The Origin and Development of Vaisnavism

About the Book This edition is revised and enlarged to update the material and impart more depth to author's strikingly original interpretations. Especially those relating to Narayana and Vasudeva-Krsna. It questions the general assumption that the sentiment of personal devotion or bhakti formed a basic component of pre-Aryan aboriginal cults from which it was borrowed by later sectarian religions. The author argues that religious consciousness being an ideological reflex of man's real life process its structure also undergoes changes in conformity with the changing social relations. The adoption of the principle of ahimsa and of vegetarianism in Vaisnavism is explained in its social context. It is shown how Puranic Vaisnavism envolved in the process of revitalizing brahmanism through assimilating a number of orthodox non-conformist and tribal elements; the absorption of Mother-goddess Sri-Laksmi in the Vaisnava pantheon is a case in point. The revised edition throws fresh light on the