Purana

“ After this we learn from a Purâna text ('He should make the Veda grow by means of Itihâsa and Purâna; the Veda fears that a man of little reading may do it harm') that the Veda should be made to grow by Itihâsa and Purâna. By this 'making to grow' we have to understand the elucidation of the sense of the Vedic texts studied by means of other texts, promulgated by men who had mastered the entire Veda and its contents, and by the strength of their devotion had gained full intuition of Vedic truth. ”

“ It is also used in the Mahābhārata somewhat vaguely to express "ancient legendary lore," implying didactic as well as narrative matter, and pointing to an old collection of epic stories. One passage of the epic (I. v. 1) describes purāṇa as containing stories of the gods and genealogies of the sages. In Book XVIII., as well as in the Harivaṃça, mention is even made of eighteen Purāṇas, which, however, have not been preserved; for those known to us are all, on the whole, later than the Mahābhārata, and for the most part derive their legends of ancient days from the great epic itself. ”

“ And as, although highly enraged, thou hast not cut off my sons, I, O pious one, shall confer on thee a mighty boon. Thou shalt be the author of the Purāna and Samhita, [15] and thou shalt attain a consummate knowledge of the celestials. And through my grace, O child, thy intelligence shall be clear and unobstructed as concerns the Present and the Past.' Then my grandsire, the reverend Vasishtha, said,—'What Pulastya hath uttered to thee, must be so.' At thy question I remember me in full of all that formerly had been said unto me by Vasishtha and the intelligent Pulastya. ”

“ To conceal its unpleasant smile, she stuck in its mouth a fruit of the mountain nut with its leaves and stem.
Then she looked at it and laughed aloud.
That did not seem enough. She wanted to adorn the old men with flowers. But since good [182] Purana still carried the nest with the young birds, she turned her attention to stern Darnu, whose nest had been abandoned. She removed the empty nest, cleaned of bird droppings the turban, hair and shoulders of the sage and washed his face with spring water. ”

“ The Purāna, which I have described to you, O Maitreya, is Vaishnava and is next to Padma. And in every part, in the creation of universe and the successive generations, in the description of the genealogies of the patriarchs it has declared the glory of the great Vishnu. There are fourteen principal kinds of knowledge—namely, the four Vedas, the six Angas, [243] the Mimānsa (theology,) Nyāya (logic,) Dharma (the institutes of law) and the Purānas. ”

“ All these tribes have been so described in the Mahābhārata, as to indicate that they lived in close proximity to one another. The Puṇḍras have been mentioned as Suhmottaras in the Matsya Purāṇa, and in the Mahābhārata too, the Puṇḍras and the Suhmas have been placed near to each other (Adi, C. XIII, 24, 53) . No doubt the Puṇḍras proceeded northward subsequently, and founded Puṇḍravardhan in North Bengal, but their early distribution points to the fact, that they occupied the tract of Bengal which lies to the north of Midnapur. ”

“ On the other hand, Baladēva could not have been Bijjala’s minister when he came to Basava’s upanāyanam ceremony, for this event occurred in 1114, long before the commencement of Bijjala’s reign. There is no reason, however, for crediting the Purāna with any great historical accuracy, and, in fact, the evidence now coming to light from inscriptions, which the industry of archæologists is giving to the world, throws great doubt upon the traditional narrative. ”

“ The Hindoo Puranas corroborate, to an iota, this our Knockmoy crucifixion. [391] Sulivahana is the name which they give to the deity there represented. The meaning of the word is tree-born, or, who suffered death upon a tree. He was otherwise called Dhanandhara, that is, the sacred almoner. And his fame, say the Puranas, reached even to the Sacred Island, in the sea of milk, that is, of Doghda, which signifies milk, and which was the title of the tutelar goddess of Ireland. ”

