Purana

Esse Purana trata de:
1. Criação original, ou cosmogonia;
2. Criação secundária, ou a destruição e renovação de mundos, inclusive cronologia;
3. Genealogia de deuses e patriarcas;
4. Reinados dos Manus, ou períodos chamados Manwantaras; e
5. História, ou tais pormenores como foram preservados dos príncipes das raças solares e lunares, e dos seus descendentes até os tempos modernos

In the frame of my work towards a critical edition of the hitherto unpublished Śivadharmottarapurāṇa, this paper purposes to present a brief analysis of the contents of the upapurāṇa in 12 chapters, (i. e., according to the colophons of some MS: goṣaḍaṅgavidhi, vidyādānaphala, pañcamahāyajñaguṇādhyāya, satpātraguṇa, śivasaṃgati, pāpabheda, narakaviśeṣa, saṁsāraprasavākhyāna, svarganarakacihna, jñānayoga, prāyaścittakathana and [lokanirūpaṇa]), highlighting in particular some noteworthy aspects of the doctrines of śivajñāna, bhukti and mukti, as well as a rather unusual version of ṣaḍaṅga yoga.

Contemporary research has long recognized the highly problematic nature of the notion of Hinduism, which has hitherto defied all attempts to come up with a satisfactory definition. While some experts have gone so far as to propose that the term itself should be discarded because it is unable to subsume the extremely diverse panorama of the religious phenomena of the Indian subcontinent under a unitary heading, others have suggested that the concept of Hinduism, though lacking univocal or even analogical unity, may still be meaningful if correctly understood, in accordance with a ‘polythetic-prototype’ approach, as a blanket notion based on a form of somewhat baffling but nonetheless real ‘family resemblance’ that effectively underlies even its most distant manifestations. Hinduism being such, it will not be surprising to find such diversity reflected in its Scriptures. In the present essay four different classes have been identified  (ultimately reduced to three for the sake of convenience): śruti or ‘audition’, smṛti of ‘remembrance’, and āgama or ‘tradition’. Each of these confronts the translator with its own particular problems, which may be summed up, with reference to the changing relationship between text and interpretation as the twofold condition of every translation, as follows: while in the case of śruti the text is well-established but the interpretation elusive, with smṛti the interpretation is comparatively straightforward but the text fluid, both in fact and by right, and with āgama the text is virtually inaccessible to the profane and the interpretation is enigmatic.

As the emblem of Pāśupata identity, representations of the deified teacher called Lakulīśa (the ‘Lord with a Club’) became a prominent feature of the expanding Śaiva religious landscape in early medieval northwest India. This study works to recover some of Lakulīśa’s historical contingency by reading his appearance in both text and image as a reflection of or response to particular concerns of the developing Śaiva religious community. The significance of Lakulīśa’s literary debut in the Nepalese recension of the early Skandapurāṇa is examined first. I then explore the visual representations of this figure by considering patterns in Lakulīśa’s iconography and the place of his images within sanctified spaces. Since temples were vital loci of interaction across a wide spectrum of social groups and religious communities, even ostensibly Śaiva centres would have accommodated a range of deities, religious practitioners, and devotional repertoires. Given the multivocality of these sanctified spaces, I propose that Lakulīśa images would have been subject to multiple ‘readings’ or interpretations. With his attributes signifying power, fertility, and protection, I suggest that Lakulīśa functioned not only as a potent sign of Pāśupata identity, but as a multivalent persona, facets of which would have resonated with a broader religious community.

