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 6, Part 2 (1964)
180 (of 234)
External source: Shodhganga (Repository of Indian theses)
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啶啶班ぞ啶｀ぎ啷� - [pur膩峁嘺m - ] 笔鲍搁膧狈础
[Vol. VI., No. 2
To sum up; the unaltered god name is br膩hma峁嘺, and not
found after 800, (admitting exceptions, as Kubera V膩rakya, and
Maurya B峁沨aspati if that is his full name). It would also seem
that after that time, the theophorics are less equivocal, i. e. the
distinction between the object and the god, (fire and Agni, Mitra
and the contract) has been fully made, and the names must be
translated as theophorics. Also in the last centuries BC names
implying the dependence of man become commoner than those
implying equality, the type K峁涐梗峁嘺datta, Devarak峁ta commoner
than the type Indradyumna, Aryamabh奴ti, (Given by K峁涐梗峁嘺, as
against Having the brilliance of Indra), Here a linguistic note
might be of interest; the earliest form for Given should be tta,
and it is found in Marutta, 1400-1290: r膩ta seems to supersede
it, e. g. Satyar膩ta, Devar膩ta, K峁泃ir膩ta c 1300-1160; -datta (other
than Datta Atreya of 1340) does not appear till Somadatta c 1120.
The gods found then are; before 800: Agni, B峁沨aspati,
Indra, Marut (?, by patronymic), M膩tari艣van, Mitra, Prajapati,
Soma, Surya (?, by patronymic, Saury膩yanin), Yama (similarly)
and Varuna, by their own names, and in compound, Vi峁ａ箛u and
Pu峁n perhaps, in compound only. After 800 only Kubera and
maybe B峁沨aspati appear alone, while Agni, Brahma (?), Indra,
Krsna, Mitra, Aryaman (?), Pu峁n, Rudra, Sarva, 艢iva, Skanda,
Surya (Suryadatta, Sankh. Ar., Varuna, Vi峁ａ箛u, in compound
only; Soma (f), and Somamitta speak in ThG; this may be a
distressing irregularity, but Soma here may now be the moon,
though popular fiction or folklore should not be overlooked as a
source of names. Aryaman does occur at Barbut (Luders' list 813);
otherwise one would think of him with P眉峁n and Mitra as
archaisms.
Quite as important as the gods' public names are their
titles or epithets, equally powerful, but perhaps less exposed to
s
danger magically. One might expect therefore more ksatriyas, but
the names do not bear this out. The gods concerned are Agni,
Indra, Surya, Savity, Visnu, the A艣vins, the Rbhus, Mitra (?), and
Sarva. For Agni we have: Bhuva (VS) (from Bhauv膩yana),
