Brahmavaivarta Purana

01Sauti at Naimisharanya

Shaunaka and the rishis at Naimisharanya have finished their morning rites and are seated on kusha grass when Sauti, the son of Lomaharshana, arrives. They ask him for a Purana full of the katha of Krishna that will make bhakti for him steady and lasting. He answers with the Brahmavaivarta, and inside it Bhagwan Narayana teaches Devarshi Narada. Its invocation says Vyasadeva milked this nectar from the wish-fulfilling cow of speech, with the Shrutis as her calf. The Bhagavata counts it at 18,000 shlokas, in four khandas of 30, 67, 46 and 133 adhyayas.

02Goloka

The Brahma Khanda opens beyond all the worlds, in Goloka, where Shri Krishna dwells with Radha among the gopas and gopis. From him come Narayana, Shiva, Brahma, Dharma, Saraswati, Lakshmi and Durga, and from Radha come the gopis. Vaivarta means the unfolding, and the title names exactly this: Brahman, who is Krishna, unfolding into creation. Here sarga is told, and the Purana's other marks follow in their own way, the lineages of devas and rishis, the Manus, and the deeds of kings, all held inside the larger frame of Krishna's leela.

03Sudama's curse

In Goloka there was a gopa named Sudama, devoted to Krishna. A quarrel arose, and Sudama spoke words that brought a curse on Radha herself: she would be born on earth and live parted from Krishna for a hundred years. Radha in turn cursed Sudama to be born as an asura. He became Shankhachuda, king of the danavas, and his wife on earth was Tulsi. The Brahmavaivarta ties its kathas together this way, through births and curses that begin in Goloka and play out on earth, so that the leela of Vrindavan and the battle with Shankhachuda belong to one story.

04The five forms of Prakriti

The Prakriti Khanda is the Purana's great book of the Devi. Prakriti, the divine power, takes five principal forms: Durga, Radha, Lakshmi, Saraswati and Savitri. Each has her katha, her dhyana and her stotra. Then come the goddesses of daily life, Ganga, Tulsi, Manasa, Shashthi, Mangalachandi, Svaha, Svadha and Dakshina, each honoured with her own worship. Shaktas read this khanda with as much love as Vaishnavas do, for here the Mother is praised in every form, and the Purana does not set any of them against another.

05Tulsi and Savitri

Two kathas of the Prakriti Khanda live in every Hindu home. Tulsi was born to King Dharmadhvaja and did tapas for Narayana, but was wedded to Shankhachuda, whose strength rested on her chastity. To end his tyranny, Bhagwan took Shankhachuda's form; when she knew, she cursed him to become stone, and he blessed her to become the Tulsi plant and the Gandaki river, where he dwells as the Shalagrama. Savitri followed Yama as he carried away Satyavan, and asked him question after question on karma and its fruits until, pleased, he gave her husband back.

06Ganesha and Parashurama

The Ganapati Khanda tells how Parvati kept the Punyaka vrata for a son, and Krishna himself came to her as Ganesha. All the devas came to see the child. Shani kept his eyes lowered, but Parvati bade him look, and at his glance the child's head was severed. Vishnu brought the head of an elephant and set it on the body. Later Parashurama came to Kailash to bow to Shiva, his guru, and Ganesha barred the door. Parashurama threw the axe Shiva had given him; Ganesha, honouring his father's gift, took the blow on one tusk, and became Ekadanta.

07Krishna on earth

The Shri Krishna Janma Khanda, by far the largest, follows Krishna from his birth in Mathura to Gokul and Vrindavan, to Mathura again and to Dvaraka, and at the end back to Goloka. Radha is present throughout, as the Purana's whole theology requires. In the Bhandira forest Brahma himself performs the marriage of Radha and Krishna, a katha for which this Purana is especially loved. The rasa, the separation when Krishna leaves for Mathura, and Radha's long longing are told with great tenderness. Vaishnava traditions devoted to Radha-Krishna hold this khanda dear above the rest.

