History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v7.c90.6

v7.c90.6

Before proceeding further several preliminary matters have to be dealt with. The mention of Purāṇas as a class of literature goes back much farther than was pointed out in the H. of DH. vol. I. p. 160. The Atharvaveda¹³²⁵ mentions Purāṇa (in the singular) in XI. 7. 24 and XV. 6. 10-11 'The ṛk and sāman verses, the chandas, the Purāṇa along with the Yajus formulæ, all sprang from the remainder of sacrificial food, (as also) the gods that resort to heaven He changed his place and went over to great direction, and Itihāsa and Purāṇa, gāthās, verses in praise of heroes followed in going over.' The Śatapatha brāhmaṇa also (XI. 5. 6. 8) mentions 'Itihāsapurāṇam' (as one compound word) and states that on the 9th day of the Pāriplava the *hotṛ* priest instructs among other matters as follows: 'The Purāṇa is the Veda, this it is; thus saying let him narrate some Purāṇa' (XIII. 4. 3 13.).¹³²⁶ The Śāṅkhāyana¹³²⁷ Śrautasūtra (XVI. 2. 27) and the Āśvalāyana Śrauta (X. 7) remark that on two days of the Pāriplava the Itihāsaveda and Purāṇaveda were to be recited. But the two sūtras (though affiliated to the Ṛgveda) differ as to the day on which they were to be recited. It is difficult to say whether the Atharvaveda, the Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa and the Upaniṣads knew several works called Purāṇa or whether there was only a single work called Purāṇa known to them. But from the fact that the Tai. Ār. (II. 10) speaks of Itihāsas and Purāṇas (in the plural) it would not be unreasonable to suppose that in the later Vedic period at least some works (three or more) called Purāṇas existed and were studied and recited by those that were engaged in solemn sacrifices like the Aśvamedha. It is not unlikely that, where the singular 'Purāṇam' was employed in the Vedic texts, a class of works was meant. The facts that 'Itihāsa-Purāṇa' is called the fifth Veda in the Upaniṣads and that the Śatapatha employs 'Itihāsa-Purāṇam' as one compound word lead to the inference that the two categories 'Itihāsa' and 'Purāṇa' were similar in contents at least in several respects. The Āpastamba-dharmasūtra¹³²⁸ quotes two verses each in two places from a Purāṇa (in the singular), once cites the view of the Bhaviṣyat-purāṇa and in another place gives the summary of a Purāṇa passage or verse which says that, when a person attacks another with the object of harming him and the person attacked kills the attacker, no sin is incurred. From these passages it is clear that Āpastamba had before him a Purāṇa called Bhaviṣyat and also that the Purāṇa or Purāṇas which he knew contained rules about the food to be accepted for eating, about the stages of householder and the perpetual student, about resisting an ātatāyin even unto death and about creation and re-creation after dissolution. These matters fall within the province of Smṛtis and Purāṇas As the word 'purāṇa' means 'ancient', the word Bhaviṣyat-purāṇa is a contradiction in terms. Long before Āpastamba the word Purāṇa had come to mean a work dealing with ancient tales &c; several such works must have been composed and they probably began to incorporate contemporary events and wrote about such events in a prophetic vein. Hence arose the name Bhaviṣyat-purāṇa.¹³²⁹ As Āpastamba mentions a Bhaviṣyat-purāṇa and also Purāṇa, it follows that before 500 B. C. several Purāṇas existed one of which was called the Bhaviṣyat and the Purāṇas then known contained the topics of *sarga*, *pratisarga* and smṛti matters.