El mito del diluvio, aunque goce de una gran difusión en todo el continente euroasiático, ha logrado sus desarrollos literarios más importantes en el Cercano Oriente, en el mundo  clásico y en la India. A propósito de estas tradiciones, muy a menudo se ha planteado la pregunta de su relación recíproca. En cuanto a la tradición india en particular, varios eruditos de renombre en el  pasado habían postulado su dependencia de la tradición sumero-semítica, pero hoy en día la opinión predominante habla a favor de su desarrollo autónomo. No obstante, la estructura del mito indio, cuyo detenido análisis debería constituir la base indispensable para una mejor comprensión del problema de sus relaciones, no ha sido adecuadamente investigada. En este ensayo se introduce primeramente una presentación del material existente, que incluye, además de las versiones usuales del Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa, Mahābhārata, Matsya y Bhāgavata Purāṇa, algunas otras versiones menos conocidas, como las del Viṣṇudharmottara y Kālikā Purāṇa, que añaden rasgos muy reveladores al cuadro. Después, sobre la base de ese material, se intenta mostrar como el mito indio exhibe su propia estructura características , diferente de la estructura de los mitos de las otras grandes tradiciones, a excepción de un par de elementos muy genéricos, que son, creo yo, casi inevitables en cualquier mito de diluvio en razón de su necesidad interna, y por lo tanto no tienen consecuencia para establecer o rechazar cualquier relación histórica que sea. Ya se había  señalado, a este respecto, que el mito indio carece de toda forma de motivación ética, ya que el diluvio en sí constituye parte del proceso cosmogónico, y por lo tanto tiene una base natural; o que el sacrificio final tiene un sentido completamente diferente en el mito indio y semítico. Sin embargo, hasta ahora los estudiosos han pasado por alto la particularidad específicamente india del simbolismo del barco — típicamente preexistente, y no fabricado por el protegido —; la peculiaridad del plexo simbólico del barco y del pez, enriquecido posteriormente por la cuerda como tercero elemento; y su coherencia con otras representaciones míticas, en cuya conexión  sale inesperadamente a la luz una homología profundamente arraigada a pesar de la aparente heterogeneidad de las imágenes. En conclusión, el mito indio del diluvio exhibe  rasgos originales inconfundibles en su enlace indisoluble con temas típicamente indios como (por mencionar sólo algunos) la estructura cósmica cíclica, la noción de residuo, el avatāra, el divino monocerote, el hundimiento de tierra bajo la carga de los vivientes

Following up my paper “Patterns of Tejas in the Epics” delivered at WSC 12 (Helsinki 2003) this paper purposes to examine the way the notion of tejas — formerly (in vedic times) just yet another of many kindred Daseinsmächte or substance-powers such as ojas, varcas, yaśas and the like — attains paramountcy in the puranic synthesis of common traditional lore, becoming a regular attribute of the parameśvara in his different personae, on the one hand, as well as crystallizing specific tejas mythologemes around the most characteristic traits of each of the great hindu gods, on the other.

Il mito del diluvio, pur godendo di un'ampia diffusione in tutto il continente euroasiatico, ha ottenuto i suoi più importanti sviluppi letterari nel vicino Oriente, nel mondo classico e in India. Riguardo a queste tradizioni, si è spesso sollevata la questione della loro reciproca relazione. Per quanto concerne, in particolare, la tradizione indiana, molti rinomati studiosi del passato hanno postulato una sua dipendenza dalla tradizione sumero-semitica, ma oggi l'opinione prevalente si pronuncia a favore del suo sviluppo autonomo; tuttavia, la struttura del mito indiano, la cui attenta analisi dovrebbe costituire la base indispensabile per una migliore comprensione del problema dei loro rapporti, non è stato ancora adeguatamente indagato. Il presente contributo presenta dapprima una breve rassegna del materiale, comprendente, oltre alle versioni ben note dello Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa, Mahābhārata, Matsya e Bhagavata Purana, cui l'analisi si è finora solitamente limitata, anche alcune altre versioni meno note, come quelle del Viṣṇudharmottara e del Kālikā Purāṇa, che aggiungono tratti assai significativi al quadro. Quindi sulla base di quel materiale si cerca di mostrare come il mito indiano nel suo complesso presenti una struttura unica, differente dalla struttura dei miti delle altre grandi tradizioni in questione, fatta eccezione per un paio di caratteristiche molto generiche che devono essere, si direbbe, praticamente inevitabili in qualsiasi mito del diluvio in ragione della sua necessità intrinseca, e quindi non hanno rilevanza nello stabilire o rifiutare rapporti storici di sorta. Era già stato osservato, a questo proposito, che il mito indiano è privo di qualsiasi forma di motivazione etica, in quanto l'alluvione in sé è parte del processo cosmogonico e quindi ha una base naturale; o che il sacrificio finale ha una valenza completamente diversa nel mito indiano e semitico. Tuttavia, gli studiosi avevano finora mancato di rilevare la valenza specificamente indiana del simbolismo della nave — tipicamente preesistente, e non fabbricata dal protetto —; la peculiarità del plesso simbolico della nave e del pesce, in seguito arricchito dalla fune come terzo elemento; e la sua solidarietà con altre rappresentazioni mitiche, con cui viene inaspettatamente  alla luce un’omologia profondamente radicata nonostante l'apparente eterogeneità delle immagini. In conclusione, il mito indiano del diluvio presenta caratteristiche originali distintive nel suo legame indissolubile con temi tipicamente indiani come (per citarne solo alcuni) la struttura cosmica ciclica , la nozione del residuo, l'avatāra, il divino monocero, lo sprofondamento della terra sotto il peso dei viventi.

