Studies in the Puranic Records on Hindu Rites and Customs c7.s8.76

c7.s8.76

In Mat 259 and 260 Rāma, the Boar, the Man-lion, the Dwarf, the Fish and the Tortoise are mentioned in connection with the construction of images. These chapters being influenced by and based on Bṛhat-saṃhitā, chap. 58 (pratimā-lakṣaṇam nāma), their date cannot be earlier than the sixth century A.D. Mat 54 describes the Nakṣatrapuruṣa-vrata in which the different limbs of Viṣṇu are worshipped with the mention of the names of his different incarnations including the famous ten. The same Vrata is also given in Bṛhat-saṃhitā, chap. 105. A comparison between these two chapters shows that the chapter in the Matsya has not only that in the Bṛhat-saṃhitā as its prototype but makes a distinct advance over the former by introducing the names of the ten Avatāras. The verse containing the name of the Buddha in Mat 47 must be dated much later, for the Vāyu, from which the Matsya has borrowed the chapter, does not contain it. The Pādma Tantra, which is dated earlier than 800 A.D. by Schrader,²¹ says (I, 2, 31) that of the ten Avatāras the Fish, the Tortoise and the Boar have sprung from Vāsudeva; the Man-lion, Dwarf, Śrīrāma and Paraśurāma from Saṃkarṣaṇa; Balarāma from Pradyumna; and Kṛṣṇa and Kalki from Aniruddha; and it indicates that the other Avatāras (viz., Puruṣa, Satya, Acyuta, Buddha, etc.) are to be distributed in a similar way.²² The Viṣvaksena-saṃhitā includes the Buddha and Paraśurāma among the secondary Avatāras²³. A Pallava inscription, dated about the latter half of the seventh century A.D., contains the verse