ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses question relating to the involvement of Brahmins in the practice of image-worship, one that has generated a fair amount of scholarly discussion and which reflects on Yāmuna's own participation in the debate. In retrospect, it may seem strange that it took so long for a full-blown validating attempt such as Yāmuna's to be made. One just has to scour the volumes of Kane's well-known History of Dharmaśāstra for references to image- and temple-worship in ancient times to appreciate how well established this practice had become before Yāmuna appeared on the scene. Yāmuna was faced with a task of almost Sisyphean magnitude in his attempt to justify the Pañcaratric/Bhagavata priestly Brahmins, as well as his liturgical cult, as orthodox. The chapter explains how van Buitenen described Yāmuna's project as "a plea for the emancipation of popular religion". Yāmuna's was an overt attempt to reconcile Tantric and Vedic streams of ritual practice.
