Skanda Purana
by G. V. Tagare | 1950 | 2,545,880 words
This page describes The Rebirth-motif in Puranas which is appendix 4 of the English translation of the Skanda Purana, the largest of the eighteen Mahapuranas, preserving the ancient Indian society and Hindu traditions in an encyclopedic format, detailling on topics such as dharma (virtous lifestyle), cosmogony (creation of the universe), mythology (itihasa), genealogy (vamsha) etc.
Appendix 4 - The Rebirth-motif in 笔耻谤腻峁嘺s
Note: This appendix is extracted from a note of Chapter 13 (Previous Life of 厂补迟测补产丑腻尘腻) of the K膩rttikam膩sa-尘腻丑腻迟尘测补 of the 痴补颈峁ａ箛补惫补-办丑补峁囜笉补:
鈥�厂补迟测补产丑腻尘腻 said: 鈥業 am blessed. I am contented. My life has become fruitful. I have (surely) done something good formerly by way of charitable gifts, holy rites or austerities, whereby, O Lord, I have become your wife, though born of mortals. In the previous birth, what had been my conduct? Who was I? Whose daughter? (How) did I become your beloved? Recount everything to me鈥欌��.
Rebirth, curses, boons etc. have been favourite motifs with ancient Indian story-tellers.
(Buddhism:) For example, 闯腻迟补办补 Tales in Pali connect some incident in the previous birth of the Buddha or rather the Bodhisattva (础迟墨迟补-Vatthu) with a similar incident in his present birth and the identification of the persons in the previous birth with those in the present birth of Buddha (Paccupanna Vatthu and 痴别测测腻办补谤补峁嘺), explaining or justifying the present happening, has been a special characteristic of those tales. Thus in Makh膩deva 闯腻迟补办补 (1.1 -9) King Makh膩deva of the previous birth was the Buddha, the barber Bhikku 膧苍补苍诲补 and Makh膩deva鈥檚 prince was 搁腻丑耻濒补, the son of Buddha.
(Jainism:) Jain Tales (both canonical and non-canonical) use the device of 闯腻颈-厂补谤补峁嘺 (recollection of the previous birth) for the same. These ancient story-writers insisted on establishing the principle of justice in Karma-惫腻诲补.
(Brahamanism:) Brahmanical 笔耻谤腻峁嘺-writers followed the same norm and sometimes invented stories of previous birth to establish the law of Karma, in this story 鈥榬e-birth鈥� is used as the motif in the life of the 闯墨惫补 which came to be called 厂补迟测补产丑腻尘腻 and became the spouse of 碍峁涐梗峁嘺. More authentic Pur膩峁噄c accounts of 碍峁涐梗峁嘺 as in Mbh or BhP do not necessarily support these late Pur膩峁噄c stories.