Essay name: Studies in the Upapuranas
Author: R. C. Hazra
This book studies the Upapuranas: a vast category of (often Sanskrit) literature representing significant historical, religious, and cultural insights of the ancient Indian civilization. These texts provide rich information, especially on Hinduism covering theology, mythology, rituals, and dynastic genealogies.
Page 393 of: Studies in the Upapuranas
393 (of 598)
External source: Shodhganga (Repository of Indian theses)
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STUDIES IN THE UPAPUR膧峁咥S
a year, his arrival, with N膩rada, at Kanyakubja and bath
in a beautiful lake, N膩rada's transformation into an extremely
charming lady immediately after his bath, the marriage of
this beautiful lady with king T膩ladhvaja, her bringing forth
of a pumpkin from which fifty powerful sons were born,
her mourning for the sudden destruction of these sons and
their descendants, Vis峁噓's appearing in the form of a Brahmin
and explaining the nature of Vi峁ａ箛u-m膩y膩, and N膩rada's
regaining his previous form.
Chap. 4.-Karma-vip膩ka (the results of actions, with
a grim description of the manifold troubles of life from birth
to death).-Birth of creatures (-stages in the development
of the child in the mother's womb till delivery; sufferings
undergone by the child in the womb; impurity of the body;
the child's retention of the power of remembrance of the
events of the previous birth, while residing in the mother's
womb); troubles in childhood, youth etc.; insignificance
of the pleasures arising from enjoyment of women; inevitabi-
lity of death.
Chap. 5.-Different kinds of sins which lead one to hell.
Classification of sins into m膩nasa, v膩cika and k盲yika. Classi-
fication of sinners into (a) mah膩p膩takins (such as those who
kill Brahmins, drink wine, and do similar other acts),
(b) brahmaghnas (such as those who refuse to give anything
to a poor needy Brahmin after calling him with a promise-
verse 11; those who, being proud of their learning, do not
show proper respect to Brahmins in a meeting-verse 12;
those who create obstruction to those hungry or thirsty
Brahmins who are eager for food or drink-verse 14; those
who make false reports of other's faults to the king-verse 17;
those who misappropriate the landed property already
dedicated to gods, Brahmins or cows-verse 18; and so on),
(c) p膩takins (such as those who do not marry their marriage-
able daughters to proper persons-verse 14), (d) upap膩takins
(such as those who sell their wives or children-verse 34;
those who do not pay their debts, and those who accept
interests on food materials lent out to others-verse 36;
teachers who accept remuneration, and students who read
