Ancient Indian Historical Tradition c11.8

c11.8

The editions cited are the Ānandāśrama for the Vāyu, and the Veṅkaṭeśvara for the Brahmāṇḍa. Where they differ, the former is generally preferable, because the latter is not a critical edition, and also appears to have been silently emended by the editor, as, for instance, where it reads iti śrutaḥ and viśrutaḥ instead of iti śrutiḥ (p. 19), and probably where it avoids a difficulty by substituting yogeśvarasya for Pauroravasya (i.e. Paurūravasya).² But the Vāyu is not invariably better, because sometimes corruptions have passed undetected in it, as where the Viṣṇuvṛddhas have been misplaced,³ and where it reads Ayāsya’s name wrongly.⁴ The Brahmāṇḍa has unfortunately one very serious lacuna in its account after iii, 74, 103, where the latter half of the Ānava genealogy, the whole of that the Pauravas, and a portion of the Kali age dynasties have been lost, namely, all the matter contained in Vāyu 99, 102–290. These two appear to be the oldest of the Puranas that we possess now, and are on the whole the most valuable in all matters of traditional history.