In the frame of my ongoing research devoted to the elucidation of the notion of tejas (‘ardent/fierce energy’), the present paper purposes to investigate an aspect that has so far lurked in the background of the former contributions, despite its crucial significance to the notion of tejas itself: namely, its liability to transference.
As a prominent instance of so-called “substance-powers” or Daseinsmächte, as Glasenapp originally termed them, meaning by such term “hypostases of qualities and processes conceived as self-standing substances”, tejas shares the transferability which is an essential property of substances — in contradistinction to qualities, which, existing only in alio and not enjoying an independent status, cannot be transferred as such. (As has already been noted, Indian thought is apt to hypostatize what would elsewhere be counted a mere quality: a well known case in point is puṇya, i.e. ‘virtue/merit’, which is not regarded in the śāstras as the inherent attribute of the virtuous, but rather as a stock of goods liable to be alienated to someone else).
The basic mechanics of tejas transfer, configuring either an increment or a decrement, can be further specified according to a fourfold typology: i) bestowal with inception of being; ii) bestowal with promotion of status; iii) withdrawal with demotion from status; iv) withdrawal with cessation from being. Such fourfold typology depends on a twofold acception of the notion of tejas, either (in a broader sense, brought out, e.g. in Viṣṇudharmottara Purāṇa I, 171, 2-7: ajeyaṃ vaiṣṇavaṃ tejas tac ca nityaṃ ca jantuṣu | nāśam āyānti te sarve hīnā vaiṣṇavatejasā) as the Lord’s selfsame cosmic life-sustaining energy, or (in a more restricted sense, brought out, e.g. in Bhagavad Gītā 10, 41: yad yad vibhūtimat sattvaṃ śrīmad ūrjitam eva vā | tat tad evāvagaccha tvaṃ mama tejo’mśasaṃbhavam) as a special supererogatory dispensation, building up the pre-eminence of exceptionally powerful beings. Whereas the bestowal and withdrawal of tejas in the general sense cannot but entail, respectively, origination and dissolution, the shift of (supererogatory) tejas in the special sense can have less drastic consequences.

The deluge myth, while enjoying a wide diffusion all over the Eurasian continent, has found its most important literary developments in the Near-eastern, Classical and Indian worlds. Apropos of these traditions, the question has often been raised of their mutual relationship. As regards the Indian tradition in particular, several renowned scholars of the past have postulated its dependance on the sumero-semitic tradition, but nowadays the prevailing opinion speaks in favour of its autonomous development. Nevertheless, the structure of the Indian myth, whose careful recognition should indeed constitute the requisite basis for any further insight into the problem of its relationships, has not been adequately investigated.
In my paper I purpose first of all a survey of the extant material by presenting, besides the well-known versions of the Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa, Mahābhārata, Matsya and Bhāgavata Purāṇa, to which the analysis has usually been confined so far, some other less known versions, like those of the Viṣṇudharmottara and Kālikā Purāṇa, which add highly significant traits to the picture. Secondly, on the basis of that material, I intend to show as the Indian myth as a whole exhibits its own peculiar structure, quite different from the structure of the myths of the other great traditions, except for a couple of very generic features, which are, I should think, almost unavoidable in any deluge myth by reason of its very internal structure, and are as such quite worthless in either establishing or denying any historical relationship whatsoever.
It had already been remarked, in this connection, that the Indian myth lacks all kind of ethical motivation, as the deluge itself is part of the ongoing cosmogonic process, hence naturally grounded; or that the closing sacrifice has an utterly different meaning in the Indian and semitic myth. However, scholars had hitherto failed to notice, as I believe, the specifically Indian import of the symbolism of the ship — tipically preexistent, and not fashioned by the protégé —, the peculiarity of the symbolic plexus of the ship and fish, later enriched by the rope as third element, and its solidarity with other mythical representations, with which a deep-rooted homology unexpectedly comes to light in spite of the seeming eterogeneity.
In conclusion, the Indian deluge myth shows unmistakable original traits in its indissoluble connection with such typically Indian themes as (to mention but a few) the multilevel cyclical cosmic structure, the notion of residue, the avatāra, the divine monoceros, the earth foundering under the burden of the living.

