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55-404: "Tila" is a Sanskrit word for a small particle and "uttama" means the ultimate. Tilottama, therefore, means the being whose smallest particle is the finest or one who is composed of the finest and highest qualities. In the Hindu epic Mahabharata , Tilottama is described to have been created by the divine architect Vishvakarma , at Brahma 's request, by taking the best quality of everything as

110-560: A Mahapurana, whereas the Padma Purana , Garuda Purana and Kurma Purana consider it an Upapurana. There are discussions on whether the Devi Bhagavata Purana is a Mahapurana. The difference between Upapuranas and Mahapuranas has been explained by Rajendra Hazra: "a Mahapurana is well known, and that what is less well known becomes an Upapurana". Rocher states that the distinction between Mahapurana and Upapurana

165-427: A myth where the names of the characters are loaded with symbolism and axiological significance. The myth is as follows, The progeny of Dharma by the daughters of Daksha were as follows: by Sraddhá (devotion) he had Kama (desire); by Lakshmí (wealth, prosperity), was born Darpa (pride); by Dhriti (courage), the progeny was Niyama (precept); by Tusht́i (inner comfort), Santosha (contentment); by Pusht́i (opulence),

220-703: A process called Upabrimhana . However, some of the 36 major and minor Puranas are more focused handbooks, such as the Skanda Purana, Padma Purana and Bhavishya Purana, which deal primarily with Tirtha Mahatmyas (pilgrimage travel guides). while Vayu Purana and Brahmanda Purana focus more on history, mythology and legends. The colonial-era scholars of Puranas studied them primarily as religious texts, with Vans Kennedy declaring in 1837 that any other use of these documents would be disappointing. John Zephaniah Holwell , who from 1732 onwards spent 30 years in India and

275-493: A religious, bhakti (devotional) context. Here the Puranic literature follows a general pattern. It starts with an introduction, where a future devotee is described as ignorant about the deity, yet curious. The devotee learns about the deity, and this begins their spiritual realization. The text then describes instances of this deity's grace, which begins to persuade and convert the devotee. The devotee, then, shows devotion, which

330-601: A single deity. The Puranas have also been classified based on a specific deity, although the texts are mixed and revere all gods and goddesses: Two puranas have "Bhagavata" in their names, the Bhagavata Purana and Devi Bhagavata Purana , which Srivastava says both are called Mahapuranas in Sanskrit literature, where the Vayu Purana , Matsya Purana , and Aditya Upa Purana admit the Devi Bhagavata Purana as

385-524: A thousand vaginas on his body, but they change to thousand eyes once Indra lays his eyes on Tiliottama. Another tale in the Mahabharata (Book 13) narrates that Tilottama comes to tempt Shiva. Eager to see her as she circumambulated him, Shiva developed four visible faces, another interpretation states that Shiva revealed himself to Tilottama as the five Brahman s, with his five faces (4 visible, 1 invisible). The east face signifying his sovereignty over

440-478: A vast genre of Hindu literature about a wide range of topics, particularly about legends and other traditional lore. The Puranas are known for the intricate layers of symbolism depicted within their stories. Composed originally in Sanskrit and in other Indian languages, several of these texts are named after major Hindu gods such as Vishnu , Shiva , Brahma , and Tridevi . The Puranic genre of literature

495-467: A whole, states Ludo Rocher . He points out that even for the better established and more coherent Puranas such as Bhagavata and Vishnu, the dates proposed by scholars continue to vary widely and endlessly. The date of the production of the written texts does not define the date of origin of the Puranas. They existed in an oral form before being written down. In the 19th century, F. E. Pargiter believed

550-464: Is a Shaiva story that features Brahma , Vishnu , Shiva , the three major gods of Hinduism , who get together and debate about who is supreme amongst the three of them and after various incidents of the story, the glory of Shiva is established at the end by the apparition of the Linga which is a form of Shiva as Lingodbhava over Vishnu and Brahma, thus it shows that Vishnu and Brahma are secondary gods in

