Essay name: Studies in the Upapuranas
Author: R. C. Hazra
This book studies the Upapuranas: a vast category of (often Sanskrit) literature representing significant historical, religious, and cultural insights of the ancient Indian civilization. These texts provide rich information, especially on Hinduism covering theology, mythology, rituals, and dynastic genealogies.
Page 365 of: Studies in the Upapuranas
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348
STUDIES IN THE UPAPURĀṆAS
had the form and contents of a Puranic work; and secondly, the
Visṇudharma, Viṣṇudharmottara, Sivadharma and Sivadharmottara
have been regarded as minor PurÄṇas by various authorities.
The Sauradharma has been drawn upon in Ananta-bhaá¹á¹a's
Vidhana-pÄrijÄta (II, p. 696), GadÄdhara's KÄlasÄra (p. 129), GopÄla-
bhatta's Haribhakti-vilÄsa (p. 773), Ganapati's Ganga-bhakti-tarangiṇÄ�
(fols. 3ob and 31a-b), Raghunandada's Smá¹›ti-tattva (I, p. 142, and II,
Pp. 41 and 48), ÅšrÄ«nÄthÄcÄrya-cÅ«á¸Ämani's Ká¹›tya-tattvÄrṇava (fols.
77b-78a), VÄcaspati-miÅ›ra's Ká¹›tya-cintÄmaṇi (p. 2), HemÄdri's
Caturvarga-cintÄmaṇi (II. i, p. 1000, II. ii, pp. 552-7, and III. ii, pp.
114, 150, 179), SÅ«lapÄṇi's Vrata-kÄla-viveka (p. 18), and in the
Samvatsara-pradipa (fol. 39a). So, this work cannot be dated later
than 1000 A.D. We shall see below that the Sauradharmottara,
which must have been written later than the Sauradharma, preceded
JÄ«mÅ«tavÄhana by a few centuries. Hence the Sauradharma must have
been written earlier than 800 A. D.
We cannot push the above date farther up, because we are not
sure that the Sauradharma, drawn upon by the Smá¹›ti-writers, was the
same as the 'Saura Dharma' mentioned in Bhav. 1.4.89 and I. 216. 37°
Some of the verses, ascribed to the Sauradharma in the Smá¹›ti
Nibandhas, show that in this work, as known to the Smá¹›ti-writers,
Vasistha spoke to king Mändhat� at least in some of its parts, but
according to the Bhavisya-p. NÄrada (or Mänava) spoke out the
*Saura Dharmas' or 'the (religious) duties of the Sun-worshippers'.*
As the Visnudharma and the Sivadharma, mentioned in the
Bhavisya-p., belonged to the Vaisnavas and the Saivas respectively,
there can be little doubt about the fact that the 'Saura Dharma',
known to the Bhavisya, must have dealt principally, if not entirely,
with the duties of the Sun-worshippers. From the evidence of the
quoted verses also we understand that the Sauradharma, as known
to the Smá¹›ti-writers, was a work of the Sauras and that at least in some
parts of this work SÅ«ta reported what he had heard from VyÄsa on the
interlocution between Vasistha and MandhÄtr. Most of these quoted
2 For the relevant verses of the Bhaviá¹£ya-p, see the immediately, preceding
foot-note and also p. 113 above.
