Studies in the Epics and Puranas c8.92

c8.92

Though not as all-comprehensive and encyclopaedic as the great *Mahābhārata*, the Purāṇas also aim at incorporating anything and everything in their text answering to यदिहास्ति तदन्यत्र यन्नेहास्ति न कुत्रचित् ।⁴⁸ The anxiety of the writers of the Purāṇas to make their texts as all-inclusive as possible would be evident from the definitions of the Purāṇas themselves. Originally described as *Pañcalakṣaṇa*, later on ten characteristics came to be attached to the Purāṇas, and the *Bhāgavata* mentions itself as answering the *Daśalakṣaṇa* definition.⁴⁹ As is natural with such ambitious works like the *Mahābhārata*, which are the products of different periods and the compositions of different authors and whose aim is to include so many things, there are bound to be a number of inconsistencies and contradictions as also want of systematic arrangement.