{"collection":"Hinduism","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/hin/vp/vp004.htm","path":"hin/vp/vp004.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/hin/vp/vp004.htm","text":"The Vishnu Purana, translated by Horace Hayman Wilson, [1840]\nClassification of the Pur\u00e1\u0144as\nThere is another classification of the Pur\u00e1\u0144as alluded to in the Matsya Pur\u00e1\u0144a, and specified by the Padma Pur\u00e1\u0144a, but more fully. It is not undeserving of notice, as it expresses the opinion which native writers entertain of the scope of the Pur\u00e1\u0144as, and of their recognising the subservience of these works to the dissemination of sectarian principles.. Thus it is said in the Uttara Kha\u0144d\u0301a of the Padma, that the Pur\u00e1\u0144as, as well as other works, are divided into three classes, according to the qualities which prevail in them. Thus the Vish\u0144u, N\u00e1rad\u00edya, Bh\u00e1gavata, G\u00e1rud\u0301a, Padma, and V\u00e1r\u00e1ha Pur\u00e1\u0144as, are S\u00e1twika, or pure, from the predominance in them of the Satwa quality, or that of goodness and purity. They are, in fact, Vaish\u0144ava Pur\u00e1\u0144as. The Matsya, K\u00farma, Linga, \u015aiva, Skanda, and Agni Pur\u00e1\u0144as, are T\u00e1masa, or Pur\u00e1\u0144as of darkness, from the prevalence of the quality of Tamas, 'ignorance,' 'gloom.' They are indisputably \u015aaiva Pur\u00e1\u0144as. The third series, comprising the Brahm\u00e1\u0144d\u0301a, Brahma-vaivartta, M\u00e1rka\u0144d\u0301eya, Bhavishya, V\u00e1mana, and Brahm\u00e1 Pur\u00e1\u0144as, are designated as R\u00e1jasa, 'passionate,' from Rajas, the property of passion, which they are supposed to represent.. The Matsya does not specify which are the Pur\u00e1\u0144as that come under these designations, but remarks that those in which the M\u00e1h\u00e1tmya of Hari or Vish\u0144u prevails are S\u00e1twika; those in which the legends of Agni or \u015aiva predominate are T\u00e1masa; and those which dwell most on the stories of Brahm\u00e1 are R\u00e1jasa. I have elsewhere stated 25, that I considered the R\u00e1jasa Pur\u00e1\u0144as to lean to the S\u00e1kta division of the Hindus, the worshippers of \u015aakti, or the female principle; founding this opinion\non the character of the legends which some of them contain, such as the Durg\u00e1 M\u00e1h\u00e1tmya, or celebrated legend on which the worship of Durg\u00e1 or K\u00e1l\u00ed is especially founded, which is a principal episode of the M\u00e1rka\u0144d\u0301eya. The Brahma-vaivartta also devotes the greatest portion of its chapters to the celebration of R\u00e1dh\u00e1, the mistress of Krish\u0144a, and other female divinities. Col. Vans Kennedy, however, objects to the application of the term S\u00e1kta to this last division of the Pur\u00e1\u0144as, the worship of \u015aakti being the especial object of a different class of works, the Tantras, and no such form of worship being particularly inculcated in the Br\u00e1hma Pur\u00e1\u0144a 26. This last argument is of weight in regard to the particular instance specified, and the designation of \u015aakti may not be correctly applicable to the whole class, although it is to some of the series; for there is no incompatibility in the advocacy of a T\u00e1ntrika modification of the Hindu religion by any Pur\u00e1\u0144a, and it has unquestionably been practised in works known as Upa-pur\u00e1\u0144as. The proper appropriation of the third class of the Pur\u00e1\u0144as, according to the Padma Pur\u00e1\u0144a, appears to be to the worship of Krish\u0144a, not in the character in which he is represented in the Vish\u0144u and Bh\u00e1gavata Pur\u00e1\u0144as, in which the incidents of his boyhood are only a portion of his biography, and in which the human character largely participates, at least in his riper years, but as the infant Krish\u0144a, Govinda, B\u00e1la Gop\u00e1la, the sojourner in Vrind\u00e1van, the companion of the cowherds and milkmaids, the lover of R\u00e1dh\u00e1, or as the juvenile master of the universe, Jagann\u00e1tha. The term R\u00e1jasa, implying the animation of passion, and enjoyment of sensual delights, is applicable, not only to the character of the youthful divinity, but to those with whom his adoration in these forms seems to have originated, the Gosains of Gokul and Bengal, the followers and descendants of Vallabha and Chaitanya, the priests and proprietors of Jagann\u00e1th and \u015ar\u00edn\u00e1th-dw\u00e1r, who lead a life of affluence and indulgence, and vindicate, both by precept and practice, the reasonableness of the R\u00e1jasa property, and the congruity of temporal enjoyment with the duties of religion 27.\nThe Pur\u00e1\u0144as are uniformly stated to be eighteen in number. It is said that there are also eighteen Upa-pur\u00e1\u0144as, or minor Pur\u00e1\u0144as; but\nthe names of only a few of these are specified in the least exceptionable authorities, and the greater number of the works is not procurable. With regard to the eighteen Pur\u00e1\u0144as, there is a peculiarity in their specification, which is proof of an interference with the integrity of the text, in some of them at least; for each of them specifies the names of the whole eighteen. Now the list could not have been complete whilst the work that gives it was unfinished, and in one only therefore, the last of the series, have we a right to look for it. As however there are more last words than one, it is evident that the names must have been inserted in all except one after the whole were completed: which of the eighteen is the exception, and truly the last, there is no clue to discover, and the specification is probably an interpolation in most, if not in all.