Ancient Indian Historical Tradition c7.140

c7.140

But in later times, and certainly after the compilation of the Purana and its passing into the hands of Romaharṣaṇa’s brahman disciples, the sūtas appear to have gradually lost this particular connexion with these matters, which became in time a speciality of certain brahmans, who thus developed into students and expounders of the Puranas. It is to this class that the description, noticed above, of Purāṇa-jñas, Paurāṇikas, &c., refers when they are brahmans. By devoting themselves especially to the Puranas, they would naturally have tended to diverge from those who studied the Vedas and to form a separate class, for they would very rarely have been able to combine proficiency in both wide fields of literature. The difference between the two classes is noticed, for mention is made of the brahmans who knew the Puranas, as already cited, and brahmans who were wise in the Veda;⁶ and Vedic literature itself discloses that the latter class knew little of Puranic tradition, as many an article in the Vedic Index shows when compared with information to be gathered from the Puranas. The priestly brahmans would have regarded the Purana-knowing brahmans as having fallen away from the highest brahmanic standard, and on the other hand the latter would naturally have magnified their own office and extolled the Puranas, and have enhanced both by incorporating distinctly brahmanic teaching and practice into the Puranas. Accordingly the Puranas, expressly or impliedly comparing themselves with the Vedas, claim superlative praise for themselves and assert the dignity of the brahmans who recited and expounded them.