I have already examined elsewhere (“The Development of ‘Tejas’ from the Veda-s to the Purāṇa-s”, WZKSA 36 (Suppl. 1993): 137-147) how the word tejas, originally meaning ‘sharpness’, came very soon to convey the notion of a peculiar ‘substance-power’ (viz. roughly ‘fiery energy’, ‘ardour’) with distinctive connotations vis-à-vis other kindred substance-powers, such as varcas, ojas, yaśas and the like, which are also current from the Atharva Veda onwards. Such notion of tejas attained great prominence in the epic and puranic literature, where, besides playing a central role in some of the most characteristic mythical themes of each of the great hindu gods,  it lies at the core of sundry narrative motives, displaying a well definable set of semantic traits. Some of these — its connotations of abruptness, keenness and excess, its destructive associations and dangerous potential, its congeniality to certain classes of beings and above all (what is perhaps its most typical feature) its liability to transfer — have already been mentioned (even if not yet adequately investigated) in the aforesaid paper, mostly with reference to puranic literature. The purpose of the present paper is to trace and briefly discuss some recurring patterns of tejas in the vast corpus of the Indian epics — i. e. its occurrence in compounds, collocations, formulas, complementary couples and other meaningful structures — which will contribute to shed some light on the different and sometimes conflicting pertinences of its polyvalent notion.

"The word tejas, from root tij ‘sharpen’ and hence originally meaning ‘sharpness’, came very soon to express the notion of a peculiar ‘substance-power’ with distinctive fiery connotations. Such notion of tejas is very prominent, especially in the epic and puranic literature, and has often attracted the attention of scholars, but its development has not yet been subjected to thorough investigation. This paper anticipates a few results of the author’s current research, offering some hints to bridge the gap between vedic and puranic usage.
Although the word tejas occurs only sparingly in the Ṛg Veda, and regularly only in connection with the root meaning, as other tij-derivatives, the germs are already visible of a metaphorical extension of the basic meaning of ‘sharpness’ pointing to the later acception. The frequency increases considerably in the Atharva Veda, where tejas is usually found associated with other ‘Daseinsmächte’ such as varcas, ojas and the like. In the Brāhmaṇas tejas is consistently connected with fire as a specific ‘energy’. The upanisadic usage is heterogeneous, but a few passages can be singled out in which tejas comes decidedly to the foreground as one of the ultimate constituents of reality. Such doctrines as the well known teaching of Uddālaka Aruṇi to his son Śvetaketu in the Chāndogya Upaniṣad on the threefold propagation of being through the hierarchy of tejas, āpas and anna, and still more some later Maitrāyaṇī doctrines, may be regarded as the early antecedents of the distinctive epic-puranic development of the notion of tejas as a (kind of) energy wielded by the supreme Lord for the accomplishment of his cosmic tasks.
Tejas plays a central role in some of the most characteristic mythical themes of each of the great gods of Hinduism, such as Viṣṇu’s avatāras, Śiva’s interrupted love-making to Pārvatī and Skanda’s unnatural birth from the spilt seed, the severing of Brahmā’s unauspicious fifth head, the origin of Devī, and Sūrya’s shaping on Viśvakarman’s lathe, to mention but a few.
By analysing the vast corpus of tejas myths motive-wise it is possible to enucleate from the context its most significant traits, and thereby gain a deeper insight into its authentic meaning. Only a few can be mentioned here. In the Purāṇas tejas is a kind of energy with fiery connotations. In spite of its ancient association with procreation and seed, it is typically destructive — or if at all creative, it regularly carries destructive implications or undertones. Its dangerous potential can be traced back to the notion of excess which is already inherent in the rigvedic usage. Tejas may be congenital in some overpowerful beings, both animate — such as gods, demons, seers, kings — and inanimate — such as weapons and poison, but its ultimate source is the supreme Lord, who can infuse it either directly or indirectly. Hence tejas is not permanent, like a property: rather, as is appropriate to a substance-power, it is eminently liable to be lost or transferred or withdrawn in consequence of sin, impurity, defeat, death or simply purposelessness ensuing from final success. Although on the one hand the Bhagavad Gītā’s proclaim holds good that all tejas comes from the Lord, yet it also obeys its intrinsic laws, which the Lord himself cannot infringe — a paradoxical impotence on which is built the common pattern of so many avatāra myths. An explanation is to be sought in the enduring dialectic rooted deep in Indian culture and sprouting along the course of its development the conflicting branches of monism and theism, ritualism and devotion, belief in magic and surrender to grace. "

