The word Puranas literally means
"ancient, old", and it is a vast genre of Indian literature about a
wide range of topics, particularly myths, legends and other traditional lore.Composed
primarily in Sanskrit, but also in regional languages, several of these texts
are named after major Hindu deities such as
Vishnu, Shiva and Devi. The Puranas genre of literature is found in both Hinduism and Jainism.
The Puranic literature is encyclopedic, and it
includes diverse topics such as cosmogony, cosmology, genealogies of gods, goddesses, kings,
heroes, sages, and demigods, folk tales, pilgrimages, temples, medicine,
astronomy, grammar, mineralogy, humor, love stories, as well as theology and
philosophy. The content is highly inconsistent across the Puranas, and each
Purana has survived in numerous manuscripts which are themselves inconsistent.
The Hindu Puranas are anonymous texts and likely the work of many authors over
the centuries; in contrast, most Jaina Puranas can be dated and their authors
assigned.
There are 18 Maha Puranas (Great
Puranas) and 18 Upa Puranas (Minor Puranas), with over 400,000 verses.
The first versions of the various Puranas were likely composed between the 3rdand
10thcentury CE. The Puranas do not enjoy the authority of a
scripture in Hinduism, but are considered a Smriti.
They have been influential in the Hindu culture, inspiring major national and regional
annual festivals of Hinduism. The religious practices included in them are
considered Vaidika (congruent with Vedic literature), because they do
not preach initiation into Tantra. The Bhagavata
Purana has been among the most celebrated and popular text in the
Puranic genre, and is of non-dualistic tenor.
The Puranic literature wove with the Bhakti movement
in India, and both Dvaita and Advaita scholars have commented on the underlying
Vedantic themes in the Maha Puranas.
Origin
Vyasa, the narrator of the Mahabharata, is hagiographically credited as the
compiler of the Puranas. The ancient tradition suggests that originally there
was but one Purana. Vishnu Purana (3.6.15) mentions that Vyasa entrusted his Puranasamhita
to his disciple Lomaharshana, who in turn imparted it to his disciples,
three of whom compiled their own samhitas. These three, together with
Lomaharshana's, comprise the Mulasamhita, from which the later eighteen
Puranas were derived.
The term Purana appears in the Vedic
texts. For example, Atharva Veda mentions Purana (in the singular) in
XI.7.24 and XV.6.10-11:
"The rk and saman verses, the chandas,
the Purana along with the Yajus formulae, all sprang from the remainder of the
sacrificial food, (as also) the gods that resort to heaven." "He
changed his place and went over to great direction, and Itihasa and Purana,
gathas, verses in praise of heroes followed in going over."
Similarly, the Shatapatha Brahmana (XI.5.6.8)
mentions Itihasapuranam (as one compound word) and recommends that on
the 9th day of Pariplava, the hotr priest should narrate some
Purana because "the Purana is the Veda, this it is"
(XIII.4.3.13). However, states P.V. Kane, it is not certain whether these texts
suggested several works or single work with the term Purana. The late
Vedic text Taittiriya Aranyaka (II.10) uses the term in the plural.
Therefore, states Kane, that in the later Vedic period at least, the Puranas
referred to three or more texts, and that they were studied and recited In
numerous passages the Mahabharata mentions 'Purana' in both singular and
plural forms. Moreover, it is not unlikely that, where the singular 'Puranam'
was employed in the texts, a class of works was meant. Further, despite the
mention of the term Purana or Puranas in the Vedic texts, there is uncertainty
about the contents of them until the composition of the oldest Dharmashastra Apastamba Dharmasutra and Gautama Dharmasutra, that mention Puranas
resembling with the extant Puranas.
Another early mention of the term
'Itihas-purana' is found in the Chandogya Upanishad
(7.1.2), translated by Patrick Olivelle as
"the corpus of histories and ancient tales as the fifth Veda". The Brhadaranyaka Upanishad also refers to purana as the
"fifth Veda".
According to Thomas Coburn, Puranas and early
extra-puranic texts attest to two traditions regarding their origin, one
proclaiming a divine origin as the breath of the Great Being, the other as a
human named Vyasa as the arranger of already
existing material into eighteen Puranas. In the early references, states
Coburn, the term Purana occurs in singular unlike the later era which refers to
a plural form presumably because they had assumed their "multifarious
form". While both these traditions disagree on the origins of the Puranas,
they affirm that extant Puranas are not identical with the original Purana.