“ In the freshness of imagination during the primitive state of society, comparisons, metaphors, and allegories, were soon changed into real entities, and mythology rapidly gained ground in men’s minds. Thus, the Puranas, by a natural poetical idea, made the sun and the moon, which witness all that is done on the earth, the spies of the divine ruler—a myth describing the all-pervading nature of their rays. In the Vedas, they are regarded as the universal witnesses of all ceremonies. ”

“ The Vēlans are said traditionally to have been descended from Siva, who, on one occasion, is believed to have removed the evil effects of the sorcery of demons upon Vishnu by means of exorcism. As this kind of injury began to increase among men, a man and woman were created by this deity, to prevent its dire consequences. In the Kēralolpatti, this caste is mentioned as Velakkuruppu. But at present the Puranadis, who are the barbers and priests of this class, are known by this name. A Puranadi means one who stands outside, and is not admitted as of equal rank with the Vēlans proper. ”

“ Siva and Vischnu are almost the only gods who are worshipped, and they are worshipped with a sectarian zeal unknown to the epics. Most of the Puranas contain these five topics,—Creation, Destruction and Renovation, the Genealogy of the gods, Reigns of the Manus, and History of the Solar and Lunar races. Their philosophy of creation is derived from the Sánknya philosophy. Pantheism is one of their invariable characteristics, as they always identify God and Nature; and herein they differ from the system of Kapila. The form of the Puranas is always that of a dialogue. ”

“ Whether you believe in the scientific accuracy of the Puranas or not, there is not one among you whose life has not been influenced by the story of Prahlada, or that of Dhruva, or of any one of these great Paurânika saints. We have not only to acknowledge the power of the Puranas in our own day, but we ought to be grateful to them as they gave us in the past a more comprehensive and a better popular religion than what the degraded later-day Buddhism was leading us to. ”

“ All other gods fell on their knees, and cried for protection, when Çiva danced in wild and destructive ecstacy at the time of the final dissolution of the universe.
The Paurāṅik conception borrowed from Buddhism.But the Purāṅas completely changed the Great God. We have heard of the fiery planets growing cold with lapse of time in the celestial regions, the pleasant verdure of shrubs and plants covering those orbs from which once emanated sparks of living fire. ”

“ Another account of the origin of this worship is contained in some of the other puranas: At the time of a universal destruction of the world all the gods are absorbed in what is called akashu; the linga alone remains. The puranas, therefore, say that as all the gods except the linga are absorbed in the akashu, he who worships the linga, obtains the unbounded merit of embracing all the deities at once. From these stories, temples innumerable have arisen in India, and a Siva linga placed in each of them, and worshipped as a god. ”

“ Each Veda is complete in itself, and consists of religious teachings, prayers, and hymns.
Puranas.—The Vedas and Puranas are the most important of the sacred books of the Hindoos. The Puranas, more than any other works, have contributed to mould the doctrines of the popular Brahmanical religion of India. They are eighteen in number, of which the Bhagavata, containing a history of Chrisna, is the one best known.
Tripitaka.—This is the Buddhist Bible. It was compiled 300 years before the Christian era. Self conquest and universal charity are its fundamental teachings. ”

“ As he truly says, a foreigner and a person of a different religion cannot advise with such good effect. Indeed, such an one would not venture to come before an Indian audience saying that the Puranas were intended for the uneducated and common classes of people, and are equal to the words of a woman. Nor indeed would every author have the courage to add, "If one entirely depends on what a woman says one knows the result well enough." ”

“ Aught of that kingdom which thou hast renounced,
But, casting off thy royal ornaments,
Thou should'st depart, clothed in a dress of bark."
The king, obedient to the sage's word,
Stripped off his royal dress, and, with his wife
And son, made haste to go. Then said the saint:
"Stop, Harišchandra! Hast thou then forgot
The offering for the kingly sacrifice
That thou hast promised us?" Replied the king:
"O mighty saint! the kingdom now is thine;
All have I given to thee: and as for me,
What have I left?—nought! save myself,
My wife, my son!" ”

