Studies in the Epics and Puranas c10.42

c10.42

kalpa, Dr. Hazra tries to meet it on the ground that there are indirect references to the Śvetakalpa in the Vāyu Purāṇa.²³ With regard to the number of stanzas it seems plausible that in the days of the Anukramaṇīs the text of the Vāyu had the Revāmāhātmya and other Māhātmyas forming the latter half, totalling 24,000 stanzas in all. MS evidence also seems to favour the view that there were some texts of the Vāyu which included Revāmāhātmya in the Uttarārdha, as it declares the present text to be the first part containing 12,000²⁴ stanzas. Thus the printed text answers, to a certain extent, the particulars of the first part of the Vāyu Purāṇa as given by the Anukramaṇī writers. The only material difference concerns the number of stanzas, and the likely explanation seems to be that during quite late times, the Revāmāhātmya was separated from the Vāyu MSS and was designated as वायुपुराणांतर्गत.²⁵