ORTHOGRAPHIC PECULIARITIES OF THE SVARGAKHANQA .

All the manuscripts have their characteristic way of spelling. These read in many places for Sf, e g., 3PEIT%

(M a, vs.^ a, UAR e) for 3T«n^, (r <M^c and in many other places), qi^m: (^RA? b) for qrm and qf^rar: respectively, as well as q for e. g., ^TT- (R Ro d) for I Like e, 51, and q, there is in most of the cases hardly any distinction between ^ and if and also between ^ and K.

In a similar way, there are instances where instead of q, ^ has been used, e g., (^R^ b) for qfqq Seldom the ‘halanta’ signs (a short angular or cursive sign just below the letter)) have been put. Thus it is for the readers to decide whether a particular word is or qi?r, i.e., whether it consists of one word or two.

No gap has been allowed to intervene between two words, which would have been helpful to arrive quickly at a clear meaning.

There are some strange constructions which only in a round about way are suggestive of some meaning.

As is the usual case with the Puranas, almost all portions of the Svargakhanda also are written in ai^STmetre and there are only a few verses which are of ^qsttfft metre.

There are, however, cases more than one where clear breach of the rules of metre can be observed. For instance, there are nine letters in a foot of an 3T31|T. verse - This additional one letter cannot be justified in an verse.

Similarly there are also lesser number of letters in an There are two instances where the grqsnfft metre is of irregular type, i.e., one foot consists of twelve letters.

J N Farquhar, Oulhne of Reltgwush Literature p 318, Grierson, E R E X pp 539T Two the atteluttu tascnpUons (no 81 and 82 of tbe Govt epjgraphßtj collection for }896) are found the Sthanunatha temple at Such2Ddram and belongrng to the regn of the Cota Kang Parakaanvarman, e tbe L.l.ng taka I, record the gift Of a lamp to the Sva.temple and two lamps to the two sbf-mes or iSnu respectivebt (Ep Ind V 99 42 43)

Two more znscnpuons of Parantaka were found tn the Sva tempte an a Viltage named Titu.nåm.anallur tn the south Atcot dßtnce and at TLruLkaluILunrarn respec lively One records the gfts of two lamps by a servant of RokULlanad1, the queen of Paråntaua I and the mother of his son Ra)adltyadeva (Ep Ind II p 133) The Other records the gift of a perpetual lamp to the Tvukkatukkunram temple (Ep Ind p 281)

Two ansenpuons belongtng to the relSn of Kuiottunga Cola I record the gift 01 lamps to temp:es One declares the grant ora perpetual lamp to [the temple of) Sva at Svetåtanya (mtya-chpan-nyadhatta Svetaranye Ctvaya Ep Ind p 104) second- records the gift of a lamp to the temple of Sva at Xdhcpura (adhapura mahdvaraya pradat prabaddha tnwraaa npum pratbparn Ep Ind V p 106)

It Oldent that rarantaka I and Kurottunga had rufcd from 907 to 955 and 1070-1120 AD A Sastrt, Th,C0tatpp 111, 134 and 301)

One inscrtpt:on (no 338 of 19a2) of Saka sarmat 876 records the gift or 8 lamp by the queen Ofa >.runas (Ep Ind VII p 137)

tt portion of the which deals wth the summary of the contents Of the Brahma khana, cannot be dated later than 1400 A D See R C Tiazra, Pvtaht p 116

The Patala-khanda has been regarded as an Integral part of the Padma-P. in both Its recensions, i.e, Devanagari and Bengal. The importance of this Khanda lies in the fact that it mentions the topics of those Khandas which precede it in the present text of the Padma-p. According to it Vatsyayana once said to Shesha the serpent, ‘O Shesha! (I have heard) from you in their entirety the stories of creation, destruction etc. of the universe. You have also spoken to me, O sinless one, of planatary geography, terrestrial geography, determination of circles of luminaries, separate determination of the true nature of the creation of Mahat-tattva etc., the 'lives of various kings and the splendid careers of the kings of the solar race; and among these, the story of Rama which removes multitude of great sins, has been narrated. I have also heard, in brief, the story of the Aivamedha sacrifice of that hero (named) Rama.

It is evident from our knowledge of the Padma-p. in its present form, that the above-mentioned topics formed the nucleus of those parts of the Padma-p. which preceded the Patala-khanda. It may, for instance, be stated that the Shrishti-khanda contains the stories of creation, destruction etc of the universe and also separate determination of the true nature of the creation of Mahat-tattva etc. Geography is dealt with in the Bhumi-khanda; and the stories of the lives of various kings and the special careers of the kings of the solar race are to be found in the Svarga-khanda of the Bengal recension.

