PURANA SAMHITA. BY S. P. L. Nanasmasaswant, P.O.L. {the preven articles ea snmiy ofthe nportast ection ofthe author's Introdntos, to the PURANASAMIITA restore. by, in which every pot is scused fy alte dete Tae cbjecto the present tcl isto nequslat the Oriental scholars with terest of Or Inbourrof the author tothe Sela of Paranlc resenrch ertelalog over 90 yeas end to ounce the restortiou of the PURANASSAMHUTA whieh sented Yo be regarded as the So nto! Foor of Toda being compiled about 500 Cy aecountiog the history of Ghar ‘arg rom th Mth Milesi ve REA) CONTENTS.-1, Iotroclory. IL The Purkgan 11. The Purtgecathites V. Sexes fo- the Peraqeetibita. V. Attempts to restore tke Pursusemhita Vie Pasdpusshite estore Vins The contertsef the Pertgrsauhite. VIIE ‘The dete ofthe Pactgusuhita IX, Costes, 1: IwsRopucrony, ‘The field of Sanskrit literature isso vast that it would be no exagyer ation to say that every branch of itis ft to be treated as an independent liter tore itself. ‘The Vedic literature has its own students who devoted all ther fives to its study. Similarly the. Vyakarapa literature with its own scholars the Nylya with its tarkika-scholars and the Vediutic with its Vedantists—all deserve to be classed as independent literatures. Somé branches of Sauskrit Iiterature, however, were ot so fortunate as to have their special following ‘The Purdnic end the Aysrvedie literatnres are two of such fllfated ones. Bst from the beginning of the preseut century some scholars have eagerly turned their attention to the study of the Puripic literature, both in our country aud in the west, Among the most prominent of such workers in Europe may be mentioned as Mr. Y. E, Pargiter of Oxford (England) and Prof. Wilibald Kirfel of Bonn (Germany). That the results of their labours are unsatisfactory ‘natural corollary from the fact that sampradaya or tradition is beyond thei reach, ‘The Purapic literature is specially dependent on a thorough knowledge ofits tradition rather than on independent investigation. Hence the inves gations of both the foreign scholars, unaided by tradition, strayed from the right path and became unserviceable for the purpose for which they were intended, In our country also, the exitical study of Purdpic literature is attempel from the beginning ofthe present century only. At first the attention of scholars ‘was ditected towards small portions of the Purdyas, mostly connected with carly chronology called the Bharisyadrijanukirtanam. So far as it is kuovs| fhe attempt at a complete study vfthe Puiayie Htarature was uot previously tmdertaken by any scholar. ‘The present author started his enthusiastic stud Ye literature as early as 1910 and steadily and patiently pursued it for tong period of more then thirty years. Iu the sections that follow. he sho: hhow he has attempted to estimate the historical value of the diferent Pura their relation to an authenticated ancient historical record, their evolution religious purposes and their gradual deviation from the original historical fons Hon to a complete religious one. PORANA SAMEITA, 55 Il Tue Purawas. ‘The Purdas, or more strictly the Mabi-pordpes, are eighteen iu umber, ‘These are the recognized works of Puragie literature. Besides these there are some other works going by the name of Puriga, but their genuineness ts such is open to doubt. Siva-pnrana Niamata-burana, Deibhigovata, Garge- tama ete belong to this clas. But on this account, the historial value of | these works should not be under-estimated, as they are the only sources thro- wing Tight on come pointe not explained rhe recognized Purtpae, Even in the recognised Purdgas there are works which are of no value ffom the historical point of view. ‘The eighteen Puriyas' are :— 1. ea! Raat roa) tbe | mg! Ve, ARE 3. air SOT ve ford AE yo. fie | 1 BL aa 40 EL 1, 6, RE | 1 al Ae | ‘The grantha-sakbya (total number of verses) of these Purdyas is noted in some of them. Asa matter of fact, the correctness of these numbers is questionable, No existing Purdga (either in print or manuscript) possesses the mentioned extent. ‘Perhaps the numbers include a vide margin for future additions, They therefore deserve no sesious consideration. ‘The nature of these Purdnas is such that from the time of their birth they served as seligious manuals, though the word ‘Puraga’ originally meant ‘an authenticated history (including geography).’ ‘The chief function of the Purdyas has come to be to explain elaborately the benefits of religious ceremonies, such as danams? vratams,* tirtha-yatras,* pitréraddhas, ete. Nadi-mahatmyams and kshetra-mahatmyams also formed part of them- Indeed they are the manuals of the porohit-class who have to iustruct the people in religious ceremovies. In spite of this, portions of the Purayas, or strictly the early Purigas, are still ‘Puripa’ in the original sense of the word. The priestly class was thus sepsible in producing the present Purdgas. It is the great fortune of India that the original function of the * Puraya' is still preserved in these Purigas or at least in some of them. Indians thereby possess the recorded history of their 1, There se muemonte verte which helps w ia remembering