605-524: Is ahistorical, since there is little corroborating evidence that either were more or less known, and that "the term Mahapurana occurs rarely in Purana literature, and is probably of late origin." The Upapuranas are eighteen in number, with disagreement as to which canonical titles belong in that list of eighteen. They include among – Only a few have been critically edited. The Ganesha and Mudgala Puranas are devoted to Ganesha . The Skanda Purana

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660-533: Is called Shiva is but identical with Vishnu. The Skanda Purana has received renewed scholarly interest ever since the late 20th century discovery of a Nepalese Skanda Purana manuscript dated to be from the early 9th century CE. This discovery established that the Skanda Purana existed by the 9th century CE. However, a comparison shows that the 9th century CE document is entirely different from versions of Skanda Purana that have been circulating in South Asia since

715-421: Is found in both Hinduism and Jainism . The Puranic literature is encyclopedic, and it includes diverse topics such as cosmogony , cosmology , genealogies of gods, goddesses, kings, queens, heroes, heroines, sages, other gods, other goddesses, folk tales, pilgrimages, temples, medicine, astronomy, grammar, mineralogy, humor, love stories, theology, philosophy, etc. The content is highly inconsistent across

770-564: Is independent, has changed often over its history, and has little relation to the Vedic age or the Vedic literature. In contrast, Purana literature is evidently intended to serve as a complement to the Vedas, states Vans Kennedy. Some scholars such as Govinda Das suggest that the Puranas claim a link to the Vedas but in name only, not in substance. The link is purely a mechanical one. Scholars such as Viman Chandra Bhattacharya and PV Kane state that

825-478: Is rewarded by the deity. The reward is appreciated by the devotee, who, in return, performs further actions to express further devotion. The Puranas, states Flood, document the rise of the theistic traditions such as those based on Vishnu, Shiva, Brahma, Tridevi and include respective mythology, pilgrimage to holy places, rituals and genealogies. The bulk of these texts, in Flood's view, were established by 500 CE, in

880-477: Is the largest Purana with 81,000 verses, named after the deity Skanda , the son of Shiva and Uma, and the brother of the deity Ganesha. The mythological part of the text weaves together the stories of Shiva and Vishnu, along with those featuring Parvati, Lakshmi, Rama, Krishna, Sita, Rukmini and other major gods and goddesses in the Hindu pantheon. In Chapter 1.8, it declares, Vishnu is nobody but Shiva, and he who

935-608: The Adi Parva (Book 1) of the epic Mahabharata , the divine sage Narada tells the Pandava brothers the story of the destruction of asura brothers Sunda and Upasunda due to the apsara Tilottama and warns the Pandavas that their common wife Draupadi could be a reason of quarrel between them. The tale states Sunda and Upasunda were sons of the asura Nikumbha . They are described as inseparable siblings who shared everything:

990-756: The Mulasamhita , from which the later eighteen Puranas were derived. The term Purana appears in the Vedic texts. For example, Atharva Veda mentions Purana (in the singular) in XI.7.24 and XV.6.10-11: "The Rig and Sama verses, the Chandas, the Purana along with the Yajur formulae, all sprang from the remainder of the sacrificial food, (as also) the gods that resort to heaven. He changed his place and went over to great direction, and Itihasa and Purana, gathas, verses in praise of heroes followed in going over." Similarly,

1045-780: The Trideva because he expanded and conquered the entire universe and them being secondary gods with lesser powers, so they cannot find his beginning and end at a single place in the universe. This story, state Bonnefoy and Doniger, appears in Vayu Purana 's chapter 1.55, Brahmanda Purana 's chapter 1.26, Shiva Purana 's Rudra Samhita's Sristi Khanda's chapter 15, Skanda Purana 's chapters 1.3, 1.16, 3.1, and other Puranas. The texts are in Sanskrit as well as regional languages, and almost entirely in narrative metric couplets. The texts use ideas, concepts and even names that are symbolic. The words can interpreted literally, and at an axiological level. The Vishnu Purana , for example, recites

