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IV - THE BHAGAVATA RELIGION AND THE GĪTĀ 767
bhārata, and necessarily also in the Gītā, had not been made as it ought to have been made, and as Vyāsa on that account felt sorry, since "Desireless Action (naiskarmya) by itself was useless without Devotion”, he, at the instance of Nārada, and in order to put an end to his mental anguish, wrote the Bhāgavata-Purāna, which maintained the worth of Devotion. If this story is considered from the historical point of view, it will be seen that when the doctrine of Desireless Action to which importance had been given in the original Bhāgavata religion of the Bhārata, lost its influence in course of time, and Devotion acquired importance instead, the Bhāgavata-Purāna came to be written in order to expound this second Bhāgavata religion (that is, in which Davotion was predominant) The Nārada-Pancarātra is also of the same kind; that is, it deals purely with Devotion, and contains a specific reference by name to the BhagavataPurana of 12 skindhas, the Brahma-Vaivarta-Purāna., the Visnu-Purāna, the Gitā, and the Mahābhārata (see Nā. Pañ %. ng 28-32; 3. 14. 73 and 4 3 154). It, therefore, follows that this work is less important than the Bhāgavata-Purāna for determining the original form of the Bhagavata religion. It is possible that the Nārada-Sūtras and the Sandilya-Sūtras are earlier in date than the Nārada-Pancarātra. Still, as the Nārada-Sūtras contain a reference to Vyāsa and to Suka (Nā. Sū. 83), there is no doubt that they are later in point of time than the Bhārata and the Bhagavata; and as the Sandilya-Sūtras contain stanzas taken from the Bhagavadgitā (San Sū. 9. 15 and 83), they must be later in point of time than the Gītā and the Mahābhārata, though earlier than the Nārada-Sūtras (Nā Sū. 83). Therefore, in order to determine the original and the ancient form of the Bhagavata religion, one has ultimately to rely on the Nārāyaniya Upākhyāna of the Mahābhārata. Both in the Bhāgavata-Purāna (1.3 24) and in the Nārada-Pañcarātra (4 3. 156-159; 4. 8. 81), Buddha has been referred to as an incarnation of Visnu. But the ten incarnations mentioned in the Nārāyaniyākhyāna do not include Buddha; and Hamsa is stated to be the first incarnation, whereas the incarnation of Kalki is mentioned immediately after that of Krsna (Ma. Bhā. Sān. 339 100). This fact also proves that the Nārāyanīyākhyāna is earlier in point of time than the
