6. Date of the Brahma Purana

Date: 33 73 The problem of the date of the Puranas is very intriguing and controversial.· No particular date or period can be assigned to a particular Purana. There are two main difficulties in fixing the date of the Purana: (i) The common chapters that are borrowed by the Purana from earlier Puranas. (ii) Numerous additions and interpolations inserted in them. The Brahma Purana. also suffers from the same difficulties as it contains many chapters which correspond to those of the Puranas Vayu, Markandeya, Vishnu, Harivansa, Samba and Anusasana & Santi Parvans of the Mahabharata.25 It is difficult to deduce conclusions as to who is the borrower in the absence of a complete collation of all the chapters from the different Puranas. Hence it is more difficult to fix the date of these chapters. (ii) The second difficulty in the Brahma Purana. is regarding its additions and interpolations. The Gautami-Mahatmya covering a long portion of hundred adhyayas is a late edition as can be seen from a description of the MSS. given in the An. ed. 26 ad It is a matter of common knowledge that there is not a single date in the Sanskrit chronology which is not or has not been disputed. 27 There are different opinions 25 For a table of these common chapters vide section II of this chapter. 26 For a description of these MSS.vide section II of this chapter. 27 Growse F.S., Canda's mention of Sri Harsa & Kalidasa, IA., Vol. II (1873), P. 306.

34 74 regarding the date of the Brahma Purana. among different scholars. P. The Naradiya P. gives a list of contents of the apocryphal Brahma Purana. tallying with the contents of the Br. which shows that the Brahma Purana. was compiled before the compilaThe Nar. P. was written or tion of the Naradiya P.. 28 28 baham purana lagadau sarvatko ke hitaya ca . vyasane vedevidusam samakhyatam mahatmana . nandai sarvapura gamdha dharmakamartha moksadara nanakhyale tihasakhyam dasasahastramucyate . tatpurvabhaga yatravatarah . " devasa nama suragiridha yugotpatti prakirtitah. prajavatinanca tatha daksadinam munisvara 11 tano lokesvarasthana suryasya paramatmanah . vansanukirtana brahma mahapatakanasanam . kathitah paramananda rupinah. srimato ramacandrasya caturvyuhavitarinah tatasca somavansasya korsom ne bhaga varninam. krsnastha jagadisasya caritah kava‌m‌bapaham . diyananca ve sindhunam varsanam varajyasesatah . varnana yantra patalasvargananca pradrsyate . nak‌kanam samakhya tam suryastuti kathanakayu parvavyamika tatha janma vivahasca nigadyate . proktabheka praksetravarnanam. daksayana tara : purva bhagoyamuditah puranasyasya manada . taduttarabhaga asyottaravibhaga tu purusottama varnanam . vistarana samavikhyata tirthayatra vidhanatah . abhaya krsnacaritam vistarata samudirita . burnana yasako kasya pitrsada‌vidhistatha . visnudharmayu‌gavalyanam visnudharma yugakhyana prakayastha ca varnanam.. varnasramanam dharma‌sca kirtita yatra vistarata brahmavada samuddeseh puranasya ca sasanam etad bahma puranantu bhagada ya samacitam . . 1 varnita sarvapapahana sarvasaukhyapradayakam . Naradiya P. IV. 42 adh.

35 75 revised in its present form during the 8th or at least in the beginning of the ninth century A.D., therefore, the Brahma Purana. which is mentioned in it must have existed before that century. Again a comparison of the Purusottamamahatmya contained in the Brahma Purana. and the Nar. P. shows that the latter has borrowed from the former. Again the Chapters 143-145 of the Anusasana Parvan also correspond to the chapters 223-225 of the Brahma Purana. and references from the Anusasana Parvan, viz. idam caivaparam devi Brahmana Samudahrtam (143.16) & 'Pitamahamukhotsrstam Pramanamiti me matih (143.18) suggest that the Anu. P. has borrowed from the Brahma Purana. The numerous quotations made by Jimutavahana, Apararka, Haradatta, Devanabhatta, Kullukabhatta, Madanpala, sridatta Upadhayaya, Candesvara, Rudradatta and many others are not traceable in the present Brahma Purana. which fact shows that it does not seem to have been composed or complied earlier than the beginning of the tenth century A. D.. And as Hemadri, Sulapani, Vacaspatimisra, Govindananda and Raghunandana quote verses from it, it cannot be later than 1200 A.D. Chapters 214-215 and Chapters 216-218 of the Brahma Purana. cannot be later than 1500 A.D. because Govindananda quotes verses from Chapters 216 & 218 in his anakriyakaumudi. Many other verses of these chapters are common to the original Brahma Purana. because of Hazra R.C., Puranic Records on Hindu rites and customs, PP. 146-152. 29 29 The

