{"collection":"Hinduism","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/hin/vp/vp017.htm","path":"hin/vp/vp017.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/hin/vp/vp017.htm","text":"The Vishnu Purana, translated by Horace Hayman Wilson, [1840]\n13. The Skanda Pur\u00e1\u0144a\n13. Skanda Pur\u00e1\u0144a. \"The Sk\u00e1nda Pur\u00e1\u0144a is that in which the six-faced deity (Skanda) has related the events of the Tatpurusha Kalpa, enlarged with many tales, and subservient to the duties taught by Mahe\u015bwara. It is said to contain eighty-one thousand one hundred stanzas: so it is asserted amongst mankind 70.\"\nIt is uniformly agreed that the Skanda Pur\u00e1\u0144a in a collective form has no existence; and the fragments in the shape of Sanhit\u00e1s, Kha\u0144d\u0301as, and M\u00e1h\u00e1tmyas, which are affirmed in various parts of India to be portions of the Pur\u00e1\u0144a, present a much more formidable mass of stanzas than even the immense number of which it is said to consist. The most celebrated of these portions in Hindustan is the K\u00e1\u015b\u00ed Kha\u0144d\u0301a, a very minute description of the temples of \u015aiva in or adjacent to Benares, mixed with directions for worshipping Mahe\u015bwara, and a great variety of legends explanatory of its merits, and of the holiness of K\u00e1\u015b\u00ed: many of them are puerile and uninteresting, but some are of a higher character. The story of Agastya records probably, in a legendary style, the propagation of Hinduism in the south of India: and in the history of Divod\u00e1sa, king of K\u00e1\u015b\u00ed, we have an embellished tradition of the temporary depression of the worship of \u015aiva, even in its metropolis, before the ascendancy of the followers of Buddha 71, There is every reason to believe the greater part of the contents of the K\u00e1\u015b\u00ed Kha\u0144d\u0301a anterior to the first attack upon Benares by Mahmud of Ghizni. The K\u00e1\u015b\u00ed Kha\u0144d\u0301a alone contains fifteen thousand stanzas.\nAnother considerable work ascribed in upper India to the Skanda Pur\u00e1\u0144a is the Utkala Kha\u0144d\u0301a, giving an account of the holiness of Urissa, and the Kshetra of Purushottama or Jagann\u00e1tha. The same vicinage is the site of temples, once of great magnificence and extent, dedicated to \u015aiva, as Bhuvane\u015bwara, which forms an excuse for attaching an account of a Vaish\u0144ava T\u00edrtha to an eminently \u015aaiva Pur\u00e1\u0144a. There can be little doubt, however, that the Utkala Kha\u0144d\u0301a is unwarrantably included amongst the progeny of the parent work. Besides these, there is a Brahmottara Kha\u0144d\u0301a, a Rev\u00e1 Kha\u0144d\u0301a, a \u015aiva Rahasya Kha\u0144d\u0301a, a Himavat Kha\u0144d\u0301a, and others. Of the Sanhit\u00e1s, the chief are the S\u00fata Sanhit\u00e1, Sanatkum\u00e1ra Sanhit\u00e1, Saura Sanhit\u00e1, and Kapila Sanhit\u00e1: there are several other works denominated Sanhit\u00e1s. The\n[paragraph continues] M\u00e1h\u00e1tmyas are more numerous still 72. According to the S\u00fata Sanhit\u00e1, as quoted by Col. Vans Kennedy 73, the Skanda Pur\u00e1\u0144a contains six Sanhit\u00e1s, five hundred Kha\u0144d\u0301as, and five hundred thousand stanzas; more than is even attributed to all the Pur\u00e1\u0144as. He thinks, judging from internal evidence, that all the Kha\u0144d\u0301as and Sanhit\u00e1s may be admitted to be genuine, though the M\u00e1h\u00e1tmyas have rather a questionable appearance. Now one kind of internal evidence is the quantity; and as no more than eighty-one thousand one hundred stanzas have ever been claimed for it, all in excess above that amount must be questionable. But many of the Kha\u0144d\u0301as, the K\u00e1\u015b\u00ed Kha\u0144d\u0301a for instance, are quite as local as the M\u00e1h\u00e1tmyas, being legendary stories relating to the erection and sanctity of certain temples or groups of temples, and to certain Lingas; the interested origin of which renders them very reasonably objects of suspicion. In the present state of our acquaintance with the reputed portions of the Skanda Pur\u00e1\u0144a, my own views of their authenticity are so opposed to those entertained by Col. Vans Kennedy, that instead of admitting all the Sanhit\u00e1s and Kha\u0144d\u0301as to be genuine, I doubt if any one of them was ever a part of the Skanda Pur\u00e1\u0144a.\nxlvi:71 The legend is translated by Col. Vans Kennedy: Ancient and Hindu Mythology, Appendix B.\nxlvii:72 p. xlvi In a list of reputed portions of the Skanda Pur\u00e1\u0144a in the possession of my friend Mr. C. P. Brown, of the Civil service of Madras, the Sanhit\u00e1s are seven, the Kha\u0144d\u0301as twelve, besides parts denominated p. xlvii G\u00edt\u00e1, Kalpa, Stotra, &c. In the collection of Col. Mackenzie, amongst the M\u00e1h\u00e1tmyas thirty-six are said to belong to the Skanda P.: vol. I. p. 6i. In the library at the India House are two Sanhit\u00e1s, the S\u00fata and Sanatkum\u00e1ra, fourteen Kha\u0144d\u0301as, and twelve M\u00e1h\u00e1tmyas.\nxlvii:73 Ancient and Hindu Mythol., p. 554, note.","title":"The Vishnu Purana: Preface: 13. The Skanda Pur\u00e1n&#...","type":"page"}