08Krishna as Parabrahman

For the Brahmavaivarta, Shri Krishna is the Supreme Brahman beyond the gunas, and Radha is his own power, never apart from him. Its invocation bows to Krishna, from whom Prakriti, Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva and the others came forth. Yet the same Purana gives Durga her full glory, makes Ganesha a form of Krishna himself, and honours Shiva as the one dearest to Krishna and his greatest devotee. Read in its own voice, it is a Vaishnava Purana that leaves room for every form of worship, and Shaktas quote it as readily as the devotees of Radha.

09Heard today

In Kartika, when families celebrate Tulsi vivah, the katha of Tulsi and Shankhachuda is the one told. The eight names of Tulsi from the Prakriti Khanda, Vrinda, Vrindavani, Vishvapavani, Vishvapujita, Pushpasara, Nandini, Tulsi and Krishnajivani, are recited as she is worshipped. The Savitri katha belongs to Vat Savitri, and Ganesha's birth with Shani's glance is the version many grandmothers tell. In Braj, Radha's devotees read the Krishna Janma Khanda. Gita Press publishes the Purana in Hindi, the Anandashrama press of Pune printed the Sanskrit, and Rajendra Nath Sen's English translation appeared in the Sacred Books of the Hindus series.

What it contains

1. 1
   Brahma Khanda ब्रह्मखण्ड

   Thirty adhyayas on Goloka, creation from Shri Krishna and the appearance of the devas and devis. Sudama's curse and the first threads of the kathas that later play out on earth.

2. 2
   Prakriti Khanda प्रकृतिखण्ड

   Sixty-seven adhyayas on Durga, Radha, Lakshmi, Saraswati and Savitri, and on Ganga, Tulsi, Manasa, Shashthi and the other devis. Tulsi and Shankhachuda, and Savitri's questions to Yama on karma, are told here.

3. 3
   Ganapati Khanda गणपतिखण्ड

   Forty-six adhyayas: the Punyaka vrata, the birth of Ganesha, Shani's glance and the elephant's head. Then Parashurama, Kartavirya, and the meeting at Kailash that made Ganesha Ekadanta.

4. 4
   Shri Krishna Janma Khanda श्रीकृष्णजन्मखण्ड

   A hundred and thirty-three adhyayas on the birth and leela of Shri Krishna with Shri Radha, from Mathura and Gokul to Dvaraka. It ends with Krishna's return to Goloka.

Famous verses

वन्दे कृष्णं गुणातीतं परं ब्रह्माच्युतं यतः। आविर्बभूवुः प्रकृतिब्रह्मविष्णुशिवादयः॥

I bow to Krishna, beyond the gunas, the supreme Brahman, the unfailing one, from whom Prakriti, Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva and the rest came forth.Brahmavaivarta Purana, Brahma Khanda 1, invocation verse 4 (sa.wikisource text)

अमृतपरमपूर्वं भारतीकामधेनुं श्रुतिगणकृतवत्सो व्यासदेवो दुदोह। अतिरुचिरपुराणं ब्रह्मवैवर्त्तमेतत्पिबत पिबत मुग्धा दुग्धमक्षय्यमिष्टम्॥

With the hosts of the Shrutis as her calf, Vyasadeva milked Bharati, the wish-fulfilling cow, of a nectar never tasted before: this most lovely Purana, the Brahmavaivarta. Drink, drink, you who are enchanted, this milk that never runs out.Brahmavaivarta Purana, Brahma Khanda 1, opening verse 2 (sa.wikisource text)

वृन्दां वृन्दावनीं विश्वपावनीं विश्वपूजिताम्। पुष्पसारां नन्दिनीं च तुलसीं कृष्णजीवनीम्॥

Vrinda, Vrindavani, purifier of the world, worshipped by the world, Pushpasara, Nandini, Tulsi and Krishnajivani, the life of Krishna: the eight names of Tulsi.Brahmavaivarta Purana, Prakriti Khanda 22.32 (sa.wikisource text)