History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v7.c90.145.1

v7.c90.145.1

Next to Pargiter and Kirfel, one must mention the name of Prof. R. C. Hazra who has bestowed much labour and thought on the purānas in general and on individual purānas One cannot but feel high admiration for Prof. Hazra's industry, patience and enthusiasm One regrets, however, to find that he has developed a tendency to assign rather more ancient dates to the extant Purānas and Upapurānas than the available evidence would warrant. Besides, he has been so much engrossed in the study of Purānas that he sometimes scents a reference to Purānas where none in fact exists. For example, in 'Puranic records on Hindu rites and customs' (p. 6) Prof Hazra observes that Vijñāneśvara tells us of Hārīta's reference to the opinion of Purānas in prescribing penance in normal circumstances to those who eat the food dedicated to the patriarchs. The words of the Mitāksarā¹⁴⁰¹ of Vijñāneśvara are quoted in the note below and clearly show that there the word ‘*purāṇeṣu*’ means ‘Śrāddhas called purāṇa’ and has nothing to do with Purāṇa works. Another defect noticed in Prof. Hazra’s writings is that he sees too much meaning in simple words and phrases and is not cautious in his conclusions as a scholar of his standing and experience should be. In a recent paper on ‘the Aśvamedha, the common source of origin of the Purāṇa Pañcalakṣaṇa and the Mahābhārata’ in ABORI, vol. 36 (1956) pp. 190-203, he cites the Atharvaveda verse quoted above (p.