365bet娱乐

Some Observations on the Vamana-Purana [vamanapuranavisaye katicit tippanyah] / By Dr. A.D. Pusalker; Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, Poona / 141-146

[asmin nibandhe daktarapusalakara mahodayena vamanapurana sambandhivividha- prasnanam visayanam ca samksiptam pramanikam ca vivecanam prastutam | prathamatah vamanapuranasya mahapuranatvavisaye upapuranatvavisaye vibhinnavicaranam paricayah pradattastadanantaram sattvika - rajasa - tamasa - vargesu kasminasyavasthiti- rityapi pradarsitam | vamanapuranasya vistaravisaye vrhadvamanapuranasya- vasthitivisaye'pi vicarah krtah | puranapancalaksananam vamanapurane sthitirapi pradarsita | vamanapuranasya nirmanakalavisaye pracalitamatanam vivaranam dattva vamanapuranasya nirmanasamayah 600-600 i0 khristiya- varsanam madhye pratipaditah | sranekapuranesupalabdhanam vividhacaritanam kathanam vamanapuraniyani kani caritani pracinani kah kathasca prarva- cina ityapi vicaritam | ante ca sarvabharatiya kasirajanyasena prakasitasya vamanapuranasamskaranasya pramanikatvamupayogitvam ca vivecitam prastha samskaranasya samalocana vidusa lekhakena bhandarakara pracyasodha- samsthanasya patrikayam 50 bhage prakasita ityapi kathitam | ] The Vamana Purana (= VP) is included among the Mahapuranas in all the lists of the Maha-puranas, including those of Alberuni and Kavindracarya. In almost all the lists, the exceptions being those in the Linga, Kurma and Siva, where the VP stands the 13th and in the Devi Bhagavata, where it stands the 8th, the VP occupies the 14th place. The VP itself calls it the 14th Purana (Venk. Ed., 95. 36: caturdasam vamanamahuragrayam ). Before we turn to the classification and extent of the VP. let us consider the point about the Vamana Upa-purana. There are about twentythree lists of the Upa puranas, and the Garuda, Kurma, and Brhad-dharma alone among these "name a Vamana Upa-purana instead of the Manava mentioned in the other lists." The change of the name of Manava to Vamana was due, according to Hazra, either to the ignorance of the people regarding the real 1. For references, ef. Purana, VII, pp. 334-340. 2. Studies in the Upapuranas, II, p. 512; also, I, pp. 4-13.

142 puranam -- PURANA [Vol. XII, No. 1 title and nature of the work or to the replacement of the one by the other at an early date. It may be observed in this connection that the lists include even the Naradiya, Brahmanda, Garuda, Kurma, and Bhagavata among the Upa-puranas. As shown by Hazra, none of the above Upa-puranas, including the Vamana Upa-purana, have been drawn upon or referred to by any author nor are any MSS available. Now, about classification. The Puranas have been classified into Sattvika, Rajasa and Tamasa, from the Vaisnava point of view, by the Padma and Bhavisya,' and according to both of these Puranas, the VP falls under the Rajasa Puranas. The Padma, which identifies the eighteen Puranas with different limbs of Visnu, identifies the VP with the skin of Visnu (I. 62. 6: ). The Matsya adds another category to these three, and classifies the Puranas under the Sattvika, Rajasa, Tamasa and Samkirna Puranas, but does not enumerate the Puranas under each category. According to the Skanda (VII. 1. 2. 89), Visnu is praised in four, Brahma and Ravi in two each, and Siva in the remaining ten Puranas. It does not mention the names of the Puranas at that place; but the names have been given in the Sivarahasya where the VP is included under the Saiva Puranas. Later Tamil works also appear to place the VP under the Saiva Puranas. Among the modern scholars, both H. P. Shastri and Kane,⁹ classify the Puranas on the basis of their contents, and include the VP under the Sectarian Puranas, along with the Linga and Markandeya. Shastri further says that the VP "is in reality a handbook of Saiva sects, (1) Pasupata, (2) Saiva, (3) Kala-damana, (4) Kapalika."10 He, however, contradicts himself when he says about the VP that "There is no sectarian spirit in this work.- Brahma, Visnu and Siva are equally respected." Hazra includes 3. VI. 263. 81-85. 4. III. 3.28. 10-15. 5. 53. 68-69. 6. cf. J. P. Mishra, Astadasa Purana-darpana (in Hindi), p. 46; Baldev Upadhyaya, Purana Vimarsa (in Hindi), p. 90. 7. Indian Historical Quarterly, VIII, p. 766. 8. Journal of the Behar & Orissa Res. Soc., XIV, p. 330. 9. History of Dharmasastra, V, p. 842. 10. Journ. Bihar & Or. Res. Soc., XIV, p. 336. 11. Cat. of Skt. MSS in the As. Soc. Bengal, V, Preface, p. clxxxiii.