the names of the 18 Partgas, et wei aa end wage vat geri eeeTE Here the fntil letters of the name ofthe; work are enumerated, 2 They ae gfte to Brahmans Seeding Brabmuane with e number of dahes, 4. In these end In the Mtrir2ddhas also, Worship of Brahmans with gite In cash and lad ‘od feeding them form the priacipa theme66 JOURNAL OF SRI VENKATESVARA ORIENTAL INSTITOTR, country extending as far back as 4000 n.c. Thus “the subject matter of the carly Pordgas divide: itself into two parts, vie (1) the religions or the main part and_(2) the historical or the secondary part. ‘The historical material, though it occupies a subordinate position in the book, is more important to the scholar and the historian as it supplies him with matter for the construction of his country’s past, From the staud point of this historical material, the Purdgas fall into three groups. The first group, consisting of Vayu, Brahmanda~ and ‘Matssa-Puranas contain nearly al the historical material — almost in. veibatia terms — handed down through tradition from times immemorial. The second group comprising Vishnu-, Bhagavata- and Vamana -Puriinas, contain the material iu a condensed form, without agreement among themselves or with those of the first group. Vishqw reproduces it mostly in prose and Bkagavata in poetry. ‘The peculiarity of Vamana is that it supplies material different from the others, The third group embracing most of the remaining Purigas contains very litle matter of historical value." ‘The Agneya and the Garuda form & separate and inferior group by themselves. ‘The Agneya is a conglomerate of separate works on Grammar, Phoueties, Rhetoric, Me treats of mantra-dastra and its Uttarakanda imaginary Preta and Naraka worlds. ‘The authorship of the eighteen Purdgas is traditionally attributed to Vyasa, Krishua Pardsara. The language, the sryle and the contents of the Giffereut Purapas are so dissimilar that they belie the tradition It will be explained in the following section why such a tradition established itself, IMT. ‘Tae PoraNa-sawmrra, ‘Phe Vayu-purina (as well as the Brakmanda-purana)) furnishes us with the informaticn that Vyasa, Krishna Pardéara wrote the Paraya-satihit ‘Phe school of Aitihasikas and the Purdua-sambita age described in a few stanzas which are found verbatim in the Brahmanda-purana also. As they are only eleven in number, I reproduce them here for the information of the readers, Pe a serene gt ae Fa TUTE: FTE | Se ee iter: TE 1491 ee Se: ete, or | fora gre GET ArT 98 Bang serra aa Rs ate aftonng weer YE 46 I sree: wera; | orriat sa gomdivence: 11 ey i) PURANA SAMHTTA 56 uxt ae TATA: IT GeMEATTA: | sae ga oe at CE: 1 4 aregritstweter fet frge | sats dere grat eT: NG Bre a srr: gePhg EAT: | ater eat: ee: GPa HE 149 ae: eitersal efi: aera: 1 sara = age ewer e(aA RE MMe TT sate fe sara: aaidevictiea: 1 nara eg eet 1 TAT LS 3a sete: a towers | Sorc a: eAPFENT I $2 sant geet at aguerae'| satereatis sean seat (Vayu-purdna. 1) ‘The teachers of the Puragic school are called the Aitihasitas, ‘The Tine of Aitihasitas is thus described: Vyasa Keisha Piraara initiated Sita Lomaharsaga in the Jaya-sarhhita (the original of the Mahabharata and in the Purdna-sanhita, Sita Lomaharsana, in his trrn, initiated bis own soa, Ugraéravas in the Itihasa (i. e.Jaya-samhita) and six other disciples in the Poraya (Purana-sarnhita).. ‘The six disciples ate (i) Sumati Atreya (i) Aktte- vaga Kagyapa (ii) Aguivarcas Bharadvaja (jv) Mitrayw Vasista (v) Somadatta Savargi and (vi) Suéarman SéahSapiyana ‘Vyasa Krishga Pariéara wrote the Purdna-sanhita with information derived from Akhyanas, Upakhyanas, Gathas and Kalpavakyas which were handed down from generation to generation by means of oral tradition. Some of these were iu verse form, His study and proficiency in them enabled him to vwiite the Purana-samhita which he tanght to Sita Lomabarsaga. Oxy this sccount, the Samhita came to be known as Sita's recension. Of the she dis ciples of Sata, only three became promulgators of their own Sarhhitas, Kaéyapa and Savarai had their own different Savihites while Samnéapayann had his ‘own peculiar one. ‘The original Purdna-samhita of Vyisa Krishna Paraéara, thus developed into four recensions. Of these that of SinhSapayana was peculiar being in the form of a dialogue and diered in this respect from the ‘These four ther three which were in the form of a continuoua narrative. fecensions, however, differed very litte from each other in subject matter. ‘They aze said to be in the form of mere variations of the same text lke the sak of the Vedas and almost possess verbatim agreement with one another, Each Savshita consisted of four sections called piidas and each Saithita, excep: ting Samfapayana’s comprised 4000 dlokas of stanzas58 JOURNAL OF : AL VENKATESVARA ORIENTAL INSTITUTE Elsewhere the Vayu-purdna (also Brahmiinda) records the names of the four #adas thus — ie se: or: TS EOE: | sega sitar ord OH 9 193 I em fF Ft (VaywP. 