Part 3 - Date of the Matsyapurāṇa

M. Winternitz, in A History of Indian Literature says that the Matsyapurāṇa is one of the older works of the Purāṇa Literature.

In his words,

“This again, is one of the older works of the Purāṇa literature or at least one of those which have preserved the most ancient text and do fair justice to the definition of a ‘Purāṇa’.” ^[1]

The Matsyapurāṇa is counted as one of the earliest and most authoritative Purāṇas along with the Brahmāṇḍapurāṇa and the Vāyupurāṇa.^[2] V. S. Agrawala is also of the opinion that the Matsyapurāṇa is one of the oldest Purāṇas, the two other being Brahmāṇḍa and Vāyu.^[3] Dr. R.G. Bhandarkar stated that the Vāyupurāṇa is the oldest and the Matsyapurāṇa is next to it.^[4] This Purāṇa which has high value from different aspects including political and historical must be studied thoroughly. But the study of the Matsyapurāṇa cannot fully serve its purpose unless it is correlated to the age in which the text of the Purāṇa was compiled. Without fixing the date of the Purāṇa a fruitful study is bound to lose its desirable perspective. Hence the study on the compilation period of the Purāṇa must be done.

The eminent scholars have indicated many important points regarding the period of Matsyapurāṇa. V. R. R. Dikshitar has said that the Matsyapurāṇa is posterior to the Śatapathabrāhmaṇa as the legendary account of the flood as found in the Matsyapurāṇa is originally found in the Śatapathabrāhmaṇa, the date of which is established back to the Purāṇas.^[5] Again, it is said by the same author that this Purāṇa is post-Pāṇinian and post Arthaśāstra too.^[6] In the Matsyapurāṇa itself the mention of the Arthaśāstra can be found in many passages.^[7] In the introductory part of Purāṇa Index, V.R.R. Dikshitar points out that Matsyapurāṇa has included Adhisiṃkṛṣṇa, the Paurava king in its list of kings. The Guptas are not mentioned.^[8] It clearly hints at the fact that the last redaction of the Matsyapurāṇa must have taken place not later than the commencement of the Gupta period. Guptas commenced their rule from about 320 A.D. Hence Matsyapurāṇa may have come to its present form before 320 A.D. According to P.V. Kane, the Matsyapurāṇa cannot be later than the sixth century A.D.^[9] Acharya Baldeva Upadhyaya places Matsapurāṇa between the second century and fourth century A.D.^[10] F. E. Pargiter is of the opinion that in the last quarter of the third century A.D., the Matsyapurāṇa borrowed from the Bhaviṣyapurāṇa the shorter account of the future dynasties which concluded with the downfall of the Andhras and local kingdom survived them. While the Bhaviṣyapurāṇa account was extended down to the time when the Gupta kingdom had acquired the territories assigned to it, its language was revised about 320-325 A.D. Pargiter further says that the date of the Vāyupurāṇa may be placed not earlier than the middle of the 3rd century A.D. and not later than 335 A.D. and most probably about the last quarter of third century A.D. The Matsyapurāṇa may have been composed in the reign of king Yajñaśrī of the Andhra dynasty in or about 193 A.D.^[11] There is some probability that the compilation was begun in the latter part of the second century in the Andhra king Yajñaśrī’s reign. In the 273^rd chapter, it is said, navaviṃśati varṣāṇi yajñaśrīm śāntikarṇikaḥ^[12] which indicates Yajñaśrī reigned for 29 years. The Andhra kingdom fell about A.D. 236. Thus the compilation of this Purāṇa might have been carried up to 236 A.D. So the text of the Matsyapurāṇa seems to be composed during the Andhra dynasty i.e., the third century A.D.

However, R.C. Hazra remarks that the date of the earlier form of the present Matsyapurāṇa seems to be the same as that of the Matsya's borrowing the chapters of the second group from the Vāyu i.e. about the last quarter of the third or the first quarter of the fourth century A.D.^[13] According to P. V. Kane, it was in between 300 A.D. and 600 A.D.^[14]

Professor V.R.R. Dikshitar spreads up the date of the Matsyapurāṇa:

“Over a number of centuries commencing probably with the third or fourth century B.C. and ending with the third century A.D.”^[15]

The Matsyapurāṇa account brings the historical narrative down to about the middle of the third century and no further.^[16] From this survey it is clear that there is a diversity of opinion regarding the problem of the date of the Matsyapurāṇa. The Matsyapurāṇa also alludes to the concept of vyūha which is datable to the second century A.D. Furthermore, the chronological analysis of the different chapters of the Matsyapurāṇa by R. C. Hazra shows that some of the chapters are datable to the last quarter of the third or the first quarter of the fourth century A.D., while some are datable to 1250 A.D.^[17]

From the above discussion it is clear that it is very difficult to assign a general date to the Matsyapurāṇa because the chronological analysis of the Matsyapurāṇa shows that the different dates will have to be assigned to different chapters and this means that the date of the Matsyapurāṇa will have to be spread over a very long time period.

Professor V.R.R. Dikshitar rightly says,

“The Purāṇas then constitute a work of various periods in succession. For example one and the same Purāṇa may have spread over a long period of some centuries. The kernel of the Purāṇa may have been born in the earlier times, and its contents could be amplified in the course of the following centuries.”^[18]

Thus from all the evidences produced by the learned scholars regarding the date of the Matsyapurāṇa it can be inferred that the probable date of this Purāṇa may be spread over from 4th Century B.C. to 1250 A.D.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

M. Winternitz, A History Of Indian Literature, Volume I, p. 575

[2]:

Cf., Vincent A. Smith, The Early History of India, pp. 11-12

[3]:

Cf., V.S. Agrawala, Matsya Purāṇa-A Study, Preface, p. iii

[4]:

Cf., R.G Bhandarkar, Early History of the Dekkan, p. 39

[5]:

Cf., V.R. Ramachandra Dikshitar, The Matsya Purāna-A Study, pp. 71-72; pp.36-37

[6]:

Cf., Ibid., pp. 38-39

[7]:

Matsyapurāṇa, 7.63; 10.32; 24.2

[8]:

Cf., V.R. Ramachandra Dikshitar, Purāṇa Index, Volume I, Introduction, XXIII

[9]:

Cf., P.V. Kane, History of Dharmaśāstra, Volume IV, Chronological Table, p. X

[10]:

Cf., Baladeva Upadhyaya, Purāṇa Vimarśa, p. 566

[11]:

Cf., F. E Pargiter, Dynasties of Kali Age, Introduction, p. XIII

[12]:

Matsyapurāṇa, 273.14

[13]:

R.C.Hazra, Studies in the Purāṇic Records on Hindu Rites and Customs, p.32

[14]:

P.V.Kane, History of Dharmaśāstra, Volume IV, Chronological Table, p. X

[15]:

V.R. Ramachandra Dikshitar, The Matsya Purāna-A Study, pp. 71-72

[16]:

F.E. Pargiter, op.cit., Introduction, p.xii

[17]:

R.C.Hazra, ‘The dates of the Smṛti-chapters of the Matsya Purāṇa’, Annals of the Bhandarkar oriental Research Institute, Volume XVII, Part 1, p.1-36

[18]:

V.R. Ramachandra Dikshitar, The Purāṇa Index, Volume I, Introduction, pp. XVI-XVII