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The sacrifice was continued for five days, and the Vedic habit of figurative thinking associated each of the days of the sacrifice with various kinds of desirable things, so that the five-day sacrifice was considered to lead to many things which are fivefold in their nature. The reference to the five kinds of indwelling en- tities soon produced the pafica-ratra doctrine of the manifestation of God in various modes as the external deity of worship (arca), inner controller (antar-yamin), as various manifestations of His lordly power (vibhava), as successive deity-forms in intimate association as vyiha and as the highest God (para). This idea is also found in the later Panca-ratra scriptures, such as Ahirbudhnya- samhita (1. 1) and the like, where God is described as having his highest form along with the vy#ha forms. Purusa is thus identified with narayana, who, by sacrifice of purusa (purusa-medha), became ‘all this world. The etymological definition of na@rayana as ‘‘ one who has descended from man (nara),”’ as herein suggested in accordance 538 The Philosophy of the Bhagavad-gita [cH. with Panini, rv. 1. 99, is not, however, accepted everywhere. Thus Manu, I. 10, derives narayana from nara, meaning “water,” and ayana, meaning “abode,” and nara (water), again, is explained as ‘that which has descended from mara,” or supreme man’. The Maha-bharata, 111. 12,952 and 15,819 and x11. 13,168, accepts Manu’s derivation; but in v. 2568 it says that the supreme God is called narayana because he is also the refuge of men*. The Taittiriya-Aranyaka, x. 1. 6, identifies naér@yana with Vasudeva and Visnu®. It may be suggested in this connection that even the Upanisad doctrine of the self as the supreme reality is prob- ably a development of this type of ideas which regarded man as supreme God. The word purusa is very frequently used in the Upanisads in the sense of man, as well as in that of the highest being or supreme reality. In the Maha-bharata nara and narayana are referred to as being the forms of the supreme lord. Thus it is said, “The four-faced Brahma, capable of being under- stood only with the aid of the miruktas, joined his hands and, addressing Rudra, said, ‘‘Let good happen to the three worlds. Throw down thy weapons, O lord of the universe, from desire of benefiting the universe. That which is indestructible, immutable, supreme, the origin of the universe, uniform and the supreme actor, that which transcends all pairs of opposites and is inactive, has, choosing to be displayed, been pleased to assume this one blessed form (for, though double, the two represent but one and the same form). This zara and narayana (the displayed forms of supreme Brahman) have taken birth in the race of dharma. 'The foremost of all deities, these two are observers of the highest vows and endued with the severest penances. Through some reason best known to Him I myself have sprung from the attribute of His Grace Eternal, as thou hast ; for, though thou hast ever existed since all the pure creations, thou too hast sprung from His Wrath. With myself then, these deities and all the great Rsis, do thou adore this displayed form of Brahman and let there be peace unto all u apo nara iti prokta apo vai nara-sitnavah ta vad asyayanam piirvam tena naradyanah smrtah. Manu, I. ro. Water is called nara; water is produced from man, and, since he rested in water in the beginning, he is called n@rayana. Kullika, in explaining this, says that mara, or man, here means the supreme self, or Brahman. * Nardndm ayandc capi tato ndrayanah smrtah. Maha-bharata, v. 2568. ° Nardyanaya vidmahe vasudevaya dhimahi tan no Visnuh pracodayat. Taittiriya Aranyaka, p. 700. Anandagrama Press, Poona, 1898. XIV] Visnu, Vasudeva and Krsna 539 the worlds without any delay!.” In the succeeding chapter (i.e. Maha-bharata, Santi-parva, 343) nara and narayana are described as being two foremost of sages (rs7) and two ancient deities engaged in the practice of penances, observing high vows and depending upon their own selves and transcending the very sun in energy. The word bhagavat in the sense of blissful and happy is a very old one and is used in the Rg-Veda, 1. 164. 40; VII. 41. 4; X. 60. 12 and in the Atharva-Veda, 11. 10. 2; V. 31. 11, etc. But in the Maha-bharata and other such early literature it came to denote Visnu or Vasudeva, and the word bhagavata denoted the religious sect which regarded Visnu as Narayana or Vasudeva as their supreme god. The Pali canonical work Niddesa refers to various superstitious religious sects, among which it mentions the followers of Vasudeva, Baladeva, Punnabhadda, Manibhadda, Aggi, Naga, Suparna, Yakkha, Asura, Gandhabba, Maharaja, Canda, Suriya, Inda, Brahma, dog, crow, cow, etc. It is easy to understand why a Buddhist work should regard the worship of Vasudeva as being of a very low type; but at any rate it proves that the worship of Vasudeva was prevalent during the period when the Niddesa was codified. Again, in commenting upon Panini, Iv. 3. 