Stories of the Bhagavatam

The chapters below currently open in the original Hindi; the full English translation is in progress.

॥

Stories of the Bhagavatam · भागवतम् की कथाएँ

Shrimad Bhagavata Mahapurana · Vedavyasa

Shrimad Bhagavata Mahapurana, twelve skandhas, about 18,000 shlokas. Vedavyasa’s composition, flowing through Shukadeva’s voice, recited in the last seven days of Parikshit’s life. A king with seven days left, and one question: “In this final stretch, what should a man listen to?”

॥ निगमकल्पतरोर्गलितं फलम् ॥

This is the ripened fruit of the wish-granting tree of the Vedas. The Bhagavatam’s own word about itself.

Introduction

Parikshit was Arjuna’s grandson. King of Hastinapura. One day he went out hunting, tired. Thirsty. He came to a rishi’s ashram. The rishi was in meditation. He did not open his eyes. Anger took Parikshit; he picked up a dead snake, draped it around the rishi’s neck, and left. The rishi’s son learned of it. He gave a curse, “In seven days the serpent Takshaka will bite you.”

When the news reached Parikshit, he walked out of his kingdom. He sat down on the bank of the Ganga. Shukadeva came there, Vyasa’s son, awake from birth itself. Parikshit asked one question, “A man with seven days left, what should he listen to, what should he do?” Shukadeva recited the Bhagavatam for seven days. On the eighth day Takshaka came. But by then the king had already gone, to the place where a snakebite does not mean anything.

This is the framing of the Bhagavatam. An entire shastra, in seven days, for a dying man. Which is why there is urgency in its every line. No idle detours. Every story says something worth remembering before you die.

Yoga Vasishtha and the Bhagavatam differ in one particular way. The Vasishtha teaches through experiments in consciousness; “who are you?” sits at its center. The Bhagavatam teaches through relationships; “whose are you?” sits at its center. Both roads reach the same place, the same silence. But one by dissolving the ‘I’, the other by making the ‘I’ into ‘yours’.

Another gift of the Bhagavatam: it makes you feel the philosophy, not merely explains it. Yashoda’s love for her child, Sudama meeting Krishna and returning without a word, the elephant calling out to the Lord while going under, there is philosophy in each of these as deep as in Kapila Muni’s Sankhya-shastra. Perhaps deeper.

At its root the Bhagavatam is a bhakti-shastra, a scripture of devotion, but Advaita Vedanta sits inside it. Shukadeva, free from birth itself, was drawn to this shastra. The Bhagavatam itself says, “आत्मारामाश्च मुनयो निर्ग्रन्था अप्युरुक्रमे। कुर्वन्त्यहैतुकीं भक्तिम्।” Even those munis who rest content in themselves, with no knots left to untie, are drawn toward this ahaituki bhakti, love without any reason. This is the text where inquiry and love come in through the same door.

Here are sixty-five stories, in Hindi, in everyday language. Each one carries its own manthan section, a churning of the meaning. No reading order is required. Whichever title pulls you, begin right there.

Background

Most scholars place the composition of the Bhagavatam in the 9th to 10th century CE, though it holds material older than that. The original language is Sanskrit. Twelve skandhas in all, 335 chapters, about 18,000 shlokas.

The credit for the composition goes to Vedavyasa. The story is that even after finishing the Mahabharata and all the other Puranas, Vyasa ji felt an emptiness. Narada came to him and said, “You have written dharma, artha, kama, moksha, all of it. But you have not properly described the Lord’s lilas. That is your unfinished work.” Then Vyasa ji wrote the Bhagavatam. He taught it to his son Shukadeva, who was born free, yet stayed on in this world a while for this one shastra.

The narrative layers of the Bhagavatam sit one inside another. Suta Gosvami is reciting to the rishis of Naimisharanya. He is reciting exactly what Shukadeva recited to Parikshit. Inside that are still more dialogues, Krishna and Uddhava, Kapila and Devahuti, Narada and Vyasa, the story of Jaya and Vijaya, Dhruva and Narayana, and more. Each layer is a frame that holds the next frame.