The importance of this Khanda is further heightened as it partly settles the vexed problem of the arrangement of the Padma-p, when it says that the beautiful S varga-khanda precedes it. 2 Here Svarga-khanda refers to the text of the Bengal recension as it is only the Bengal recension of the Svarga-khanda which contains the lives of various kings and the special careers of the kings of the solar race. The Svarga-khanda of the Devanagari recension as found in the Vang, and Venfeat editions does not contain the aforesaid topics and it is the same as the Adi and the Brahma-khanda of the Ams aL about which wc h ate thscuwt! ehcwl r?r It is evident therefore tint the arrangement oft! cKb() it found m the Amt ed is wrung as there we find the Unthru khan^a preceding the ritSla-khanda.

On a careful scrutisty it can he observed that the Pirth khan^i consists of three parts which are fourth independent and unconnected with one another Their three parts arc as noted below in order of their age.

All the three group a r e quite distinct in form and dimeter and deserve separate comidtratton Grevp /

On a careful study it can be shown that tlm group was the earliest of the three am! was compMrh a work of d e Ramaitrs who toot a fines for the IVitihwlhacd 3rd toed it freely to propagate ihetr doctrine Thrsc thd not think it advantageous for them to follow the narraom of VilmlVis Kin at r\rr> strp On the contrary, ll ryltnh up several stonn which wrxr quite different fr< m those of the lit t and tmertetl them in tie PAiAtadthand m a drier manner The irnmatioM introduced In tl cm and thn tlmilicri from the main will be diuirel in flint proper pl aces…

kanda, its summary of the contents of the Bala-kanda (from Daiaratha’s Putresti sacrifice down to Rama’s advent to Gitrakuta mountain with Sita and Lakshmana, and Rama’s refusal to go back to the capital even though entreated by Bharata, who also did not return to Ayodhya but chose to remain at Nandigrama) includes portions of the Ayodhya-kanda also The information about the number of £lokas of the Ram is also to be had from it 4

As is the case with most of the Puranas, the determination of the correct date of this part of the Patala-khanda is really a very difficult task Prof S K Belvalkar is of opinion that the first portion (which is the earliest of the three as will be discussed later) of this Khanda is anterior to Bhavabhuti’s Uttara-rama canta, as he says, “More probably, however, Bhavabhuti derived his materials (for the Uttara mma canid) from the first twentyeight chapters of the Patalakhanda of the Padma-purana?” He further observes that “Bhavabhuti’s source for the incidents in acts IV-VI of the Uttara-rama-cariia must undoubtedly have been some account like that in the Padma pur ana as he finds “no support that this RamaSvamedha-prakarana in the Padma^purdna was posterior to Bhavabhuti 7 ” Bhavabhuti, as we all know, flourished most probably near the close of the seventh century So, if we accept Prof Belvalkar’s observation m this respect, the Patala-khanda is to be dated at least a hundred years before Bhavabhuti, le, at about the end of the sixth century A D Let us discuss whether it is possible to accept this date.

It is necessary in this connection to point out some characteristic features of the Ram stories occurring m the Uttar a-rama-canta and this portion of the Patala-khanda of the Padma-p but not found in the Ram proper This part deals at length with the horse sacrifice of Ramacandra The sacrificial horse marched victoriously through Paficala, Kuru, Uttarakura, DaSarna, Ujjaymi, Ahicchatra, the land of the Payosm (nver), Ratnatata, the land of the Gandaki (river), Nila (mountain), Cakranka, Tejapura, the land of the Reva (river), Devapura, Hemakuta (mountain), Anga, Vanga, and Kalmga Moreover, this part deals elaborately with the war between Satrughna attended by his followers, viz, Hanuman, Suratha, Sugnva and others on the one side, and Kusha and Lava on the other as the latter tried to snatch away the sacrificial horse from its keepers The result was that all the forces on Satrughna’s side including himself fell down senseless and they were completely overpowered by the prowess of Kusa and Lava They bound the leaders of the defeated party and brought them to Sita 8 She at once recognised those people and revived them by her power In the fourth and fifth acts of the Uttara-rama canta we find a story in a similar vein — the fight between Rama’s soldiers and Lava The genius of Bhavabhuti prevented him from delineating all topics which might mar the dramatic effect to a considerable extent However, the main point (i e, the defeat of Rama’s army) has been the cardinal matter both in the Uttara-rama canta and in the Patala khanda It is need less to mention that the Ram does not deal with any of these topics Moreover, both in the Uttara-rama canta and m the Patala-khanda the story has a happy end, i e, it ends with the union of Rama and Sita The Ram, however, has a tragic end The points of contact in some important matters in contradistinction to the Ram tends to suggest that one borrows from the other and we venture to say that the Patala khanda has borrowed from the Uttar a rama canta It is important to note the observation of P V Kane in this regard He says, “There is great similarity between the story given in the Padma-purdna and the story of the Uttara rama-canta Whether Bhavabhuti borrowed from the Padma purana, it is difficult to say From the way in which all Puranas have been tampered with and interpolations have been introduced, I would rather say that the Padma-purana is the borrower 10 ”

