The Purana Index v1.c3.s3.7

v1.c3.s3.7

We can add to these the artificial style of the Purāṇa which recalls the language of the plays of the famous dramatist, Bhāsa. The late Ganapti Sastri has assigned on substantial grounds that these plays belonged to the sixth century B.C. The common features of the plays and the Purāṇa is the use of a large number of archaic (arsha) words and a large number of grammatical irregularities which suggest a period when the canons of grammatical treatise were still in the making. The references to Vyākaraṇa, Bhāshya and Dharmaśāstra in a single line does not help us much in our enquiry. Again there is no reference in this Purāṇa to the Tantric system of worship, which consists of Devī conceived as Śakti, though we do not dispute the fact that Śaktism as a form of religion was already in existence. But it is almost certain that this form of worship was not quite popular during the age of the Vāyu Purāṇa.