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I would like to have the list of commentators of the Srimad Bhagavatam (the one dedicated to Lord Krishna). How many of these commentaries have being translated to English? Are any of the commentaries available online?

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5 Answers 5

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I know of 29 commentaries on the Bhagvatam. This book contains 28 Sanskrit commentaries:

1) Kardama Kshama (Anvaya)
2) Srila Sridhar Swami's Bhavartha-Dipika
3) Srila Vamshidhara's Bhavartha-Dipika-Prakash
4) Srila Jiva Goswami's Vaishnava Toshani
5) Srila Jiva Goswami's Brihad-Vaishnava Toshani
6) Sri Sudarshan Suri's Shukapakshiyam
7) Srila Srinath Chakravarti's Chaitanya Mata Manjusha
8) Srimad Viraraghavacharya's Bhagavat-Chandrika
9) Srimad VijaydhvajTirtha's Pada-Ratnavali
10) Srila Jiva Goswami's Krama-Sandarbha and Brhat Krama-Sandarbha
11) Srila Vishwanath Chakravarti Thakura's Sarartha-Darshini
12) Srila Baladeva Vidyabhushana's Vaishnavanandini
13) Sri Chalarinarayanacharya's Bhagavat Tatparya Tippani
14) Sri Satyabhinavayati's Durghata Bhava Dipika
15) Sri Pandhari Narayanacharya's Durgatoddhara
16) Sri Prabhucharan's Sri Tippani
17) Sri Purushottam Charan's Subodhini Prakash
18) Sri Vallabh Maharaja's Sri Subodhini Lekha
19) Sri Dixit Lalu Bhatta's Subodhini Yojana
20) Sri Bhagavadeeya Nirbhaya Rama Bhatta's Subodhini Karika Vyakhya
21) Sri Ganga Sahay's Anvitartha Prakashika
22) Sri Gopalananda Muni's Nigudhartha Prakash Vyakhyanam
23) Sri BhagavatPrasadacharya's Bhakta Manoranjani
24) Sri Harisuri's Bhakti Rasayanam
25) Sri Shukadev-Acharya's Siddhanta-Pradipa
26) Srimad Vallabhacharya's Subodhini
27) Sri Purushottamcharan Goswami's Subodhini-Prakash
28) Sri GiridharLal Goswami's Balprabodhini

Whew!

To that list I would add the English commentary written by Srila Prabhupada and his followers, which you can read here. In any case, most of these Sanskrit commentaries haven't been translated into English, except for Vallabhacharya's Subodhini which is available in print form in English here and elsewhere. But it's not available online in English.

But even if these commentaries aren't available in English, we do have the next best thing: the Motilal Banarsidass translation of the Srimad Bhagavatam, which summarizes what different commentators say about each verse. You can read it here.

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  • Oh wow, it contains Sudarshana Suri's work as well. Are the sacred 28 available for the rest of the 11 cantos?
    – Surya
    Jan 8, 2018 at 10:17
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    @Surya The other volumes only contain 11 commentaries rather than 28: dandavats.com/?p=10697 Maybe some commentators only commented on the 10th Skandha, because they considered that the most important part. Jan 8, 2018 at 11:57
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    @SuryaKantaBoseChowdhury Sudarshana Suri's Shukapakshiyam and Viraraghavacharya's Bhagavad Chandrika. The Shukapakshiyam is the older one. Feb 27, 2018 at 17:59
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    @SuryaKantaBoseChowdhury Sudarshana Suri lived in the 13th century, Viraraghavacharya lived in the 14th century. Feb 27, 2018 at 18:36
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    If anyone is interested in English translation of Vishwanath Chakravarthy thakur, I can send to your email Ids
    – user16618
    Oct 26, 2018 at 15:34
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Surendranath Dasgupta in his work, A History of Indian Philosophy, Volume 4 - Indian Pluralism, gives a non-exhaustive list of 44 commentaries on Srimada Bhāgavata-purāṇa.