1100-532: The "original Purana" may date to the time of the final redaction of the Vedas. Wendy Doniger , based on her study of indologists, assigns approximate dates to the various Puranas. She dates Markandeya Purana to c.  250 CE (with one portion dated to c. 550 CE), Matsya Purana to c. 250–500 CE, Vayu Purana to c. 350 CE, Harivamsa and Vishnu Purana to c. 450 CE, Brahmanda Purana to c. 350–950 CE, Vamana Purana to c. 450–900 CE, Kurma Purana to c. 550–850 CE, and Linga Purana to c. 600–1000 CE. Of

1155-570: The Gupta era, though amendments were made later. Along with inconsistencies, common ideas are found throughout the corpus, but it is not possible to trace the lines of influence of one Purana upon another, so the corpus is best viewed as a synchronous whole. An example of similar stories woven across the Puranas, but in different versions, include the Lingodbhava – the apparition of the Linga . The

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1210-412: The Purana adds that it was abridged by sage Vyasa before being taught to Romaharshana. The Puranas, according to Flood, have traditionally been classified according to three qualities ( guna ) which are inherent in existence, namely the quality of light or purity ( sattva ), passion ( rajas ), and darkness or inertia ( tamas ), with each quality having six puranas focused, but not exclusively, upon

1265-425: The Puranas are a continuation and development of the Vedas. Sudhakar Malaviya and VG Rahurkar state the connection is closer in that the Puranas are companion texts to help understand and interpret the Vedas. K.S. Ramaswami Sastri and Manilal N. Dvivedi reflect the third view which states that Puranas enable us to know the "true import of the ethos, philosophy, and religion of the Vedas". Barbara Holdrege questions

1320-524: The Puranas do not enjoy the authority of a scripture in Hinduism , but are considered as Smritis , they shaped Hinduism more than the Vedas, providing a "culture synthesis" in weaving and integrating the diverse beliefs of a great number of local traditions into the Vedic-Brahmanic fold. While all Puranas praise many gods and goddesses and "their sectarianism is far less clear cut" than assumed,

1375-551: The Puranas, and each Purana has survived in numerous manuscripts which are themselves inconsistent. The Hindu Maha Puranas are traditionally attributed to Vyasa , but many scholars considered them likely the work of many authors over the centuries; in contrast, most Jaina Puranas can be dated and their authors assigned. There are 18 Mukhya Puranas (Major Puranas) and 18 Upa Puranas (Minor Puranas), with over 400,000 verses. The first versions of various Puranas were likely to have been composed between 3rd and 10th century CE. While

1430-601: The Shatapatha Brahmana (XI.5.6.8) mentions Itihasapuranam (as one compound word) and recommends that on the 9th day of Pariplava, the hotr priest should narrate some Purana because "the Purana is the Veda, this it is" (XIII.4.3.13). However, states P.V. Kane, it is not certain whether these texts suggested several works or a single work with the term Purana . The late Vedic text Taittiriya Aranyaka (II.10) uses

1485-511: The Wikimedia System Administrators, please include the details below. Request from 172.68.168.226 via cp1108 cp1108, Varnish XID 259790615 Upstream caches: cp1108 int Error: 429, Too Many Requests at Thu, 28 Nov 2024 10:58:52 GMT Purana Divisions Sama vedic Yajur vedic Atharva vedic Vaishnava puranas Shaiva puranas Shakta puranas Puranas (Ancients), are

1540-399: The brothers argued that Tilottama should be his own wife, they grabbed their clubs and attacked each other, ultimately killing each other. The devas congratulated her and Brahma granted her the right to roam freely in the universe as a boon. Brahma also decreed that no one would be able to look at her for a long time due to her luster. The Mahabharata (Book 1: Adi Parva) narrates: Though Shiva

