{"collection":"Hinduism","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/hin/vp/vp021.htm","path":"hin/vp/vp021.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/hin/vp/vp021.htm","text":"The Vishnu Purana, translated by Horace Hayman Wilson, [1840]\n17. The G\u00e1rud\u0301a Pur\u00e1\u0144a\n17. G\u00e1rud\u0301a Pur\u00e1\u0144a. \"That which Vish\u0144u recited in the G\u00e1rud\u0301a Kalpa, relating chiefly to the birth of G\u00e1rud\u0301a from Vinat\u00e1, is here called the G\u00e1rud\u0301a Pur\u00e1\u0144a; and in it there are read nineteen thousand verses 79.\"\nThe G\u00e1rud\u0301a Pur\u00e1\u0144a which has been the subject of my examination corresponds in no respect with this description, and is probably a different work, though entitled the G\u00e1rud\u0301a Pur\u00e1\u0144a. It is identical, however, with two copies in the Company's library. It consists of no more than about seven thousand stanzas; it is repeated by Brahm\u00e1 to Indra; and it contains no account of the birth of Garuda. There is a brief notice of the creation; but the greater part is occupied with the description of Vratas, or religious observances, of holidays, of sacred places dedicated to the sun, and with prayers from the T\u00e1ntrika ritual, addressed to the sun, to \u015aiva, and to Vish\u0144u. It contains also treatises on astrology, palmistry, and precious stones; and one, still more extensive, on medicine. The latter portion, called the Preta Kalpa, is taken up with directions for the performance of obsequial rites. There is nothing in\nall this to justify the application of the name. Whether a genuine G\u00e1rud\u0301a Pur\u00e1\u0144a exists is doubtful. The description given in the Matsya is less particular than even the brief notices of the other Pur\u00e1\u0144as, and might have easily been written without any knowledge of the book itself, being, with exception of the number of stanzas, confined to circumstances that the title alone indicates.","title":"The Vishnu Purana: Preface: 17. The G\u00e1rud\u0301a P...","type":"page"}