1 iv) ‘They are (i) Prakriya-pada (ii) Anusatiga-pada (iii) Upodghata-pide and (iv) Upasarshara-pada, IV, Seancit voR TH PURANA-SAMHITA, ‘The facts presented above regarding the Purdna-sarithita cleatly show that the work relates genuine history constructed from pure historical tradition unadulterated with auy sort of religious beliefs. Being the work of Vyass Krishna Paraéara, it must have been composed about 1940 », c., the date of the Great Bharata Battle being 1945 n.c. Tt will be shown below that this date is arrived at from a computation of the data supplied by the Appendix-chapter to the Purdna-saruhita, This Samhita is thus older than the Atharea-veda, the Brabmapas and the Upanisads Only the Rig-veda Sarhhita is older than the Purdna-saishita, ‘The latter is necessary for understanding the allusions found in the Rig-veda Samhita, which abounds with them. Hence itis said — afheregeemat Re sade ‘The Purdna-saithita is thus the oldest historical record of the world, Iisa pity that such a precious work should be lost to the world. The first and foremost business of every educationist of India must be to search for it and recover it. That mouumental work of refereuce, the Catalogus Cate: Togorum of Th Auftecht, fils to'record it. The various reports on the search for Sanskrit manuscripts by eminent scholars instituted by the Goveruient fae xo better. No list of publie or private libraries contains the name of the work. {tis neediess to detail here the fruitless attempts made for its recovery uot oul) in or country but also abroad. It may firmly be affirmed that no imanuscrip. of tye Parana-sahita exists i any country. V. My arrexrts 10 RESTORE THE PURANA-SAMHITA, ‘An attempt to recover and restore the Purdya-saiihita was suggested to me—thovgh vaguely — by two tnings, and I entertained hopes of recovering it as early as 1915, the 6th year of my Purapic studies. First, from my memory of the contents of the Purdyas, iu the study of ‘which T spared no pains. T found that some stanzas are repeated. verbetio. from some other Purigas, ‘This repetition, T thought, must have some significance. Secondly, Ma Raghwoamea, remarks — ah ggemetastn atdreorrrneetiia | 5 itha, in his Saijivini on the first stanza in the PURANA SAMBIEA 59 Here Mallinatha styles Vayuepurana as Sathbitd and it struck me that this atement must have some significance, The Vayu-purana, perhaps, has some close relation to the Saiubita, Keepfog these facts in my mind, T began to exatnine the slokas which were repeated in different Purdgas-| Staunch sectarian Purdpas, Tike Padma, Karma, Liga, ete, do not eantaia these stanzas. Those Tike Vishnu, Markandeya, etc. contain very few of them. Matsya and Harivariéa (although the later is not a Poriga ) contain lninéreds of stanzas in common with Vays and: Brahmanda, while these last Purdgas have thousands of stanzas in common though they are not in a continuous line. A careful study of these scattered common passages reveals a continuity and sequence in the subject matter. This induced me to copy the common passages in the diferent Porigas in parallel colamas on big sheets. | tst treated in this manner the account of the Yadava dynasty in the Brahmanda, Vayu, Matsya aud the Harivaiisa, Tn the common text I observed a closer resemblance between Brahmayde and Vayu on the ove hhand and between Matya and Harieahda on the other. This arraugement in parallel columns revealed certain omissions here and these — which occasionally appeated to have been intentional. When I made suficient progress in the formation of the parallel text, I was convinced that the common nortien was the Puriina-samshita But there'was some difficulties which had to be got over before the thesis could be established. (A.) The first difficulty was that the common portion to Vayu and Brakmanda purdnas numbered 7557 stanzas. ‘The two lacunae iu the Brahmanda purdna extended to 826 stanzas. So the total of the common stanzas come to 8983 — a number slightly more than twice the expressly stated extent ( 4000 stanzas) of the Purana Sarnhita, This has come about in the following manuer, ‘The priestly caste deliberately incorporated in the Purana Sasbhita, portions relating to subjects not coming strictly within the purview of the Sanita but to which they wanted the lay people to attach equal importauce with it, such as the worship of the Gods like Vishpu, Nilakantha eto\like stotras, stavas etc.) the offerings to the dead (éraddha), Astrology and so forth. The Savihite must be wholly Purdgie of histuricel in content and anything not Puripic in nature must be considered as extraneous to it and scrupulously eschewed. Such portions have been carefully removed by me and the genuine Sarihita restored. ‘This work of sepaiating Puripic (historical) matter from the uon-Pordgic fs a very difficult one requiring minute study, vast experience, great discrimi- nation aud immeuse piecation in the worker. Dexterity in thie work may be Tikened to the gift of the swan in separating milk and water. (B.) The next difficulty was with regard to the conflicting synchro nisms. Though alarming at first, this reduced itself to be ouly apparent ou a thorough understanding of the correct grder of the contents: ‘The ueglected condition of the Puranas led to veritable misunderstandings which in their turn led to wrong teadings. As a result, for instance, the Paiichala chronology,