A Classical Dictionary of Hindu Mythology and Religion, Geography, History, and Literature c5.36

c5.36

AGNI PURĀNA. This Purāna derives its name from its having been communicated originally by Agni, the deity of fire, to the Muni Vasisṭha, for the purpose of instructing him in the twofold knowledge of Brahmā. Its contents are variously specified as “sixteen thousand, fifteen thousand, and fourteen thousand stanzas.” This work is devoted to the glorification of Siva, but its contents are of a very varied and cyclopædical character. It has portions on ritual and mystic worship, cosmical descriptions, chapters on the duties of kings and the art of war, which have the appearance of being extracted from some older work, a chapter on law from the text-book of Yājñawalkya, some chapters on medicine from the Susruta, and some treatises on rhetoric, prosody, and grammar according to the rules of Pingala and Pānini. Its motley contents “exclude it from any legitimate claims to be regarded as a Purāna, and prove that its origin cannot be very remote.” The text of this Purāna is now in course of publication in the Bibliotheca Indica, edited by Rājendra Lāl Mitra.