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A Persian Translation of the Matsya-Purana [matsyapuranasya pharasi bhasantaram] / By Sri R. C. De ; General Secretary, All-India Kashiraj Trust. / 204-206

The Matsy-Purana occupies a very important place among the 18 Mahapuranas. The Vamana-Purana considers it as the best of the Puranas. Like the Mahabharata and the Ramayana it was also translated into Persian. This Persian translation is available in the Manuscript-form. The Manuscript is deposited in the Instituto Italiano of Rome (Italy). A microfilm copy of Vol. I of this translation has been procured by the All-India Kashiraj Trust through the kind help of its Director, Dr. G. Tucci. From an English note written on the cover-page of this Manuscript it appears that the work consisted of 9 volumes, of which 7 volumes contained the Persian translation and the remaining 2 volumes contained paintings. From the serial numbering it also appears that all the nine volumes were acquired by the mss.-collectors, but they gave only Volume I to the Institute. The Ms. is in the book-form and contains 15 lines on a page. The writing is not very legible in the microfilm. This Persian translation of the Matsya-Purana was made at Banaras near about the close of the eighteenth century A.D. by Gosvami Anandaghana. He was the resident of Delhi and came to Banaras to settle here. He was here introduced to Mr. Jonathan Duncan (the famous and popular English Resident at Banaras from 1787-1795 A. D. in the court of Raja Mahip Narain, on behalf of the East India Company). Mr. Duncan entrusted him with the work of translating several Sanskrit texts Into Persian, as the translator, Gosvami Anandaghana, himself says in the preface of his translation :- "First there was order for translating the Ramayana. In course of twenty months all the Jan., 1964] A PERSIAN TRASLATION OF THE MATSYA PURANA 205 seven Kandas consisting of forty thousand slokas were rendered into Persian. After this the order was to translate the Mitaksara, because it was often required by the venerable gentleman for the administration of justice. I then induced him to get the Maccha-Purana translated into Persian. According to his direction the voluminous book of the Maccha-Purana which consisted of 24,000 slokas in Hindi was undertaken to be translated into Persian." The present vulgate text of the Matsya-Purana consists of only 14,000 slokas. Most probably the number 24,000 has been mentioned by mistake; Hindi has also been mentioned loosely to indicate the Devanagari character in which the Sanskrit text was written. The first volume of this translation consists of 41 Adhyayas only. The work of translation was commenced on the VasantaPancami day in Vikrama Samvat 1848 (1792 A.D.). From the examination of the translation it appears that it is a free translation of the Sanskrit text of the Matsya-Purana. Some other Puranic details have also been introduced into it. These details are not found in the present available text of the Matsya-Purana. A few such extra details are given below: (1) The translation mentions that Raja Satyavrata was performing penances on the banks of the river Deva, but in the original Sankrit text of the Matsya no such river is mentioned. The name Satyavrata is also not given in the Matsya-Purana text in this context, it is perhaps taken from the Bhagavata Purana (8. 24. 10). (2) In the translation it is stated that the Fish told Manu that a great flood "would take place on the seventh day. In the Sanskrit text of the MP, however, no mention is made of the seven days. The idea is most probably taken from the following sloka of the Bhagavata-Purana :- saptame'dyatanadurdhvam mahatyetadarimdama nimanksyatyapyayambhodhau trailokyam bhurbhuvadikam || (8. 24.32)

206 puranam - PURANA [Vol. VI., No. 1 day of Brahma. But text at the end of the (3) At the end of Adhyaya one the translation gives a description of the Manvantaras and the no such description is found in the original first Adhyaya. (4) In the original Matsya text (2. 34) the formation of seven seas is mentioned, but the translator adds elaborate details of the seven seas. These details have probably been taken from some other source. These are only the few illustrations showing the inclination of the translator to introduce other Puranic details in his translation. So it is possible that the translator might have drawn upon other Puranic texts also. It may also be possible that a different version of the Matsya-Purana text might have been available to him, which he used for his translation. On the whole the translation is very useful for the scholars to work upon. An English rendering of this Persian translation of the Matsya-Purana is proposed to be given in some future issues of the 'Purana' Bulletin.