According to the Indologists J. A. B. van Buitenen and Cornelia Dimmitt, the
Puranas that have survived into the modern era are ancient but represent
"an amalgam of two somewhat different but never entirely different
separate oral literatures: the Brahmin tradition stemming from the reciters of
the Vedas, and the bardic poetry recited by Sutas that was handed down in
Kshatriya circles". The original Puranas comes from the priestly roots
while the later genealogies have the warrior and epic roots. These texts were
collected for the "second time between the fourth and sixth centuries A.D.
under the rule of the Gupta kings", a period of Hindu renaissance.
However, the editing and expansion of the Puranas did not stop after the Gupta
era, and the texts continued to "grow for another five hundred or a
thousand years" and these were preserved by priests who maintained Hindu
pilgrimage sites and temples. The core of Itihasa-Puranas, states Klaus
Klostermaier, may possibly go back to the seventh century BCE or even earlier.
It is not possible to set a specific date for
any Purana as a whole, states Ludo Rocher. He
points out that even for the better established and more coherent puranas such
as Bhagavata and Vishnu, the dates proposed by scholars continue to vary widely
and endlessly. The date of the production of the written texts does not define
the date of origin of the Puranas. They existed in an oral form before being
written down. In the 19th century, F. E. Pargiter
believed the "original Purana" may date to the time of the final
redaction of the Vedas. Wendy Doniger, based on
her study of indologists, assigns approximate dates to the various Puranas. She
dates Markandeya Purana to c. 250 CE (with one
portion dated to c. 550 CE), Matsya Purana to
c. 250–500 CE, Vayu Purana to c. 350 CE, Harivamsa and Vishnu Purana
to c. 450 CE, Brahmanda Purana to c. 350–950
CE, Vamana Purana to c. 450–900 CE, Kurma Purana to c. 550–850 CE, and Linga Purana to c. 600–1000 CE.
Texts
Mahapuranas
Of the many texts designated 'Puranas' the
most important are the Mahapuraṇas or the major Puranas. These are said
to be eighteen in number, divided into three groups of six, though they are not
always counted in the same way.
|
S.No.
|
Purana name
|
Verses number
|
Comments
|
|
1
|
Agni
|
15,400 verses
|
Contains encyclopedic information. Includes
geography of Mithila (Bihar and neighboring
states), cultural history, politics, education system, iconography, taxation
theories, organization of army, theories on proper causes for war, diplomacy,
local laws, building public projects, water distribution methods, trees and
plants, medicine, Vastu Shastra (architecture), gemology, grammar, metrics,
poetry, food, rituals and numerous other topics.
|
|
2
|
Bhagavata
|
18,000 verses
|
The most studied and popular of the Puranas,
telling of Vishnu's Avatars, and of
Vaishnavism. It contains controversial genealogical details of various
dynasties. Numerous inconsistent versions of this text and historical
manuscripts exist, in many Indian languages. Influential and elaborated
during Bhakti movement.
|
|
3
|
Brahma
|
10,000 verses
|
Sometimes also called Adi Purana, because
many Mahapuranas lists put it first of 18. The text has 245 chapters, shares
many passages with Vishnu, Vayu, Markendeya Puranas, and with the Mahabharata. Includes mythology, theory of war, art
work in temples, and other cultural topics. Describes holy places in Odisha, and weaves themes of Vishnu and Shiva, but
hardly any mention of deity Brahma despite the title.
|
|
4
|
Brahmanda
|
12,000 verses
|
One of the earliest composed Puranas, it
contains a controversial genealogical details of various dynasties. Includes Lalita Sahasranamam, law codes, system of
governance, administration, diplomacy, trade, ethics. Old manuscripts of
Brahmanda Purana have been found in the Hindu literature collections of Bali, Indonesia.
|
|
5
|
Brahmavaivarta
|
18,000 verses
|
It is related by Savarni to Narada, and
centres around the greatness of Krishna and Radha. In this, the story of
Brahma-varaha is repeatedly told. Notable for asserting that Krishna is the
supreme reality and the gods Vishnu, Shiva, Brahma are incarnations of him.
