History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v7.c90.49

v7.c90.49

Several Purāṇas such as Matsya 53. 3-11, Vāyu I. 60-61, Brahmāṇḍa I. 1.40-41, Liṅga I. 2.2, Nāraḍiya I. 92. 22-26, Padma V. 1. 45-52 state that Purāṇa¹³⁴⁹ was originally only one, that Brahmā thought of it first, that after that the Vedas proceeded from Brahmā's lips, that originally it had the extent of one hundred crores of ślokas and that the essence thereof to the extent of four lakhs of verses was declared in each Dvāpara age by Vyāsa. It is impossible to say whether the writers of the extant Purāṇas had any ancient tradition about this before them or whether all this about the original existence of a single Purāṇa was purely imaginary. The author holds that the latter view is more likely to be the correct one. It has been shown above that as early as the Taittirīya Āraṇyaka Purāṇas are mentioned in the plural. Therefore, the extant Purāṇas are only the successors of the ancient Purāṇas, about which, it must be admitted, we know very little.