is the setting for many chapters in the
Harivamsa. The city is described as near the sea, in modern era
Gujarat; a painting of the city in the 19th century (lower). leads
Krishna and
Balarama toward Mount Gomanta. Miniature from a
Harivamsha series ascribed to
Purkhu of Kangra.
Kangra, c. 1800-1815.
Government Museum and Art Gallery, Chandigarh The bulk of the text is derived from two traditions, the tradition, that is, the five marks of the
Purana corpus one of which is the '''' genealogy, and stories about the life of Krishna as a herdsman. The text is complex, containing layers that go back to the 1st or 2nd centuries BCE. Probably there was an oral previous version because later in time, the text was enlarged by additions and was matched in style to the Mahabharata. The origin of this appendix is not precisely known but it is apparent that it was a part of the
Mahabharata by the 1st century CE because "the poet
Ashvaghosha quotes a couple of verses, attributing them to the
Mahabharata, which are now only found in the
Harivamsa." Sivaprasad Bhattacharyya, also considered that Ashvaghosha referred to the Harivamsa, and found internal and external evidence that it was an authoritative text by the first century CE and that its later redaction took place around the end of the second or beginning of the third century CE.
Edward Washburn Hopkins considered the
Mahabharata increased by the addition of the
Harivamsa c. 200 CE, but also the possible existence of Harivamsa as part of the around hundred thousand verses within the Mahabharata as it can be attested in the Southern recension of the latter.
R. C. Hazra has dated the Purana to the 4th century CE on the basis of the description of the
rasa lila in it, as according to him, the
Visnu Purana and the
Bhagavata Purana belong to the 5th century CE and 6th century CE respectively. According to Dikshit, the date of the
Matsya Purana is 3rd century CE. When we compare the biography of Krishna, the account of Raji, and some other episodes as depicted in the , it appears to be anterior to the former. Therefore, the and the can be dated to at least the 3rd century CE. J. L. Masson and
D. H. H. Ingalls regard the language of Harivamsa not later than 2nd or 3rd century CE and possibly from the 1st century CE; and André Couture that Mathura's description in Harivamsa is similar to cities of Kushana period (1st to mid-3rd century CE). By its style and contents, the appears to be anterior to the and . The verses quoted by
Asvaghosa belong to this parva. On this basis, we can safely assume the (except for the later interpolations) to be at least as old as the 1st century CE. ==Editions==