1.2. The Mūla Purāṇas

[Full title: The Nāradīya Purāṇa and its place in the evolution of the Purāṇa literature: (2). The Mūla Purāṇas]

The Viṣṇu Purāṇa informs us that Vyāsa taught this Purāṇa—compilation to a disciple who could thrill his audience (Romaharṣaṇa) with his narration. As the Purāṇa was to be recited during the leisure period of sacrificial sessions, Romaharṣaṇa must have tried to make it interesting with additions, modifications etc. It thus became a revised and enlarged edition of Vyāsa’s Purāṇa and this came to be looked upon as an independent Purāṇa. Romaharṣaṇa taught it to his six disciples out of whom Akṛtavraṇa of Kāśyapa gotra, Sāvarṇi of Somadatta clan and Suśarmā of Śaṃśapāyana gotra composed their own Purāṇa-Saṃhitās.^[1]

Thus the Purāṇa Saṃhitā of Vyāsa proliferated into four Saṃhitās, viz), that of Romaharṣaṇa which through his son Ugraśravas continued independently and the three ones revised (and enlarged?) by his three disciples mentioned above. The four Saṃhitās were the basic ones—Pūrva-Saṃhitā (Vāyu. 11.61.58), or Mūla-Saṃhitā (Bhāgavata Purāṇa.XII.7.7) or Ādi-Purāṇas (Matsya Purāṇa 164.16). The Vāyu tells us ṃat all these Saṃhitās consisted of four parts (catuṣpāda [catuṣ-pādāḥ]); they dealt with the same subject matter but were distinguished from one another in readings. All of them consisted of 4000 verses except that of Suśarmā (Śāṃśapāyana) which consisted of 8600 verses.^[2]

The four Pādas of these original purāṇas are called (1) Prakriyā, (2) Anusaṅga (3) Upodghāta and (4) Upasaṃhāra. The Bd. and Vāyu, the oldest of the Purāṇas follow the Mūla-Purāṇas in this division. The Nāradīya or Nārada Purāṇa also has four Pādas (in part I^[3]) (1) Chs. 1-41, (2) Chs. 42-62, (3) Chs. 63-92, and (4) Chs. 93-125. As the Part II of the Nārada Purāṇa is apocryphal, the original Nārada Purāṇa seems to follow the old tradition of four Pādas.

These original Purāṇas are not now extant but their authors—Romaharṣaṇa, Sāvarṇi, Kāśyapeya and Śaṃśapāyana are the interlocutors in various Purāṇas.^[4]

What could have been the contents of the Mūla-Purāṇas is anybody’s guess. But as Purāṇas served the needs of sacrificial ritual, the ten cycles of legends to be recited on Pāriplava days as laid down in the Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa., Āśvalāyana Śrauta Sūtra (Aś. ŚS) may be regarded as the topics therein.

They are as follows:

1. King Manu Vaivasvata and his subjects (human beings).
2. King Yama Vaivasvata and his people (Pitṛs).
3. King Varuṇa Āditya and his subjects, the Gandharvas.
4. King Soma Vaiṣṇava and his subjects, the Apsaras.
5. King Arbuda Kādraveya and his subjects, the serpents.
6. King Kubera Vaiśravaṇa and his subjects, the Rākṣasas.
7. King Asita Dhanva (or Dhanvan) and his subjects, the Asuras.
8. King Matsya Sammaḍa and his people, the waterdwellers.
9. King Tārkṣya Vaipaśyata (or Vaipaścita) and his subjects, the birds.
10. King Dharma, Indra and his subjects, the gods.^[5]

To these may be added the ancient Vedic legends forming the background of the Ākhyāna Sūktas (e.g. Purūravas and Urvaśī), cosmological hymns like the Nāradīya Sūkta and similar statements in ancient works like the Atharva Veda XI.7.24, XV.6.10-11, eulogistic legends composed by bards in honour of the royal sacrificer or patron leading to descriptions of the heroic exploits, conquests, donations granted by royal families. Pargiter rightly concludes “that the original Purāṇa dealt with ancient traditions about gods, ṛṣis, kings, their genealogies and famous deeds.^[6]

These topics later developed in the famous five characteristics (pañca lakṣaṇas) of Purāṇas viz. original creation (Sarga), re-creation after deluge (Pratisarga), genealogy (vaṃśa), Manvantaras and accounts of dynasties of kings and sages (Vaṃsānucarita). But Pargiter’s presumption that the Ur-Purāṇa had all the characteristics of later Purāṇas is not adequately substantiated and hence not acceptable.^[7]

What may be the period of the proliferation of the Ur-Purāṇa in four Mūla-Purāṇas? Even if Ugraśravas, Sāvarṇi and others are regarded as the direct disciples of Romaharṣaṇa whom Vyāsa taught his Purāṇa-Saṃhitā, for the establishment of four different traditions of these Purāṇas as independent Mūla-Purāṇas a period of at least one century from Vyāsa would be necessary. If the normally acceptable date of Vyāsa is 950 b.c., the Mūla-Purāṇas may be assigned to circa 850 b.c. as the probable date of their recognition as independent (though related) Mūla-Purāṇas. The use of Purāṇāni (in the Plural number) in the Taittirīya Ārarṇaka 11-10, in Manu III. 232 and Yājñavalkya (Smṛti) III. 189 indicate that the number of Purāṇas then was 3 or more. Viṣṇu Purāṇa’s statement of being based on Mūla Purāṇas (III.6.19) shows that these existed at least upto the 3rd cent. a.d.

Footnotes and references:

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[1]:

Viṣṇu Purāṇa III. 6.16-18.
Vide Bhāgavata P. (Bhāgavata Purāṇa) XII.7.5.7; Vāyu II. 61.56-58 mentions the gotras of these as follows:
Name of the disciple
Sumati
Akṛtavraṇa
Agnivarcas
Mitrāyu
Sāvarṇi
Suśarmā
Gotra
—Atri
—Kāśyapa
—Bhāradvāja
—Vasiṣṭha
—Somadatta
—Śāṃśapāyana.

[2]:

Vāyu. 11.61.

[3]:

The Pādas are originally named as Bhoga, Mokṣa, Kriyā and Caryā, though the printed edition gives (1) Prathama, (2-4) Bṛhadupākhyāna as the. names of these sections.

[4]:

For example: Śāvarṇi (Vāyu 1.21.1) Kāśyapeya (Vāyu 1.56.1-2, 57.86-88, Bd. P.II. 15.1. etc.) vide Pargiter Ancient Indian Historical Tradition, P. 23 ft. notes.—Mahābhārata (Mahābhārata) and Purāṇas quote a number of old verses with some such remarks ‘they say’ ‘It is said’. These verses presumably belonged to the older Purāṇas.

[5]:

R. C. Hazra—The Aśvamedha, the common source of the origin of the Purāṇa Pañca Lakṣaṇa. Annals of the Bhandarkar Oriented Research Institute 1955, pp. 122.3.

[6]:

*Pargiter—Ancient Indian Historical Tradition, p. 36.

[7]:

*viḍe Kirfel—Purāṇa Pañcalakṣaṇa— Intro: A view accepted by Kane—History of Dharma Śāstra V. ii, p. 853.