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14. THE CONCEPT OF AVATARS
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Even more popular is the image known as Kanhaya, which represents the god as a young man playing the flute as he stands in a careless attitude, which has something of Hellenic grace. Krishna in this form is the beloved of the Gopîs, or milk-maids, of the land of Braj, and the spouse of Râdhâ, though she had no monopoly of him.
The stories of his frolics with these damsels and the rites instituted in memory thereof have brought his worship into merited discredit.
Bhagavat cult
It is most probable that Vaishnavism and Krishnaism grew out of the Bhagavat cult which is mentioned in inscriptions which appear to date from about the second century B.C. It also appear in the last book of the Taittirîya Aranyaka, which however is a later addition of uncertain date.
The name Krishna occurs in Buddhist writings in the form Kanha, phonetically equivalent to Krishna. In the Digha Nikâya (The Long Discourses of the Buddha ) we hear of the clan of the Kanhâyanas (= Kârshnậyanas) and of one Kanha who became a great sage. This person may be the Krishna of the Rig Veda, but there is no proof that he is the same as our Krishna.
The Bhagavata sect originated in the Mathura region c. 3rd-2nd century BC and spread through western, northern, and southern India. The faith centers on devotion to a personal god, variously called Vishnu, Krishna, Hari, or Narayana. The Bhagavadgita (1st-2nd century AD) is the earliest exposition of the Bhagavata system, but its central scripture is the Bhagavata Purana. The sect was prominent within Vaishnavism until the 11th century, when bhakti (devotional worship) was revitalized by Ramanuja.
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