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Hinduism is certainly to be extolled for its exceptional catholicity and spirit of religious syncretism, but sectarian rivalry has, from early times, formed a dark blot on its reputation. We sometimes read of the different sectaries reviling each other and belittling each other's deity and even hear of kings who were guilty of perpetrating religious persecution on the people. Thus, the Magha-mahatmya¹, as preserved in the Bengal Manuscripts, 2 records a story of Citrasena, a Ksatriya king of 'Dravida visaya', according to which Citrasena ruled over a tract of land lying on the coast of the southern ocean and attained great fame by his performance of Vedic rites and munificence to Brahmins. Once he met some extra-Vedic (veda-bahya) pasanda Saivas who had matted hair and besmeared their bodies with ashes. These Saivas, who were undoubtedly Agamic, denounced the Vedas and the caste system, excited antiVaisnava feelings in Citrasena, and initiated him to their own faith. At the instigation of these Saivas Citrasena prohibited the worship of Visnu in his realm, ordered his officers to persecute the Vaisnavas, and had the images of Visnu thrown into the ocean. As a result of such tyranny some of his subjects turned Saivas and others left the country bag and baggage. Equally violent attitude is shown by the Linga-purana (I. 107. 41-42) when it declares: ¹ It claims to be a part of the Uttara-khanda of the Padma-purana *-* See Dacca University Manuscripts No. 931 (folios 44 ff., chapters 10 ff.), No. 2332 (folios 22 b ff., chapters 10 ff.), and No. 2675 (folios 32 h ff., chapters 21 ff.). In some places of these Manuscripts the name of Citrasena has been given as 'Citra' or 'Mitrasena. In the Anandasrama Sanskrit Series (Poona) ed. of the Padma-purana (Uttara-khanda, chap. 250, verses 1 ff.) the story of Citrasena (who is named there simply as 'Citra') is given in a concise form. The Cola king Kulottunga I started persecution against the Vaisnavas in 1098 A.D.; and Kulottunga II, who reigned about 1140 A.D., is said to have uprooted the image of the god Govindaraja (of the Visnu temple at Cidambaram) and thrown it into the sea.

THE SAKTA UPAPURANAS "srutva nindam bhavasyatha tatksanad eva samtyajet/ sva-deham tam nihatyasu siva-lokam sa gacchati // yo va cotpatayej jihvam siva-ninda-ratasya tu / trih-sapta-kulam uddhrtya siva-lokam sa gacchati //" 363 "That [man], who, after hearing the dispraise of Bhava, at once forsakes his own body after murdering the censurer, passes to the region of Siva. "Or, one, who tears out the tongue of a habituated censurer of Siva, goes to the region of Siva after delivering twentyone generations. " It is hardly necessary to say that these excesses were due, on the one hand, to the growing importance of personalised deities or deified persons and their exclusive devotional worship as the best means of attaining final release, and, on the other, to the hazy conception of the principles of Samkhya and Vedanta as related to the origin and nature of these deities and a lack of capacity for bringing about a perfect compromise between these principles and the mental discipline required for the practice of unswerving devotion (aikantiki or avyabhicarini bhakti) for the realisation of the Self. Fortunately, references to such sectarian excesses are not of frequent occurrence in the Puranic literature, but it can hardly be denied that in spite of high idealism inspired by the Upanisads there were many cases of regrettable outburst of practical narrowness in religious outlook, so much so that these concerned many of our best thinkers and prompted them to devise means for the eradication of these social evils. It was most probably for some such reason that the daily worship of the group of the five deities Ganesa, Surya, Visnu, Siva and Durga, which is popularly known as 'pancayatana-puja', was started at a fairly early date, firmly established on a Vedantic basis, and popularised with great zeal. Tradition adds the credit of inventing this new system of worship very often to Samkaracarya and sometimes to Kumarila-bhatta, but a study of the Puranic works Kane, History of Dharmasastra, II. pp. 716-7. Farquhar. Outline of the Religious Literature of India, pp. 179-180.

