A Classical Dictionary of Hindu Mythology and Religion, Geography, History, and Literature c5.1292

c5.1292

PADMA-PURĀNA, PĀDMA-PURĀNA. This Purāna generally stands second in the list of Purānas, and is thus described :—“That which contains an account of the period when the world was a golden lotos (padma), and of all the occurrences of that time, is, therefore, called Padma by the wise. It contains 55,000 stanzas.” The work is divided into five books or Khandas :—“(1.) Srishti Khanda, or section on creation ; (2.) Bhūmi Khanda, on the earth ; (3.) Swarga Khanda, on heaven ; (4.) Pātāla Khanda, on the regions below the earth ; (5.) Uttara Khanda, last or supplementary chapter. There is also current a sixth division, the Kriyā-yoga-sāra, a treatise on the practice of devotion.” These denominations of the various divisions convey but an imperfect and partial notion of their heterogeneous contents, and it seems probable that the different sections are distinct works associated together under one title. There is no reason to consider any of them as older than the twelfth century. The tone of the whole Purāna is strongly Vaishnava ; that of the last section especially so. In it Siva is represented as explaining to Pārvatī the nature and attributes of Vishnu, and in the end the two join in adoration of that deity. A few chapters have been printed and translated into Latin by Wollheim.