Itihāsa-Purāṇa
Itihāsa-Purāṇa · itihāsa-purāṇa, “the itihāsas and the purāṇas”
Grammar: neuter noun; a compound of itihāsa (iti-ha-āsa, “thus indeed it was”, the account of what happened) and purāṇa (the ancient account): “the itihāsas and the purāṇas” taken together.
Meaning: the itihāsas and the purāṇas, the sacred accounts of what happened, taken together as one body of scripture and called the fifth Veda.
In the scriptures: Maitreya Maharshi tells Vidura that Brahmā, the ruler of the world and all-knowing, created the four Vedas from his four faces, the Ṛgveda from the eastern face, the Yajurveda from the southern, the Sāmaveda from the western and the Atharvaveda from the northern, and then created the fifth Veda, the Itihāsas and Purāṇas, from all his faces together (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 3, Chapter 12).
Sūta Maharshi tells the ṛshis of the Naimisha forest that Vedavyāsa Maharshi, so that the yajñas would go on without break, divided the one Veda into four: the Ṛgveda, the Yajurveda, the Sāmaveda and the Atharvaveda. The itihāsas and purāṇas, he says, are called the fifth Veda. Paila mastered the Ṛgveda, Jaimini the Sāmaveda, Vaiśampāyana the Yajurveda, the muni Sumantu the Atharvaveda, and “my father Romaharshaṇa” the itihāsas and purāṇas (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 1, Chapter 4). The ṛshis, honouring Sūta, said to him: “You have not only studied the itihāsas, the purāṇas and all the dharmaśāstras, you have also explained them” (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 1, Chapter 1).
Related terms: Itihāsa · Purāṇa · Veda · Vyāsa · Romaharshaṇa
Sources
- Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 1, Chapters 1, 4; Skandha 3, Chapter 12