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Essay name: Sucindrasthala-mahatmya (critical edition and study)

Author: Anand Dilip Raj
Affiliation: University of Kerala / Department of Sanskrit

The essay studies in English the Sucindrasthala-mahatmya which represents a significant Sthalamahatmya from South India detailing the origins and development of the Trimurti temple at Suchindram in Tamil Nadu. The study reveals its legends, customs, and religious practices.

Introduction

Page:

3 (of 10)


External source: Shodhganga (Repository of Indian theses)


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These purāṇās aim at extolling one of the three members of the Trimurti, Brahma, Viṣnu or Śiva those which relate to Brahma being some times called Rajasa Purāṇas (from his peculiar Guṇa Rajas) those which exalt Vishṇu being desiginated as (sattva) and which prefer Śiva being styled Tamasa (from his Guṇa Tamasa) 6 The first six purāṇas in the above list are rājasa which relate to
Brahma. The next six related to sātvika are associated with Viṣṇu and the
last six are tāmasa which glorifie Lord Siva. All these purāṇas are narrated
by sūta to śaunaka and other sages in naimiśa forest. Traditionally
authorship of all of these purāṇās is attributed to sage Vyasa. But from a
historical point of view, this claim cannot be true. Textual and
circumstantial evidences definitely point towards a later origin for many
and important purāṇa. Apart from the 18 Mahāpurāṇās ascribed to Vyāsa,
tradition attributes 18 Upapurāṇās to the authorship of sage parāśara
The 18 upapurāṇas are:
1. सनत्कुमारा [Բٰܳ ] 2. नारसिं� [ṃh ] or नृसिंह� [ṛsṃh ] 3. नारदी� [īⲹ ] or ब्रह्मन्नारदॶ�
[brahmanīⲹ
]
4. शि� [ś ] 5. दुर्वासस [ܰ ] 6. कपिल [kapila ] 7 मानव [Բ ] 8 औसनस [ausanasa ] 9 वरुण [ṇa ] 10 कलिक�
[
]
11 साम्� [] 12 नन्दी [ԲԻī ] 13. सौ� [saura ] 14 पराशरा [貹ś ] 15 आदित्य [徱ٲⲹ ] 16 भर्ग� [bhargava ] 17 वसिष्ठ
[ṣṭ
]
18 भागव�
[岵ٲ
]
There are some differences of opinion about the above list also. It is
interesting to note that Sivapurāṇa appears in both lists.
ٳ󲹱ܰṇa
ٳ󲹱ܰṇa or Sthalamāhatmyās are reasonably considered as a
part of puranic lore. They originated from the same tradition as that of
Mahāpurāṇas and Upapurāṇas and so they share many common features
2

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