Preface. 15. The K'urma Pur'ana
*
"The Vishnu Purana", translated by Horace Hayman Wilson, [1840],
15. The Krma Purna
15. Krma Purna. "That in which Janrddana, in the form of a tortoise, in the regions under the earth, explained the objects of life--duty, wealth, pleasure, and liberation--in communication with Indradyumna and the Rishis in the proximity of akra, which refers to the Lakshm Kalpa, and contains seventeen thousand stanzas, is the Krma Purna 76."
In the first chapter of the Krma Purna it gives an account of itself, which does not exactly agree with this description. Sta, who is repeating the narration, is made to say to the Rishis, "This most excellent Kaurma Purna is the fifteenth. Sanhits are fourfold, from the variety of the collections. The Brhm, Bhgavat, Saur, and Vaishnav, are well known as the four Sanhits which confer virtue, wealth, pleasure, and liberation. This is the Brhm Sanhit, conformable to the four Vedas; in which there are six thousand lokas, and by it the importance of the four objects of life, O great sages, holy knowledge and Paramewara is known." There is an irreconcilable difference in this specification of the number of stanzas and that given above. It is not very clear what is meant by a Sanhit as here used. A Sanhit, as observed above (p. xi), is something different from a Purna. It may be an assemblage of prayers and legends, extracted professedly from a Purna, but is not usually applicable to the original. The four Sanhits here specified refer rather to their religious character than to their connexion with any specific work, and in fact the same terms are applied to what are called Sanhits of the Sknda. In this sense a Purna might be also a Sanhit; that is, it might be an assemblage of formul and legends belonging to a division of the Hindu system; and the work in question, like the Vishnu Purna, does adopt both titles. It says, "This is the excellent Kaurma Purna, the fifteenth (of the series):" and again, "This is the Brhm Sanhit." At any rate, no other work has been met with pretending to be the Krma Purna.
p. l
With regard to the other particulars specified by the Matsya, traces of them are to be found. Although in two accounts of the traditional communication of the Purna no mention is made of Vishnu as one of the teachers, yet Sta repeats at the outset a dialogue between Vishnu, as the Krma, and Indradyumna, at the time of the churning of the ocean; and much of the subsequent narrative is put into the mouth of the former.
The name, being that of an Avatra of Vishnu, might lead us to expect a Vaishnava work; but it is always and correctly classed with the aiva. Purnas, the greater portion of it inculcating the worship of iva and Durg. It is divided into two parts, of nearly equal length. In the first part, accounts of the creation, of the Avatras of Vishnu, of the solar and lunar dynasties of the kings to the time of Krishna, of the universe, and of the Manwantaras, are given, in general in a summary manner, but not unfrequently in the words employed in the Vishnu Purna. With these are blended hymns addressed to Mahewara by Brahm and others; the defeat of Andhaksura by Bhairava; the origin of four aktis, Mahewar, iv, at, and Haimavat, from iva; and other aiva legends. One chapter gives a more distinct and connected account of the incarnations of iva in the present age than the Linga; and it wears still more the appearance of an attempt to identify the teachers of the Yoga school with personations of their preferential deity. Several chapters form a K Mhtmya, a legend of Benares. In the second part there are no legends. It is divided into two parts, the wara Gta 77 and Vysa Gita. In the former the knowledge of god, that is, of iva, through contemplative devotion, is taught. In the latter the same object is enjoined through works, or observance of the ceremonies and precepts of the Vedas.
The date of the Krma Purna cannot be very remote, for it is avowedly posterior to the establishment of the Tntrika, the Skta, and the Jain sects. In the twelfth chapter it is said, "The Bhairava, Vma, rhata, and Ymala stras are intended for delusion." There is no
p. li
reason to believe that the Bhairava and Ymala Tantras are very ancient works, or that the practices of the left-hand ktas, or the doctrines of Arhat or Jina were known in the early centuries of our era.
Footnotes
xlix:76
Click to view
l:77 This is also translated by Col. Vans Kennedy (Anc. and Hindu Mythol., Appendix D. p. 444); and in this instance, as in other passages quoted by him from the Krma, his MS. and mine agree.