1595-825: The colonial era. Several Puranas, such as the Matsya Purana, list "five characteristics" or "five signs" of a Purana. These are called the Pancha Lakshana ( pañcalakṣaṇa ), and are topics covered by a Purana: A few Puranas, such as the most popular Bhagavata Purana, add five more characteristics to expand this list to ten: These five or ten sections weave in biographies, myths, geography, medicine, astronomy, Hindu temples, pilgrimage to distant real places, rites of passage, charity, ethics, duties, rights, dharma, divine intervention in cosmic and human affairs, love stories, festivals, theosophy and philosophy. The Puranas link gods to men, both generally and in

1650-421: The editing and expansion of the Puranas did not stop after the Gupta era, and the texts continued to "grow for another five hundred or a thousand years" and these were preserved by priests who maintained Hindu pilgrimage sites and temples. The core of Itihasa-Puranas, states Klaus Klostermaier, may possibly go back to the 7th century BCE or even earlier. It is not possible to set a specific date for any Purana as

1705-448: The fact that it would be irresponsible and highly misleading to speak of or pretend to describe the religion of the Puranas. The study of Puranas as religious texts remains a controversial subject. Some Indologists, in the colonial tradition of scholarship, treat the Puranic texts as scriptures, or as useful sources of religious contents. Other scholars, such as Ronald Inden, consider this approach "essentialist and antihistorical" because

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1760-616: The faculty to procreate; they perpetually operate as causes of the destruction of this world. On the contrary, Daksha and the other Rishis, the elders of mankind, tend perpetually to influence its renovation: whilst the Manus and their sons, the heroes endowed with mighty power, and treading in the path of truth, as constantly contribute to its preservation. The relation of the Puranas with Vedas has been debated by scholars, some holding that there's no relationship, others contending that they are identical. The Puranic literature, stated Max Muller ,

1815-477: The fifth Veda status of Itihasas (the Hindu epics) and Puranas. The Puranas, states V.S. Agrawala, intend to "explicate, interpret, adapt" the metaphysical truths in the Vedas. In the general opinion, states Rocher, "the Puranas cannot be divorced from the Vedas" though scholars provide different interpretations of the link between the two. Scholars have given the Bhagavata Purana as an example of

1870-426: The fifth Veda". The Brhadaranyaka Upanishad also refers to purana as the "fifth Veda". According to Thomas Coburn, Puranas and early extra-puranic texts attest to two traditions regarding their origin, one proclaiming a divine origin as the breath of the great beings, the other as a human sage named Vyasa as the arranger of already existing material into eighteen Puranas. In the early references, states Coburn,

1925-406: The ingredients. She is responsible for bringing about the mutual destruction of the asuras (a class of malevolent beings), Sunda and Upasunda . Even devas (a class of benevolent beings) like Indra are described to be enamoured of Tilottama. While a legend talks about a pre-birth as an ugly widow, another narrates how she was cursed to be born as a daitya princess Usha by sage Durvasa . In

1980-633: The king's conduct, Tilottama cursed the king that he would suffer separation from the one he was thinking about - for a period of fourteen years. The Padma Purana narrates that Tilottama was an ugly widow named Kubja in her previous birth. Kubja underwent auspicious ceremonies for eight years and finally performing the ritual Magha puja . This ensured that she was born as Tiliottama and appeared in Svarga as an apsara. The Brahma Vaivarta Purana narrates that Sahasika, grandson of Bali disturbed sage Durvasa 's penance in his amours with Tilottama. As

2035-459: The kingdom, the bed, food, house, a seat. Once, the brothers practiced severe austerities on the Vindhya mountains, compelling the creator-god Brahma to grant them a boon. They asked for great power and immortality, but the latter was denied, instead, Brahma gave them the boon that nothing but they themselves can hurt each other. Soon, the asuras attacked Svarga and drove the devas out. Conquering

