Saura-purana (analytical study)
by Priyanku Chakraborty | 2019 | 92,293 words
This page relates ‘Disagreement with the Caste-system’ of the study on the Saura-Purana—an important Upapurana associated with the Puranic Pashupata sect of Shaivism—and offers crucial insights into the socio-religious, philosophical, and cultural history of India. The study further delves into the oral, literary, and archaeological context of Purana literature (such as the Saurapurana), highlighting its intricate connections with Vedic and Tantric traditions.
Go directly to: Footnotes.
Part 4.3 - Disagreement with the Caste-system
[Full title: Buddhism and Brahmanism: different perspectives and cultural assimilation (3) Disagreement with the Caste-system]
The most important role of the Purāṇas were to make people faithful towards Vedic or Brahmanical religion by decreasing the popularity of Buddhism.[1] Because, in the post Vedic period, the women and Śūdras had no right to recite, or study, or to hear the Vedas. For them the Vedic rites were prohibited.[2] Therefore, from the contents of the extant Purāṇas we may know that the Purāṇas were composed to make people familiar with the Vedic way,[3] and also introduced them to the institution of varṇāśramadharma.
However, in the Smṛti-śāstras and the Purāṇas also, in general, the Śūdras exhibited abnormal zeal. Naturally they had a special attraction for Buddhism, because it “denounced caste system and challenged the supremacy of the Brāhmaṇas”.[4] They were further encouraged by the acceptance of the so called heretics including Buddhism. There was no discrimination in the Buddhism depending on caste. Among the four major disciples of the Buddha, Śāriputra and Madgalyāyana, Anuruddha, Yasa, Upāli were from Brāhmaṇa, kṣatriya, vaiśya and śūdra respectively.[5] The Purāṇas did not recognise that kind of approach.[6] Almost all the Purāṇas, as mentioned above, expressed anxiety about the appraisement of the Śūdras, promoted by Buddhism. Thus Vahni or Āgneya-purāṇa says, those, the white-teethed, peaceful-eyed and shavenheaded Śūdras, who depend for livelihood on the Buddha (or on the doctrine of the Buddha), speak about dharma.[7]
Kumārila-bhaṭṭa also mentions this matter in a reprehensive manner in his Tantravārtika:
“śāmadi(buddha)vacanāni tu katipaya-dama-dānāni vacanavarjya sarvāṇyeva samanta-caturdaśa-vidyāsthānāni trayīmārgabutthita-biruddhācaraṇaiśca buddhādibhiḥ praṇītāni| trayī vāhyebhyaḥ caturtha-varṇa-niravasita-prāyebhyo vyāmuḍhebhyaḥ samarpitānīti na vedamūlatvena sambhāvyante|”[8]
Buddhism did not promote deviation of life in the four stages or āśramas. One can enter directly as a parivrājaka (i.e. samnyāsa) if one wants. The Purāṇas condemned those who were not following the order and became parivrājaka directly.
The Viṣṇu-purāṇa makes hateful comment for them:
The Saura-purāṇa also describes it in a hateful manner as the miseries of the Kali-age: “yatayaśca bhaviṣyanti śataśo’tha sahasraśaḥ”.[10]
Next, the Buddhists as well as the Śvetāmvara Jains accepted women in their orders for practicing asceticism.[11] According to Kauṭilya (c. fourth-third century BCE), such type of conversion was to be punished with the first amercement.[12] The Purāṇas also did not promote such kind of life of a woman beyond domiciled life. So, the Purāṇa formed stories to show that for women, service to their husbands, for the Śūdras service to the dvijas were the means of attaining the highest realization.[13]
Buddhism was a great challenge towards the varṇāśramadharma. Through the Purāṇas, the Smārta adherents tried to establish that system as well as the authority of the Vedas in the society.
From the early days of the Buddhism the orthodox Brāhmaṇas did not accept that doctrine positively. The Brahmanical texts often categorised them as heretics and denounced them as Pāṣaṇḍins.[14] That epithet does not mean only the Buddhists only but also, Jains, Ājivakas, Kāpālikas etc.[15] However, according to the Agni-purāṇa the origin of the Pāṣaṇḍins was related to the Viṣṇu’s incarnation as the Buddha. Being defeated by the demons the gods of heaven sought the protection of Viṣṇu. Praised by the gods Viṣṇu consequently was born as Māyāmoha as the son of Śuddhodana and deluded the demons from the Vedic way and thus the heretics or Pāṣaṇḍinsī came into existence.[16] The story of the Saura-purāṇa regarding the origin of the Pāṣaṇḍas i.e. the Buddhists, Jains, Ājīvakas is different. There they are described as the decendent of Raktāsura, who ran away alive from the battle-field. In that case, the Saura-purāṇa has shown its uniqueness among other Purāṇas.
Footnotes and references:
[2]:
“śrāvayetccaturo varṇān iti cetihāsa-purāṇādhigame cāturvarṇyasyā-dhikāraśravanāt| vedapūrvakastu nāstyadhikāraḥ śūdrāṇāmiti sthitam||” Śaṃkara’s commentary on Brahmasūtra, 1.3.3.
[3]:
“strī-śūdra-dvijabandhunāṃ trayī na vedaśravaṇaṃ matam| teṣāmeva hitārthāya purāṇāni kṛtāni ca||” Devībhāgavata-purāṇa, 1. 3. 21.
[4]:
R. C. Hazra: Op. cit., p. 210.
[5]:
[6]:
The Śāradātilakatantra also echoes the Puranic approach towards the Buddha in a eulogy of the ten incarnations of Viṣṇu: — “purā surāṇānasurān vijetuṃ sambhāvayan cīvara-cihnaveśam | cakāra yaḥ śāstramamogha-kalpaṃ taṃ mūlabhūtaṃ praṇato’smi buddham ||” (17. 148)
[7]:
Vahni.p, 29.40b.
[8]:
Tantravārtika, commentary of Jaiminisūtra, 1.3.4.
[9]:
Viṣṇu.p, 3. 18. 36b.
[10]:
Saura-purāṇa, 4. 25b.
[11]:
B. C. Law: Women in Buddhist Literature, p. 66.
[12]:
R. C. Hazra: Op. cit., p. 231.
[13]:
Viṣṇu.p, 6. 2 chapter.
[14]:
The Puranic references of the Pāṣaṇḍins already have mentioned. This word also found in Manusmṛti (4. 30). Kūllukabhaṭṭa comments on it: “pāṣaṇḍino veda-bāhya-vrataliṅgadhāriṇaḥ śākyā-bhikṣu-kṣapaṇakādayaḥ”. — Kṛṣṇamiśra (court-poet of the king Candella, Kīrtivarmana; c. eleventh century CE) mentions in his drama Prabodhacandrodaya that the Vaiṣṇavas, Śaivas and Sauras are fighting under the privilege of goddess Sarasvatī against the Buddhists, Jains and Cārvākas, who are under protection of Māyāmoha. (J. N. Banerjia: Pañcopāsanā, p. 306).
[15]:
Radhakrishna Choudhary: Op. cit., p. 236-37.