Preface to third part

This is the third part of the Padma Purāṇa translated into English and the 41st Volume of the Ancient Indian Tradition and Mythology series. Herein are included Chapters 1-90 of Bhūmikhaṇḍa or the Section on the Earth which is the second of the seven sections into which the Purāṇa is divided.

The reader would naturally expect, as the name ‘Bhūmikhaṇḍa’ suggests, a description of the geography and history of the Earth in this section, but will actually find nothing like that. And this is true about all the sections. As a matter of fact, the names of the sections here as well as in the other Purāṇas are just arbitrary, having in the present shape no relevance to the contents. Perhaps in the remote past or originally they had a relevance but in the course of time their logical structure was lost and a lot of interpolation made them all alike dealing with similar topics irrespectively of the names assigned.

As usual, this part contains a number of well-known legends, especially those of Vena, Pṛthu and Yayāti, and also the oft-repeated myths of the slaying of the demons Bala and Vṛtra, Hiraṇyakaśipu and Hiraṇyākṣa, the birth of Maruts, the anecdotes of Ikṣvāku’s hunting, Diti’s wailing and the like.

The section begins with the story of Śivaśarman and his virtuous sons whose devotion to parents is put to severe test and finally established as constant and firm. The glorification of devotion to parents (pitṛbhakti) is again taken up in chapters 63 and 84 and parents are given as high a status as that of a sacred place of pilgrimage in chapter 62. One will find allegorical description of body and soul in chapters 7 and 8. In the story of Suvrata (Ch. 11) four kinds of sons are described followed in the subsequent chapters by the enumeration of the basic virtues and the post-mortem status and suffering of the virtuous and sinners respectively. The virtue of dāna (charity) is highly praised and treated of in detail along with a description of those who deserve it and the fruits of making gifts to Brāhmaṇas and other deserving persons (Chs. 38-40). The fruits of nityadāna (regular charity) and naimittikadāna (occasional charity) are described in detail separately.

Devotion to god Viṣṇ U is a recurring theme of this section, though it is also said that all the gods of the Hindu Trinity—Brahmā, Viṣṇu and Śiva, are equal. To propitiate Viṣṇu a number of vows are enjoined and the recitation of a hymn containing a hundred names of the god is recommended as giving salvation in chapter 87. Yayāti is mentioned as the greatest patron of the Vaiṣṇava faith. It was during his reign that Vaiṣṇavism enjoyed the greatest propularity.

Chapter 37 countains (unfortunately) an adverse reference to Jainism. There a heretic, who is none else but a follower of Jina, is described who is dead against the Vedíc religion, who by his radical doctrines turns king Vena away from the practice of Dharma and makes him a sinner leading ultimately to his total ruin.

Acknowledgements

It is our pleasant duty to put on record our sincere thanks to Dr. R.N. Dandekar and the UNESCO authorities for their kind encouragement and valuable help which render this work more useful than it would otherwise have been. We are grateful to Dr. N.A. Deshpande for translating the text. We are also thankful to all those who have been helpful in our project.

—Editor