Odia Bhāgabata and the Question of the Antiquity of Śrīmad Bhāgavatam
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.31305/rrjiks.2026.v3.n1.001Keywords:
Śrīmad Bhāgavatam, Odia Bhāgabata, Atibāḍī Jagannātha Dāsa, Ādi Śaṅkarācārya, Śrīdhara SvāmīAbstract
The antiquity of Mahārṣi Vedavyāsa’s Śrīmad Bhāgavatam has long been a subject of scholarly debate. The present study attempts to revisit the antiquity of Śrīmad Bhāgavatam through Atibāḍī Jagannātha Dāsa’s (1491–1550) late fifteenth-century cultural translation, entitled Srimad Bhāgabata, based on Mahārṣi Vyāsa’s Śrīmad Bhāgavatam. The Odia Bhāgabata is one of the earliest cultural translations of the Sanskrit Mahāpurāṇas into any other Indian language. A sceptical question that has been addressed in this paper is: What may have been the primary source of inspiration or scholarly references available to Atibāḍī when he was translating the Sanskrit Bhāgavatam into the Odia language in the fifteenth century? Further do these references lead us to the antiquity of Mahārṣi Vyāsa’s Śrīmad Bhāgavatam? The Odia Bhāgabata offers philosophical depth and key insights into Mahārṣi Vyāsa’s timeless composition, suggesting the existence of additional scholarly resources and establishing Mahārṣi Vyāsa’s Śrīmad Bhāgavatam at a much earlier date of composition. This paper draws on primary and secondary resources currently available on the Odia Bhāgabata and retraces its steps into the Sanskrit Bhāgavatam through a reading of Atibāḍī’s inclination towards Advaita sources, leading us directly to Ādi Śaṅkarācārya’s footsteps. The argument in this paper is that the antiquity of Śrīmad Bhāgavatam precedes that of Ādi Śaṅkarācārya's life and time and that the key to establishing the antiquity of Mahārṣi Vedavyāsa’s Śrīmad Bhāgavatam lies in Atibāḍī Jagannātha Dāsa’s Odia Bhāgabata.
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