Mentions geography and rivers such as Ganga
to Kaveri.
|
|
6
|
Garuda
|
19,000 verses
|
An encyclopedia of diverse topics. Primarily
about Vishnu, but praises all gods. Describes how Vishnu, Shiva and Brahma
collaborate. Many chapters are a dialogue between Vishnu and the bird-vehicle
Garuda. Cosmology, Describes cosmology,
relationship between gods. Discusses ethics, what are crimes, good versus
evil, various schools of Hindu philosophies, the theory of Yoga, the theory
of "heaven and hell" with "karma and rebirth", includes
Upanishadic discussion of self-knowledge as a means of moksha. Includes chapters on rivers, geography of
Bharat (India) and other nations on earth, types of minerals and stones,
testing methods for stones for their quality, various diseases and their
symptoms, various medicines, aphrodisiacs, prophylactics, Hindu calendar and
its basis, astronomy, moon, planets, astrology, architecture, building home,
essential features of a temple, rites of passage, virtues such as compassion,
charity and gift making, economy, thrift, duties of a king, politics, state
officials and their roles and how to appointment them, genre of literature,
rules of grammar, and other topics. The final chapters discuss how to
practice Yoga (Samkhya and Advaita types),
personal development and the benefits of self-knowledge.
|
|
7
|
Kurma
|
17,000 verses
|
Is the second of ten major avatars of Lord
Vishnu.
|
|
8
|
Linga
|
11,000 verses
|
Discusses Lingam,
symbol of Shiva, and origin of the universe. It also contains many stories of
Lingam, one of which entails how Agni Lingam solved a dispute between Vishnu
and Brahma.
|
|
9
|
Markandeya
|
9,000 verses
|
Describes Vindhya
Range and western India. Probably composed in the valleys of Narmada and Tapti
rivers, in Maharashtra and Gujarat. Named after sage Markandeya, a student of
Brahma. Contains chapters on dharma and on
Hindu epic Mahabharata. The Purana includes Devi
Mahatmyam of Shaktism.
|
|
10
|
Matsya
|
14,000 verses
|
An encyclopedia of diverse topics. Narrates
the story of Matsya, the first of ten major Avatars of Vishnu. Likely composed in west India,
by people aware of geographical details of the Narmada
river. Includes legends about Brahma and Saraswati. It also contains a
controversial genealogical details of various dynasties.
|
|
11
|
Narada
|
25,000 verses
|
Also called Naradiya Purana. Discusses the
four Vedas and the six Vedangas. Dedicates one chapter each, from Chapters
92 to 109, to summarize the other 17 Maha Puranas and itself. Lists major
rivers of India and places of pilgrimage, and a short tour guide for each.
Includes discussion of various philosophies, soteriology, planets, astronomy,
myths and characteristics of major deities including Vishnu, Shiva, Devi,
Krishna, Rama, Lakshmi and others.
|
|
12
|
Padma
|
55,000 verses
|
A large compilation of diverse topics. The
north Indian manuscripts of Padma Purana are very different than south Indian
versions, and the various recensions in both groups in different languages
(Devanagari and Bengali, for example) show major inconsistencies. Describes
cosmology, the world and nature of life from the perspective of Vishnu.
Discusses festivals, numerous legends, geography of rivers and regions from
northwest India to Bengal to the kingdom of Tripura, major sages of India, various Avatars of
Vishnu and his cooperation with Shiva, the story of Rama-Sita that is
different than the Hindu epic Ramayana. Like
Skanda Purana, it is a detailed treatise on travel and pilgrimage centers in
India.
|
|
13
|
Shiva
|
24,000 verses
|
Discusses Shiva, and stories about him.
|
|
14
|
Skanda
|
81,100 verses
|
Describes the birth of Skanda (or
Karthikeya), son of Shiva. The longest Purana, it is an extraordinarily
meticulous pilgrimage guide, containing geographical locations of pilgrimage
centers in India, with related legends, parables, hymns and stories. Many
untraced quotes are attributed to this text.
|
|
15
|
Vamana
|
10,000 verses
|
Describes North
India, particularly Himalayan foothills region.
|
|
16
|
Varaha
|
24,000 verses
|
Primarily Vishnu-related worship manual, with
large Mahatmya sections or travel guide to Mathura and Nepal.
Presentation focuses on Varaha as incarnation of Narayana, but rarely uses
the terms Krishna or Vasudeva. Many illustrations also involve Shiva and Durga.
|
|
17
|
Vayu
|
24,000 verses
|
Possibly the oldest of all Maha Puranas. Some
medieval Indian texts call it Vayaviya Purana. Mentioned and studied by Al Biruni, the 11th century Persian visitor to
India. Praises Shiva. Discusses rituals, family life, and life stages of a
human being. The content in Vayu Purana is also found in Markandeya Purana.
