religious traditions and the definition of their members are often obscure and in
any case evolved over the course of time. The use of “school” in this essay will
be reserved for Vais.n.ava doctrinal systems of the Veda ̄nta which were often
accompanied by socioreligious counterparts.
We will neither follow nor examine ancient Indian doxographical views on
Va i s.n.avism. Nor shall we study the relations of Vais.n.ava with non-Vais.n.ava tra-
ditions and with non-exclusivist milieux which, like Sma ̄rtas, worshipped several
gods including Vis.n.u. This chapter is not a history of Vais.n.avism, which should
discuss all facts and literatures related to the god Vis.n.u and the divine aspects
retrospectively considered as his manifestations. Therefore we will not consider
iconographical data, whose links with a specific Vais.n.ava tradition are often dif-
ficult to demonstrate, nor fluid oral traditions associated with Vais.n.avism. A
special emphasis is laid on the rather neglected Vaikha ̄nasa tradition. The social
and political background, for which we have a scanty and uneven documenta-
tion, is not examined.
This chapter does not claim to be exhaustive. It only discusses traditions
which exercised some influence and it is limited by the state of research on the
subject. Many Vais.n.ava traditions still need a critical examination and study of
their history and their literary sources. The views of scholars remain bound by
the image which each tradition wished to project of itself and of other Vais.n.ava
traditions under specific historical circumstances. Research also focused on the
aspects which these traditions themselves brought forward – rites with pre-
dominantly ritualistic traditions, doctrine with theologizing ones, devotion with
devotional currents – though most of these traditions were not without specific
views on each of these aspects. The chronology of several Vais.n.ava traditions
covers such a long period of time and shows such contrasted phases that
we found it convenient to periodize their history according to the successive
tendencies to which they gave shape.
Early Bha ̄gavatism
Bha ̄gavata aristocratic patrons (second century BCto eighth
century AD)
Bha ̄gavatism is the first “Vais.n.ava” tradition to appear distinctly in history. The
earliest known use of the term bha ̄gavata(literally “relating to Bhagavant,” that
is, the Lord) is clearly associated with aristocratic patrons. Several inscriptions
from the second to first century bc, all of them found in a limited area of the
present Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan states, except one from Maharashtra,
record the existence of a Bha ̄gavata cult promoted by local rulers and men of
political importance. This cult, associated with Na ̄ra ̄yan.a, Va ̄sudeva (=Kr.s.n.a)
and sometimes Sam.kars.an.a (=Balara ̄ma, Kr.s.n.a’s elder brother), all “Vais.n.ava”
divine aspects, is often marked by the erection of a Garud.a-pillar (in front of a
230 gérard colas