Preface to Second Volume

The present volume contains the Nārada Purāṇa, Part II (Chapters 42-62 completing the second Pāda in English translation). This is the Sixteenth Volume in the series of fifty-volumes which we have planned on Ancient Indian Tradition and Mythology.

The project of the series was envisaged and financed in. 1970 by late Lala Sundar Lal Jain of Messrs Motilal Banarsidass. Hitherto sixteen volumes of the series, including the present one (that is, four volumes of the Śiva Purāṇa, two volumes of the Liṅga Purāṇa, five volumes of the Bhāgavata Purāṇa, three volumes of the Garuḍa Purāṇa and the two volumes of the Nārada Purāṇa) have been published and released for sale.

The present volume, like all other volumes, is encyclopaedic in character. It deals with miscellaneous topics such as Cosmogony, Religion, Philosophy, Veda and its ancillaries—Etymology of Vedic words (Nirukta), Grammar (Vyākaraṇa), Mathematics and Astronomy (Gaṇita and Nakṣatra-vidyā), Horoscopy and Natural Astrology (Jyotiṣa) and prosody (Chandas). In Cosmogony it describes the process of creation of the Universe. In Religion and Ethics it places emphasis on the performance of duties of one’s own profession (Varṇa-dharma). in relation to one’s stage of life (Āśrama). In Etymology it gives the derivation of Vedic words. In Grammar, it presents a general idea of the Subject. In Prosody it prescribes rules for the metre by the method of Prastāra. In Jyotiṣa it explains the essentials in details. In occult science, it prescribes ritual for attaining particular ends. In spirituality it provides a discourse on meditation, gives an exposition of dharmas leading to liberation, narrates the story of Bharata and contains the dialogue between Śuka and Janaka as well as Śuka and Sanatkumāra on detachment, renunciation and kindred ways of life which bring emancipation to the seeker in this very existence.

In the Sectarian grouping of the Purāṇas, the Nārada Purāṇa is classified as a Vaiṣṇava Purāṇa on the basis of the fact that among the deities glorified in the Purāṇa, Viṣṇu holds the Supreme position, though laudatory references to other deities—Śiva, Śakti, etc. are also made. In the obvious partiality for Vaiṣṇavism, the Nārada Purāṇa gives special treatment to Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa, even prescribes a hymn of 1000 names in their eulogy and proclaims special importance to Ekādaśī Vrata in honour of Viṣṇu. It is the first to mention Rāma, Kṛṣṇa, Nṛsiṃha and other incarnations in connection with Tantric practices.

The variety of topics is very interesting but it is marred as some time it is couched in expression that needs elucidation—a task which cannot be accomplished by a mere translation. Hence, a provision has been made for the notes, which are attached to each chapter, separately, and not put at the foot of a page as has been the practice in the translation of other Purāṇas. We hope the reader will not feel embarrassed by this shift.

The translation is based on the Sanskrit text of the Nārada Purāṇa as published by Messrs Kṣemarāja Śrīkṛṣṇadāsa, Veṅkaṭeśvara Press, Bombay. This text constructed on the collation of manuscripts and supported by the evidence of citations found in the Smṛti granthas, is fairly accurate.

We have included abbreviations in this part too and they will be repeated in successive parts as well, with such additions as are inserted in the notes in those parts. The Glossary and the General Index to the complete Purāṇa will be appended to the last part. For Introduction to this Purāṇa, the reader is referred to Part I of this book.

Acknowledgment of obligation:

It is our pleasant duty to put on record our sincere thanks to Dr. R. N. Dandekar and the authorities of the UNESCO for their kind encouragement and valuable help which render this work extremely useful. We are extremely grateful to Dr. G. V. Tagare who in the storm and stress of his pressing occupations has snatched time for the accomplishment of this national task. The lucid translation and the explanatory notes attached thereto are, in fact, his monumental contributions in the field of Indology. We are also grateful to Dr. K. V. Sharma and Professor M. R. Bhatt for translating chapters 54-56 on Mathematics and Astronomy, Horoscopy and Astrology and providing notes on them. We must also thank Shri T. V. Parameshwara Iyer for his valuable assistance in the preparation of translation. Finally we express our gratitude to all those who have offered suggestions for improving the same.

—Editor