rmad-bhgavata-mah-pure

rsa-pacdhyy

With ten commentaries.

This is still incomplete, but as a fair amount of work has already been done, and it may be some
time before I can complete it, I have decided to upload the material that is here. The current status,
as of June 22, 2005, is:

The principal source for the commentaries found in this edition is the Bhagavata Vidya Pith
edition: (ed.) Bhagavata Rishi and Krishna Shankar Shastri (Sola Karnavati, 2052 sa=1996). Vol.
III. I have not included all the commentaries that are found in this huge volume, but only those
that are of principal interest to Gaudiya Vaishnavas. Hopefully all these commentaries will one day
be available electronically. That day is probably not too far off, but for the time being we will take
the small step of offering this portion.

I have access to a few other commentaries which I have used to confirm and check readings. That
information, along with a few comments, is given here:

1. rmad-nanda-trtha-madhvcryasya bhgavata-ttparyam

This commentary is not included in the Bhagavata Vidya Pith edition. Only two verses of the Rasa
Lila have comments by Madhva (10.29.11, 15). Madhva lived in the 13th century. I have used (ed.)
Bhakti Ballabh Tirtha, Calcutta : Chaitanya Gaudiya Math, 1995. (100%)

2. r-rdhara-svmina bhgavata-bhvrtha-dpik

(ed. Ramateja Pandeya, Benares: Chowkhamba, 1996). The text for Sridhar Swami's commentary
was entered by Robert Gafrik. Sridhar's commentary is probably not the earliest, but it is the one
that most influenced the Gaudiya sampradaya, at least in the beginning. (100%)

3. r-vadharasya bhvrtha-dpik-praka

This 19th century author's commentary is of limited value. I have included it immediately after
Sridhar because it follows that commentary rather than the Bhgavata verses directly. It appears
that in most cases, Vamsidhar also repeated Vishwanath's commentaries (see below) and
occasionally the Vaishnava Toshani as well. I considered this unnecessary repetition and a waste of
space, so I have not included this reduplicated material. (40%)

4. r-rntha-cakravartina caitanya-mata-maju

As far as I know, the only published edition of this commentary comes from Haridas Das. I do not
have a copy of this. Srinath Chakravarti was the spiritual master of Kavi Karnapur. It is thus a fairly
early text, though it probably does not precede Sanatan Goswami's work.

There is a discernable influence of this commentary on Jiva's Bhat-krama-sandarbha, which
apparently was written after Jiva had the occasion to read it. So, in the future, I will likely displace
this commentary to immediately before Bhat-krama-sandarbha.

5. r-santana-gosvmina vaiava-toa

Although Puridas published an edition of this text, I only have access to a portion of it. This is the
most influential Gaudiya commentary. The Bhagavata Vidya Pith mistakenly attributes this
commentary to Jiva Goswami, and the following Bhad-vaiava-toa to Sanatan, a source of no
small confusion. However, I am not really out of the woods on this one. The Bhad-vaiava-toa
also sounds more like Sanatan than Jiva. They both use the same mangalacharan, which would be
unlikely if the author was Jiva. The author of the Bhad-vaiava-toa refers comfortably to
Bhad-bhgavatmta, as one would to a work of one's own. Where Sanatan writes anyat tair
vykhytam, I believe he is refering to Sridhara, though I confess this is not always obvious.

Besides this Vaiava-toa, I have also included Sanatan's Dig-daran comments from Hari-
bhakti-vilsa, wherever verses from this text appear there.

6. r-jva-gosvmina bhad-vaiava-toa

My only source for this was the Bhagavata Vidya Pitha edition. The confusion over the Vaiava-
toas is compounded by the common knowledge that there is also a Laghu-vaiava-toa.
Further investigation into this matter is still required.