“ These are my companions male and female. This serpent guards the town, even when we are all asleep. Luckily hast thou come here. I shall try with all my companions to bring to thee all objects of desire. Be thou the lord of this Puri for one hundred years. And accept all enjoyments brought by me." Puranjana entered the Puri and lived in enjoyment there for one hundred years.
Of the nine gateways, seven were upper and two lower — five on the east (Purva, which also means front) , one on the south (Dakshinâ) , one on the north (Uttara) and two on the west (Paśchima) . ”

“ They are today fixing the antiquity of the Vedas at a certain period, and again tomorrow upsetting it and bringing it one thousand years forward, and so on. However, about the Puranas, I have told you that they are authoritative only in so far as they agree with the Vedas, otherwise not. In the Puranas we find many things which do not agree with the Vedas. As for instance, it is written in the Puranas that some one lived ten thousand years, another twenty thousand years, but in the Vedas we find: शतायुर्वै पुरुषः — "Man lives indeed a hundred years." ”

“ The two Purānas are occupied for the most part with doctrinal expositions, recitals of mythology, praises of previous Siva saints, and accounts of miracles worked by Basava. They assert, however, that uncle and nephew were very energetic promoters of the faith, and that they preached the persecution and extermination of all persons (especially the Jains) , whose creed differed from that of the Lingāyats. ”

“ When we compare the religion embodied in the Puranas with that of Vedic times we are The Puranas.startled at the magnitude of the change. The Pantheon is largely new; old deities have been superseded; other deities have taken their place. There has been both accretion from without and evolution from within. The thirty-three gods of the Vedas have been fantastically raised to three hundred and thirty millions. Siva, Durga, Rama, Krishna, Kali—unknown in ancient days—are now mighty divinities ”

“ If he goes beyond the limits of temperance and moderation he gets some unpleasant experience. If he does something wrong, he feels the painful consequence. The sting of pain makes Puranjana ponder over what he does. He registers the pleasurable and painful experiences and reasons about the causes and effects. He tries to know what is right and what is wrong.
With the power of discrimination in its infancy, with the "enjoyment" nature or the self-seeking Asuric element too strong in him, Puranjana, the Kumaric soul, is helpless. He is drifted away, though sometimes much against his will. ”

“ According to the myth of the Puranas, the god Siva can blight a whole town with his withering look; and the Indian gods, who often visit earth in the guise of mortals, are sometimes recognized by the rigidness of their gaze: they never wink; to their sleepless eyes space and time are units. Hecate and Medusa had such optics, and the basis of the superstition may possibly be the primitive man's dread of mental superiority, the power of mind over matter, ascribed to the eye, as the mirror of the soul. ”

“ And said: "To whom, O king, should'st thou give alms?
For whom in battle should'st thou fight? and whom
Should'st thou protect? Oh, tell me, nor delay,
But quickly answer, if thou fearest sin."
"Alms should be given to Brâhmans," said the king:
"Those who are weak should be protected: foes
In battle should be met and overcome."
Then Višvâmitra spoke and said: "O king!
If thus indeed thou rightly dost perceive
Thy royal duty, give thine alms to me;
I am a holy Brâhman, and I seek
A dwelling-place; moreover I would gain
A wife: therefore bestow on me thine alms." ”

“ A Saint or Muni, represented by the Hindú poets as excessively choleric and inexorably severe. The Puránas and other poems contain frequent accounts of the terrible effects of his imprecations on various occasions, the slightest offence being in his eyes deserving of the most fearful punishment. On one occasion he cursed Indra, merely because his elephant let fall a garland he had given to this god; and in consequence of this imprecation all plants withered, men ceased to sacrifice, and the gods were overcome in their wars with the demons. ”

“ We must also remark that in the Purânas it is no longer Manu Vaivasata that the divine fish saves from the Deluge, but a different personage, the King of the Dastas—i. e., fishers—Satyravata, 'the man who loves justice and truth,' strikingly corresponding to the Chaldean Khasisatra. Nor is the Puranic version of the Legend of the Deluge to be despised, though it be of recent date, and full of fantastic and often puerile details. ”