The History of Indian Literature c9.44

c9.44

Side by side with the Itihása we find the *Puráṇa* mentioned in the Bráhmaṇas, as the designation of those cosmogonic inquiries which occur there so frequently, and which relate to the '*agra*' or '*beginning*' of things. When in course of time distinct works bearing this name arose, the signification of the term was extended; and these works came to comprehend also the history of the created world, and of the families of its gods and heroes, as well as the doctrine of its various dissolutions and renovations in accordance with the theory of the mundane periods (*yugas*). As a rule, five such topics are given as forming their subject (see Lassen, *I. AK.*, i. 479), whence the epithet *Pañcha-lakshaṇa*, which is cited in Amara's lexicon as a synonym of Puráṇa. These works have perished, and those that have come down to us in their stead under the name of Puráṇas are the productions of a later time, and belong all of them to the last thousand years or so. They are written (cf. Lassen, *l. c.*) in the interests of, and for the purpose of recommending, the Śiva and Vishṇu sects; and not one of them corresponds exactly, a few correspond slightly, and others do not correspond at all, with the description of the ancient Puráṇas preserved to us in the Scholiasts of Amara, and also here and there in the works themselves. "For the old narratives, which are in part abridged, in part omitted altogether, have been substituted theological and philosophical doctrines, ritual and ascetic precepts, and especially legends recommending a particular divinity or certain shrines" (Lassen, *I. AK.*, i. 481). Yet they have unquestionably preserved much of the matter of these older works; and accordingly it is not uncommon to meet with lengthy passages, similarly worded, in several of them at the same time. Generally speaking, as regards the traditions of primitive times, they closely follow the Mahá-Bhárata as their authority; but they likewise advert, though uniformly in a prophetic tone, to the historic lines of kings. Here, however, they come into the most violent conflict, not only with each other, but with chronology in general, so that their historical value in this respect is extremely small. Their number is considerable, amounting to eighteen, and is doubled if we reckon the so-called *Upapuráṇas*, in which the epic character has been thrust still more into the background, while the ritual element has come quite to the front. Up to this time only one single Puráṇa, the Bhágavata-Puráṇa, has been published—the greater part of it at least—edited [and translated] by Burnouf: but of the others we have excellent notices in Wilson's translation of the Vishṇu-Puráṇa.²⁴⁶