Describes south India, particularly modern Telangana
and Andhra Pradesh regions. It contains a
controversial genealogical details of various dynasties.
|
|
18
|
Vishnu
|
23,000 verses
|
One of the most studied and circulated
Puranas, it also contains a controversial genealogical details of various
dynasties. Better preserved after the 17th century, but exists in
inconsistent versions, more ancient pre-15th century versions are very
different from modern versions, with some versions discussing Buddhism and
Jainism. Some chapters likely composed in Kashmir and Punjab region of South
Asia. A Vaishnavism text, focussed on Vishnu.
|
The Mahapuranas have also been classified based on a specific deity, although the texts are mixed and revere all gods and goddesses:
Brahma:
|
Brahma Purana, Padma Purana
|
Surya:
|
Brahma Vaivarta Purana
|
Agni:
|
Agni Purana
|
Saiva:
|
Shiva Purana, Linga Purana,
Skanda Purana, Varaha
Purana, Vamana Purana, Kurma Purana, Matsya
Purana, Mārkandeya Purana, Bhavishya Purana, Brahmānda
Purana
|
Vaiṣṇava:
|
Vishnu Purana, Bhagavata Purana,
Naradeya Purana, Garuda
Purana, Vayu Purana, Varaha Purana
|
The Padma Purana,
Uttara Khanda (236.18-21), classifies the Puranas in accordance with the three gunas or qualities; truth, passion, and ignorance.
Sattva
("truth") |
Vishnu Purana, Bhagavata Purana,
Naradeya Purana, Garuda
Purana, Padma Purana, Varaha Purana
|
Rajas
("passion") |
Brahmanda Purana, Brahma Vaivarta
Purana, Markandeya Purana, Bhavishya Purana, Vamana
Purana, Brahma Purana
|
Tamas
("ignorance") |
Matsya Purana, Kurma purana,
Linga Purana, Shiva
Purana, Skanda Purana, Agni Purana
|
All major Puranas contain sections on Devi (goddesses) and Tantra,
but of these the six most significant ones are: Markandeya
Purana, Shiva Purana, Linga Purana, Brahma
Vaivarta Purana, Agni Purana and Padma Purana.
Upapuranas
The difference between Upapuranas and
Mahapuranas has been explained by Rajendra Hazra as, "a Mahapurana is well
known, and that what is less well known becomes an Upapurana". Rocher
states that the distinction between Mahapurana and Upapurana is ahistorical,
there is little corroborating evidence that either were more or less known, and
that "the term Mahapurana occurs rarely in Purana literature, and is
probably of late origin."
The Upapuranas are eighteen in number,
with disagreement as to which canonical titles belong in that list of eighteen.
They include among many: Sanat-kumara, Narasimha,
Brihan-naradiya, Siva-rahasya, Durvasa, Kapila,
Vamana, Bhargava, Varuna, Kalika, Samba, Nandi, Surya, Parasara, Vasishtha,
Devi-Bhagavata, Ganesha, Mudgala, and Hamsa, with only a few having been
critically edited.
The Ganesha and Mudgala Puranas are devoted to
Ganesha.[63][64]
The Devi-Bhagavata Purana, which extols the
goddess Durga, has become (along with the Devi
Mahatmya of the Markandeya Purana) a basic text for Devi
worshipers.
Sthala Puranas
This corpus of texts tells of the origins and
traditions of particular Tamil Shiva temples or shrines. There are numerous
Sthala Puranas, most written in vernaculars,
some with Sanskrit versions as well. The 275 Shiva Sthalams of the continent
have puranas for each, famously glorified in the Tamil
literatureTevaram. Some appear in Sanskrit versions in the
Mahapuranas or Upapuranas. Some Tamil Sthala Puranas have been researched by David Dean Shulman.
Skanda Purana
The Skanda Purana is the largest Purana with
81,000 verses, named after deity Skanda, the
son of Shiva and Uma, and brother of deity Ganesha. The mythological part of
the text weaves the stories of Shiva and Vishnu, along with Parvati, Rama,
Krishna and other major gods in Hindu pantheon. In Chapter 1.8, it declares,
Vishnu is nobody but Shiva, and he who is
called Shiva is but identical with Vishnu.
— Skanda Purana,
1.8.20-21
The Skanda Purana has received renewed
scholarly interest ever since the late 20th-century discovery of a Nepalese Skanda Purana manuscript dated to be from
the early 9th century. This discovery established that Skanda Purana existed by
the 9th century. However, a comparison shows that the 9th-century document is
entirely different than versions of Skanda Purana that have been circulating in
South Asia since the colonial era.
Content
The Puranas include cosmos
creation myths such as the Samudra Manthan (churning of the ocean).