Jan., 1970] SOME OBSERVATIONS ON THE VAMANA PURANA 143 the VP under the Minor Puranas, as distinct from the Major Puranas, 12 and states that it "can safely be called an Upapurana rather than a Mahapurana." 13 The Matsya (53. 44-45) and Skanda (VII. 1.2.63-64) state that in the VP, Brahma taught the trivarga (three aims of human life) in connection with the greatness of Trivikrama, that it treats of the Kurmakalpa, and consists of 10,000 stanzas. The extant VP, Brahma is not the however, does not agree with these particulars. narrator there, nor is there any mention of the Kurmakalpa, nor does it contain 10,000 stanzas. The contents of the Purvabhaga (first part) of the VP comprising the Trivikrama-carita, as given in the Narada (I. 105), tally fully with the extant VP. The second part, called the Brhadvamana, according to the Narada, consisted of four Samhitas of a thousand stanzas each, named respectively (i) the Mahesvari-samhita, dealing with the worship of Krsna, (ii) the Bhagavati-samhita, on the worship of the different incarnations of Durga, (iii) the Saurisamhita, on Sun-worship, and (iv) the Ganesvari-samhita on the worship of Ganesa. The extent of the two parts is given as 10,000 stanzas.14 The extant VP, which answers to the description of the first part of the VP as given in the Narada, consists of about 6000 stanzas, which comes to be the extent of the first part, according to the Narada. The second part, as described in the Narada, is not yet available. Besides the Matsya and the Narada, which give the extent of the VP to be 10,000 stanzas, the Vayu, Agni, Brahma-vaivarta, Bhagavata, and Devi-Bhagavata also give the same number as the extent of the VP.15 According to the traditional account, as given in the Narada, VP was narrated first by Pulastya to the divine sage Narada, from whom it came to Vyasa. From Vyasa, it was learnt by his disciple 12. Puranic Records on Hindu Rites and Customs, p. 76. 13. op. cit., p. 77. 14. Narada, I, 105. 1, 13-16. 15. cf. Purana, Vol. VII, pp. 348-351. In a table on p. 51 of the Astadasa Purana Darpana, the extent of the VP is given as 10700 and 11000 respectively according to the Matsya and Bhagavata. On referring to the original sources, however, it was found that both give 10000 as the extent of the VP.

144 puranam - PURANA [Vol. XII, No. 1 Romaharsana, and he narrated it to the sages assembled in the Naimisaranya.16 Pulastya and Narada are the interlocutors in the extant VP. The Maha-puranas are expected to conform to the definition mentioning their five characteristics. 17 Though the VP does not deal with all these characteristics in detail, it can, however, be shown that it touches almost all the five topics. As attempted by Hohenberger, 18 it can be shown that the VP fulfils the requirements of the five characteristics. Thus, there is but a partial account of Sarga (creation) in Adhyayas 2,43 and 49, which also deal cursorily with Pratisarga (re-creation), also mentioned in 11.45 and 47.30. There is an apology for Vamsa (genealogy-of gods and sages). The Manvantaras (cosmic cycles) are successively referred to while describing the origin of the Maruts (Adhyaya 72). There is absolutely no reference to Vamsanucarita (accounts of royal genealogies), which seems to have been replaced by Bhumyadeh samsthanam (world geography or cosmography) in the form of brief description of Bhuvanakosa (VP, Cr. Ed., 11. 30-46). The Subject Concordance of the VP (vamanapurana visaya-suci ) by Shri Ramshankar Bhattacharya, as published in Purana (III, pp. 141-182) gives references to Sarga, Bhuvanakosa, and Manvantara from the VP, stating that there are no references to Pratisarga, Vamsa and Vamsanucarita in the VP. As regards the extent of the VP, it has already been stated that at all places where the extent of the Puranas has been given, The the VP has been uniformly said to contain 10,000 stanzas. Narada, as already observed, gives the extent of the second part as 4000 and that of the entire VP as 10000. The extant VP consists only of the first part, and its extent, in the Venkatesvara Edition, is 5815, and in the Critical Edition, is 5878,19 which approximates 6000, as mentioned in the Narada. The authorship of the eighteen Maha-puranas, along with the Mahabharata, has been traditionally ascribed to Vyasa. 20 There is another tradition, recorded in the Bhavisya, which ascribes the 16. Narada, I, 105, 17-19. 17. For references, cf. Studies in the Epics &Puranas of India, 1963, p. 43. 18. Indo-Iranian Journal, VII, p. 11. 19. Vamana Purana, Critical Edition, Intr., p. xxi. 20. Matsya, 53.70; Skanda, VII. 2. 94-95.

