92 - The Brahmapurāna: Contents and merit accrued 

1. This section is historically very important as it records the detailed contents of each Mahapurána as they stood before the final redaction of the present NP. As the notes below will show, the NP does not cover all the contents of all the Purānas and the information regarding interlocutors etc, is at variance with the published editions of these Puranas. But that does not mean that whatever is not recorded in the NP. is spurious. Critical editions based on all-India Mss. of the Puråņas will be more reliable in this matter. 

Suta said: 

1. On hearing these words of Sanatkumāra joyously, the delighted Nárada who was desirous of knowing the excellent thing that is conducive to welfare, said again. 

Nārada said: 

2. Well done, O blessed one, Well done. The great sacred (Tantra) text, that is the most excellent among the (Tántric) scriptural texts has been narrated by you. It renders great benefit to all the worlds. 

3. Now I wish to hear the excellent narration of Puranas. O sage, tell me whatever (i.e. all legendary episodes) is narrated in each of the different Purāņas, since you are considered to be omniscient. 

Sūta said: 

4. O Brāhmaṇa, on hearing those auspicious words of Nárada, his enquiry regarding the stories in the Puraņas, Sanatkumăra replied. 

Sanatkumāra said: 

5. O Brāhmaṇa, the stories extant in the Puranas are miraculous and very detailed. They have originated in the different Kalpas1 and they include different stories and anecdotes. 

1. This is a convenient plea to reconcile different versions of the same story in different Puranas. 

6. This sage Sanatana is the most excellent among the knowers of many Kalpas. Ask him about this. No one else knows as much as he does. 

7. On hearing these words of the noble-souled Sanatkumāra, Nārada bowed to Sanátana with great humility and submitted: 

Närada said: 

8-9. O Brahmaņa, the most excellent one among the knowers of the Purăņas, interested in the discussion of the perfect knowledge, kindly recount to me the classification of the Purāņas in their entirety, on hearing which everything becomes heard, on knowing which everything is known. It is by following the injunctions therein that everything meritorious is done. 

10-11. The duties of the different castes and stages of life are clearly understood from it. How many are the Purăņas? What is the magnitude (extent) of each? What are the stories that they contain? O holy Lord, tell me. So also recount to me the different stories based on the four castes of people, as well as the details of the different holy observances. 

12. Please reveal clearly the stories of the different races and dynasties in the order of their creation. O Holy Lord, there is no one superior to you in the knowledge of the stories contained in the Purāņas. 

13a. Hence tell me the story (i.e. the content of the Purāṇas) that dispels all doubts. 

Sūta said: 

136-14a. O Brahmaņas, on hearing the speech (request) of Nārada, Sanatana, the most excellent one among the knowers, meditated on Nårāyaṇa for a short while and said: 

Sanatana said: 

14b-16a. Very well! O excellent sage, very nice! Since your steady inclination is diverted towards the knowledge of the stories in the Purāņas. This is conducive to the help of all the worlds. I shall tell you what had been narrated by Brahmå formerly. Urged by filial affection, he narrated to Marichi and other sages. 

16b-18. Brahma’s son named Marichi is well known as one richly endowed with Vedic learning. He is the master of the Vedas and the Vedāngas (lores ancillary to Vedas). Once he approached his father Brahma, the creator of the worlds. O leading sage! O bestower of honour! He devoutly bowed to him and asked him the same question regarding the holy narrative of the Puráņas as you do now.

Marichi said: 

19. (Lord, Lord of the chiefs of the Devas, the Creator and the annihilator of the worlds, O omniscient one, O presiding deity over all, obeisance be to you, who are gracious to all. 

20. O father, I am desirous of hearing. Kindly tell me the core of the Puranas, their definition, their authority, the narrator and the inquirer. 

Brahmā said: 

21. Listen, O dear child, I shall tell you the collective account of the Puranas. On knowing it, all the extant literature among the mobile and the immobile beings becomes known. 

22. O bestower of honour, in all the Kalpas, there was only one Puraņa1 that was the very seed of the fourfold aims of life. It extended to a hundred crores of verses. 