364 STUDIES IN THE UPAPURANAS shows that even earlier than the introduction of the pancayatana-puja the worship of a particular deity had to be attended with that of other prominent deities also. For instance, Kurma-purana II. 18, which is to be dated about the beginning of the eighth century A.D., says that after bath a Brahmin is to worship Brahma, Samkara, Surya, Madhusudana (Visnu) and other favourite deities with the citation of their respective Mantras and the offer of flowers, leaves and water. In Matsya-purana, chapters 266, 52 and 58, which must be dated earlier than 650 A.D., we are told that in erecting an image of any of the deities such as Nandi-mahakala, Bhrngiriti, Guha, Devi, Vinayaka, Visnu, Brahma, Rudra, Sakra, Jayanta, Lokapalas, Apsarases, Gandharvas, Guhyakas, etc., the erector is to think of the rest as surrounding the principal deity, that in worshipping Siva with the offer of cows, land, gold, clothes, scents, garlands etc. one is to look upon this deity as identical with Brahma, Visnu, Arka (the Sun), the Rudras and the Vasus,' that Brahma, Visnu, Martanda (the Sun), Vrsa-vahana (Siva), the eight Vasus, the eleven Ganadhipas, the Lokapalas, the Pitrs, the Matrs, and others are to be regarded as the manifestations (vibhutayah) of Vasudeva, that the four principal 6 7 鈥� nispidya snana-vastram tu samacamya ca vag-yatah / svair mantrair arcayed devan puspaih patrair athambubhih // brahmanam samkaram suryam tathaiva madhusudanam / anyams cabhimatan devan bhaktya cakrodhano narah // Kurma-purana II. 18. 90-91. sthapayed yam tu devesam tam pradhanam prakalpayet / tasya parsva-sthitan anyan samsmaret parivaritah // ganam nandi-mahakalam vrsam bhrngiritim guham / devim vinayakam caiva visnum brahmanam eva ca // rudram sakram jayantam ca lokapalan samantatah / tathaiv-apsarasah sarva gandharva-gana-guhyakan // yo yatra sthapyate devas tasya tan paritah smaret // Matsya-purana 266. 41-44 a. go-bhu-hiranya-vasobhir gandha-maly-odakena ca / pujayed brahma-visnv-arka-rudra-vasv-atmakam sivam // Matsya-purana 52. 19. * vasudevo jagan-murtis tasya sambhutayo hy ami // brahma visnus ca bhagavan martando vrna-vahanah / astau ca vasavas tadvad ekadasa ganadhipah / lokapaladhipas caiva pitaro mataras tatha //

THE SAKTA UPAPURANAS 365 deities, viz., Brahma, Surya, Visnu and Siva, are to be worshipped without making any distinction between them," and that in consecrating a pool one is to place Brahma, Siva, Visnu, Vinayaka, Kamala and Ambika on the alter. 10 From these and similar other statements made in the Puranas it is evident that the attempt to create a sense of unity and the spirit of religious toleration among the sects worshipping different deities had begun much earlier than Samkaracarya and Kumarila-bhatta. That in early times the difference between the various Puranic gods was much less than in later days, is shown by the names of the four Samhitas of the Kurma-purana, which are given in Kurma-purana I. 1. 21-23 as Brahmi, Bhagavati, Sauri and Vaisnavi and are thus connected with the four deities Brahma, Bhagavati, Surya and Visnu respectively." That a similar naming of parts was also made in the earlier form of the present Bhavisya-purana is shown not only by this Purana itself which claims to have consisted of five Parvans named Brahma, Vaisnava, Saiva, Tvastra and Pratisarga 12 but also by the Naradiya-purana (I. ima vibhutayah proktas caracara-samanvitah / brahmadyas caturo mulam avyakt-adhipatih smrtah // Matsya-purana 52. 20 c-22. 鈥� brahmana catha suryena visnun-atha sivena va | abhedat pujitena syat pujitam sa-caracaram // 10 vedyas copari Matsya-purana 52. 23. .... brahmanam ca sivam visnum tatraiva sthapayed budhah // vinayakam ca vinyasya kamalam ambikam tatha / santy-artham sarva-lokanam bhuta-gramam nyaset tatah // Matsya-purana 58. 23-27. "The contents of these four Samhitas, as given in Naradiya-purana I. 106. 1-22, show that the Brahmi Samhita, as known to this Purana, consisted of 6000 verses and was exactly the same as the extant Kurma-purana, that the Bhagavati Samhita, which was termed 'Panca-padi' for its five Padas or parts, contained 4000 verses and dealt, separately in these five parts, with the means of livelihood of the Brahmins, Ksatriyas, Vaisyas, Sudras, and the mixed castes, that the Sauri Samhita had an extent of 2000 verses and consisted of six parts dealing with the 'six acts' (sat-karma), viz., vasikarana, marana, uccatana, etc., and that the Vaisnavi Samhita consisted of 5000 verses and four Padas dealing with moksa-dharma for the twice-born people. The above contents of the four Samhitas point definitely to a late age and do not appear to represent the Kurma-purana in its original form. 1 Sec Bhavisya-purana I. 2. 2-3.

366 STUDIES IN THE UPAPURANAS 100), which differs from the Bhavisya only in that it names the 'Tvastra' Parvan as 'Saura'. According to Naradiya-purana I. 105 the Vamana-purana consisted of two parts, of which the second was divided into four Samhitas, of which the first was associated with Krsna and his worshippers, the second with Devi and her incarnations, the third with the Sun-god, and the fourth with Ganesa. From the nature of these and similar other Puranas it is evident that a broad and liberal outlook characterised a number of the early Puranas which did not attach themselves to any particular sect but inculcated with equal zeal the worship of the different deities of the Hindu pantheon. These works aimed chiefly at creating harmony among the rival sects and organising them mainly against the heresies by infusing their ideas, rites and practices with Brahmanical elements. The tradition of catholicity, set up by these mostly lost Puranas, has found appreciative expression in many places, but of the extant Puranic works it is only the Bhavisyottara and the Brhaddharma-purana which are found to carry this tradition into practice. In order to acquaint ourselves with the nature of these works we shall examine and analyse them below.