Several Puranas, such as the Matysa Purana,
list "five characteristics" or "five signs" of a Purana.
These are called the Pancha Lakshana ( pañcalakṣaṇa), and are
topics covered by a Purana:
1. Sarga: cosmogony
2. Pratisarga: cosmogony and cosmology
3. Vamśa: genealogy of the gods, sages and kings
4. Manvañtara: cosmic cycles, history
of the world during the time of one patriarch
5. Vamśānucaritam: legends during the times
of various kings.
A few Puranas, such as the most popular
Bhagavata Purana, add five more characteristics to expand this list to ten:
6. Utaya: karmic links between the deities, sages, kings and
the various living beings
7. Ishanukatha: tales about a god
8. Nirodha: finale, cessation
9. Mukti: moksha, spiritual liberation
10. Ashraya: refuge
These five or ten sections weave in
biographies, myths, geography, medicine, astronomy, Hindu temples, pilgrimage
to distant real places, rites of passage, charity, ethics, duties, rights,
dharma, divine intervention in cosmic and human affairs, love stories,
festivals, theosophy and philosophy. The Puranas link gods to men, both
generally and in religious bhakti context.Here
the Puranic literature follows a general pattern. It starts with introduction,
a future devotee is described as ignorant about the god yet curious, the
devotee learns about the god and this begins the spiritual realization, the
text then describes instances of god's grace which begins to persuade and
convert the devotee, the devotee then shows devotion which is rewarded by the
god, the reward is appreciated by the devotee and in return performs actions to
express further devotion.
The Puranas, states Flood, document the rise
of the theistic traditions such as those based on Vishnu, Shiva and the goddess
Devi and include respective mythology, pilgrimage to holy places, rituals and
genealogies.The bulk of these texts in Flood's view were established by 500 CE,
in the Gupta era though amendments were made later. Along with inconsistencies,
common ideas are found throughout the corpus but it is not possible to trace
the lines of influence of one Purana upon another so the corpus is best viewed
as a synchronous whole. An example of similar myths woven across the Puranas,
but in different versions, include the lingabhava – the "apparition
of the linga". The story features Brahma,
Vishnu and Shiva, the three major deities of Hinduism, who get together,
debate, and after various versions of the story, in the end the glory of Shiva
is established by the apparition of linga. This myth, state Bonnefoy and Doniger,
appears in Vayu Purana 1.55, Brahmanda Purana 1.26, Shiva Purana's Rudra
Samhita Sristi Khanda 15, Skanda Purana's chapters 1.3, 1.16 and 3.1, and other
Puranas.
The texts are in Sanskrit as well as regional
languages, and almost entirely in narrative metric couplets.
Symbolism and layers of meaning
The texts use ideas, concepts and even names
that are symbolic. The words can interpreted literally, and at an axiological level. The Vishnu
Purana, for example, recites a myth where the names of the characters
are loaded with symbolism and axiological significance. The myth is as follows,
The progeny of Dharma
by the daughters of Daksha were as follows: by Sraddhá (devotion) he had Kama (desire); by Lakshmí (wealth, prosperity), was
born Darpa (pride); by Dhriti (courage), the progeny was Niyama (precept); by Tusht́i (inner comfort), Santosha (contentment); by Pusht́i (opulence), the
progeny was Lobha (cupidity, greed); by Medhá (wisdom, experience), Sruta
(sacred tradition); by Kriyá (hard work, labour), the progeny were Dańd́a,
Naya, and Vinaya (justice, politics, and education); by Buddhi (intellect),
Bodha (understanding); by Lajjá (shame, humility), Vinaya (good behaviour); by
Vapu (body, strength), Vyavasaya (perseverance). Shanti (peace) gave birth to Kshama (forgiveness); Siddhi (excellence) to Sukha
(enjoyment); and Kírtti (glorious speech) gave birth to Yasha (reputation).
These were the sons of Dharma; one of whom, Kama (love, emotional fulfillment)
had baby Hersha (joy) by his wife Nandi (delight).