"The Vishnu Purana", translated by Horace Hayman Wilson, [1840],
15. The Krma Purna
15. Krma Purna. "That in which Janrddana, in the form of a tortoise, in the regions under the earth, explained the objects of life--duty, wealth, pleasure, and liberation--in communication with Indradyumna and the Rishis in the proximity of akra, which refers to the Lakshm Kalpa, and contains seventeen thousand stanzas, is the Krma Purna 76."
In the first chapter of the Krma Purna it gives an account of itself, which does not exactly agree with this description. Sta, who is repeating the narration, is made to say to the Rishis, "This most excellent Kaurma Purna is the fifteenth. Sanhits are fourfold, from the variety of the collections. The Brhm, Bhgavat, Saur, and Vaishnav, are well known as the four Sanhits which confer virtue, wealth, pleasure, and liberation. This is the Brhm Sanhit, conformable to the four Vedas; in which there are six thousand lokas, and by it the importance of the four objects of life, O great sages, holy knowledge and Paramewara is known." There is an irreconcilable difference in this specification of the number of stanzas and that given above. It is not very clear what is meant by a Sanhit as here used. A Sanhit, as observed above (p. xi), is something different from a Purna. It may be an assemblage of prayers and legends, extracted professedly from a Purna, but is not usually applicable to the original. The four Sanhits here specified refer rather to their religious character than to their connexion with any specific work, and in fact the same terms are applied to what are called Sanhits of the Sknda. In this sense a Purna might be also a Sanhit; that is, it might be an assemblage of formul and legends belonging to a division of the Hindu system; and the work in question, like the Vishnu Purna, does adopt both titles. It says, "This is the excellent Kaurma Purna, the fifteenth (of the series):" and again, "This is the Brhm Sanhit." At any rate, no other work has been met with pretending to be the Krma Purna.
p. l
With regard to the other particulars specified by the Matsya, traces of them are to be found. Although in two accounts of the traditional communication of the Purna no mention is made of Vishnu as one of the teachers, yet Sta repeats at the outset a dialogue between Vishnu, as the Krma, and Indradyumna, at the time of the churning of the ocean; and much of the subsequent narrative is put into the mouth of the former.
The name, being that of an Avatra of Vishnu, might lead us to expect a Vaishnava work; but it is always and correctly classed with the aiva. Purnas, the greater portion of it inculcating the worship of iva and Durg. It is divided into two parts, of nearly equal length. In the first part, accounts of the creation, of the Avatras of Vishnu, of the solar and lunar dynasties of the kings to the time of Krishna, of the universe, and of the Manwantaras, are given, in general in a summary manner, but not unfrequently in the words employed in the Vishnu Purna. With these are blended hymns addressed to Mahewara by Brahm and others; the defeat of Andhaksura by Bhairava; the origin of four aktis, Mahewar, iv, at, and Haimavat, from iva; and other aiva legends. One chapter gives a more distinct and connected account of the incarnations of iva in the present age than the Linga; and it wears still more the appearance of an attempt to identify the teachers of the Yoga school with personations of their preferential deity. Several chapters form a K Mhtmya, a legend of Benares. In the second part there are no legends. It is divided into two parts, the wara Gta 77 and Vysa Gita. In the former the knowledge of god, that is, of iva, through contemplative devotion, is taught. In the latter the same object is enjoined through works, or observance of the ceremonies and precepts of the Vedas.
The date of the Krma Purna cannot be very remote, for it is avowedly posterior to the establishment of the Tntrika, the Skta, and the Jain sects. In the twelfth chapter it is said, "The Bhairava, Vma, rhata, and Ymala stras are intended for delusion." There is no
p. li
reason to believe that the Bhairava and Ymala Tantras are very ancient works, or that the practices of the left-hand ktas, or the doctrines of Arhat or Jina were known in the early centuries of our era.
Footnotes
xlix:76
Click to view
l:77 This is also translated by Col. Vans Kennedy (Anc. and Hindu Mythol., Appendix D. p. 444); and in this instance, as in other passages quoted by him from the Krma, his MS. and mine agree.