36 76 the numerous quotations made by Madhavacarya only a few are found in the chapters 214,215 & 217 of the present Brahma Purana. As none of the quotations made by him on general customs, impurity, funeral sacrifices and penance is found in the present Brahma Purana. though it contains chapters on most of these topics, it is certain that Madhava used the original Brahma Purana and not the present apocryphal one. The chapters 219-222 should be dated earlier than 1200 A.D. because Govindananda quotes numerous verses from chapters 219-221 in his eatur sraddhakriya-kaumudi and Hemadri draws upon these chapters in his caturvargacintamani. Thus from the point of view of the various quotations made by different Nibandhakaras, it can be surmised that the Brahma Purana. was compiled between the 10th and the 12th centuries. As regards the Krsna-caritra, Durgasankara sastri opines that the Krsna-caritra of the Brahma Purana. shows an intermediate stage and is later than the Harivansa and earlier than the Visnu.30 The problem of fixing the date of chapters describing In the 176th the holy places in Orissa is rather difficult. adhyaya, the greatness of Anantvasudeva is described. Even at present the temple of Ananta-Vasudeva exists in Bhuvanesvara at Orissa. The great Bengali Pandit Bhavadevabhatta constructed it in the 11th century. It is surprising to note that 3Q Shastri Durgasankara, Purana Viveeana (in Guj. ), P. 135.

37 77 though the Brahma Purana. describes the creation & greatness of the idol of Anantavasudeva, it does not refer to its temple. If that temple had been constructed at the time of the compilation of the Brahma Purana., its reference would have been given in it. This shows that the compilation of the Brahma Purana. took place before 11th century. 31 It is worthy of note that the kalpataru composed about 1110-1120 A.D. does not describe the Purusottamatirtha in its tirtha-kanda though it speaks of a few little known tirthas like Lohargala, stutasvamin & kokamukha. According to Rajendralal Mitra the oldest temple in Pari is that of Alabukesvara built by Lalitendu Kesari (623-677 A.D.), the builder of the tower of Bhuvanesvara. The next oldest is Markandesvara and next comes the great temple of Jagannatha. 32 According to Manmbhan Chakravarti the temple of Jagannatha was built about 1085-1090 A.D. by king Codaganga.³ Sarkar D.C.34 points out that the celebrated Uriya chronicle Madla Panji attributes the construction of Purushottama 33 Jagannatha not to codaganga but to his great grandson Anangabhima III who also installed an image of Purushottama in a temple at Varanasi-Cuttack which was decorated by Sultan Firoz Shah 35. note that Anangabhima } Mitra36 and Hunter37 31 Nagendranath Basu, Visvakosa. (in Hindi), P. 681. 32 Mitra Rajendralal, Antiquities of Orissa, Vol.II.,P.112. 33 J.A.S.B. Vol.67 for 1898, Part I,PP.328-331, JASB, Vol. LXXII 1903, P.110 34 'God Purusottama at Puri J.O.R.,Madras, Vol.17, PP.209-215. 35 Elliot & Powson 'History of India', Vol.III, PP. 312-315. 36 Mitra R., Op.Cit., PP. 109-110. '3'7 Hunter, Orissa, Vol. 1, PP. 100-102. da

38 78 As wanted to eclipse the grandtower of Bhuvanesvara and renovated the temple of Jagannatha in sake 1119 (i.e. 1198 A.D.). We cannot put much stress on these suppositions because it is not known definitely that there was no Visnu temple at Puri before the time of Anantavarman Codaganga. The chapters on Purusottama -ksetra cannot be later than the middle of the 12th century because many of these are drawn & upon by Vacaspati Misra in his tirthacintamani, by salapani in his dolayatraviveka and Rasayatraviveka and by Henadri in his caturvargacintamani. to the upper limit of these chapters it should be stated that they could not have been earlier than the end of the ninth century A.D. because there is mention of siva-temple at the side of the Markandeya-lake which was built in 800 A.D. by kundala-kesarin, king of Orissa. From the mention of suntemple at Konarka in Brahma Purana. (28. 46-7), it may appear that those chapters are later than 1240 A.D. as the sun-temple at Konarka was built between 1240 & 1251 A.D. by Narasimhadeva 1. 38 From the examination of the dates of these various temples it seems probable that these chapters were compiled between ninth and twelfth centuries. In There are other sources of finding the date too. records of the land-grants verses are quoted which according to Pargiter occur only in the Padma (33. 26-30), Bhavisya (10. 164.22 38 Hazra R.C., Op. Cit., PP. 152-154. *

