Essay name: Purana Bulletin
Author:
Affiliation: University of Kerala / Faculty of Oriental Studies
The "Purana Bulletin" is an academic journal published in India. The journal focuses on the study of Puranas, which are a genre of ancient Indian literature encompassing mythological stories, traditions, and philosophical teachings. They represent Hindu scriptures in Sanskrit and cover a wide range of subjects.
Purana, Volume 6, Part 2 (1964)
141 (of 234)
External source: Shodhganga (Repository of Indian theses)
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नासिकेतोपाख्यानमूलस्� नाचिकेतोपाख्यानस्य
वेदेतिहासपुराणेष� विकासः
बलदे� उपाध्याय
[ [nāsiketopākhyānamūlasya nāciketopākhyānasya
vedetihāsapurāṇeṣu vikāsa�
baladeva upādhyāya
[] The Hindi Nasiketopakhyāna (the story of
Nāsiketa) written in about 1803 A.D. by Sadala Miśra,
a teacher in the Fort William College of Calcutta, is
well-known as one of the first pioneer works of Hindi
prose. This Hindi Näsiketopakhyāna is based on the
Sanskrit Näsiketopakhyāna which is available in
manuscripts, and has also been recently published
in Varanasi. The Sanskrit Näsiketopakhyana is a
modified version of the Paurāṇika Naciketopakhyāna
found in the Varāha-Purāṇa (Adhs. 193-212).
The learned writer in the present article discusses
the text of the Sanskrit Näsiketopākhyāna as available
in its nine manuscripts deposited in the Library of the
Vārāṇaseya Sanskrit University, Varanasi, and
examined by him for this purpose. He also traces its
development from the Paurāṇika Naciketopakhyāna.
The text of the Näsiketopakhyāna as available in
its manuscript-form is found in two versions-longer
and shorter. The longer version consists of 18
Adhyāyas, and is found in MSS. nos. 4899, 14456,
14859 and 14956. This longer version is almost
uniform in all these manuscripts. The shorter version
is found in MSS. Nos. 3765, 14777 and 15661, and
variously consists of 11, 13 or 17 Adhyāyas. The
text of the MS. No. 14777 has been much influenced
by the Bhāgavata-Purāṇa and the Bhāgavata-religion.
In its colophon the Nasiketopakhyāna is said to belong
to the Brahmaṇḍa-Purāṇa, but it is not available