The Padma Purana describes the twelve skandhas as the limbs of Krishna’s body. The first skandha his feet, the second the thighs, the third the navel, the fourth the chest, and so on upward. The tenth skandha, which holds Krishna’s whole lila, is counted as his face. The twelfth skandha the head.

The Bhagavatam’s influence has spread into every Indian language. Kathak, miniature painting, Harikatha, Yakshagana, Kuchipudi, all of it stands on this text. It is also the first Purana translated into a European language, into French in 1788.

Frequently asked questions

How do the Bhagavatam and the Bhagavad Gita differ?

The Gita is a part of the Mahabharata, only 700 shlokas, and its setting is a battlefield, where Krishna teaches Arjuna his duty. The Bhagavatam is an independent Purana, 18,000 shlokas, and its setting is a dying king’s last week. In the Gita, Krishna is the teacher. In the Bhagavatam, Krishna is the story itself. One is argument, the other love.

When was the Bhagavatam written?

Most scholars date its composition to the 9th-10th century CE, though parts of it are much older. Its earliest references appear in South India, and its final form was probably settled there. But note, “written down” and “composed” are not the same. It flowed through the oral tradition for generations, and then was set to the pen.

Is the Bhagavatam only for Vaishnavas?

No. Yes, it dwells at length on the lilas of Krishna and Vishnu, and the Vaishnava tradition has embraced it the most. But the Bhagavatam itself makes room for all three readings, Advaita, Dvaita, and Vishishtadvaita. Shukadeva, who recites it, was himself a jivanmukta Advaitin. Shankaracharya quoted its verses. This is a text above sect.

Who was Shukadeva, and why did he tell this story?

Shukadeva was Vyasa’s son. The story goes that he stayed in his mother’s womb for twelve years, refusing to come out, because outside lay the touch of maya. At last Krishna himself came and gave his word that maya would not touch him. Then he came out, and walked straight toward the forest. He was awake from birth itself. Hearing of Parikshit’s seven-days-left kingdom, he came walking on his own, because the chance to recite the Bhagavatam is, even for a liberated soul, an occasion for love without reason.

In what order should the twelve skandhas be read?

The traditional order runs first through twelfth. But in practice, most readers begin with the tenth skandha, which holds Krishna’s whole lila. Then the eleventh, which holds the Uddhava Gita. Then back toward the first, so the framing makes sense. Every story is complete in itself.

Why is the tenth skandha the most famous?

Because it carries the whole story from Krishna’s birth to his leaving for Mathura. Putana, Yashoda’s butter-thief child, the lifting of Govardhana, the rasa-lila, the slaying of Kamsa, all of it is here. This is the skandha without which India’s religious imagination is incomplete. Mirabai, Surdas, Chaitanya, Tulsi, they all draw their oxygen from it.

Is the Bhagavatam Advaita, or bhakti?

Both, without either diminishing the other. The subtlest thing about the Bhagavatam is that it speaks Advaita in the language of bhakti. The teachings of Shukadeva, Uddhava, Kapila, all sit comfortably with Advaita Vedanta. But the presentation is bhakti’s, where the seeker keeps himself apart from Krishna so that he can love. In the end the two meet in the same place.

How were these sixty-five stories chosen?

Each story had to have three things. One, a dramatic arc, that is, a beginning, middle, and end. Two, a character who changes. Three, a philosophical point that lingers after the story is over. Many tales were left out, especially the genealogies. This is a curated reading, not an exhaustive one.

Can these stories be told to children?

Mostly, yes. The Krishna-lila stories were practically made for children. Prahlada, Dhruva, Gajendra, these are children’s favorites. Some parts, like Saubhari Muni or Ila and Sudyumna, are a little grown-up; with light editing they too can be told to children. But in the old days these stories were told to every age, and everyone took away their own share of understanding.

Do you need any prior knowledge to read the Bhagavatam?

Not at all. The text was deliberately built so that anyone can take hold of it. Yes, if you know the main story of the Mahabharata, some references will resonate more. But it is not required. Every story brings its whole world along with it.