Chapter 8.2 - The Brihan-nandikeshvara-purana (study)

This Upapurana [brihan-nandikeshvara-purana] is mentioned, along with the Nandikeshvara-purana (also called Nandishvara-purana and Nandikesha-purana)," in the lists of Upapuranas given in the Brhaddharma-purana and the Ekamra-purana The former work names it as 'Brhannandisvara', and the latter as 'Brhannandi'. In the list of Upapuranas, ascribed to the Kurma-purana in Raghunandana's Malamasa-tattva and in the Sabda-kalpadruma, there is 2 1 For information about the Nandikesvara-purana see below. * Brhaddharma-purana I. 25. 24. Ekamra-purana, fol. 2 b.

THE LOST SAKTA UPAPURANAS 467 mention of the 'Nandikesvara-yugma' (i.e. 'two Nandikesvaras'), which Kasirama Vacaspati, in his commentary on the Malamasa-tattva, takes to mean the 'Brhan-nandikesvara-purana and the Nandikesvara-purana' In one of the two lists of Upapuranas given by Hemadri in his Caturvargacintamani, the alternative reading 'nandikesvara-yugmam ca' for 'caturtham sivadharmakhyam' is found in some Manuscripts * So, it seems that it was only at a comparatively late date that an attempt began to be made to raise the Nandikesvara-purana and the Brhan-nandikesvara to a position of authority and antiquity by inserting their names even into the established list of Upapuranas. As the Brhan-nandikesvara is drawn upon in Gadadhara's Kalasara, Raghunandana's Durga-puja-tattva and Sulapani's Durgotsava-viveka, and is mentioned, along with the Nandikesvara-purana, only in the Ekamra-purana and the Brhaddharma-purana, and as Jimutavahana mentions neither the Nandikesvara-purana nor the Brhan-nandikesvara in the section on Durga-puja in his Kalaviveka, it must have been written earlier than 1000 A.D. but most probably not before 850 A.D. Both the Nandikesvara-purana and the Brhan-nandikesvara must have been written in Bengal. It is only the authors of Bengal and Orissa³ who are found to have recognised these two works as Upapuranas first of all and who utilised their contents in their respective Nibandhas. Moreover, the Nandikesvara-purana speaks of the performance of Devi's adhivasa in a Bilva tree on the day preceding that of patrika-pravesa, ³ Malamasa-tattva (ed. Candicarana Smrtibhusana), p. 213-nandikesvara-yugmam brhannandikesvara-puranam nandikesvara-puranam ca. * Caturvarga-cintamani, II. i, p. 21. See also Volume I, Chapter I (p. 6) of the present work. * Of the Smrti-writers of Orissa, it is only Gadadhara who is found to quote, in his Kalasara, pp. 151-2, three metrical lines from the Brhan-nandikesvara-purana • See Durga-puja-tattva, p. 2- tatha ca nandikesvara-puranampurvedyur adhivasyaiva bilva-vrkse tathambikam / saptamyam mula-yuktayam patrikayah pravesanam // etc. etc. We have already noted Govindananda's remarks that the performance of Devi's adhivasa in a Bilva tree on the day preceding that of patrika-pravesa was nothing but a custom (acara) prevailing in Bengal and having no Sastric injunction in its support, and that