98 (Vasudevar- junabhyam vun), Patafijali points out that the word Vasudeva here does not denote the Vasudeva who was the son of Vasudeva of the Ksattriya race of Vrsnis, since, had it been so, the suffix vu/, which is absolutely equivalent to vun, could well be by Panini, Iv. 3. 99 (gotra-ksattriyakhyebhyo bahulam vuf), by which vuf is suffixed to names of Ksattriya race. Patafijali thus holds that the word Vasudeva is in this rule not used to refer to any Ksattriya race, but is a name of the Lord (samjfaisa tatra bhagavatah). If Patafijali’s interpretation is to be trusted, for which there is every reason, Vasudeva as God is to be distinguished from the Ksattriya Vasu- deva, the son of Vasudeva of the race of Vrsnis. It was well estab- lished in Panini’s time that Vasudeva was God, and that His followers were called Vasudevaka, for the formation of which word by the vun suffix Panini had to make the rule (Iv. 3. 98). Again, the Ghosundi inscription in Rajputana, which is written in Brahmi, an early form of about 200-150 B.C., contains a reference to the building of a wall round the temple of Vasudeva and Samkarsana. In the Besnagar inscription of about 100 B.c. 1 Maha-bharata, Santi-parva, 342. 124-129. P.C. Roy’s translation, Moksa- dharma-parva, p. 817. Calcutta. ° 540 The Philosophy of the Bhagavad-gita [cH. Heliodorus, son of Diya, describes himself as a great devotee of Bhagavat (parama-bhagavata), who had erected a pillar bearing an image of Garuda. In the Nanaghat inscription of 100 B.C. Vasudeva and Samkarsana appear together as deities to whom adorations are addressed along with other gods. If the testimony of Patafijali is accepted, the religious sect of Vasudevas existed be- fore Panini. It is generally believed that Patafijali lived in 150B.c., since in course of interpreting a grammatical rule which allowed the use of the past tense in reference to famous contemporary events not witnessed by the speaker he illustrates it by using a past tense in referring to the Greek invasion of the city of Saketa (arunad Yavanah Saketam); as this event took place in 150 B.C., it is re- garded as a famous contemporary event not witnessed by Patafi- jali. Patafijali was the second commentator of Panini, the first being Katyayana. Sir R. G. Bhandarkar points out that Patafijali notices variant readings in Katyayana’s Varttikas, as found in the texts used by the schools of Bharadvajiyas, Saunagas and others, some of which might be considered as emendations of the Varttzkas, though Patafijali’s introduction of them by the verb pathantz, “they read,”’ is an indication that he regarded them as different readings}. From this Sir R. G. Bhandarkar argues that between Katyayana and Patafijali a considerable time must have elapsed, which alone can explain the existence of the variant readings of Katyayana’s text in Patafijali’s time. He therefore agrees with the popular tradition in regarding Panini as a contemporary of the Nandas, who preceded the Mauryas. Katyayana thus flourished in the first half of the 5th century B.C. But,as both Goldstiicker and Sir R.G. Bhandarkar have pointed out, the Varttika of Katyayana notices many grammatical. forms which are not noticed by Panini, and this, considering the great accuracy of Panini as a grammarian, naturally leads to the supposition that those forms did not exist in his time. Goldstiicker gives a list of words admitted into Panini’s s#tras which had gone out of use by Katyayana’s time, and he also shows that some words which probably did not exist in Panini’s time had come to be used later and are referred to by Katyayana. All this implies that Panini must have flourished at least two or three hundred years before Katyayana. The reference to the Vasudeva sect in Panini’s sitras naturally suggests its existence before his time. The allusions 1 Sir R. G. Bhandarkar’s Early History of the Deccan, p. 7. XIV] Visnu, Vasudeva and Krsna 541 to Vasudeva in the inscriptions referred to above can be regarded as corroborative evidence pointing to the early existence of the Vasudeva sect, who worshipped Vasudeva or Bhagavat as the supreme Lord. - Turning to literary references to Vasudeva and Krsna, we find the story of Vasudeva, who is also called.by his family name Kanha and KeSava (probably on account of his bunch of hair), in the Ghata-jataka. The story agrees in some important details with the usual accounts of Krsna, though there are some new de- viations. A reference to the Vrsni race of Ksattriyas is found in Panini, Iv. 1. 114 (rsy-andhaka-vrgni-kurubhyas ca). The word is formed by an unadi suffix, and it literally means ‘‘ powerful” or “a great leader1.” It also means “‘heretic”’ (pasanda) and one who is passionately angry (canda).