In the fairly late daśāvatāra lists enumerating Viṣṇu’s ten ‘canonical’ descents among the myriads which are believed to happen time and again, two Rāmas consistently occupy the sixth and seventh place, to wit Rāma of the Bhṛgu family, son of Jamadagni, and Rāma of the Raghu lineage, son of Daśaratha. The latter obviously requires no introduction; as for the former, lately dubbed Paraśurāma or ‘Rāma with the axe’ by association with his most characteristic weapon, his main exploits — his predestined birth as a warrior-like brahmin, the beheading of his own mother at his father’s command and especially the 21fold extermination of the kṣatriyas in revenge for the murder of his father — are already known to the Mahābhārata, and later subsumed by the puranic literature. But there is another remarkable episode the Mbh does not appear to know about, which apparently only surfaces in the late Balakaṇḍa of the Rāmāyaṇa: the episode of the encounter of the two Rāmas.
The story runs basically as follows: Paraśurāma has heard about Rāma’s wondrous feat of the breaking of Śiva’s bow at the court of Janaka, which has earned him the hand of princess Sītā, and comes raging to challenge him. This time Rāma shall prove his strength by stringing Viṣṇu’s bow, receiving it from Paraśurāma’s hands. Rāma is successful, Paraśurāma is punished for his arrogance and retreats to mount Mahendra without further ado.
Apart from the Rāmāyaṇa, a variant of the story is found in the Vulgate, which has however been discarded by the CE of the Mahābhārata. In the Purāṇas the episode occurs rather inconspicuously in the Padma, Narasiṁha and Viṣṇudharmottara. It appears, however, to have found greater favour with kāvya: after Kalidāsa’s masterly reworking in the Raghuvaṁśa other mahākāvyas featuring (or at least mentioning) our episode include Bhaṭṭi’s Rāvaṇavadha and Kumāradāsa’s Jānakīharaṇa. Playwrights seem to have been particularly keen on the theme; dramatic works featuring it include the Yajñaphala ascribed to Bhāsa, Bhavabhūti’s incomplete Mahāvīracarita, and Rājaśekhara’s Bālarāmāyaṇa. The episode likewise figures prominently in late bhakta and śākta Rāmāyaṇas both sanskrit and vernacular, such as the sanskrit Adhyātma and Adbhutarāmāyaṇa, the tamil Kamparāmāyaṇam, the hindi Rāmcaritmanas by Tulsīdās, as well as other medieval works like the Rāmavijaya by Śaṅkaradeva.
In this paper I purpose to focus on an analysis of the way Kalidāsa’s retelling in the Raghuvaṁśa relates to its epic model, as well as on the way it has in turn influenced later versions of the episode.

The early Skandapurāṇa maps the origins of the Pāśupata tradition. Framed by a series of narrative episodes that eulogise the Śaiva terra sancta writ large, the text’s authors designate a small region of northwest India as the ‘Pāśupata landscape’, a salvific region celebrated as the birthplace of the Pāśupata movement. It was here that Śiva assumed a human form and disseminated the Pāśupata doctrine via four students, each of whom presided over a prestigious locale—the storied cities of Ujjain, Mathura, Jambumarga, and Kanauj. The text’s claim to colonise a region that occupied the sociopolitical heart of northwest India presents an imagined geography—not a fanciful representation; rather, a spatial rhetoric intended to localise, order, and authenticate a particular vision of community. This process of localisation served three discrete, yet intertwined aims: (i) it presents a cosmological vision of a sanctified world or Śaiva hierotopy, (ii) provides a normative model for community, and (iii) stakes a geopolitical claim.