39 79 and Brahma Purana. (155-59) and hence he concludes that these Puranas in which they are found existed before, and even long before the end of the fifth century.39 It is more probable, however, that the verses both in the inscriptions and in the Purannas were taken from earlier Dharmasastras.40 Fleet believes that chronological deductions could be made from the fact that in some of the Puranas 41 the planets beginning with the sun are བ enumerated in the same order in which they appear in the days of the week, which points to the period after 600 A.D. However, any arguments of this nature are conclusive only for isolated chapters and not for complete Purana texts.43 The enumeration of the castes and tribes of India and surrounding countries may also lead to important results regarding chronology. Thus in the Brahma Purana. (19 18) the Parasikas are mentioned as an important people. It is well-known that the Persians rose in power in 222 A.D. and continued to rule in middle east till they were over-thrown in a single battle in 634 near Bagdad by the Mohammadans. They often came in contact with India and Kalidasa in his Raghuvansa finds them in the neighbourhood of Aparanta, i.e. Gujarat and Sindhu and Kalidasa's age is the second half of the fifth and the first half of the sixth centuries (450 to 550). Supposing Suta mentions them at that time time the speeches of Vyasa would be earlier. 39 40 41 42 Pargiter F.E., JRAS., 1912, PP.248-255, and AIHT, P.49 Keith JRAS, 1912, P. 756. Brahma Purana. 23. 5-10 JRAS., 1912, PP. 1046-1053. 43 Winternitz, History of Indian Literature, P. 526.

40 80 Brahma's speech begins with a more elaborate description of the nations and tribes in the 27th chapter, verses 44 & 64, and among them he mentions sakas, Yavanas & Pahlavas and Noldke says, when these are mentioned together in any Sanskrit work the presumption is that it is written between the 2nd century B.C. and the 2nd century A.D., when these nations played an important part in the history of the middle east. In that case Brahma's speech should be placed in these centuries, i.e. before the speeches of Lomaharsana. But we are in a position to fix the time of Brahma's speech more precisely. The skas are placed in the speech in the Deccan, the words used are Daksinapatha and Daksinatya, and we know, the Khahratas who were sakas, ruled the country around Nasik where they have left many inscriptions which are placed by scholars during this long period, by some in the end of the 2nd century B.C. and by others in the beginning of the 2nd century A.D.. So Brahma's speech may be placed during the period of Indian history when the three Brahmana dynasties of sungas, Kanvas and satakarnis held Dr. Haraprasad shastri prefers the early part of this period as Paradas and Pahlavas are both mentioned in the speech and Parada is the earlier and pahlava is the later name of parthianas in Sanskrit. 44 their sway. The Gautani-Mahatmya (chapters 70-175) is a distinct work by itself and it was attached to the Brahma Purana. later than the chapters on Orissa, for the Naradiya P. (I. 92) which gives 44 Shastri Haraprasad, A. Des., Cat. of sens. mss., A.S.B.,V, Introduction, PP. XCiil ff.

41 81 the contents of the present Brahma Purana. including the mahatmyas of Purusottamaksetra and Ekamraksetra does not mention the Gautamimahatmya.45 In the first century the satavahana kings ruled in Deccan. The kings Pudamayi, Usavadata and Gautamipatra Satakarni and other kings got the epithets like 'dvijavarakutumbavivardhana', 'Brahmanya' and others. From the inscriptions obtained of that period, it seems that some tirthas like "Ramatirtha' etc. had become famous. It can be easily inferred that together with the rise of the Brahmanadharma, the various tirthas must have come into existence and the various tirthamahatmayas must have been compiled in order to eulogise the tirthas. The name of one of the satavahana queens was "Gautami" and some of the kings also became famous as 'Gautamiputra". It is not improbable that the pauranika Brahmins favouring Rupaka style must have given the name GautamI-mahatmya to the eulogy of the river Godavar146. Dr. Hazra believes that the Gautami-manatmya does not seem to have been earlier than the tenth century A.D. and adds that as noanther has been found to draw upon this mahatmya, it is impossible to say anything definitely. 47 The mention of incarnations is considered to be one of the criteria of deciding the age. As regards the mention of incarnations, the position of the Brahma Purana. is rather strange. In it the earlier and later stages are mixed up. Upto the 45 Hazra R.C., Op. Cit., P. 155. 46 Vasu Nagendranath, Visvakosa (in Hindi), Vol.13, PP. 681 ff. 47 Hazra R.C. Op. Cit., P. 155.