The wife of Adharma (vice, wrong, evil) was
Hinsá (violence), on whom he begot a son Anrita (falsehood), and a daughter
Nikriti (immorality): they intermarried, and had two sons, Bhaya (fear) and
Naraka (hell); and twins to them, two daughters, Máyá (deceit) and Vedaná
(torture), who became their wives. The son of Bhaya (fear) and Máyá (deceit)
was the destroyer of living creatures, or Mrityu (death); and Dukha (pain) was
the offspring of Naraka (hell) and Vedaná (torture). The children of Mrityu were
Vyádhi (disease), Jará (decay), Soka (sorrow), Trishńa (greediness), and Krodha
(wrath). These are all called the inflictors of misery, and are characterised
as the progeny of Vice (Adharma). They are all without wives, without
posterity, without the faculty to procreate; they perpetually operate as causes
of the destruction of this world. On the contrary, Daksha and the other Rishis,
the elders of mankind, tend perpetually to influence its renovation: whilst the
Manus and their sons, the heroes endowed with mighty power, and treading in the
path of truth, as constantly contribute to its preservation.
Puranas as a complement to the Vedas
The mythology in the
Puranas has inspired many reliefs and
sculptures found in Hindu temples. The legend
behind the Krishna and Gopis relief above is described in the Bhagavata Purana.
The relation of the
Puranas with Vedas has been debated by scholars, some holding that there's no
relationship, others contending that they are identical. The Puranic
literature, stated Max Muller, is independent,
has changed often over its history, and has little relation to the Vedic age or
the Vedic literature. In contrast, Purana literature is evidently intended to
serve as a complement to the Vedas, states Vans Kennedy.
Some scholars such as Govinda Das suggest that
the Puranas claim a link to the Vedas but in name only, not in substance. The
link is purely a mechanical one. Scholars such as Viman Chandra Bhattacharya
and PV Kane state that the Puranas are a continuation and development of the
Vedas. Sudhakar Malaviya and VG Rahurkar state the connection is closer in that
the Puranas are companion texts to help understand and interpret the Vedas.K.S.
Ramaswami Sastri and Manilal N. Dvivedi reflect the third view which states
that Puranas enable us to know the "true import of the ethos, philosophy
and religion of the Vedas".
Barbara Holdrege questions the fifth Veda
status of Itihasas (the Hindu epics) and Puranas. The Puranas, states
V.S. Agrawala, intend to "explicate, interpret, adapt" the
metaphysical truths in the Vedas.In the general opinion, states Rocher,
"the Puranas cannot be divorced from the Vedas" though scholars
provide different interpretations of the link between the two. Scholars have
given the Bhagavata Purana as an example
of the links and continuity of the Vedic content such as providing an
interpretation of the Gayatri mantra.
Puranas as encyclopedias
The Puranas, states Kees Bolle, are best seen
as "vast, often encyclopedic" works from ancient and medieval India.
Some of them, such as the Agni Purana and Matsya Purana, cover all sorts of
subjects, dealing with – states Rocher – "anything and everything",
from fiction to facts, from practical recipes to abstract philosophy, from
geographic Mahatmyas (travel guides) to cosmetics, from festivals to
astronomy. Like encyclopedias, they were updated to remain current with their
times, by a process called Upabrimhana. However, some of the 36 major
and minor Puranas are more focussed handbooks, such as the Skanda Purana, Padma
Purana and Bhavishya Purana which deal primarily with Tirtha Mahatmyas
(pilgrimage travel guides), while Vayu Purana and Brahmanda Purana focus more
on history, mythology and legends.
Puranas as religious texts
The colonial era scholars of Puranas studied
them primarily as religious texts, with Vans Kennedy declaring in 1837, that
any other use of these documents would be disappointing.John Zephaniah Holwell, who from 1732 onwards spent
30 years in India and was elected Fellow of the Royal
Society in 1767, described the Puranas as "18 books of divine
words". British officials and researchers such as Holwell, states Urs App,
were orientalist scholars who introduced a
distorted picture of Indian literature and Puranas as "sacred scriptures
of India" in 1767. Holwell, states Urs App, "presented it as the
opinion of knowledgeable Indians; But it is abundantly clear that no
knowledgeable Indian would ever have said anything remotely similar".
Modern scholarship doubts this 19th-century
premise. Ludo Rocher, for example, states,
I want to stress the fact that it would be
irresponsible and highly misleading to speak of or pretend to describe the
religion of the Puranas.
— Ludo Rocher, The Puranas
The study of Puranas as a religious text
remains a controversial subject. Some Indologists, in colonial tradition of
scholarship, treat the Puranic texts as scriptures or useful source of
religious contents. Other scholars, such as Ronald Inden, consider this
approach "essentialist and antihistorical" because the Purana texts
changed often over time and over distance, and the underlying presumption of
they being religious texts is that those changes are "Hinduism expressed
by a religious leader or philosopher", or "expressiveness of Hindu
mind", or "society at large", when the texts and passages are
literary works and "individual geniuses of their authors".
