Domicile of the Author of the Bhagavata Purana
By Amar Nath Roy
Summary
Ray’s paper investigates the geographical origin of the author of the Bhāgavata Purāṇa, one of the principal Vaishnava scriptures. The article surveys linguistic and cultural clues within the text, such as dialectal forms, imagery, and descriptions of flora and fauna, to infer the region where the author composed it. Ray examines references to South Indian geography, to rivers like the Godavari, and to customs associated with the Tamil and Kannada regions, suggesting that the author may have been located in the Deccan rather than the Gangetic plain. He reviews traditional attributions to Vyāsa and examines the role of the Bhāgavata Purāṇa in the rise of Bhagavata religion in various parts of India. The study concludes that the Bhāgavata’s author likely hailed from the Andhra or Karnata country, reflecting the syncretic milieu of the early medieval south.
Conclusion
Ray concludes that internal evidence points toward a southern domicile for the Bhāgavata’s composer, undermining assumptions of a purely northern origin. This geographic context helps explain the text’s emphasis on Kṛṣṇa devotion and its assimilation of local traditions, highlighting the regional diversity of puranic authorship.