In Sri Vaishnava tradition, all three consorts of Vishnu are regarded as aspects of Lakshmi. She is primarily revered in South India, particularly in Tamil culture, as one of Vishnu's consorts. In Vishnu's avatar as Krishna, Niladevi is either regarded as Nagnajiti, the consort of Krishna in Dvārakā or in some accounts as Radha, the consort of Krishna in North Indian traditions. This pattern is consistent with what scholars working on the purāņas have described.Niladevi ( Sanskrit: नीलदेवी, romanized: Nīladevī, lit.'blue goddess'), also rendered as Neela Devi, is a Hindu goddess, and a consort of the preserver deity Vishnu, along with Sridevi and Bhudevi. A comparison of the latter two texts reveals that the Bh.pu is the last of the texts, while the Br.pu shows a combination of early and late stories. A comparison of the stories indicates that the HV was the source of the Vi.pu, which served as the source for the Br.pu and Bh.pu. The author shows that changes to these basic plots indicate the evolution of the story and suggests that the more different a story is from the basic story, the later it must be while the less different the story, the closer to contemporary it must be.

The stories are analyzed, divided into a series of plots and compared across the different texts.

A study of the Balarāma stories also contributes to current scholarship on the textual history of the Hindu purāņas. A comparison of Hindu and Jain purāņa stories of Balarāma also reveal that the Jain Balarāma stories are derived from independent sources other than the Hindu purāņas. The author demonstrates that the early supremacy and personality of Balarāma is reflected in the depiction of this deity in select Jain texts: the Vasudevahińdī (VH), the Harivamśapurāna (HVP), the Cauppannamahāpurisacariyam (CMC) and the Trişaşţiśalāpuruşacaritra (TSP). In this process, Balarāma’s personality is modified from his association with food, abundance, fertility and protection to that of an ordinary warrior. The modifications introduced in the earliest stories reveal a process whereby Balarāma’s popularity and status declined, and he became a minor deity as Kŗşņa grew in importance. Through careful analysis of Balarāma stories from these texts, the author argues that Balarāma was a multifaceted deity of considerable importance in early Vaişņavism.

Hindu and Jain Mythology of Balarāma: Change and Continuity in an Early Indian Cult Vemsani, Lavanya Description This book studies the evolution of Balarāma in Vaişņavism through comparative analysis of Balarāma stories from selected Hindu purāņas: the Harivamśa (HV), the Vişņu purāņa (Vi.pu), the Brahmā purāņa (Br.pu), and the Bhāgavata purāņa (Bh.pu).

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