The genealogies of gods, Manus, and kings form an open-ended structure into which individual authors place whatever they wish to talk about (though some Puranas ignore the genealogies entirely). [27] The core of Itihasa-Puranas, states Klaus Klostermaier, may possibly go back to the seventh century BCE or even earlier. Puranas (po͝orä`nə): see Sanskrit literatureSanskrit literature, literary works written in Sanskrit constituting the main body of the classical literature of India. Primarily Vishnu-related worship manual, with large, Possibly the oldest of all Maha Puranas. The earliest Puranas, composed perhaps between 350 and 750 ce, are the Brahmanda, Devi, Kurma, Markandeya, Matsya, Vamana, Varaha, Vayu, and Vishnu. Vishnu Purana. Omissions? These three, together with Lomaharshana's, comprise the Mulasamhita, from which the later eighteen Puranas were derived. Describes the birth of Skanda (or Karthikeya), son of Shiva. 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. Gopal Gupta (2013), The Bhagavata Purana: Sacred Text and Living Tradition (Editors: Ravi Gupta and Kenneth Valpey), Columbia University Press. 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. There are also many other works termed Purana, known as 'Upapuranas.' [116][117] 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:[118]. Jonathan Edelmann (2013), The Bhagavata Purana: Sacred Text and Living Tradition (Editors: Ravi Gupta and Kenneth Valpey), Columbia University Press. RC Hazra (1987), Studies in the Puranic Records on Hindu Rites and Customs, Motilal Banarsidass. A Whitney Sanford (2006), Alternative Krishnas: Regional and Vernacular Variations on a Hindu Deity (Editor: Guy Beck), State University of New York Press. Later Puranas reveal evidence of vernacular influences and the infusion of local religious traditions. Ilona Wilczewska (2013), The Bhagavata Purana: Sacred Text and Living Tradition (Editors: Ravi Gupta and Kenneth Valpey), Columbia University Press. [89] Sudhakar Malaviya and VG Rahurkar state the connection is closer in that the Puranas are companion texts to help understand and interpret the Vedas. Contains a combination of Vishnu and Shiva related legends, mythology, Tirtha (pilgrimage) and theology, Also called Naradiya Purana. Updates? The early Puranas were probably compiled by upper-caste authors who appropriated popular beliefs and ideas from people of various castes. By signing up for this email, you are agreeing to news, offers, and information from Encyclopaedia Britannica. [82] The words can interpreted literally, and at an axiological level. According to Matysa Purana, Lord Brahma composed Puranas for the first time. [128] They helped influence cultural pluralism in India, and are a literary record thereof. [15], Douglas Harper states that the etymological origins of Puranas are from Sanskrit Puranah, literally "ancient, former," from pura "formerly, before," cognate with Greek paros "before," pro "before," Avestan paro "before," Old English fore, from Proto-Indo-European *pre-, from *per-. The early Puranas were probably compiled by upper-caste authors who appropriated popular beliefs and ideas from people of … [89][90] K.S. The oldest manuscript of surviving texts was likely composed, estimates Klaus Klostermaier, around 10th- to 11th-century CE. Thomas Colburn (2002), Devī-māhātmya: The Crystallization of the Goddess Tradition, Motilal Banarsidass. The culture. [2] The first version of various Puranas were likely to be composed between 3rd- and 10th-century CE. [97] However, some of the 36 major and minor Puranas are more focused handbooks, such as the Skanda Purana, Padma Purana and Bhavishya Purana which deal primarily with Tirtha Mahatmyas (pilgrimage travel guides),[95] while Vayu Purana and Brahmanda Purana focus more on history, mythology and legends. Edwin Bryant (2007), Krishna : A Sourcebook: A Sourcebook, Oxford University Press. The Shiva Purāna asserts that it once consisted of 100,000 verses set out in twelve samhitas (books). The questions of primary concern to those authors are how to live a pious life and how to worship the gods. [119][120] 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. Guy Beck (2013), The Bhagavata Purana: Sacred Text and Living Tradition (Editors: Ravi Gupta and Kenneth Valpey), Columbia University Press. [109][110], The study of Puranas manuscripts has been challenging because they are highly inconsistent. However, states P.V. [111] 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.[111]. [3] They are best described, states John Cort, as post-scripture literary corpus based upon themes found in Jain scriptures. The Bhagavata Purana, literally meaning Divine-Eternal Tales of The Supreme Lord, is considered the most important of the Puranas. [58], 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". [115] The different versions of manuscripts of Skanda Purana suggest that "minor" redactions, interpolations and corruption of the ideas in the text over time. There are numerous Sthala Puranas, most written in vernaculars, some with Sanskrit versions as well. The Shiva Purana, like other Puranas in Hindu literature, was likely a living text, which was routinely edited, recast and revised over a long period of time. They were written much later and you can take their dating