Epico-puranic Hinduism revolves around bhakti towards a personal Lord, who bestows his favours — be they consisting in bhukti (fruition) or mukti (salvation) — on his devotees  according to the way of their worshipful approach: ye yathā māṃ prapadyante tāṁs tathaiva bhajāmy aham, as the well-known śloka of the BhG runs, which Śaṅkara glosses: yena prayojanena… māṃ prapadyante tāṁs tathaiva… anugṛhnāmy aham, laying stress on purpose ― prayojana. Besides innumerable passages conforming to this conception, however, Purāṇas are rife with narratives of a different kind, diverging from it under two main aspects: on one side, as the grace accorded does not stem either directly or indirectly from the Lord; on the other side, as it dispenses with the devotee’s worshipful intention, or even with his actual awareness. These narratives may be grouped under a few distinct heads: a) spontaneous efficacy of specific places and times; b) salvation of purposeless agents like animals, corpses and other inanimate beings; c) salvation of the reckless evil-doer; d) salvation of the god-hater. The present paper presents some examples of each type, concluding with some thoughts on the theoretical background of the puranic doctrines of “unintentional salvation”.

Paraśuràma, later to be regularly reckoned as the 6th in standard daśāvatara lists, does not yet appear to entertain any special reationship to Viṣṇu in the earlier portions of the Epics, where the first details of the main features of his legend are to be found: i) the uncanny circumstances of his (and Viśvāmitra's) birth; ii) the killing of Kārtavīryārjuna and the 21-fold extermination of the kṣatriya-s; iii) the beheading of his mother Reṇukā; to which the Rāmāyaṇa adds the episode of the meeting of the two Rāmas and the defeat of the elder at the hands of the younger. Indeed, in the Karṇaparvan of the Mahābhārata he is rather depicted as Śiva's bhakta, as would seem more in character with the “deviant” traits of his behaviour. How then did he win acceptance among the ranks of Viṣṇu's avatāra-s? The Viṣṇudharmottara Purāṇa (VDh) I, 23-73, is arguably the first full-fledged account wherein we may inquire for the mode of his newly acquired dignity. As it turns out, such acceptance, which even later was seldom unreserved on account of the scarcely Viṣṇu-like ruthlessness of his exploits, is right from the beginning only partial, and qualified by certain doctrines which, if not altogether peculiar to the VDh, do nevertheless come in a distinctive flavour in that Purāṇa, such as the doctrine of the “thousands of manifestations” (pràdurbhāva-sahasrāṇi) and above all that of vaiṣṇava tejas. In the VDh Paraśurāma is certainly not what will be later termed a pūrṇāvatāra, not even an aṁśāvatāra, but just another instance — side by side with his arch-enemy Kārtavīrya — of those powerful beings which partake in an eminent degree of Viṣṇu's own world-sustaining energy.

A detailed summary of the contents of the Arbudakhaṇḍa, constituting the third section of the Prabhāsakhaṇḍa, the 7th khaṇḍa of the Skanda Purāṇa. Like the other three sections of the Prabhāsakhaṇḍa, numbering 491 adhyāyas in total, also the Arbuda-khaṇḍa, counting 63 adhyayas and 1825 ślokas, is a māhātmya, devoted to the magnification of the region of mount Arbuda (or Ābū, as it is called nowadays), the highest peak of the Aravalli range in southern Rājasthān near the Gujarat border. Today mostly renowned for the magnificent Dilvāṛā jaina temples, the region was known in ancient times as a Śaiva tirtha, already mentioned in the Tīrthayatraparvan of the Mahābhārata.

This article argues that Pōtana's Mahābhāgavatamu, aTelugu kāvya, has characteristics of a good vyākhyāna. The Bhāgavata Purāṇa verse 10.52.37 is taken up to study this claim, and the comparison made between Pōtana's work and the commentaries by Sudarśanasūri, Śrīdhara, Vijayadhvajatīrtha, and Vīrarāghavācārya.

