Purana, Volume 6, Part 1 (1964)

A PERSIAN TRANSLATION OF THE MATSYA-PURAṆA
BY
R. C. DE
The Matsy-Purāṇa occupies a very important place among
the 18 Mahāpurāṇas. The Vamana-Purāna considers it
as the best of the Purāṇas. Like the Mahabharata and the
Rāmāyaṇa it was also translated into Persian. This Persian
translation is available in the Manuscript-form. The Manuscript
is deposited in the Instituto Italiano of Rome (Italy). A microfilm
copy of Vol. I of this translation has been procured by the
All-India Kashiraj Trust through the kind help of its Director,
Dr. G. Tucci.
From an English note written on the cover-page of this
Manuscript it appears that the work consisted of 9 volumes, of which
7 volumes contained the Persian translation and the remaining
2 volumes contained paintings. From the serial numbering it
also appears that all the nine volumes were acquired by the
mss.-collectors, but they gave only Volume I to the Institute. The
Ms. is in the book-form and contains 15 lines on a page. The
writing is not very legible in the microfilm.
This Persian translation of the Matsya-Purāṇa was made
at Banaras near about the close of the eighteenth century A.D.
by Gosvāmi Anandaghana. He was the resident of Delhi and
came to Banaras to settle here. He was here introduced to Mr.
Jonathan Duncan (the famous and popular English Resident
at Banaras from 1787-1795 A. D. in the court of Rājā Mahip
Narain, on behalf of the East India Company). Mr. Duncan
entrusted him with the work of translating several Sanskrit texts
Into Persian, as the translator, Gosvāmi Anandaghana, himself
says in the preface of his translation :-
"First there was order for translating the
Rāmāyaṇa. In course of twenty months all the
Jan., 1964] A PERSIAN TRASLATION OF THE MATSYA PURAṆA 205
seven Kändas consisting of forty thousand slokas were
rendered into Persian. After this the order was to
translate the Mitaksara, because it was often required
by the venerable gentleman for the administration of
justice. I then induced him to get the Maccha-Purāṇa
translated into Persian. According to his direction
the voluminous book of the Maccha-Puraṇa which
consisted of 24,000 slokas in Hindi was undertaken
to be translated into Persian."
The present vulgate text of the Matsya-Purana consists
of only 14,000 slokas. Most probably the number 24,000 has
been mentioned by mistake; Hindi has also been mentioned
loosely to indicate the Devanagari character in which the
Sanskrit text was written.
The first volume of this translation consists of 41 Adhyāyas
only. The work of translation was commenced on the Vasanta-
Pañcami day in Vikrama Samvat 1848 (1792 A.D.).
From the examination of the translation it appears that
it is a free translation of the Sanskrit text of the Matsya-Purana.
Some other Puranic details have also been introduced into it.
These details are not found in the present available text of the
Matsya-Purana. A few such extra details are given below:
(1) The translation mentions that Rājā Satyavrata was
performing penances on the banks of the river Deva, but in the
original Sankrit text of the Matsya no such river is mentioned.
The name Satyavrata is also not given in the Matsya-Purāṇa
text in this context, it is perhaps taken from the Bhāgavata
Purana (8. 24. 10).
(2) In the translation it is stated that the Fish told Manu
that a great flood "would take place on the seventh day. In the
Sanskrit text of the MP, however, no mention is made of the seven
days. The idea is most probably taken from the following śloka
of the Bhāgavata-Purāṇa :-
सप्तमेऽद्यतनादूर्ध्वं महत्येतदरिंदम
निमङ्क्ष्यत्यप्ययाम्भोधौ त्रैलोक्यं भूर्भुवादिकम् ॥ ( [saptame'dyatanādūrdhvaṃ mahatyetadariṃdama
nimaṅkṣyatyapyayāmbhodhau trailokyaṃ bhūrbhuvādikam || (] 8. 24.32)