468 STUDIES IN THE UPAPURANAS 7 the immersion of Devi's image in a current of water, and the performance of the Savarotsava on the Dasami Tithi;' and the Brhan-nandikesvara-purana mentions the worship of the nava-patrika on the Saptami Tithi. Much more important in this connection is the fact that the method of Durgapuja, given in these two Upapuranas, is followed only in Bengal.⁹ As regards the contents of the Brhan-nandikesvara-purana we know almost nothing. In his Durga-puja-tattva, p. 8 Raghunandana quotes 25 metrical lines, in which Devi (i.e. Durga) herself speaks to some one (Nandikesvara ?) addressed as 'putraka' and 'nara-pumgava', on the method. and results of her own worship in the month of Asvina. According to these verses, of which some are found quoted in Sulapani's Durgotsava-viveka, an earthen image of Devi is to be worshipped for three days from the Saptami to the Navami Tithi during the bright half of Asvina. On the Saptami Tithi the Nava-patrika is to be constituted with different plants named in a verse, and worshipped. On the Astami Tithi, Devi's great bath (mahasnana) is to be performed with different articles (viz., the five products of cows, holy waters from the Ganges and the different holy places, waters into which certain herbs, gems, flowers etc. have been thrown, and so on), this rite being attended with vocal and instrumental music as well as with dancing (gita-vaditranatyena); and the deity is to be worshipped with the offer of different articles as well as of jet-black he-goats, buffaloes etc. and with the performance of homa. On the Navami even if the verse 'sasthyam sayam prakurvita' was claimed to be 'samula', it would go against the custom of sistas. (See Varsa-kaumudi, p. 371. For the relevant extract of the Varsa-kaumudi see Chapter I, footnote 46 above). ? For the relevant verses of the Nandikesvara-purana see Durga-puja-tattva, pp. 2-3. 8 For the relevant verses of the Brhan-nandikesvara-purana see Durga-puja-tattva, p. 8. * It is only the Smrti-writers of Bengal who are found to utilise the contents of the Nandikesvara-purana and the Brhan-nandikesvara in connection with Durga-puja. Gadadhara's quotation from the Brhan-nandikesvara relates to the time of Narayana's assumption of the form of the Boar, and not to Durga-puja. Moreover, there is a priests' manual called Brhannandikesvara-puranokta-durga-puja-paddhati, of which all the Manuscripts, hitherto discovered, belong to Bengal and are written in Bengali characters. (For information about these Manuscripts see footnote 11 below.)

THE LOST SAKTA UPAPURANAS 469 Tithi also, Devi is to be specially worshipped with the offer of animals and the performance of vocal and instrumental music as well as other kinds of merry-makings. In his Durga-puja-tattva, p. 3 Raghunandana quotes the following four verses with the mention of the 'Nandikesvara-purana' as their source: and nau-yanair nara-yanair va nitva bhagavatim sivam / sroto-jale praksipeyuh krida-kautuka-mangalaih // parair naksipyate yas tu param naksipate tu yah / tasya rusta bhagavati sapam dadyat sudarunam // rksa-yoganurodhena ratrau patri-pravesanam / visarjanam vacayed yah sa-rastrah sa vinasyati // bhagavatyah pravesadi-visargantas ca yah kriyah / tithav udaya-gaminyam sarvas tah karayed budhah // All these verses are again quoted by him on p. 44 but are ascribed to the 'Brhan-nandikesvara-purana' Sulapani also quotes the first two verses in his Durgotsava-viveka, p. 24 and ascribes them to the Brhan-nandikesvara-purana But this ascription to the Brhan-nandikesvara-purana must be wrong, because (1) in these verses Devi is not the speaker, and (2) the third verse is ascribed to the 'Nandi-purana'10 in Durgotsava-viveka, p. 8, and the fourth verse is ascribed to the Nandikesvara-purana in Sulapani's Durgotsava-viveka, p. 9 and Vasanti-viveka, p. 28. The line 'bilva-patrair ghrtaktais ca tila-dhanyadisamyutaih' is ascribed to the Nandikesvara-purana in Durgapuja-tattva, p. 38 but to the Brhan-nandikesvara in Durgotsava-viveka, p. 22. Though no tract on Vrata, Mahatmya etc. is found to claim to be a part of the Brhan-nandikesvara-purana, there are Manuscripts of an anonymous Smrti-work called Brhannandikesvarapuranokta-durga-puja-paddhati." 10 In the Dacca University Manuscripts Nos. 938 D, 1642, 2115 A (dated 1746 Saka) and 4332 (dated 1753 Saka) of the Durgotsava-viveka, this verse is ascribed to the 'Nandi-purana' 11 Haraprasad Shastri, III, p. 836, No. 2828. Hrishikesa Shastri, II, p. 309, No. 334 ('a very old' Manuscript). Dacca University Manuscripts Nos. 2261 (modern and complete) and 4055 (worm-eaten, and missing some of its folios; dated 1678 Saka). In the Dacca University Manuscripts the work is called 'Brhannandikesvara-purananugrhita-bhavisyapuranokta-durga-puja-paddhati'. It should be mentioned here that all these Manuscripts are written in Bengali characters.