{"collection":"Hinduism","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/hin/vp/vp023.htm","path":"hin/vp/vp023.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/hin/vp/vp023.htm","text":"The Vishnu Purana, translated by Horace Hayman Wilson, [1840]\nThe Upa-pur\u00e1\u0144as\nThe Upa-pur\u00e1\u0144as, in the few instances which are known, differ little in extent or subject from some of those to which the title of Pur\u00e1\u0144a is ascribed. The Matsya enumerates but four; but the Dev\u00ed Bh\u00e1gavata has a more complete list, and specifies eighteen. They are, 1. The Sanatkum\u00e1ra, 2. N\u00e1rasinha, 3. N\u00e1rad\u00edya, 4. \u015aiva, 5. Durv\u00e1sasa, g. K\u00e1pila, 7. M\u00e1nava, 8. Au\u015bana\u015ba, 9. Varu\u0144a, 10. K\u00e1lik\u00e1, 11. \u015a\u00e1mba, 12. Nandi, 13. Saura, 14. P\u00e1r\u00e1\u015bara, 15. \u00c1ditya, 16. M\u00e1he\u015bwara, 17. Bh\u00e1gavata, 18. Va\u015bisht\u0301ha. The Matsya observes of the second, that it is named in the Padma Pur\u00e1\u0144a, and contains eighteen thousand verses. The Nandi it calls Nand\u00e1, and says that K\u00e1rtikeya tells in it the story of Nand\u00e1. A rather different list is given in the Rev\u00e1 Kha\u0144d\u0301a; or, 1. Sanatkum\u00e1ra, 2. N\u00e1rasinha, 3. Nand\u00e1, 4. \u015aivadharma, 5. Durv\u00e1sasa, 6. Bhavishya, related by N\u00e1rada or N\u00e1rad\u00edya, 7. K\u00e1pila, 8. M\u00e1nava, 9. Au\u015bana\u015ba, 10. Brahm\u00e1\u0144d\u0301a, 11. V\u00e1ru\u0144a, 12. K\u00e1lik\u00e1, 13. M\u00e1he\u015bwara, 14. \u015a\u00e1mba, 15. Saura, 16. P\u00e1r\u00e1\u015bara, 17. Bh\u00e1gavata, 18. Kaurma. These authorities, however, are of questionable weight, having in view, no doubt, the pretensions of the Dev\u00ed Bh\u00e1gavata to be considered as the authentic Bh\u00e1gavata.\nOf these Upa-pur\u00e1\u0144as few are to be procured. Those in my possession\nare the \u015aiva, considered as distinct from the V\u00e1yu; the K\u00e1lik\u00e1, and perhaps one of the N\u00e1rad\u00edyas, as noticed above. I have also three of the Skandhas of the Dev\u00ed Bh\u00e1gavata, which most undoubtedly is not the real Bh\u00e1gavata, supposing that any Pur\u00e1\u0144a so named preceded the work of Vopadeva. There can be no doubt that in any authentic list the name of Bh\u00e1gavata does not occur amongst the Upa-pur\u00e1\u0144as: it has been put there to prove that there are two works so entitled, of which the Pur\u00e1\u0144a is the Dev\u00ed Bh\u00e1gavata, the Upa-pur\u00e1\u0144a the \u015ar\u00ed Bh\u00e1gavata. The true reading should be Bh\u00e1rgava, the Pur\u00e1\u0144a of Bhrigu; and the Dev\u00ed Bh\u00e1gavata is not even an Upa-pur\u00e1\u0144a. It is very questionable if the entire work, which as far as it extends is eminently a S\u00e1kta composition, ever had existence.\nThe \u015aiva Upa-pur\u00e1\u0144a contains about six thousand stanzas, distributed into two parts. It is related by Sanatkum\u00e1ra to Vy\u00e1sa and the Rishis at Naimish\u00e1ra\u0144ya, and its character may be judged of from the questions to which it is a reply. \"Teach us,\" said the Rishis, \"the rules of worshipping the Linga, and of the god of gods adored under that type; describe to us his various forms, the places sanctified by him, and the prayers with which he is to be addressed.