Jainism
The Jaina Puranas are like Hindu Puranas
encyclopedic epics in style, and are considered as anuyogas
(expositions), but they are not considered Jain Agamas
and do not have scripture or quasi-canonical status in Jainism tradition. They
are best described, states John Cort, as post-scripture literary corpus based
upon themes found in Jain scriptures.
Sectarian, pluralistic or monotheistic
theme
Scholars have debated whether the Puranas
should be categorized as sectarian, or non-partisan, or monotheistic religious
texts. Different Puranas describe a number of stories where Brahma, VIshnu and
Shiva compete for supremacy. In some Puranas, such as Devi
Bhagavata, the Goddess Devi joins the competition and ascends for the
position of being Supreme. Further, most Puranas emphasize legends around one
who is either Shiva, or Vishnu, or Devi. The texts thus appear to be sectarian.
However, states Edwin Bryant, while these legends sometimes appear to be
partisan, they are merely acknowledging the obvious question of whether one or
the other is more important, more powerful. In the final analysis, all Puranas
weave their legends to celebrate pluralism, and accept the other two and all
gods in Hindu pantheon as personalized form but equivalent essence of the
Ultimate Reality called Brahman.The Puranas are
not spiritually partisan, states Bryant, but "accept and indeed extol the
transcendent and absolute nature of the other, and of the Goddess Devi
too".
[The Puranic text] merely affirm that the
other deity is to be considered a derivative manifestation of their respective
deity, or in the case of Devi, the Shakti, or power of the male
divinity. The term monotheism, if applied to the Puranic tradition, needs to be
understood in the context of a supreme being, whether understood as Vishnu,
Shiva or Devi, who can manifest himself or herself as other supreme beings.
— Edwin Bryant,
Krishna: The Beautiful Legend of God: Srimad Bhagavata Puran
Ludo Rocher, in his review of Puranas as
sectarian texts, states, "even though the Puranas contain sectarian
materials, their sectarianism should not be interpreted as exclusivism in favor
of one god to the detriment of all others".
Puranas as historical texts
Despite the diversity and wealth of
manuscripts from ancient and medieval India that have survived into the modern
times, there is a paucity of historical data in them. Neither the author name
nor the year of their composition were recorded or preserved, over the
centuries, as the documents were copied from one generation to another. This
paucity tempted 19th-century scholars to use the Puranas as a source of
chronological and historical information about India or Hinduism. This effort was,
after some effort, either summarily rejected by some scholars, or become
controversial, because the Puranas include fables and fiction, and the
information within and across the Puranas was found to be inconsistent.
In early 20th-century, some regional records
were found to be more consistent, such as for the Hindu dynasties in Telangana, Andhra Pradesh. Basham, as well as Kosambi
have questioned whether lack of inconsistency is sufficient proof of
reliability and historicity. More recent
scholarship has attempted to, with limited success, states Ludo Rocher, use the
Puranas for historical information in combination with independent
corroborating evidence, such as "epigraphy, archaeology, Buddhist
literature, Jaina literature, non-Puranic literature, Islamic records, and
records preserved outside India by travelers to or from India in medieval times
such as in China, Myanmar and Indonesia".
Manuscripts
The study of Puranas manuscripts has been
challenging because they are highly inconsistent.This is true for all
Mahapuranas and Upapuranas. Most editions of Puranas, in use particularly by
Western scholars, are "based on one manuscript or on a few manuscripts
selected at random", even though divergent manuscripts with the same title
exist. Scholars have long acknowledged the existence of Purana manuscripts that
"seem to differ much from printed edition", and it is unclear which
one is accurate, and whether conclusions drawn from the randomly or
cherrypicked printed version were universal over geography or time. This
problem is most severe with Purana manuscripts of the same title, but in
regional languages such as Tamil, Telugu, Bengali and others which have largely
been ignored.
Modern scholarship noticed all these facts. It
recognized that the extent of the genuine Agni Purana was not the same at all
times and in all places, and that it varied with the difference in time and
locality. (...) This shows that the text of the Devi Purana was not the same
everywhere but differed considerably in different provinces. Yet, one failed to
draw the logical conclusion: besides the version or versions of puranas that
appear in our [surviving] manuscripts, and fewer still in our [printed]
editions, there have been numerous other versions, under the same titles, but
which either have remained unnoticed or have been irreparably lost.
Chronology
Newly discovered Puranas manuscripts from the
medieval centuries has attracted scholarly attention and the conclusion that
the Puranic literature has gone through slow redaction and text corruption over
time, as well as sudden deletion of numerous chapters and its replacement with
new content to an extent that the currently circulating Puranas are entirely
different than those that existed before 11th century, or 16th century.