\nThe names that are specified are commonly the same, and are as follows: 1. Br\u00e1hma, 2. P\u00e1dma, 3. Vaish\u0144ava, 4. \u015aaiva, 5. Bh\u00e1gavata, 6. N\u00e1rada, 7. M\u00e1rka\u0144d\u0301a, 8. \u00c1gneya, 9. Bhavishya, 10. Brahma-vaivartta, 11. Lainga, 12. V\u00e1r\u00e1ha, 13. Sk\u00e1nda, 14. V\u00e1mana, 15. Kaurma, 16. M\u00e1tsya, 17. G\u00e1rud\u0301a, 18. Brahm\u00e1\u0144d\u0301a 28. This is from the twelfth book of the Bh\u00e1gavata, and is the same as occurs in the Vish\u0144u 29. In other authorities there are a few variations. The list of the K.\u00farma P. omits the Agni Pur\u00e1\u0144a, and substitutes the V\u00e1yu. The Agni leaves out the \u015aaiva, and inserts the V\u00e1yu. The Var\u00e1ha omits the G\u00e1rud\u0301a and Brahm\u00e1\u0144d\u0301a, and inserts the V\u00e1yu and Narasinha: in this last it is singular. The M\u00e1rka\u0144d\u0301eya agrees with the Vish\u0144u and Bh\u00e1gavata in omitting the V\u00e1yu. The Matsya, like the Agni, leaves out the \u015aaiva.\nSome of the Pur\u00e1\u0144as, as the Agni, Matsya, Bh\u00e1gavata, and Padma, also particularize the number of stanzas which each of the eighteen contains. In one or two instances they disagree, but in general they concur. The aggregate is stated at 400,000 slokas, or 1,600,000 lines. These are\nfabled to be but an abridgment, the whole amount being a krore, or ten millions of stanzas, or even a thousand millions. If all the fragmentary portions claiming in various parts of India to belong to the Pur\u00e1\u0144as were admitted, their extent would much exceed the lesser, though it would not reach the larger enumeration. The former is, however, as I have elsewhere stated 30, a quantity that an individual European scholar could scarcely expect to peruse with due care and attention, unless his whole time were devoted exclusively for many years to the task. Yet without some such labour being achieved, it was clear, from the crudity and inexactness of all that had been hitherto published on the subject, with one exception 31, that sound views on the subject of Hindu mythology and tradition were not to be expected. Circumstances, which I have already explained in the paper in the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society referred to above, enabled me to avail myself of competent assistance, by which I made a minute abstract of most of the Pur\u00e1\u0144as. In course of time I hope to place a tolerably copious and connected analysis of the whole eighteen before Oriental scholars, and in the mean while offer a brief notice of their several contents.\nIn general the enumeration of the Pur\u00e1\u0144as is a simple nomenclature, with the addition in some cases of the number of verses; but to these the Matsya Pur\u00e1\u0144a joins the mention of one or two circumstances peculiar to each, which, although scanty, are of value, as offering means of identifying the copies of the Pur\u00e1\u0144as now found with those to which the Matsya refers, or of discovering a difference between the present and the past. I shall therefore prefix the passage descriptive of each Pur\u00e1\u0144a from the Matsya. It is necessary to remark, however, that in the comparison instituted between that description and the Pur\u00e1\u0144a as it exists, I necessarily refer to the copy or copies which I employed for the purpose of examination and analysis, and which were procured with some trouble and cost in Benares and Calcutta. In some instances my manuscripts\nhave been collated with others from different parts of India, and the result has shewn, that, with regard at least to the Brahm\u00e1, Vish\u0144u, V\u00e1yu, Matsya, Padma, Bh\u00e1gavata, and K\u00farma Pur\u00e1\u0144as, the same works, in all essential respects, are generally current under the same appellations. Whether this is invariably the case may be doubted, and farther inquiry may possibly shew that I have been obliged to content myself with mutilated or unauthentic works 32. It is with this reservation, therefore, that I must be understood to speak of the concurrence or disagreement of any Pur\u00e1\u0144a with the notice of it which the Matsya P. has preserved.\nxii:25 As. Res. vol. XVI. p. 10.\nxiii:26 Asiatic Journal, March 1837, p. 241.\nxiii:27 As. Res. vol. XVI. p. 85.\nxiv:28 The names are put attributively, the noun substantive, Pur\u00e1\u0144a, being understood. Thus Vaish\u0144avam Pur\u00e1\u0144am means the Pur\u00e1\u0144a of Vish\u0144u; \u015aaivam Pur\u00e1\u0144am, the P. of \u015aiva; Br\u00e1hmam Pur\u00e1\u0144am, the P. of Brahm\u00e1. It is equally correct, and more common, to use the two substantives p. xv in apposition, as Vish\u0144u Pur\u00e1\u0144a, \u015aiva Pur\u00e1\u0144a, &c. In the original Sanscrit the nouns are compounded, as Vish\u0144u-pur\u00e1\u0144am, &c.; but it has not been customary to combine them in their European shape.\nxv:30 Journ. Royal As. Soc. vol. V. p. 61.\nxv:31 I allude to the valuable work of Col. Vans Kennedy, on the Affinity between Ancient and Hindu Mythology. However much I may differ from that learned and industrious writer's conclusions, I must do him the justice to admit that he is the only author who has discussed the subject of the mythology of the Hindus on right principles, by drawing his materials from authentic sources.\nxvi:32 Upon examining the translations of different passages from the Pur\u00e1\u0144as, given by Col. Vans Kennedy in the work mentioned in a former note, and comparing them with the text of the manuscripts I have consulted, I find such an agreement as to warrant the belief that there is no essential difference between the copies in his possession and in mine. The varieties which occur in the MSS. of the East India Company's Library will be noticed in the text.","title":"The Vishnu Purana: Preface: Classification of the Pur&aac...","type":"page"}