1. With due respect to P.V. Kane (H.D. V. ii.P. 829), I believe that originally there was a single text of literature called the Purana, on account of the following reasons: 

(1) Not only the NP here but various other Puranas record the tradition that originally there was one Purana, vide Brahmånda (BdP) I.1. 40 41., LP I. 2.3., Mt. P 53. 3-11, Pd. P V. 145-52, Va. P. I. 60-61. And They have a number of common verses. For example, compare, NP I.92.22-25 (our text) with the following from Mt. P. 53. 4-11.: 

Puranam ekam evasit tada Kalpåntare’ nagha|

Trivarga-sadhanam punyam shata-koti-pravistaram|| Pravruttiḥ sarva-shästrānam Puranasya bhavat tada | Kalenägrahanam drushtva Puranasya tato nrupa ||

Vyasa-rupam aham krutvå samharami yuge yuge |

Chatur-laksha-pramanena Dväpare Duapare sada ||

Tad aşhtādaśhadha krutvå bhūr-loke’smin prakäshyate|

Adyapi deva-lokesmin shata-koti-pravistaram ||

 (2) All Purānas conform in general to a uniform structure known as Pancha-lakşhana or claim to have the following five characteristic topics viz., the creation of the Universe (Sarga) after destruction or Pralaya (Pratisarga) 

(3) Genealogy of Sages and Kings (Vamsha) (4) the great periods called Manvantaras, (5) history of dynasties both Şolar and Lunar races. etc. (Vaṁshānucharita) 

(4) Not only verses but long passages of verses are found common to a number of Purăņas. 

Thus each Purāņa tries to follow the proto-type of that ancient text called the Purana. 

(5) The Atharva Veda (AV. XI. 7. 24 and XV. 6. 10-11) mentions Purána which shows that there was no proliferation of Purana up to the final redaction of the AV. 

It was by the time of the Dharma-Sūtras of Āpastamba and Gautama that Purāņas with different names came into existence “approaching in the contents to some extent at least of some of the extant Puranas” (HD. V. ii. 318). Writers from the 2nd to the eighth cent A.D. from Shabara to Shankara show that the Purāņa texts before those authors exhibit the same contents and characteristics as many of the extant Puranas. 

The later proliferation does not disprove the existence of one single work called Purána. 

For details, vide section 1 of the Introduction. 

23-24. It was from the Purāņa that all other sacred literature and sciences were evolved. As days passed by, people, could not grasp this Purāņa properly. On realising it, Hari the highly intelligent deity, incarnated himself as Vyåsa in every age. In the course of every Dväpara age, he reduced it to four hundred-thousand verses. 

25. He divides Purāņa into eighteen books and hands it over to the people of the Earth. Even today, original in the region of the Devas, the Puraņa extends to a hundred crores of verses. 

26-28. Of course, there is a condensed version in which the essence is described briefly in four hundred thousand verses.1 The following are the three times six (eighteen) books viz-Brahma, Padma, Vaishnava, Väyaviya, Bhagavata, Näradīya Märkandeya, Agneya, Bhavishya, Brahma Vaivarta, Lingaka, Väräha, Skānda, Vamana, Kūrma, Mätsya, Gåruda and Brahmäņda. 2

1. The total number of verses in the extant Puränas as enumerated in Mt. P. & Va.P. comes to 400600 which is approximately the same as “Four hundred thousand” as mentioned here and in other Purăņas. 

2. The list of Puraņas given here is the same as in the Bh. P XII. 13. 4-8, VP III. 6.21.23, Mt. P. 53.11 ff Va, P. 104. 2-10, etc. But there is some difference in the serial order. For example, NP. records the Vayu P as the 4th in the list, while a number of others substitute the Shaiva as the 4th instead of Váyu, A.D. Pusalkar has however, convincingly shown that the Vayu is entitled to be a Mahåpuräna and Not the Shiva Purana (Studios in the Epics & Puranas of India (SEP. Ch. 2 pp. 31-41) that the VP contains this list shows that these Puranas existed in the Gupta Age. 

29. The single narrative is called the thread that binds the narrator and the listener. I shall recount briefly. Listen with great concentration. 

30. It was the Brahma Puråņa that was narrated at the outset2 by the noble-souled Vyasa, the Vedic scholar, for the benefit of the whole world. 

3. Like the NP most Puranas give the Brahma the first place in their lists. But the Vayu 104,3 and the Devibhagavata (13.3) put the Matsya as the first in their list, while the Skanda-Prabhasa Khanda 2.8-9 give that honour to the Brahmanada. 

31. Indeed, it is the foremost among all the Puraņas. It bestows virtue, love, wealth and liberation from Samsára. It is rich with various narratives and historical anecdotes. It consists of ten thousand verses.4 

4. The Bb. P. XII. 13.4 agrees with the NP about the number of verses (viz 10000) in the Brahma P but AP. 272.1 credits it with 25000 verses while M, P. states 13000 as the total No. of verses therein. Actually. the Anandáśhrama Edt. of this Purăņa contains 13,761 verses. In the Brahma P, Gautami-Mahatmya is given in 106 chapters but the NP. does not record it—a big omission. 