\" In answer, Sanatkum\u00e1ra repeats the \u015aiva Pur\u00e1\u0144a, containing the birth of Vish\u0144u and Brahm\u00e1; the creation and divisions of the universe; the origin of all things from the Linga; the rules of worshipping it and \u015aiva; the sanctity of times, places, and things, dedicated to him; the delusion of Brahm\u00e1 and Vish\u0144u by the Linga; the rewards of offering flowers and the like to a Linga; rules for various observances in honour of Mah\u00e1deva; the mode of practising the Yoga; the glory of Benares and other \u015aaiva T\u00edrthas; and the perfection of the objects of life by union with Mahe\u015bwara. These subjects are illustrated in the first part with very few legends; but the second is made up almost wholly of \u015aaiva stories, as the defeat of Tripur\u00e1sura; the sacrifice of Daksha; the births of K\u00e1rtikeya and Gane\u015ba the sons of \u015aiva, and Nandi and Bhringar\u00edti his attendants and others; together with descriptions of Benares and other places of pilgrimage, and rules for observing such festivals as the \u015aivaratri. This work is a \u015aaiva manual, not a Pur\u00e1\u0144a.\nThe K\u00e1lik\u00e1 Pur\u00e1\u0144a contains about nine thousand stanzas in ninety-eight chapters, and is the only work of the series dedicated to recommend the worship of the bride of \u015aiva, in one or other of her manifold forms, as Girij\u00e1, Dev\u00ed, Bhadrak\u00e1l\u00ed, K\u00e1l\u00ed, Mah\u00e1m\u00e1y\u00e1. It belongs therefore to the S\u00e1kta modification of Hindu belief, or the worship of the female powers of the deities. The influence of this worship spews itself in the very first pages of the work, which relate the incestuous passion of Brahm\u00e1 for his daughter Sandhy\u00e1, in a strain that has nothing analogous to it in the V\u00e1yu, Linga, or \u015aiva Pur\u00e1\u0144as.\nThe marriage of \u015aiva and P\u00e1rvati is a subject early described, with the sacrifice of Daksha, and the death of Sati: and this work is authority for \u015aiva's carrying the dead body about the world, and the origin of the P\u00edthasth\u00e1nas, or places where the different members of it were scattered, and where Lingas were consequently erected. A legend follows of the births of Bhairava and Vet\u00e1la, whose devotion to different forms of Dev\u00ed furnishes occasion to describe in great detail the rites and formul\u00e6 of which her worship consists, including the chapters on sanguinary sacrifices, translated in the Asiatic Researches. Another peculiarity in this work is afforded by very prolix descriptions of a number of rivers and mountains at K\u00e1mar\u00fapa-t\u00edrtha in Asam, and rendered holy ground by the celebrated temple of Durg\u00e1 in that country, as K\u00e1m\u00e1k\u015bh\u00ed or K\u00e1m\u00e1khy\u00e1. It is a singular, and yet uninvestigated circumstance, that Asam, or at least the north-east of Bengal, seems to have been in a great degree the source from which the T\u00e1ntrika and \u015a\u00e1kta corruptions of the religion of the Vedas and Pur\u00e1\u0144as proceeded.\nThe specification of the Upa-pur\u00e1\u0144as, whilst it names several of which the existence is problematical, omits other works, bearing the same designation, which are sometimes met with. Thus in the collection of Col. Mackenzie 82 we have a portion of the Bh\u00e1rgava, and a Mudgala Pur\u00e1\u0144a, which is probably the same with the Gane\u015ba Upa-pur\u00e1\u0144a, cited by Col. Vans Kennedy 83. I have also a copy of the Gane\u015ba Pur\u00e1\u0144a, which seems to agree with that of which he speaks; the second portion being entitled the Kr\u00edd\u0301\u00e1 Kha\u0144d\u0301a, in which the pastimes of Gane\u015ba, including\na variety of legendary matters, are described. The main subject of the work is the greatness of Gane\u015ba, and prayers and formul\u00e6 appropriate to him are abundantly detailed. It appears to be a work originating with the G\u00e1napatya sect, or worshippers of Gane\u015ba. There is also a minor Pur\u00e1\u0144a called \u00c1di, or 'first,' not included in the list. This is a work, however, of no great extent or importance, and is confined to a detail of the sports of the juvenile Krish\u0144a.\nlvii:82 Mackenzie Collection, 1. 50, 51.\nlvii:83 Anc. and Hindu Mythology, p. 251.","title":"The Vishnu Purana: Preface: The Upa-pur\u00e1n\u0301as","type":"page"}