History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v1.c6.s20.9

v1.c6.s20.9

The constitution of the original text of the purāṇas is a Herculean task which has not yet been attempted. Not only is there difference of opinion among the purāṇas about the names of the 18 Mahā-Purāṇas, but there is divergence as regards the extent of the several purāṇas. For example, the commentator Viṣṇucitta of the Viṣṇupurāṇa says (on III. 6. 20-22) that the extent of the Viṣṇupurāṇa is variously given at 8000, 9000, 10000, 22000, 24000, but that he comments on a text of 6000 ślokas only. The Agnipurāṇa (272. 10-11) says that it contains 12000 ślokas, while the Bhāgavata (XII. 13), the Brahmavaivarta, the Padma (ādi. 62) say that it contains 15400 ślokas and the Skanda (V. 3) and the Matsya 53 give the extent of the Agni as 16000. The Kūrma, according to the Bhāgavata contains 17000, according to the Matsya 18000 and only 8000 according to the Agni (272. 19). Though there is a remarkable continuity in India as to religious thoughts and practices, yet the popular religion of modern Hindus is pre-eminently paurāṇic. The purāṇas contain thousands of ślokas on dharmaśāstra matters, they are a rich mine awaiting exploration by careful students of social and religious questions and shed a flood of light on the development of religious beliefs and practices in medieval and modern India. Therefore the re-constitution of the text of the purāṇas is a problem will have to be tackled in the near future. Besides the several purāṇas, eighteen Upapurāṇas also are enumerated in some of the Purāṇas. Vide Garuḍa (223. 17 ff), Skanda (V. 3. chap. I. 45-62 and VII. I. chap. 2), Padma (Pātāla-khaṇḍa chap. 111. 95-98) and Matsya (53. 59 ff) for Upapurāṇas.305a Besides the Mahāpurāṇas and Upapurāṇas, there are other works of the purāṇa class such as Gaṇeśa, Maudgala, Devī, Kalki &c. The Padmapurāṇa (Uttara-khaṇḍa chap. 263) divides the 18 purāṇas into three groups, *sāttvika*, *rājasa* and *tāmasa*, and says that the Viṣṇu, Nāradīya, Bhāgavata, Garuḍa, Padma, and Varāha are *sāttvika*. The Matsya (53) also speaks of this division. The Liṅgapurāṇa (39. 63-66) speaks of the twenty expounders of dharma just as Yājñavalkya does and quotes the two verses in the form in which the Mit. presents them (and not Viśvarūpa), while the Padma (Uttarakhanda 263. 86-89) divides the eighteen smṛtis into three groups of *sattvika*, *rājasa* and *tāmasa*.305b It would be quite clear to any reader of the purāṇas and the smṛtis that most of the former in their extant form are later than the smṛtis of Manu, Yājñavalkya, Parāśara, Nārada &c.