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Bhagavata and the Bhagavad-gītā
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a sufficient qualification for undertaking the worship of Viṣņu, and since special and peculiar forms of initiation and ceremonial performances are necessary, it is clear that the Bhāgavata forms of worship are not Vedic in their origin. The fourteen Hindu sciences, viz. the six vedängas on Vedic pronunciation (sikṣā), ritual (kalpa), grammar (vyākaraṇa), metre (chandas), astronomy (jyotiṣa), lexicography (nirukta), the four Vedas, Mīmāmsā, argumentative works or philosophy (nyāya-vistara), the mythologies (purāṇa) and rules of conduct (dharma-śāstra), do not refer to the Pañca-rātra scriptures as being counted in their number. So the Bhāgavata or the Pañca-rātra scriptures are of non-Vedic origin. But Yamuna contends that, since Nārāyaṇa is the supreme god, the Bhāgavata literature, which deals with his worship, must be regarded as having the same sources as the Vedas; the Bhāgavatas also have the same kind of outer dress as the Brahmins and the same kinds of lineage. He further contends that, though satvata means an outcast, yet sātvata is a different word from satvata, which means a devotee of Visnu. Moreover, not all Bhāgavatas take to professional priestly duties and the worshipping of images for their livelihood; for there are many who worship the images through pure devotion. It is very easy to see that the above defence of the Bhāgavatas, as put forward by one of their best advocates, Yāmunācārya, is very tame and tends to suggest very strongly that the Bhāgavata sect was non-Vedic in its origin and that image-worship, image-making, image-repairing and temple-building had their origin in that particular sect. Yet throughout the entire scriptures of the Pañcarātra school there is the universal and uncontested tradition that it is based on the Vedas. But its difference from the Vedic path is well known. Yamuna himself refers to a passage (Agamaprāmāṇya, p. 51) where it is said that Sandilya, not being able to find his desired end (puruṣārtha) in all the four Vedas, produced this scripture. The Gita itself often describes the selfish aims of sacrifices, and Kṛṣṇa urges Arjuna to rise above the level of the Vedas. It seems, therefore, that the real connection of the Pancarātra literature is to be found in the fact that it originated from Vasudeva or Visņu, who is the supreme God from whom the Vedas themselves were produced. Thus the Isvara-samhita (1. 24–26) explains the matter, and states that the Bhāgavata literature is the great root of the Veda tree, and the Vedas themselves are but trunks of it, and the followers of Yoga are but its branches. Its
