The Purana Index v1.c3.s1.9

v1.c3.s1.9

In the Agni Purāṇa (Ch. II, 70, vv. 10-13) the same version is told but with a slight variation. This Purāṇa makes Vyāsa imparting the Purāṇa Samhitā to his own six disciples. If we compare the names given here with the names mentioned in the Viṣṇu Purāṇa (Bk. III, ch. 6, vv. 17-19) four names are common. The names given in the Brahmāṇḍa and Vāyu Purāṇas as the disciples of Lomaharṣaṇa, also spelt Romaharṣaṇa, though slightly different, are common. Among these sages the names of Kāśyapa, Sāvarṇi and Sāṁśapāyana are mentioned as the authors of an independent Purāṇa Samhitā and these three together with Romaharṣaṇa composed what is known as the Mūla Samhitā (sometimes Pūrva Samhitā) of the Purāṇa literature. This would demonstrate that this was the first Samhitā or the original Samhitā from which the later Purāṇas developed, adding more information to what already existed. Among these again priority is given to Lomaharṣaṇa Samhitā; then came Kāśyapa's, then Sāvarṇi's and lastly, Sāṁśapāyana's Unfortunately these Purāṇas have been lost to us; but it is said that they contained four pādas or divisions which were named prakriya, anushanga, upodghāta and upasamhāra. But these chatushpādas are preserved to us in the existing versions of the Vāyu and the Brahmāṇḍa.