7. r-jva-gosvmina krama-sandarbha

Through the kindness of Srivatsa Goswami of Jai Singh Ghera in Vrindavan, I have a copy of
Puridasa Mahasaya's 1952 edition, which is the principal source here. It is noteworthy that with
the exception of the Tenth Canto, Krama-sandarbha is basically a sequential (krama) displacement
of the comments found in Jiva's a-sandarbha. This exception is to me inexplicable, as the
Sandarbha comments to the Tenth Canto verses are not duplicated in any of Jiva's other Bhagavata
commentaries (unless they are in the Laghu-vaiava-toa). I felt therefore that it was worthwhile
to insert those texts here.

8. r-jva-gosvmina bhat-krama-sandarbha

Ekkehard Lorenz made TIF files of Puridas's edition of this text available to me. See Caitanya-
mata-maju above.

9. nryaa-bhaasya rasikhldin

This commentary is also quite early, perhaps preceding Jiva Goswami. Narayan Bhatta was born in
1532 (sa. 1588) in Madurai, Tamil Nadu, but came to live in Braj in 1546. He was initiated by
Krishna Das Brahmachari, a disciple of Gadadhar Pandit who was serving at the Madan Mohan
temple in Radha Kund. He is famous for a number of works like Vraja-bhakti-vilsa and Vraja-
pradpik, etc., which are the most exhaustive early descriptions of the Braja Dham parikrama (See
Entwistle's Braja: A Place of Pilgrimage). He also had great influence in establishing the Rasa Lila
performance tradition in Braja (see Vasant Yamadagni's Rsa-ll tath rsnukaraa viksa, New
Delhi: Sangita Nataka Academy, 1980). This edition was published by Kusumasarovarawala
Krishna Das in the 1950's. The editor is Prabhu Dayal Mittal, a very highly reputed scholar of the
Radha Vallabha Sampradaya. This edition was the source of the Bhagavata Vidya Pith edition, to
the extent that even obvious errors have been repeated. Though Narayan Bhatta was contemporary
to Jiva Goswami, there appears to be little influence of his work, or even of Rupa Goswami, to the
extent that he cites Rasrava-sudhkara to the total exclusion of Ujjvala-nlamai.

10. r-vivantha-cakravartina srrtha-darin

(ed. Bhakti Ballabh Tirtha, Calcutta : Chaitanya Gaudiya Math, 1995). Nothing really needs to be
said here except that Vishwanath's popularity has led to neglect of the Vaiava-toa, which is, in
my opinion, unjustified.

11. baladeva-vidybhaasya vaiavnandin

Though the Bhagavata Vidya Pitha has published Baladeva's commentary to the Tenth Canto, there
does not seem to be anything at the Rasa Lila. Whether Baladeva actually did comment on these
verses is unknown to me.



---------- Forwarded Message ----------
From: Bhakti Vikaa Swami
Date: 04-Dec-05
Subject: 11 commentaries of B
------------------------------------------------------------

Here is the answer from Gopparadhana Prabhu via Nitynanda Prabhu who is studying with
him.

There are following 10 commentaries in the edition rla Prabhupda used in his translation work:

rdhara Svm - Bhvrtha dipik;
r Vamdhara - Bhvrtha dpik praka;
rmad Vrarghava crya;
rmad Vijayadhvaja Trtha - Pada-ratnval;
rmad Jva Gosvm - Krama-sandarbha, Bhad Vaiava Toan;
rmad ukadeva - Siddhnta Pradpa;
r Madhusdana Sarasvat - Bhgavata-Bhvrtha-Prakik;
r Rdh Mohana Tarka Vcaspat Gosvm Bhacrya Tattvasra;
rmad Vallabhcry Subodhin;
rmad Gosvm r Puruottama caraa - Subodhin Praka;
rmad Vivantha Cakravart - Srrtha Darin;
Gosvm r Giridhralla - Bla-prabodhin;

However, mostly rla Prabhupda used the commentaries written by Gauya-Vaiava cryas.
Just in a few places referring to Vraraghava crya, Vijayadhvaja Tirtha, Giridhrll Gosvm and
Madhva (the last two - one or two instances). rla Prabhupda also used the paraphrased Bengali
translation of the Bhgavatam by Bhaktisiddhnta Sarasvat hkur.