42 82 adh. 212, there is a mention of four incarnations, viz. Varaha, Vamana, Nrsimha and Krsna In the Rama story, Rama is described as the son of king Dasaratha but he is there not called an incarnation of Visnu. Then from the adh. 180-212 the Krsnacaritra is described exactly like the Visnu P. and in the adh. 213, the incarnation of pauskaraka, Varaha, Nrsimha, Vamana, Dattatrya, Jamadagnya, Rama, Dasaratha, Rama, Krsna and Kalkin Buddha's name does not appear nor the names e are mentioned. of the fish and the tortoise but Dattatreya and Lotus appear instead of them. This list is given in the interlocktion between Vyasa and the Rsis at the kuruksetra which is something like a commentary on the speeches of Brahma, i.e. in the second stage of the development of the Brahma Purana. The origin of the list of ten incarnations now current can be traced to ksemendra in 11th century in the same order and to the visnupura -cards with slight variations in the order in the end of the 7th and beginning of the 8th century. But here is a list of nine incarnations with no Buddha in it and no tortoise. It must be several centuries older.47ª Shri Kale M. R. in his introduction to the edition. of Kumarasambhava states that the account of the Kumarasambhava closely follows that of the sivapurana and kalidasa seems to have drawn considerably upon the original both in points of fact and language. In a few places he follows the Brahma Purana. and 472 Shastri Haraprasad, Op.Cit., PP. xciii.

43 83 the kalika P. but later on changes his opinion and states that a great poet like kalidasa is not likely to borrow either the exact language or the ideas of such Puranas. There are many similarities: e.g. kumarasambhava 4.4 All these runs parallel to Matsya 164.256 and Brahma Purana. 38.8. three works use the word 'vilalapa'. Again the stories of Daksa insulting Sati, Satf giving up her body and taking birth at Himalaya's house are available in the present Brahma Purana. and the kumarasambhava 1.21 is similar to vaya 30. 50-55 and Brahma Purana. 34. 20-25. But the Brahma P. differs from the kumarasambhava in the adhs. 34-38. Thus Kamadeva is burnt after siva's marriage and as a result of the bewailings of Rati, the boon of the rebirth of kamadeva as krsna's son is granted by lord siva (38. 10-11). The story of the Brahma Purana. here seems to be later than vaya-purana and older than Matsya-Purana. RamaThe Brahmapuranic list of Rama's ancestors, viz. Dasaratha of kalidasa. Aja - Raghu Dilipa - agrees with that The drama 'Pratima' of Bhasa also gives the same list. After analysing the various parts of the Brahma Purana. Dr. Hazra has come to the following conclusions regarding the date of the Brahma Purana. The date of composition or rather compilation of the Brahma Purana. Ch. 25 between 900 & 1200 A.D. Spurious

44 84 Chs. 28 (1-8), 42 (35 to the end) 43-69, 70 (1-11), 176-177 Ch.28 (9 to the end) Chs.29-41 & Ch. 42 (1-34) (Between 900 & 1150 A.D. ) Earlier than the chs.of the next group. C. between 950 & 1200 A.D. Chs. 214-218 Not later than 1500 A.D. probably the same date as that of the composition of the present Br. Chs. 219-222 Chs. 223-231 Chs. 70-175 Earlier than 1200 A.D. Not Not known definitely. May have come from the same date as that of compilation of the present Brahma. I Not known. Probably not earlier than the 10th century A.D.48 From the above discussion, it is clear that it is because the difficult to assign a general date to the Brahma Purana. analysis shows that different portions of the Brahma Purana. belong to different periods and thus the date of the Brahma Purana. will have to be spread over a very long period. Prof. V.R.R. Dikshitar49 surmises that "the composition of the Puranas is to be spread over a long time covering several centuries from the epoch of the age of the Guptas and later. The Puranas then constitute a work of various periods in succession. For example one and the same Purana may have been spread up over a long period of some centuries. The kernel of the Purana may have been born in 48 Hazra R.C., Op. Cit., PP. 186-187. 49 Dikshitar V.R.R., P I, Vol. 1, Introduction, PP.xvi-xvii.

45 85 the earlier times, and its contents could be amplified in the course of the following centuries. Thus the major portion of the Brahma Purana. seems to have been compiled between the period of ninth and twelfth centuries though some portions, as stated above, belong to an earlier .period.