The comparatively late tantric embodiment of so-called Hinduism gives final shape to a conception the germs of which had indeed been present in the Indian religious world from the earliest times on — namely, that religious practices and the attendant prescriptive texts must constantly evolve and adapt under the pressure of the “heaviness of time” (kālagaurava) — by sanctioning in a recurrent strophe the partition of the Scriptures according to the declining world ages (yuga): whereas vedic ritual as laid down in the “Heard” Revelation  (śruti) was fit for the Perfect Age, new and less demanding forms of worship, with their corresponding Scriptures, had to be promulgated down the course of time to cater to the failing powers of the human generations: the “Remembered” Codes (smṛti) in the following Age of Triads, then the “Ancient” Lore (purāṇa) in the Age of Duality and finally the “Newcome” Tradition (āgama) in the present Age of Strife.
Outside the tantric context, however, the Purāṇas have been regarded as the authoritative Scriptures also for the present age of degeneration, and they have fulfilled their role as custodians and upholders of the living tradition by various strategies aimed at striking a difficult and sometimes precarious balance between conservation and innovation. Indeed, the notion of constant adaptive evolution is built-in in the very name of the Purāṇas, which according to a long-established (para)etymology defines them as “from of old becoming ever new”. This paper will analyze some of the ways the authors of this remarkable class of texts have gone about their wondrous task of making for change while ensuring continuity.

A tentative report of fieldwork in the area of present day Mount Abu hill station, site of the famous Dilwara jain temples, in the light of the description of the former tīrtha-kṣetra (place of pilgrimage) sacred to Śiva in the Sanskrit Arbuda Māhātmya of the Skanda Purāṇa.

Uttaṅka, one of the lesser known epic ṛṣis, makes his first appearance as a brahmacārin in the Ādiparvan of the Mahābhārata in a context devoted to initiatory stories illustrating the virtue of obedience (śuśruṣā) as paramount in the master-disciple relationship. Unlike his immediate predecessors’ (Aruṇi, Upamanyu and Veda) however, the gist of Uttaṅka’s story — at his master’s wife’s behest, the perilous quest for a pair of wondrous earrings, won at the risk of life, stolen, carried to the underworld and finally regained — is not confined to exemplifying the attitude of the ideal disciple, as becomes all the more apparent by a comparison to an alternative version in the Āśvamedhikaparvan (and its Skanda Purāṇa abridgement). Whereas in the Ādiparvan (= A) version the narrative appears to have undergone an extensive brahmanization, stressing the values of loyalty and obedience to the master as well as of ritual purity, and bringing out by contrast the respective social stands of brāhmaṇas and kṣatriyas, in the Āśvamedhikaparvan (= B) version there come to the foreground some typical features of the folktale more or less suppressed in the alternative account, such as the magical objects (the earrings, only here described as such), the ogre (king Saudāsa, the owner of the earrings, only here characterized as man-devourer), the difficult questions, the swift mount etc.; and even more the underlying structure, evidencing the specific functions of the folktale. On closer investigation, however, there glimpses through the surface layers of the edifying story and the folktale an even deeper level, seemingly presenting us with an Indian version of the universal myth of the hero’s descent to the netherworld in quest of immortality. Several clues are there: a prologue (in B) mentioning Uttaṅka’s despair upon realizing his approaching old age; an incongruous hint at his rejuvenation; the vivifying properties of the kuṇḍalas; Saudāsa’s and his queen’s characters, displaying features (grim appearance, anthropophagy, invisibility) typical of the guardians of the dead; the ordeal; the theft of the kuṇḍalas by a serpent; the time symbolism of the netherworld, etc.
This interpretation is corroborated by the odd re-emergence of some key themes and motifs in the most diverse contexts in other narratives featuring Uttaṅka as a ṛṣi in his post-discipleship career, among which most prominent are the story of the killing of the asura Dhundhu and the aetiological myth about the origin of so-called “Uttaṅka’s clouds” (uttaṅkamegha). Although to unravel the complex net of relationships linking these stories with one another as well as with sundry narratives pertaining to other mythical characters would exceed by far the limits of the present paper, a couple of especially noteworthy instances may be pointed out. The theme of ambrosia disguised under loathsome appearances is common to both the quest and the aetiological myth, under reversed circumstances: either readily offered and reluctantly (and unwittingly) accepted, or reluctantly offered and unwittingly refused. The motif of the netherworld and the fiery subterranean stallion (elsewhere the fiery submarine mare) links the quest and the Dhundhumāra myth in an even more elusive yet intriguing fashion, while evoking other well known destructive underworld stallions, such as Sagara’s missing aśvamedha horse responsible for the burning of his sixty thousand sons (to mention but the most obvious).

