses in Vṛndāvana Māhātmya of the Padma Purāṇa (Veṅk) Pātāla 69.60; 69.66–69; 69.71, quoted earlier on p. 222.
139. Bṛhadbrahma Saṃhitā 3.2.16–18; 3.2.20–21. Cf. the parallel verses in Vṛndāvana Māhātmya of the Padma Purāṇa (Veṅk) Pātāla 69.80–83, quoted earlier on p. 224.
140. Bṛhadbrahma Saṃhitā 3.2.33–35. Cf. the parallel verses enumerating the eight gopīs in Vṛndāvana Māhātmya of the Padma Purāṇa (Veṅk) Pātāla 70.5–7. The two texts’ enumerations of the eight gopīs agree, with the exception of the name of the eighth gopī, whom the Bṛhadbrahma Saṃhitā identifies as Bhadrā and the Vṛndāvana Māhātmya identifies as Candrāvatī. The Bṛhadbrahma Saṃhitā refers to the eight gopīs as the eight śaktis, but, in contrast to the Vṛndāvana Māhātmya, it does not elaborate on their status as the eight prakṛtis.
141. Bṛhadbrahma Saṃhitā 3.2.36–38. Cf. the parallel verses enumerating the second group of eight gopīs in Vṛndāvana Māhātmya of the Padma Purāṇa (Veṅk) Pātāla 70.8–10. The two texts agree on the names of four of the eight gopīs in this second group.
142. Bṛhadbrahma Saṃhitā 3.2.38–46. Cf. Vṛndāvana Māhātmya of the Padma Purāṇa (Veṅk) Pātāla 70.10–18.
143. Bṛhadbrahma Saṃhitā 3.2.46. The same expression is used in Vṛndāvana Māhātmya of the Padma Purāṇa (Veṅk) Pātāla 70.18 to introduce the fourth ring in which the four gopas are stationed.
144. Bṛhadbrahma Saṃhitā 3.2.46–49. Cf. the parallel verses in Vṛndāvana Māhātmya of the Padma Purāṇa (Veṅk) Pātāla 70.18–21.
145. Bṛhadbrahma Saṃhitā 3.2.49–51. Cf. Vṛndāvana Māhātmya of the Padma Purāṇa (Veṅk) Pātāla 70.21–25, which includes a more extensive description of the myriads of gopas.
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