2090-726: The links and continuity of the Vedic content, such as its providing an interpretation of the Gayatri mantra. The Puranas, states Kees Bolle , are best seen as "vast, often encyclopedic" works from ancient and medieval India. Some of them, such as the Agni Purana and Matsya Purana, cover all sorts of subjects, dealing with – states Rocher – "anything and everything", from fiction to facts, from practical recipes to abstract philosophy, from geographic Mahatmyas (travel guides) to cosmetics, from festivals to astronomy. Like encyclopedias, they were updated to remain current with their times, by

2145-667: The many texts designated 'Puranas' the most important are the Mahāpurāṇa s or the major Puranas. These are said to be eighteen in number, divided into three groups of six, though they are not always counted in the same way. The list of Mahapuranas is mentioned in the Vishnu Purana , part 3, chapter 6, verses 21–24. The number of verses in each Mahapurana is mentioned in the Bhagavata Purana , part 12, chapter 13, verses 4–9. The Shiva Purana asserts that it once consisted of 100,000 verses set out in twelve samhitas (books), however

2200-522: The mention of the term Purana or Puranas in the Vedic texts, there is uncertainty about the contents of them until the composition of the oldest Dharmashastra Apastamba Dharmasutra and Gautama Dharmasutra , which mention Puranas that resemble the extant Puranas. Another early mention of the term 'Itihas-purana' is found in the Chandogya Upanishad (7.1.2), translated by Patrick Olivelle as "the corpus of histories and ancient tales as

2255-471: The narrator of the Mahabharata , is hagiographically credited as the compiler of the Puranas. The ancient tradition suggests that originally there was but one Purana. Vishnu Purana (3.6.15) mentions that Vyasa entrusted his Puranasamhita to his disciple Lomaharshana , who in turn imparted it to his disciples, three of whom compiled their own samhitas. These three, together with Lomaharshana's, comprise

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2310-525: The progeny was Lobha (cupidity, greed); by Medhá (wisdom, experience), Sruta (sacred tradition); by Kriyá (hard work, labour), the progeny were Dańd́a, Naya, and Vinaya (justice, politics, and education); by Buddhi (intellect), Bodha (understanding); by Lajjá (shame, humility), Vinaya (good behaviour); by Vapu (body, strength), Vyavasaya (perseverance). Shanti (peace) gave birth to Kshama (forgiveness); Siddhi (excellence) to Sukha (enjoyment); and Kírtti (glorious speech) gave birth to Yasha (reputation). These were

2365-458: The reciters of the Vedas, and the bardic poetry recited by Sutas that was handed down in Kshatriya circles". The original Puranas comes from the priestly roots while the later genealogies have the warrior and epic roots. These texts were collected for the "second time between the fourth and sixth centuries CE under the rule of the Gupta kings and queens", a period of Hindu renaissance. However,

2420-712: The religious practices included in them are considered Vaidika (congruent with Vedic literature). The Puranic literature wove with the Bhakti movement in India, and both Dvaita and Advaita scholars have commented on the underlying Vedantic themes in the Maha Puranas . Douglas Harper states that the etymological origins of Puranas are from Sanskrit Puranah , literally "ancient, former," from pura "formerly, before," cognate with Greek paros "before," pro "before," Avestan paro "before," Old English fore, from Proto-Indo-European *pre- , from *per- ." Vyasa ,

2475-426: The result, the sage turned him into a donkey and cursed Tilottama, to be born as asura Banasura 's daughter Usha. Usha would later become the wife of Aniruddha , the grandson of Krishna . Her tale was made into a movie in 1954, by Homi Wadia , Directed by Babubhai Mistry , starring Chitra, Kailash, Maruti, B. M. Vyas , Babu Raje and Indira Bansal. Sanskrit Too Many Requests If you report this error to

2530-471: The sons of Dharma ; one of whom, Kama (love, emotional fulfillment) had baby Hersha (joy) by his wife Nandi (delight). The wife of Adharma (vice, wrong, evil) was Hinsá (violence), on whom he begot a son Anrita (falsehood), and a daughter Nikriti (immorality): they intermarried, and had two sons, Bhaya (fear) and Naraka (hell); and twins to them, two daughters, Máyá (deceit) and Vedaná (torture), who became their wives. The son of Bhaya (fear) and Máyá (deceit)

