A Study of the Bhagavata Purana or Esoteric Hinduism

"Bhâgavata is a work of great celebrity in India and exercises a more direct and powerful influence upon the opinions and feelings of the people than perhaps any other of the Purânas. It is placed fifth in all the lists but the Padma Purâna ranks it as the eighteenth, as the extracted substance of all the rest. According to the usual specification it consists of eighteen thousand slokas, distributed amongst three hundred and thirty-two chapters divided into twelve Skandhas or books. It is named Bhâgavata from its being dedicated to the glorification of Bhagavat or Vishnu."