stated in verses 54 and 134 respectively, indicates the influence exerted by the Pāñcarātra canonical school. Moreover a reference is made to the 18 syllabled Mantra (i.e. सनातन गोपाल मन्त्रः) in verse No. 138. It deserves mention in this connection that God is described as ब्रह्म सनातनः (vs. 13), ब्रह्म साक्षी (vs. 43), गणपतिः, नारायण:(Vs.69), कृष्ण: (72). रामः (Vs. 36) and so on, Concomitantly He is identified with शिवः, रुद्रः and हंसः (vs. 58), all of which might lead to different interpretations. But the devata par excellence is Gopāla-Rādhāa the divine couple of the universe.
The famous, oft-quoted verse-- कस्तूरि तिलकं.. .गोपाल चूडामणिः-has been directly borrowed from लीलाशुक's कृष्णकर्णामृतम्. Again in the फलश्रुति (vs. 12 d), the author of GSNhas simply copied the stanzas occurring in the विष्णुसहस्रनामस्तोत्रम्.
In view of what has been stated in the above para, we have reasons to believe that the simpler verson of GSN excerpted from the संमोहनतन्त्र might have been developed into an ornamental text by the later redactors of the poem, perhaps to give status to it on the model of विष्णुसहसनामस्तोत्रम्. Talking in terms of the principles of textual criticism, one may legitimately point out here, that the later additions made to the ornamental text might be separated in order that the question of the date of GSN might be fixed. The poem is clothed in the simple, familiar, popular anuştub verses, thus making the language of GSN lucid. This is due to the fact that it is used not merely as a Pūjā manual but also as a devotional poem which has to be recited daily for the good of the nation. There is no ambiguity in language or thought. In order that its recitation might be made sweet, the author very often indulges in alliteration as an artful aid (verses 13, 57 to 59,72,73,78,81,88, 132-133, 140 et sequentia). Linguistically speaking, there is free variation between l and r as seen in guli~guri (vs 73) and v and b in Bŗndāvana and Vŗndāvana (vs. 11, 136).. The author has referred to many place-names such as Bŗndāvana (vs. 11), Dvāraka (vs. 26), Sāketa (vs. 36) and Sri-