For example, a newly discovered palm-leaf
manuscript of Skanda Purana in Nepal has been
dated to be from 810 CE, but is entirely different than versions of Skanda
Purana that have been circulating in South Asia since the colonial era. Further
discoveries of four more manuscripts, each different, suggest that document has
gone through major redactions twice, first likely before the 12th century, and
the second very large change sometime in the 15th-16th century for unknown
reasons. The different versions of manuscripts of Skanda Purana suggest that
"minor" redactions, interpolations and corruption of the ideas in the
text over time.
Rocher states that the compositions date of
each Purana remains a contested issue.Dimmitt and van Buitenen state that each
of the Puranas manuscripts is encyclopedic in style, and it is difficult to
ascertain when, where, why and by whom these were written:
As they exist today, the Puranas are a
stratified literature. Each titled work consists of material that has grown by
numerous accretions in successive historical eras. Thus no Purana has a single
date of composition. (...) It is as if they were libraries to which new volumes
have been continuously added, not necessarily at the end of the shelf, but
randomly.
— Cornelia
Dimmitt and J.A.B. van Buitenen, Classical
Hindu Mythology: A Reader in the Sanskrit Puranas
Forgeries
Many of the extant manuscripts were written on
palm leaf or copied during the British India
colonial era, some in the 19th century. The scholarship on various Puranas, has
suffered from frequent forgeries, states Ludo Rocher,
where liberties in the transmission of Puranas were normal and those who copied
older manuscripts replaced words or added new content to fit the theory that
the colonial scholars were keen on publishing.
Translations
Horace Hayman Wilson published one of the earliest English
translations of one version of the Vishnu Purana in 1840. The same manuscript,
and Wilson's translation, was reinterpreted by Manmatha Nath Dutt, and
published in 1896. The All India Kashiraj Trust has published editions of the
Puranas.
Maridas Poullé (Mariyadas Pillai) published a
French translation from a Tamil version of the Bhagavata Purana in 1788, and
this was widely distributed in Europe becoming an introduction to the
18th-century Hindu culture and Hinduism to many Europeans during the colonial
era. Poullé republished a different translation of the same text as Le
Bhagavata in 1795, from Pondicherry. A copy
of Poullé translation is preserved in Bibliothèque
nationale de France, Paris.
Influence
The Puranas have had a
large cultural impact on Hindus, from festivals
to diverse arts. Bharata natyam (above) is
inspired in part by Bhagavata Purana.
The most significant influence of the Puranas
genre of Indian literature have been, state scholars and particularly Indian
scholars, in "culture synthesis", in weaving and integrating the
diverse beliefs from ritualistic rites of passage to Vedantic philosophy, from
fictional legends to factual history, from individual introspective yoga to
social celebratory festivals, from temples to pilgrimage, from one god to
another, from goddesses to tantra, from the old to the new. These have been
dynamic open texts, composed socially, over time. This, states Greg Bailey, may
have allowed the Hindu culture to "preserve the old while constantly
coming to terms with the new", and "if they are anything, they are
records of cultural adaptation and transformation" over the last 2,000
years.
The Puranic literature, suggests Khanna,
influenced "acculturation and accommodation" of a diversity of
people, with different languages and from different economic classes, across
different kingdoms and traditions, catalyzing the syncretic "cultural
mosaic of Hinduism".They helped influence cultural pluralism in India, and
are a literary record thereof.
Om Prakash states the Puranas served as
efficient medium for cultural exchange and popular education in ancient and
medieval India. These texts adopted, explained and integrated regional deities
such as Pashupata in Vayu Purana, Sattva in Vishnu Purana, Dattatreya in
Markendeya Purana, Bhojakas in Bhavishya Purana. Further, states Prakash, they
dedicated chapters to "secular subjects such as poetics, dramaturgy,
grammar, lexicography, astronomy, war, politics, architecture, geography and
medicine as in Agni Purana, perfumery and lapidary arts in Garuda Purana,
painting, sculpture and other arts in Vishnudharmottara Purana".
Indian Arts
The cultural influence of the Puranas extended
to Indian classical arts, such as songs, dance culture such as Bharata Natyam in south India and Rasa Lila in northeast India, plays and recitations.
Festivals
The myths, lunar calendar schedule, rituals
and celebrations of major Hindu cultural festivities such as Holi, Diwali and Durga Puja are in the Puranic literature.
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