Based on (ed.) Pandey and Awasthi (Varanasi: Chaukhamba Surbharati Prakashan, 1975). This is a selection of Bhagavatam verses, divided into 13 categories. (Jagat 2003-08-19)

Added by: Jagat
Credits:
Text version: 1.00 (legend)
Keywords: Bhagavatam, Vishnu, Puri, Bhakti, Ratnavali

Spotted a mistake, have a question or a comment to make on this text?
Email a report to us

Additional notes from the editors' research and selected discussion forum contributions.

From TEXTS WHOSE AUTHORS CAN BE DATED on Karl Potter's Indian Philosophies pages:

912.Viṣṇupurī (1485)

1.(Bhāgavata)Bhaktiratnāvalī and Kāntimālā thereon (Acintyabhedābheda) (NCat VII, 169)

912.1.1 Edited by Manamohana Bandyopadhyaya. Calcutta 1911

912.1.2 Edited and translated by N.L.Sinha and M.N.Paul. SBH 7.3, 1912, 1974

912.1.3 Edited with Kāntimālā. Allahabad 1914

912.1.4 Translated by A.B. Allahabad 1918; Delhi 1975

912.1.5 R.B.A.Ray, "Viṣṇu Purī, author of the Bhaktiratnāvalī", IC 5, 1938-39, 101-103

912.1.6 S.K.De, "On the date of Viṣṇupurī", IC 5, 1938-39, 197-198

912.1.7 M.R.Majumdar, "Saint Viṣṇu Purī and his Bhaktiratnāvalī", JUBo 8, 1939, 131-147

912.1.8 G.V.Devasthali, "Further light on the date of Viṣṇupurī and his Bhaktiratnāvalī", IC 11, 1944, 93-107

912.1.9 Manoranjan Sastri, "Date of Viṣṇupurī", IHQ 36, 1960, 99-112

912.1.10 Edited by Krsnamani Tripathi. Varanasi 1968

912.1.10.5 Edited by Srikrsnananda Das Kantimala and Ramadasa Shastri. Vrndavana 1970

912.1.11 Translated by Tapasyananda. VK 59, 1972-73 - 63, 1976-77

912.1.12 Tantranatha Jha, "Viṣṇupurī, the Maithil Vaiṣṇava saint", JGJRI 31, 1975, 289-296

912.1.13 Edited by Srikrsnamani Tripatha, Lala Bihari Pandeya and Sripati Awasthi. Varanasi 1975

Just one other comment. Vishnu Puri was, like Paramananda Puri, originally from Tairabhukta, or Tirhut, which is the western part of Mithila.

The date of the text is given as 1555 Saka, i.e. 1633 CE. I was surprised by this late date, as I had always thought of Vishnu Puri as a senior of Chaitanya.

There are two verses in Padyavali attributed to Vishnu Puri (9,10). He is mentioned in CC 1.9.14 and GGD 21, where it is specifically stated that he wrote the Bhakti-ratnavali (though I have some doubts about the reliability of this particular group of verses in GGD).

According to Haridas Das, a brief account of his life is given in chapter 13 of Bhaktamal (though he neglects to mention which Bhaktamal). So are there two Vishnu Puris?

Here is S.K. De's note on the matter, from page 18-19 of Vaishnava Faith and Movement:

"The colophon to the Dacca University manuscripts of the text, with its commentary Kantimala, which we have consulted, reads:

[I]iti zré-puruSottama-caraNAravinda-kRpA-makaranda-bindu-pronmIlita-viveka-tairabhukta-paramahaMsa-zrI-viSNu-purI-grathita-zrI-bhAgavatAmRtAbdhi-labdha-zrI-bhakti-ratnAvalI-kAntimAlA samAptA[/I].

Apparently Purusottama was his guru and not Jayadhvaja. [Comment: There is no need to interpret "puruSottama" as a person's name. It is just as likely to be Jagannath, meaning that he lived in Puri. Jayadhvaja is the name of VP's guru according to GGD.]

An edition of the text with English translation has been published in the Sacred Books of the Hindus Series, Allahabad, 1912.

MSS noticed in Aufrecht's Bodleian Catalogues, no. 90, Aufrecht's Florentine Manuscripts, no. 236, Mitra's Notices i., no 422, p. 240; Eggeling, India Office Catalogue, vi. p. 1272-3,. The colophon occurs with slight variations in Mitra's and Eggeling's MSS.

Aufrecht states that this work was composed at Benares in 1634. The source of this information is not known, but the editor of the Allahabad edition tells us that this date is given as a footnote to the edition of the work published at Calcutta. [B]This date, however, is impossible[/B] for it militates not only against the date 1595 (= Samvat 1652) of the copying of the India Office manuscript (Eggeling, [i]loc.cit[/i]), but also against the Bengal tradition..."

He has apparently discussed this in further detail in [i]Indian Culture[/i] v, 1938-1939, pp. 197-199.

It is possible that the verses at the end of this electronic edition were written by the copyist.

The categories are not named. I was able to trace most of the verses to the Bhagavatam, but one or two do not appear to be found there. Some of the readings are at variance with the BhP text as we have it. I have not noted the variants. Vishnu Puri also wrote a Kantimala commentary to these verses, but unfortunately, it is not available at present. I really don't understand why anyone would publish Bhakti Ratnavali without this commentary, as this would give the author's reasons from making the selection and arrangement. Oh well.