There are, however, a few points where the Padma-p differs from the Uttara-rama canta First of all, the Uttara rama-canta describes only the conquest of Rama's party by Lava and not the victorious march of 5atrughna’s army as has been described elaborately in the Patala-khanda Secondly, in the Uttara-rama-canta we see that Rama himself appears suddenly m the battlefield and seeing the twins his affection for them wells up, but in the Patala-khanda, Rama docs not appear himself and as we have noted before, Sita revives the defeated army Thirdly, Bhavabhuti seems to be inclined to Sita’s second ordeal, but there is no mention of it in the Patala-khanda Fourthly, the desire which Sita expresses during her advanced stage of pregnancy, as found in the Uttara-Tama-canta,is not identical with what is described in the Patala-khanda In the latter it is said that Sita wished to see Lopamudra and other devout ladies whom she had seen once long before 11 while in the Uttara rama canta Sita wished to re isit the Dandaka forest to wander in those serene and majestic sylvan avenues and to take her bath m the Ganges 12 Besides these there are, however, some other minor details in which the Patala-khanda differs from the Uttara-rdma<anta which wc may pass over for the present context But these points of difference between the two will not suffice to set aside our hypothesis that the one borrows from the other What wc are going to say is that it is not Bhavabhuti the great poet who has borrowed from this Patala-khanda of the Padma-p. but, it is the Patala-lhan^a which is the borrower. That it is so, can again be proved by some of its expressions which have definitely been taken from the Uttararama-cart(a. Is not the vs.

stambadambara-muka-maukulikulah krauncavato’y aip girih II etasmin pracalakinaip pracalatam-udvcjitah kujitair- /

udvcllanti puranarohina-taru-skandhesu kumbhinasah fl u of the Ultara-rama'Canla? The following observations will strengthen our theory that Bhavabhuti was anterior

One is led to pose the hypothesis that Sana's style vs as imitated by the author or compiler of the PatSla-khanda. At least in one place, it can safely be remarked that the illustration of the Parisarpkhya alarpkara has been copied from Banabhajta's Kddambarx where the poet excels in delineating this figure of speech with his masterly hand. Let us take the help of examples of each of them.

The above companson definitely proves that the author of this portion was very much influenced by the style of Banabhatta whom he tried to imitate partially It will perhaps be unwise to think that Banabhatta, prince of Sanskrit prosewnters, should ever care to imitate the style of a writer of Purana of mediocre ability who had not the least pretension to any kind of ornamental diction If 75 to 100 years’ time be given for Sana’s wntings to earn popularity and wide recognition, the first group (which is evidently the earliest) of the Patala khanda cannot be dated earlier than the middle of the eighth century AD Thus we find that Prof Belvalkar’s opinion cannot be accepted, for Bhavabhuti happens to be anterior to the writer of this group of the Patala-khanda at least by 75 to 100 years Moreover, there are frequent references to the TulasI plant which has been glorified to a great extent 19 As it is usually presumed that the reference to this plant is indicative of a later date of composition, one may feel inclined to assign a much later date to this part It ma) be contended in this connection that none of that large number of vss alleged to have been quoted from the PaAma-p by different Smriti-wnters some of whom have mentioned the name of the Patala-khanda 20, can be found in this part But from this it will be unwise to jump to the conclusion that this portion was written not before those Smriti-works, for that will give rise to the fallacy of argumentum ex silentio It is more probable that the Smfti-wTiters finding this portion of the Khanda not helpful for their purposes had not quoted from it Really this portion did not possess any chap which might be helpful to the Smriti-writers 1 Thus taking all these evidences into consideration, it would be wise to say that this part of the Patala khanda which constituted the nucleus of it and was an original contribution of the Ramaites was composed not earlier than 750 A D.

We have stated earlier that this part consists of several chaps towards the end of the extant Patala khanda of the Padma-p In fact, chaps beginning from 100 and continuing up to the end come under this group.

