History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v7.c90.205

v7.c90.205

*Padmapurāṇa*—H. in I C. vol. IV. pp 73–95, Mr. M. V. Vaidya in Kane presentation vol. pp. 530–537 (holds that the tīrthayātrā section of Padma is older than the tīrthayātrā section in the Mahābhārata), Dr. Belvalkar in F. W. Thomas Festschrift (pp. 19–28) holds that Padma is based on the Mahābhārata; Prof. Lüders tried to prove that the Ṛṣyaśṛṅga legend in Padma is older than the same legend in the Mahābhārata (vide I. H Q, vol. XX. p. 209 for Lüder's view); H. in PRHR. (pp. 107–129) states that there are two recensions of the Padma the North Indian and the South Indian, that the former is in five kāṇḍas and the latter in six, that the South Indian recension alone is published in the Ānandāśrama and Venk. Press editions, though the arrangement differs in the two editions. H. in PRHR (p. 126) states that the Uttara-kāṇḍa (of the Padma) is later than 900 A. D. and earlier than 1500 A. D. One remarkable fact is that hundreds of verses are common to Matsya and Padma and some writers like Hemādri quote long extracts from the Padma, which others quote from the Matsya. In view of the vast smṛti material in the Matsya and the fact that thousands of verses therefrom are quoted in the medieval nibandhas the present writer is inclined to hold that it is the Padma that is the borrower. There are no materials to assign a definite date for the borrowing, but it is likely that it was before 1000 A. D. Padma (IV. 102. 40–41 and IV. 110. 483) mentions the Kūrma (and a verse is quoted from it) and IV. 5. 32–43 contain such alaṅkāras as Śleṣa and Parisaṅkhyā The Kalpataru quotes from Padma about 55 verses on vrata, 50 on niyatakāla, 50 on dāna, 12 on tīrtha, only a verse here and there on other kāṇḍas. Aparārka quotes only about 12 verses from it, the Smṛticandrikā only about 25. In the Ānandāśrama edition of Padma there are 48452 verses and 628 chapters. It speaks of the Aśvattha as Bodhisattva (Sṛṣṭikhaṇḍa 55. 16) and mentions a place called Vanasthala in Gurjaradeśa (II. 51. 36–37).