Section IV. The Purānas and Dharmashastra
Volume V: Part II
- Abhaya and Saumya)
- (on Grahayajña, copies Yaj.), and (Gajaśānti), (Aśvaśānti), (speaks of
- Bhaviṣyatpurāṇa 817 ; differences as to names of 18 P. and great differences as to their extent and contents 830 ; divided into three groups
- sāttvika, rājasa and tāmasa and their main objects , do contain ancient legends and traditions, but very much tampered with ; early Sanskrit writers like
- Garuḍapurāṇa
- (discarded by Ballālasena), (summary of Gītā in verses), contains many verses identical with Yāj. Smṛti , has a verse almost identical with an introductory verse of Harṣacarita, has several monosyllabic unmeaning mantras like *hrām*, present G. contains a summary of Parāśarasmṛti ; provides that āhgaṇyāsa is part of worship, japa, homa
- History of Dharmaśāstra : Vol. I
- on pp , vol. II on pp. , 31n-33n, 218n-9n, 674n-5n. , . , 1096n-97, 1217n-18, ( for Madhuparka ), ( for Sautrāmaṇi ), ( Upanayana for women ), ( marrying a maternal uncle's daughter and gift or sale of horses ), ( distinction between *yāga*
- Itihāsa-purāṇa
- meaning of, acc. to com. on Śat. Br. ; in
- Viṣṇupurāṇa of 23
- verses), (names of works on Pāñcarātra), (gives summary of Gītā in verses), (mantras of tāntrik type), (on dīkṣā), contains several hundred verses that are identical with Yaj. Smṛti, note on ; one Agnipūṛāṇa discarded by Ballālasena ; present Agni (in Ānan. ed.) is not the original Purāṇa)
- Vāyu state that they mention the principal kings of three lines
- constructs history from earliest times to Bhārata war, which he holds to have taken place about B. C.; brushes aside the duration between Parīkṣit and Nandas, criticism of the methods and views of Pargiter ; holds that there were two traditions, one Brahmanic and the other Kṣatriya represented in the Purāṇas, holds dozens of times that brāhmaṇas had no historic sense, holds that extant Purāṇas are Sanskritizations of Prākṛit works ; is wrong in identifying the
- Vāyupurāṇa
- Viṣṇu, Viṣṇupurāṇa, Vyāsa) : ; are far more reliable than most of the Upapurāṇas 83637; are used for divining the future ; caution required before recognizing P. as reliable representatives for ascertaining the general state of Indian society and beliefs ; classification of P. as encyclopædic, historical, sectarian etc. ; connect different gods with the conferring of health, wealth, knowledge, mukti ; contain at least thousand verses on Vratas ; contain verses, gāthās and anuvaṃśaslokas sung by Paurāṇikas ; contents of all P. noted by Agni
- Śuṅga
- Āndhra and others ; Kumārilabhaṭṭa on the contents of P. ; lay emphasis on bhakti, on ahiṁsā, on pūrtadharma ; list of Purāṇas completed long before A. D. ; list of principal Purāṇas together with the number of ślokas in each acc. to different works ; M. as a compound word (itihāṣapurāṇam) or as two words (itihāṣaḥ purāṇam) in Tai. Ā, Chan. Up. and Bṛ. Up. ; list of works, papers and translations of p ; m. by the extant Mahābhārata in numerous places ; m. by Kauṭilya and Manusmṛti ; m. by Kauṭilya and Yāj. Smṛti as one of the fourteen branches of knowledge and for japa ; Mahābhārata quotes hundreds of verses called Ānuvaṁśa and gāthās, many of which deal with Paurāṇika matters and have a Paurāṇika ring ; Mahāpurāṇa (word) applied to the P. in Viṣṇu and Bhāgavata ; mantra 'om namo Nārāyaṇāya' confers all objects, frees from sins and leads to mokṣa, acc. to Narasiṁha and Vāmana , Matsyapurāṇa sets out other characteristics of P. ; Mit. prescribes a smārta mantra in śrāddha which occurs in Garuda and Skanda P. and some digests prescribe Vedic and Paurāṇika mantras even for brāhmaṇas in religious rites ; modern works and papers dealing with several questions relating to Purāṇas set out ; Nāradīya Purāṇa describes the relation between Veda, Smṛti and Purāṇas and provides that he who calls P. as arthavādas goes to hell ; myths and legends of Purāṇas on creation of universe, about eclipses etc. must in modern times held as mere myths ; no Mahāpurāṇa composed after the 9th century A. D. but additional matter was unscrupulously added in several Purāṇas, the worst example being that of Bhaviṣya (part III) which contains stories of Adam and Eve, Taimur, Akbar, Caitanya, Nādirshah ; not restricted to religious matters or to five characteristics but some of them deal exhaustively with rājanīti, number of P. is traditionally eighteen called Mahāpurāṇas and enumerated in many Purāṇas, though some Purāṇas say originally there was only one, on doctrine of Karma ; on rebirth for sins ; one important topic is 'avatāras' 922ff; only pursue an attitude to Veda and sacrifices that is found in such Upaniṣads as Muṇḍaka and Katha ; order in which P. are enumerated is not uniform, most putting Brahma as first, while Vāyu and Devībhāgavata put Matsya as first and Skanda puts Brahmāṇḍa as first
Section IV. The Purānas and Dharmashastra
THE PURĀṆAS AND dharmaśāstra CHAPTER XXII