History of the religeous title bhagavAn

[Dr Y. Vassilkov]

Dear Harry,

    there was intensive correspondence on this subject in Indology in March
1999 (or was it 1998). Will you look in the archives? I remember, there were
very useful references to a book by Dhavamony and his commentary to a
passage in van Buitenen's translation of the Gita. I shall send you more
detailed answer in a day or two, now let me just mention an article where
the term "bhagavAn" is discussed: J.Gonda. The Concept of a personal God in
ancient Indian religious thought. - "Studia missionaria", Roma 1968, 17
(1968), pp. 111-136, reprinted in: J.Gonda. Selected studies. Vol. IV.
Leiden, 1975, pp/ 1-26. I shall also try to answer some of your questions:

> 1) Is this ref. ShV. Up. 3,11 the earliest occurance of the term in the
> literature?  If not, then what is its earliest occurance in the
literature?

The term "bhagavat" occurs often in the RV in the sense of  "one who
possesses/owns a [happy] lot", "one who is able to give/send a happy lot
(good luck)", "benefactor", etc. A typical verse is "Let Indra become a
bhagavat, and through him we shall become bhagavat-s (bhagavantaH) too" (no
exact reference; quoted from memory). It was used with reference to any god
who was expected to send "good luck", and used as a "provoking" form of
address which invited the god addressed to fulfil a singer's wish. My own
suggestion is that it first became the constant epithet of a god of personal
fate (such as Vedic Bhaga [whose name semantically = Bhagavat], or Epic
DhAtA), and later started to be used as an address (first of all, in prayer)
to the theistic God, be it ViSNu, or Ziva.
     At the same time it was probably used as a honorific title with
reference to religious teachers. The original meaning of "bhagavat" in
relation to Buddha was probably "the Teacher" which turned in the course of
time to "Lord Buddha".
> 2) Would the Buddhist use of the term come earlier or later than its usage
> as a title of Vishnu?
    It seems to me that at the present condition of our knowledge we cannot
say with any certainty who was the first "Bhagavan" - ViSNu, or Ziva, or
Buddha. Since about 3rd-2nd centuries BC there is some evidence for all of
them. It could be, after all, a parallel development.

> 4) Was it used as a title of other Gods than Vishnu (other than the
> occasional reference to Shiva noted by Gonda)?
        Not in post-Vedic times, especially when it became the Hindu
theistic term, forming a system with *bhakta* and *bhakti*.

> 5) Did it ever occur as other than a religeous title.  I've also come
across
> a note by A.L. Basham that he believes the term "bhagavAn" originated as
the
> title of  feudal lords who shared their spoils with their followers.

        I doubt that Basham was right. Another "social" interpretation of
the term was suggested by D.Chattopadhyaya and other Indian marxists:
*bhagavan* as one who distributed "shares" in "primitive communism" society.

> 6) Was it also used as a title of human saints in pre-modern times?

       The term all the time continued to be used  as a honorific for
religious teachers. See, e.g. the title of an early mediaeval
Sanskrit-PrAkrit play "BhagavadajjukA" - "The Teacher [who became] AjjukA" -
about a religious teacher (called by his disciples "Bhagavat") who exchanged
bodies with AjjukA (AryakA), a courtesan.

Hope this helps.

    Best regards,

Yaroslav Vassilkov