' Bhagavata' (or 'Bhagavatam' or 'Bhagavat', Sanskrit भागवत) means 'follower or worshipper of Vishnu'.It was the first Purana to be translated into a European language, as a French translation of a Tamil version appeared in 1788 and introduced many Europeans to Hinduism and 18th-century Hindu culture during the colonial era.

The tenth book, with about 4,000 verses, has been the most popular and widely studied. The text consists of twelve books ( skandhas or cantos) totalling 335 chapters ( adhyayas) and 18,000 verses. An oft-quoted verse (1.3.40) is used by some Krishna sects to assert that the text itself is Krishna in literary form. However the Bhagavata Purana asserts that the inner nature and outer form of Krishna is identical to the Vedas and that this is what rescues the world from the forces of evil. The text presents a form of religion ( dharma) that competes with that of the Vedas, wherein bhakti ultimately leads to self-knowledge, salvation ( moksha) and bliss. The Bhagavata Purana is a central text in Vaishnavism.

Truth re-emerges as Krishna (called ' Hari' and ' Vāsudeva' in the text) first makes peace with the demons, understands them and then creatively defeats them, bringing back hope, justice, freedom and happiness – a cyclic theme that appears in many legends. As it begins, the forces of evil have won a war between the benevolent devas (deities) and evil asuras (demons) and now rule the universe. The Bhagavata Purana, like other puranas, discusses a wide range of topics including cosmology, astronomy, genealogy, geography, legend, music, dance, yoga and culture. It is widely available in almost all Indian languages. Composed in Sanskrit and traditionally attributed to Veda Vyasa, it promotes bhakti (devotion) towards Krishna, an avatar of Vishnu, integrating themes from the Advaita (monism) philosophy of Adi Shankara, the Vishishtadvaita (qualified monism) of Ramanujacharya and the Dvaita (dualism) of Madhvacharya. The Bhagavata Purana ( Sanskrit: भागवतपुराण IAST: Bhāgavata Purāṇa), also known as the Srimad Bhagavatam, Srimad Bhagavata Mahapurana ( Śrīmad Bhāgavata Mahāpurāṇa) or simply Bhagavata, is one of Hinduism's eighteen great Puranas ( Mahapuranas).

Srimad bhagavad gita quotes