History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v7.c90.67

v7.c90.67

¹³⁵⁹ उपभेदान् प्रवक्ष्यामि लोके ये संप्रतिष्ठिताः । पाद्मे पुराणे यत्प्रोक्तं नरसिंहोपवर्णनम् । तच्चाष्टादशसाहस्रं नारसिंहमिहोच्यते । ...'अष्टादशभ्यस्तु पृथक् पुराणं यत्प्रदिश्यते । विजानीध्वं द्विजश्रेष्ठास्तदेतेभ्यो विनिर्गतम् ॥ मत्स्य 53. 58-59 and 63 q. by हेमाद्रि on व्रत part I pp. 21-22. These verses occur in स्कन्द ( प्रभासखण्ड 2. 79-83) also; कू. पु. p. 32 explains 'विनिर्गतमुद्भूतम् । यथा कालिकापुराणाहु'. Prof. Hazra in 'Studies &' vol I. p. 16 note 33 quotes परिभाषाप्रकाश p. 15 'एतान्युपपुराणानि पुराणेभ्य एव निर्गतानीति याज्ञवल्क्येन पुराणत्वेन सङ्गगृहीतानि, and remarks that this implies that the Upapurāṇas were known to Yājñyavalkya. Prof. Hazra is wrong here. All that this passage means is that the Vīramitrodaya in the beginning of the 17th century A.D. (about 1500 years or more after Yāj.) thought that Yāj included upapurāṇas in the word Purāṇa in Yāj. I. 3. That is Mitra-miśra's view. We are not bound by it and should not draw any inference from it. Yāj. mentions only Purāṇa as a source of dharma but he is entirely silent as to how many Purāṇas had been composed in his time. There is nothing to show that they were more than three in his day and it is impossible for us to hold that he included upapurāṇas under the word Purāṇa, simply because some upapurāṇas were composed before 1000 A. D.