After discussing the integration of the Śaṅkara Gītā (ŚG) which makes up adh. 51 to 65 of the first khaṇḍa of the Viṣṇudharmottara Purāṇa and briefly summarizing its contents, the paper focuses on the three avatāra myths (viz. of the Boar, Man-Lion and Dwarf) narrated in adh. 3 to 5 of the same Gītā. A detailed analysis of their textual relationship to concurrent versions found in the Harivaṁśa and Brahma Purāṇa evinces the considerable antiquity of the ŚG version. A distinctive feature of the latter appears to be the invention of the nṛ-varăha (Man-Boar) figure in lieu of the more usual varāha (Boar), prompted by the intent of bringing the relevant myth in line with the two other myths of the trilogy, which are bent on highlighting the magic of the “grant of boons” and the correlative need for the avatāra to have recourse to the well-known “loophole in the law” technique (best exemplified in the Man-Lion myth, especially in its mature form as narrated in the late Bhāgavata Puraṇa) in order to successfully cope with his task.

A talk Delivered at the online Conference on Puranas & Indic Knowledge Systems organized by Indic Academy  -  26th & 27th March, 2021

Link for the talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5-LyRE8TD2Y&list=PLplXz64H2WtE6BAlOyko6pgncJyUYAw8x&index=19

O Śaktismo é uma corrente religiosa que considera a Grande Deusa indiana (Mahā Devī, ou Śakti) como divindade suprema. Desde a mais remota Antiguidade, encontram-se diversas deusas (devī) na tradição religiosa indiana, mas elas possuem papel secundário na literatura sagrada mais antiga. Essa situação muda nas escrituras indianas conhecidas como Purāṇa, que demarcam o período cultural da Índia denominado como “Período Purânico”, que começa no início da era cristã. Nesse período, na história da Índia, nascem ou se desenvolvem diversos movimentos devocionais religiosos que adquirem força e influência, redefinindo o Hinduísmo em muitos aspectos. Nesse contexto surge o Śaktismo como um culto independente de adoração à Deusa, ou seja, um culto no qual se enfatiza o princípio feminino como realidade suprema última, com uma filosofia distinta, como um movimento autônomo e reconhecido no panorama religioso hindu. Iremos avaliar e definir a relevância e o papel dos Purāṇa na instituição e independência do culto à Śakti, no que vem sendo chamado de “cristalização da tradição da Deusa”, um movimento que se completa no Devī-Bhāgavata Purāṇa

Uttaṅka’s name is unknown to the older literature. His epic-puranic character is built up by three main narratives: i) the quest for the wondrous earrings; ii) the killing of asura Dundhu; iii) the origin of “Uttaṅka’s clouds”. The present paper is devoted to the analysis of i), extant in two different versions: A) MBh I, 3, 78 ff.; and B) MBh XIV, 56-58 (of which SkP VII, 3, 2 is but an abridgement, albeit with a couple of innovations). The gist of the story is the perilous quest for a pair of wondrous earrings, won at the risk of life, stolen and carried to the underworld and finally rescued. Version A of the story appears to have undergone an extensive brahmanization, stressing the values of loyalty and obedience to the master as well as of ritual purity, and bringing out by contrast the respective social stands of brāhmaṇa-s and kṣatriya-s. In version B there come to the foreground some typical features of the folktale more or less suppressed in A, such as the magical objects (the earrings, only here described as such), the ogre (king Saudāsa, the owner of the earrings, only here characterized as man-devourer), the difficult questions, the swift mount etc.; and even more the underlying structure, evidencing the specific functions of the folktale as identified by Propp. On closer investigation, however, there glimpses through the surface layers of the edifying story and the folktale an even deeper level, seemingly presenting us with an Indian version of the universal myth of the hero’s descent to the netherworld in quest of immortality. Several clues are there: a prologue in B mentioning Uttaṅka’s despair upon realizing his approaching old age; an incongruous hint at his rejuvenation; the vivifying properties of the kuṇḍala-s; Saudása’s and his queen’s characters, displaying features (grim appearence, anthropophagy, invisibility) typical of the guardians of the dead; the ordeal; the theft of the kuṇḍala-s by a serpent; the time symbolism of the netherworld, etc. Although admittedly none of the above is tranchant, the proposed interpretation seems all the more plausible when brought to bear on other pieces of narrative, from which the ambrosia-theme is clearly seen to be anything but incidental to the Uttaṅka cycle. Such is for instance the uttaṅkamegha myth, where Uttaṅka unwittingly forfeits ambrosia graciously conceded by Kṛṣṇa but disguised by jealous Indra under disgusting appearances.