A Query

[Guest guest]

> Sometime back there was a query from one of our fulltime devotees for

> which he requested me to get clarifications on com. The query goes like

> this:

>

> Srila Vyasadeva wrote the Srimad Bhagavatam after being asked by Sri

> Narada Muni which happened 5000 years back. However the current books(SB)

> which we have contain conversations between Sri Suta Goswami and the sages

> of Naimisairanya which happened after Srila Vyasadeva wrote the

> Bhagavatam. So the query is whether the Bhagavatam was rewritten and if

> yes then when was it rewritten?

 

This is what B.R. Sadhu Maharaj wrote one or two years ago:

 

----

 

When was Bhagavatam written by Vyasadeva?

 

Nayana-ranjana Das

 

>From Bhagavata Mahatmya, Padma Purana, Uttara Khanda:

 

Saunaka asked, "O Suta Gosvami, when did Sukadeva recite the

Bhagavatam to Pariksita, Gokarna to Dhundhukari, and the Kumaras to

Narada Muni?"

 

Suta Gosvami replied, "About thirty years after Lord Krsna's departure

to His abode, on the ninth day of the bright fortnight in the month of

Bhadra, Sukadeva recited Bhagavatam to Pariksit. Two hundred years

later in the month of Asadha, on the ninth day of the bright fortnight

Gokarna recited Bhagavatam to Dhundhukari. Thirty years later, in the

month of Karttika on the ninth day of the bright fortnight, the

Kumaras recited it to Narada Muni."

 

 

SUMMARY

 

3150 BC: Battle of Kuruksetra

 

February 18, 3102 BC (around): Krsna's disappearance, beginning of

Kali Yuga (Thus Krsna was present for around 125+48 = 173 years)

 

30 years after i.e 3072 BC: Sukadeva Goswami speaks Bhadra Navami

Bhagavatam to Maharaj Pariksit

 

200 years later i.e. 2872 BC: Gokarna recited Bhagavatam to

Dhundhukari on Asadha Navami

 

30 years later i.e. 2842 BC: Kumaras recited to Narada Muni on

Karttika Navami

 

Around 2000 BC: Suta Goswami recited to the sages at Naimisaranya

(long after the battle of Kuruksetra)

 

1000 BC: Compiling of Mahabharata

 

500 BC: Compiling of Ramayana

 

900 AD: Vyasadeva completed writing the 12 Canto of the Bhagavatam

 

The first and the the last three dates have been picked up from the

Introduction of Sri Krsna-samhita by Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura. He

gives the date of the writing of the Srimad Bhagavatam as being around

900 AD in the opinion of modern scholars and goes on to give very

foolproof evidences regarding this which the modern scholars give.

Though Bhaktivinoda Thakura himself put a lot of effort into writing

this Intro., he leaves it upto the reader to accept it or not.

 

And he writes while trying to figure out a date of compiling of the

Bhagavatam as per the modern scholars:

 

"Now we will consider the modern scholars view on the date of the

appearance of Srimad Bhagavatam, the jewel of all scriptures. Not

understanding our statements, third-grade people may lose all faith

and consider it a recent work. Therefore they should read this

section..."