Jan., 1970] SOME OBSERVATIONS ON THE VAMANA PURANA 145 authorship of the different Puranas to different authors. According to this tradition, Vyasa was the author of only six Puranas, which are called the Rajasa Puranas, and the VP is one of them.21 There are divergent views about the date of the VP. H. P. Shastri places it in the second century A.D.,22 while Wilson regards it as having been compiled three or four centuries ago. 23 Hazra, after subjecting the arguments advanced by these scholars to a critical examination, concludes that the date of the VP "falls either in the ninth or in the tenth century A.D., and most probably in the former."24 In his latest article on the subject, he states that the VP "was re-written by the Siva-worshippers in the ninth or tenth century A.D., retaining fragments here and there from its earlier form". 25 Durgashanker Shastri places the VP in the seventh century A. D. before the Bhagavata, but accepts the possibility of there being later interpolations in the VP. 26 According to Kane, the VP "would have to be placed between 600 to 900 A.D.", and we are inclined to agree with Kane's view. Cosmogony and cosmography in the VP are on a line with the other Puranas. The special feature of the VP may be said to lie in its glorification of both Visnu and Siva and its emphasis on their identity, which demonstrates the catholicity of outlook on the part of its author or compiler. Though professedly a Vaisnavite work, there are probably as many Saivite legends in it as those of Visnu. Such are, for instance about the marriage of Siva, birth of Ganesa, life of Karttikeya, etc. as also those pertaining to Linga and Linga worship. Besides, there are legends of Devi, Durga, Katyayani, etc. With regard to the legends in the VP, Durgashanker Shastri holds that the Prahlada-carita in the VP is prior to that in the Bhagavata and Visnu but later than that in the Harivamsa; that the Devi-Mahatmya, Mahisasura-vadha, CandaMunda-vadha, Sumbha-Nisumbha-vadha, etc, in the VP are earlier than the Devi-Mahatmya of the Markandeya; and that the Saiva 21. Bhavisya, III. 3. 28. 10-15. 22. Cat. of Skt MSS, ASB, V, Preface, pp. clxxxii-clxxxiii. 23. Visnu Purana, Preface, p. lxxvi. 24. Puranic Records &e, p. 91. 25. Cultural Heritage of India, Rev. Ed., II, p. 260. 26. Purana Vivecana (in Gujarati), p. 197. 27. Hist. of Dharmsaastra, V, p. 905. 19

146 puranam - PURANA Andhakasura-vadha, [Vol. XII, No. 1 legends regarding Daksa-yajna-bhanga, Parvati-janma, etc., are earlier than the Skanda, Linga and Kurma.28 Further, we find the duties of the four castes, of women, etc. The stotras in the VP are so numerous that H. P. Shastri calls it "a number of poems written in a polished kavya style, joined very loosely with one another" 29 There are detailed references to the images of gods. The Vratas and Tirthas occupy an appreciable extent of this Purana. Among the vratas described in this Purana, attention may specially be invited to the Naksatra-purusa-vrata. Asunya-sayana-dvitiya-kalastami-vrata, and Tapta-krcchra-vrata. There are descriptions of various Tirthas, and legends are recounted about them. The Tirthas in the Kuruksetra appear to receive special treatment from the author, though Varanasi, Prayaga, Vindhya, Badari and other places are also mentioned. A comparative study of the legends in the VP with reference to the similar ones in the other Puranas and the Mahabharata will certainly yield fruitful and significant results. All-India Kashiraj Trust deserves the gratitude of all Indologists for the Critical Edition of the Vamana-Purana-the first Critical Edition of any Purana to have seen the light of the day-recently published from Varanasi. The Editor, Shri Anand Swarup Gupta, has done his job quite conscientiously, competently and satisfactorily. In view of the fact that I have reviewed the book in the Annals of the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute (Vol. 50, 1969), Curious readers I do not repeat my remarks about the book here. are requested to refer to the relevant volume of the Annals. 28, Purana Vivecana (in Gujarati), pp. 196-7. 29. Cat. of MSS, ASB, V, Preface, p. cxxxi.