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 12, Part 2 (1970)
107 (of 136)
External source: Shodhganga (Repository of Indian theses)
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July, 1970] PURANIC TEXT-RECONSTRUCTION 305 its original autograph either preseved or inferred. The Western
textual criticism has been mostly applied in the West to the editions
of the classical and medieval texts composed and trasmitted in
written form only. And for discussing the textual problems of
these fixed (not fluid) texts works like The Editorial Problem in
Shakespeare (1951), On Editing Shakespeare and the Elizabethan
Dramatists (1955) etc. appeared there.鹿
Textual Problems of the Pur膩nas
The textual problems of the Pur膩峁嘺s are altogether different
from those of the Western classical and medieval texts, which may
be briefly enunciated as follows:-
1. Both the Epics and the Pur膩峁嘺s, as we have them now,
are not the works of single individual authors, for they have been
compiled, redacted and revised several times and by several hands;
and in the course of such redaction and revision their texts have
rather been amplified than reduced, and have therefore undergone
a vast change both in their forms and volumes. Not being the
works of any single individual authors and of any particular time
and region the question of restoring these texts to their original
form does not arise; for, it is quite doubtful that in view of their
fluid nature they ever existed in their purely original form.
Though Vyasa has been generally regarded as the author of the
Mah膩bh膩rata and the eighteen Pur膩峁嘺s虏, yet the historicity of
Vyasa has been questioned by a number of modern scholars, specialy
of the West, who regard him as a mythical person鲁. We Indians
however, are not used to regard all our ancient sages and heroes
as mythical figures. But supposing that Vyasa was a historical
person and the real author of the Mah膩bh膩rata and the Pur膩峁嘺s,
can we assert with any degree of certainty that we shall be ever
able to restore the present texts of the Epic and the Pur膩峁嘺s to
their original form in which they had been composed by Vy膩sa ?
It then should be considered as one of main problems of the Puranic
text-reconstruction.
1. Vide Encyclopaedia Britannica, Vol. 22 (1961 edn.), p. 19.
2. Cf. 啶呧し啷嵿啶距う啶� 啶啶班ぞ啶｀ぞ啶ㄠた 啶曕啶む啶掂ぞ 啶膏い啷嵿く啶掂い啷�啶膏啶む 啷�
啶ぞ啶班い啶距啷嵿く啶距え啶啶苦げ啶� 啶氞啷嵿ぐ啷� 啶むう啷佮お啶啶傕す啶苦い啶 | ( [a峁ａ弓膩da艣a pur膩峁嚹乶i k峁泃v膩 satyavat墨suta岣� |
bh膩rat膩khy膩namakhila峁� cakre tadupab峁涐箖hitam | (] Mt.- P. 53.69)
3. See 'Some more considerations about Textual Criticism' by M,
Biardeau, Purana, X. 2 (July, 1968) pp. 115 ff,
