Studies in the Epics and Puranas c8.113

c8.113

Without entering into details as to the relative chronology of different Purāṇas, it may be stated here that the Viṣṇu, Brahma, Brahmāṇḍa, Vāyu, Garuḍa, Padma and Varāha Purāṇas represent the earliest account of cosmogony as their primitive egg-theory, Saptarṣis, etc. remind us of the Brāhmaṇa literature, though some of the texts, no doubt, replace the world-egg theory by the Sāṅkhya theory. Saptarṣis are later changed to nine and then to ten in later Purāṇas. The Mārkaṇḍeya and Kūrma form a transitional stage, and portions of the Matsya contain later traces.⁵⁸