techniques to grain of salt as they are never accurate. [18] 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. [126], 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". [88] In contrast, Purana literature is evidently intended to serve as a complement to the Vedas, states Vans Kennedy. The Puranas written by Maharsi Veda Vyasa, had certain purpose. Several texts have been claimed to have the status of the. "[60], The Upapuranas are eighteen in number, with disagreement as to which canonical titles belong in that list of eighteen. [131], 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. As they exist today, the Puranas are a stratified literature. Puranas were written almost entirely in narrative couplets, in much the same easy flowing style as the two great Sanskrit epic poems, the Mahabharata and the Ramayana. [26] The original Puranas comes from the priestly roots while the later genealogies have the warrior and epic roots. Many additions, omissions are there in puranas. For modern scholars to say the ancient cultures that wrote the Vedas were primitive is arrogant. Many untraced quotes are attributed to this text. They are all without wives, without posterity, without the faculty to procreate; they perpetually operate as causes of the destruction of this world. Sara Schastok (1997), The Śāmalājī Sculptures and 6th Century Art in Western India, BRILL. 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[21] In numerous passages the Mahabharata mentions 'Purana' in both singular and plural forms. [132][133], This article is about Hindu texts. [99] 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". This corpus of texts tells of the origins and traditions of particular Tamil Shiva temples or shrines. [80] The bulk of these texts in Flood's view were established by 500 CE, in the Gupta era though amendments were made later. [22][23][note 2] The Brhadaranyaka Upanishad also refers to purana as the "fifth Veda". 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). Dominic Goodall (1996), Hindu Scriptures, University of California Press. It also discusses festivals, numerous legends, geography of rivers and regions from northwest India to. One major recension, traced to Bengal region, has five khandas (parts, books) and an appendix, but has neither been published nor translated. [77], 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. Those additional topics include customs, ceremonies, sacrifices, festivals, caste duties, donations, the construction of temples and images, and places of pilgrimage. [59] 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. [114], 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 from versions of Skanda Purana that have been circulating in South Asia since the colonial era. For other uses, see, Purana Manuscripts from 15th- to 18th-century, Sectarian, pluralistic or monotheistic theme, Six disciples: Sumati, Agnivarchaha, Mitrayu, Shamshapyana, Akritaverna and Savarni. [88] Scholars such as Viman Chandra Bhattacharya and PV Kane state that the Puranas are a continuation and development of the Vedas. [9], They have been influential in the Hindu culture, inspiring major national and regional annual festivals of Hinduism. By far the most popular Purana is the Bhagavata-purana, with its elegant treatment of the childhood and early life of Krishna. [111] 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. 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 from those that existed before 11th century, or 16th century. Includes geography of Mithila (. [2][4][5] The Puranas link gods to men, both generally and in religious bhakti context. [2] These are called the Pancha Lakshana ( pañcalakṣaṇa), and are topics covered by a Purana:[2][72][73], A few Puranas, such as the most popular Bhagavata Purana, add five more characteristics to expand this list to ten:[77], These five or ten sections weave in biographies, myths, geography, medicine, astronomy, Hindu temples, pilgrimage to distant real places, rites of passage, charity, ethics,[78] duties, rights, dharma, divine intervention in cosmic and human affairs, love stories,[79] festivals, theosophy and philosophy. [4][96] Like encyclopedias, they were updated to remain current with their times, by a process called Upabrimhana. Many of the extant manuscripts were written on palm leaf or copied during the British India colonial era, some in the 19th century. He points out that even ", 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). The Puranas also treat various topics concerning religious developments that occurred between about 400 and 1500 ce. [77] Here the Puranic literature follows a general pattern. Jan Gonda (1975), Selected Studies: Indo-European linguistics, BRILL. See this question. [33], In early 20th-century, some regional records were found to be more consistent, such as for the Hindu dynasties in Telangana, Andhra Pradesh. The Puranas are the religious texts of Hinduism. It is not known who wrote them, but the original draft of Puranas was compiled by Sage Vyasa. "Throughout the Vedas and everywhere in the Ramayana, Puranas, and Mahabharata, from the beginning to the middle to the end, the praises of Lord Hari are sung. 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.
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