32. O leading sage, in it is described the origin of the Devas, *Suras and Dakșha and other Prajapatis. 

* Probably a misprint. It should be chăsuranăm cha and of Asuras’. 

33. Then, there is the holy narration of the race of the Sun, the Supreme Atman, the lord of the worlds. The narrative is destructive of great sins. 

34. In the course of that narrative, the incarnation of the glorious Råmachandra1 has been recounted, Ramachandra of blissful form incarnating in four manifestations (vyūhas).2 

1. This story of Rama though included in the list of contents of the Brahma by the NP. is not found in the printed editions (both Ānandāśhrama Poona and Gurumandal (GM) Calcutta.) 

2. Obviously the Pancharátra doctrine of “Four Manifestations” is implied here as Rāma is an incarnation of Vişhņu (Vasudeva.) 

35. Thereafter, the lunar race is described. There is the story of Krishņa, the Lord of the Universe, that is destructive of sins. 

36. There is the description of all the continents and sub-continents without omitting anything. The description of the nether-worlds and the heavens is also seen (given therein). 

37. There is the enumeration of the Narakas (hells). There is a hymn and a narrative of the Sun. Pārvati’s birth and marriage are described. 

38. Then there is the narrative of Dakșha. There is the description of the holy centre of ‘Ekámra’3 (Bhuvaneśhvara in Orissa). O Nárada, the first part of this Purana has thus been narrated. 

3. This is in Ch. 41 of the Bd. P. (GM. Edt). Ekāmra is Bhuvaneshvar on the river Gandhavati in Orissa-Dc 59. 

39. In its second part, there is the description of Puruşhottama.4 It is explained in detail along with the injunctions as to how a pilgrimage (of Jagannātha Puri) is to be conducted. 

4. The description of Puruşhottama Kşhetra and how king Indradyumna of Avanti carved out three wooden images (of Jagannátha, Balarama and Subhadra) is found in Chs. 44-51 of the Bd. P. This Puruşhottama kşhetra is Puri of Jagannatha Puri or Shri Kşhetra in Orissa. Puri is the ancient Buddhist Dantapura which got its name from the shrine of Buddha’s left canine tooth. The three images represent Buddha, Dharma and Sangha and there were car festivals of these when Fa Hian and Hiuen Tsiang visited this place De, pp 162-163. 

40. It is here itself that the story of Krishna1 is explained in detail. There is the description of the region of Yama and the procedure of the Śhräddhas of the Pitrus (manes). 

1. VV 40-42 give some of the main items in the Bd. P. such as the story of Krishna (Chs. 180-211), description of the region of Yama (Chs. 214-216), Pitru-Shraddha (219-220), Varnaśhramadharma (Ch. 222), discussion of Yoga (Chs. 234, 238), Sankhya (Chs. 235, 239) and eulogy of Purånas (Ch. 235). But a number of chapters on sacred places and other important episodes which find a place in every Purāna and as such cannot be branded as ‘spurious’, are not mentioned in the contents of the Bd. P. as summarised in the NP. 

41. The duties of the different castes and stages of life have been described in detail. There is the narration of Vişhnu Dharma and the Yugas as well as the Pralaya (dissolution of the world), 

42. There is the narration of the Yogas and the Sankhyas. There is the description of Brahmavada (Philosophy of the Brahman) and the eulogy of the Purāņa. 

43. Thus the Brahma Puråņa that consists of two parts has been described. It is destructive of all sins. It bestows all happiness. 

44-46a. He who, after getting copied this Purāņa consisting of the dialogue of Sūta and Shaunaka that yields worldly pleasure (here) and release from Samsāra (hereafter), donates devoutly that manuscript on the full moon day in the month of Vaišhākha, to a Brāhmaṇa well-versed in Purăņas, along with gold, water and a cow, after propitiating him with garments, sweet dishes and ornaments, - (such a person) stays in the region of god Brahmä as long as the sun, the moon and the stars shine. 

46b-47a. He who reads or listens to this index (table of contents) to the Brahma Purana, O Brāhmaṇa, shall attain the benefit of the reciter and listener of the entire Purāņa. 

47b-48a. He who restricts his diet to rice soaked in ghee and subdues his sense-organs through (religious) observances and listens to the whole of Brahmapurāņa, shall attain the region of Brahma. 

48b-c. O dear one, what more needs be said? By reciting this Purāņa a man obtains whatever he desires.