2585-548: The term Purana occurs in singular unlike the later era which refers to a plural form presumably because they had assumed their "multifarious form". According to the Indologists J. A. B. van Buitenen and Cornelia Dimmitt, the Puranas that have survived into the modern era are ancient but represent "an amalgam of two somewhat different but never entirely different separate oral literatures: the Brahmin tradition stemming from

2640-405: The term in the plural. Therefore, states Kane, that in the later Vedic period at least, the Puranas referred to three or more texts, and that they were studied and recited. In numerous passages the Mahabharata mentions ' Purana ' in both singular and plural forms. Moreover, it is not unlikely that, where the singular ' Puranam ' was employed in the texts, a class of works was meant. Further, despite

2695-421: The whole universe, the asuras started harassing sages and creating havoc in the universe. The devas and seers sought refuge with Brahma. Brahma then ordered the divine architect Vishvakarma to create a beautiful woman. Vishvakarma collected all that was beautiful from the three worlds (Svarga, earth, Patala ) and all the gems of the world and created an alluring woman - with unrivalled beauty - from them. As she

2750-569: The world, the north face to sport with Parvati, the west to ensure the happiness of creatures; the south face, to destroy the universe and the fifth face was invisible as it was beyond the comprehension of Tilottama. Another legend from the Puranas says Brahma created Tilottama and was aroused by her. He makes five heads in order to see her and then sends her to Mount Kailash , the abode of Shiva, to pay her obeisance to him. Shiva glances at her but avoids carefully looking at her as his consort Parvati

2805-577: Was created bit by bit from the gems, Brahma named her Tilottama and directed her to seduce the asura brothers to the extent that she would become an issue of contention between them. As Sunda and Upasunda were enjoying a dalliance with women and engrossed in drinking liquor along a riverbank in the Vindhya mountains, Tilottama appeared there plucking flowers. Bewitched by her voluptuous figure and drunk with power and liquor, Sunda and Upasunda took hold of Tilottama's right and left hands respectively. As both of

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2860-665: Was elected Fellow of the Royal Society in 1767, described the Puranas as "18 books of divine words". British officials and researchers such as Holwell, states Urs App, were orientalist scholars who introduced a distorted picture of Indian literature and Puranas as "sacred scriptures of India" in 1767. Holwell, states Urs App, "presented it as the opinion of knowledgeable Indians; But it is abundantly clear that no knowledgeable Indian would ever have said anything remotely similar". Modern scholarship doubts this 19th-century premise. Ludo Rocher, for example, states, I want to stress

2915-442: Was seated beside him. The Kathasaritsagara , the 11th century Sanskrit translation of the 1st-2nd century Paishachi text Brihatkatha , tells how king Sahasranika was cursed by Tilottama. As the king was returning from Indraloka to his kingdom, Tiliottama told him to wait so she could tell an interesting fact, but the king engrossed in the thoughts of his sweetheart - the apsara Alambusa, ignored what Tilottama said. Infuriated by

2970-406: Was the destroyer of living creatures, or Mrityu (death); and Dukha (pain) was the offspring of Naraka (hell) and Vedaná (torture). The children of Mrityu were Vyádhi (disease), Jará (decay), Soka (sorrow), Trishńa (greediness), and Krodha (wrath). These are all called the inflictors of misery, and are characterised as the progeny of Vice (Adharma). They are all without wives, without posterity, without

3025-571: Was unaffected by Tilottama's beauty, the other devas were spell-bound by her beauty. Initially, Brahma and Indra remain unperturbed, however, so great was the desire of the great god Brahma (referred to as "Sthanu" - the firm one) to see her, a head developed on both his sides and back of his head as she circumambulated him as a mark of reverence. The king of Svarga, Indra , however, developed thousand red eyes on his body to see her. Another legend describes sage Gautama cursing Indra for seducing his wife Ahalya . Gautama decreed that Indra would develop

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