Chapter XXIV - The Bhāgavata-purāṇa, A History of Indian Philosophy

Part 1 - The Bhāgavata-purāṇa (introduction)

Some of these commentaries are:

  1. Amṛta-raṅgiṇī,

  2. Atmapriyā,

  3. Kṛṣṇa-padī,

  4. Caitanya-candrikā,

  5. Jaya-maṅgalā,

  6. Tattva-pradīpikā,

  7. Tātparya-candrikā,

  8. Tātparya-dīpikā,

  9. Bhagavallīlā-cintāmaṇi,

  10. Rasa-mañjarī,

  11. Śukapakṣīyā Prabodhinī,

  12. a ṭīkā by Janārdana bhaṭṭa,

  13. a ṭīkā by Narahari,

  14. Prakāśa by Śrīnivāsa,

  15. Tattva-dīpikā by Kalyāṇa Rāya,

  16. a ṭīkā by Kṛṣṇa bhaṭṭa,

  17. a ṭīkā by Kaura Sādhu,

  18. a ṭīkā by Gopāla Cakravartī,

  19. Anvaya-bodhinī by Cūḍāmaṇi Cakravartī,

  20. Bhāva-prakāśikā by Narasimhācārya,

  21. a ṭīkā by Yadupati,

  22. Subodhinī by Vallabhācārya,

  23. Pada-ratnāvalī by Vijayadhvaja-tīrtha,

  24. a ṭīkā by Vitthala Dīkṣita,

  25. Sārārtha-darśinī by Viśvanātha Cakravartī,

  26. a ṭīkā by Viṣṇusvāmin,

  27. Bhāgavata-candrikā by Vīrarāghava,

  28. Bhāvārtha-dīpikā by Śivarāma,

  29. Bhāvārtha-dipikā by Śrīdhara-svāmī,

  30. Sneha-pūraṇī by Keśavadāsa,

  31. a ṭīkā by Śrīvāsācārya,

  32. a ṭīkā by Satyābhinava-tīrtha,

  33. a ṭīkā by Sudarśana Sūri,

  34. a ṭīkā by Braja-bhūṣaṇa,

  35. Bhāgavata-purāṇārka-prabhā by Hari-bhānu,

  36. Bhāgavata-purāṇa-prathama-śloka-ṭīkā by Jayarāma and Madhusūdana Sarasvatī,

  37. Pañcama-skandha-ṭīkā by Vallabhācārya,

  38. Subodhinī by Bālakṛṣṇa Yati,

  39. Vaiṣṇava-toṣiṇī by Sanātana Gosvāmī,

  40. Budharañjinī by Vāsudeva,

  41. Nibandha-prakāśa by Vitthala Dīkṣita,

  42. Anukramaṇikā by Vallabhācārya,

  43. Ekādaśa-skandha-tātparya-candrikā by Brahmānanda,

  44. Anukramaṇikā by Vopadeva.


So, there are atleast 44 known commentaries on the Srimada Bhāgavatam-Purāṇa.

However, kindly note that almost all of these commentaries remains unknown and un-published, let alone being translated into English.

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Srimad AnandatIrthabhagavatpAda famously known as Madhvacharya, founder of Dvaita school of Vedanta, has written a commentary on Srimad Bhagavatam known as Bhagavata tatparya nirnaya. Though it is not a regular commentary on each and every shloka of Bhagavatam, it explains difficult and important shlokas/verses, provides meaning to many key/important words present in every chapter of each skandha. In the beginning, it beautifully explains the importance and greatness of SrimadBhagavatam among all other scriptures. It quotes verses from more than two hundred old vedic scriptures and works to explain the meaning of Bhagavatam verses. I would definitely say, it is the oldest available commentary on Srimad Bhagavatam, considering the date of Sri Madhvacharya either 1238-1317 AD or 1199-1278 AD. Probably, all other later commentaries on SrimadBhagavatam, have drawn considerable inspiration from this amazing and invaluable work.

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Though Bhagavan Satya Sai didn't write a full fledged commentary on bhagavatam, he summarized so that even common person can grasp the essence.

He wrote a book named Bhagavata_Vahini which can be downloaded for free from here.

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One other commentary is: Rasikāhlādinī by Narayana Bhatta.

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