Essay name: Purana Bulletin
Author:
Affiliation: University of Kerala / Faculty of Oriental Studies
The "Purana Bulletin" is an academic journal published in India. The journal focuses on the study of Puranas, which are a genre of ancient Indian literature encompassing mythological stories, traditions, and philosophical teachings. They represent Hindu scriptures in Sanskrit and cover a wide range of subjects.
Purana, Volume 1, Part 2 (1960)
134 (of 150)
External source: Shodhganga (Repository of Indian theses)
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236
पुराणम� -- [purāṇam -- ] ʱĀ
[Vol. I, No. 2
unedifying phases which later on marred the history of the
faith. This Purāṇa* has preserved the early tenets of the
* The present version of the Linga Purāna (Jivanand edn.) is divided
into two portions, gaf of 108 adhyayas and 3 of 55 adhyāyas:-
ग्रंथैकादशसाहस्र
�
पुराणं लैङ्गमुत्तमम� � अष्टोत्तरशताध्यायमादिमांशमतः परम् � ३६ �
(उत्तरार्� अ० ५५)
षट्चत्वारिंशदध्याय� धर्मकामार्थमोक्षदम� �
[ṃt岹ś
�
purāṇa� laiṅgamuttamam | aṣṭottaraśatādhyāyamādimāṃśamata� param || 36 ||
(uttarārdha a0 55)
ṣaṭcatvāriṃśadadhyāya� dharmakāmārthamokṣadam |
] It appears that this division was arbitrarily imposed on the original unitary
text by later redactors who were the Pasupatas themselves
. In the third,
stage the Vaishnavas added chs. 1-8 at the beginning of the 3, in which
Nārāyaṇa is glorified in a dialogue between Ambarisha aud Narada.
Without
The
Uttarardha
this accretion the Uttarardha is left with about 46 chs.
also describes the षोडशदा� ( [ṣoḍaśadāna ( ] chs. 28-44 ) which was based on the षोडशमहादान
[ṣoḍaśԲ
] of the Matsya Purana (chs. 274-289)
The original Linga Purana of 108 chs. seems to have been a compact
text of the Kushāṇa age when the Pasupatas were in full glory. The
of chs. 9-27 was a supplement by the Pasupata teachers of the Gupta age. The
chapters much inferior in spirit and literary skill floated into that
text. Chs. 1-8 of the Uttarardha are lamentably inane and constitute a later
Vaishnava grafting. Only the Kausika story in ch. 1, is of
value. Tearing the
veil of motifs in this story, we may identify Kausika with Kusika, the
great foun-
der-teacher of the Lakulisa sect (I, 24. 131). [The References to Linga
Purāṇa as
I and II denote its чf and 3 and the next two figures the adhyāya and
sloka respectively.] Kusasthala seems to be Ujjayini (See Kusasthali in Dey's
Geographical Dictionary, p. 111), where Malava-Malavi are said to have
sup-
ported Kausika and his disciples. It appears that Kusika whom
Pasupata
history regards to have been a brilliant organiser moved from
屹dzԲ
to Ujjayini, and thence the faith spread through Dhundhumūka, or
Rajasthan
area. Dhundhu was the presiding spirit of the Marudhanva region
(according to
Āraṇyaka-parvan) who had been converted to the Vaishnava faith by
king
Kuvalaśva. This implies that the Pasupatas first became
entrenched in
Ujjayini and then spread towards the Vaishnava centre of Sankarshana
and
Vasudeva in Nagari or ancient Madhyamikā near Chittor where
an inscription
records the building of the Nārāyaṇa-Vāṭaka monument. The Pasupata
teachers then moved northwards - आदाय सर्ववित्तञ्च ततस्ते जग्मुस्तराम् � दिशमासाद्य
काले� कालधर्मे� योजिता� � ( [ādāya sarvavittañca tataste jagmustarām | diśamāsādya
kālena kāladharmeṇa yojitā� || (] II, 1. 34-33).
The identification of Kausika with Kusikacharya becomes quite
probable when we remember that the Purvardha makes explicit mention of
Lakuli born at 屹dzԲ and to his four disciples named कुशि�, गर्ग, मित्�
,
[kuśika, garga, mitra
,
] and कौरुष्यः-
-
भविष्याम� तद� ब्रह्मन् लकुली ना� नामत� � १२� �
[첹ܰṣy�-
-
bhaviṣyāmi tadā brahman lakulī nāma nāmata� || 129 ||
]