We have noted that group I which constitutes the nucleus of the PatfUa-khanda was purely a contribution of the Ramaites But this Ramaite influence on the Patala khanda did not find favour with the Linga worshippers who, in their spirit of adherence to their own sect adopted the group 2, and tried to replace the whole of it by fanciful glorifications of Linga and Shiva who were according to them, much superior to Rama who often bowed down to the Great Omniscient and Omnipotent Lord Shiva In this part the sole endeavour of the Linga worshippers is confined to showing greatness of Shiva — His greater power than that of Rama or Vjshu It will be a matter of no mean interest to refer to some relevant vss to show how Rama or Vishnu was much below the status of Shiva While praising Shiva highly, Vishnu says, “O Lord I have devoutly worshipped you for a thousand ^ears daily with a thousand lotuses, still you have not shown your feet to me 22 ” Shiva and Vishnu were engaged in mirthful water sports many a time Vishnu was drowned by Shiva who jumped up on the shoulders of Vishnu, caught his hands and made him sink 23 It has been said that once while worshipping Shiva, Han had offered his eyes to Him for want of flowers 2. Once in the body of Rama there appeared a shadow of MaheSa — four-armed and thrce-cycd 25, After beautifully eulogising Shiva, Vishnu fell down at the feet of Him 26, On one occasion Parvatl went to the extent of rebuking Shiva. Hearing that, Vishnu who was present there was about to put an end to his life by tearing away his head with his nails as he did not like to live at a place where Shiva was decried; but he was prevented from doing so by Shiva Himself 27. In chap. 112. vs. 181, Rama glorifies Shiva in great respect. He recites fiftyseven names of Shiva (the name Subha-carita has been mentioned twice) in address and bow's down to Him saying namas-tc namas-te. In another context it is remarked that as Rama was not conversant with the Puranas, he invited Shiva to teach him the Puranas. But it is interesting to note that although Rama approached Shiva for an instruction of the Puranas, still Rama asked Him to tell him something about Lingarcana-prahara etc 28. The Mahatmyas of the Puranas although related, have been only of secondary importance. The Linga-worshippers were so anxious to propagate their sectarian doctrines that they could not resist from saying that it is Mahesvara, who is the speaker of the Padma-p. and in it the characteristics of the Pramathas the lord of whom was Shiva himself have been described 29. Thus they tried to convince the people that the whole of the Padma-p. w r as originally a contribution of the Shaivaites. While stray references to the worship of Hari are not wanting 20, in this portion these are ver} few and far between and deserve no senous attention.

But it should be mentioned here that in their zeal to propagate their view-points, the Lmga-worshippers wrote this group and added it to the P5tala-khanda in such a hopeless way that the spuriousness of this group is clearly manifest It is interesting to note that not a single vs belonging to this group is found in the Bengal mss of the Patala hhanda of the Padma p Moreover, the following lines of this part show its complete dissociation from group I It has been mentioned in group 2 that once Samkara came to Ayodhya to meet Rama The latter, after due reception and worship of Samkara, asked him to tell him about some Mahatmyas He said, “The method of worshipping a linga, the glorifications of the same, praise of (uttering) the name of MaheSa and of worshipping, saluting and seeing him, praise of giving water, offering incense, lamps, scents etc, glorifications of flowers, sanctifying narration of \anous anecdotes and histone tales, (discourses on) Dharma, Artha, Kama, Moksa and the ways of attaining them — all these I wish to hear from you, O greatest of the great sages and one of celebrated vow 31 ” But besides these, this part deals with many other topics of interest such as Bhasma-mahatmya etc which have been discussed rather abruptly without any previous introduction.

But, however spurious this portion may be, the compiler or writer of this part thought himself too clever, in as much as he, in order to give its subject-matter the appearance of a portion of the Ram story as dealt with in group I, in order to establish a link with it, and to wipe out the marks of spurious ness of its character, narrated the Ram. story at length beginning from the birth of Rama and his three brothers down to his victorious return from Lanka to Ayodhya after destruction of Ravana and Kumbhakarna — and performance of his mother’s Sraddha sacrifice at Ayodhya in a very' gorgeous and befitting manner, \\ r e have seen, however, that the Ram story' in group 1 began from Rama’s victory' at Lanka and extended up to his Aivamedha sacrifice or (according to the Bengal mss.) up to the end of his life 33. TIius it is obvious that the Ram. story in group 1 is self-contained, complete and needs no further addition. So the Ram. story' of group 2 is merely a repetition of that of group 1, Tim also proves the superfluousness and spuriousness of this part. Moreover, the author or compiler of this part has not succeeded in creating a proper occasion for introducing this Ram. story'.

The fixing of the date of this portion is much easier. We have shown its spuriousness and its total absence in the mss. of Bengal. This tends to show a much later date. It is also observable that it betrays knowledge of the Kurma-p. It says that one who listens to the identity of the two gods as delineated in the Kurma-p. is purged of all sins 33. It has further been said that only a hearing of the Kunna-p. rescues even those who kill the brahmins or arc addicted to drinking or unite thcmschcs with the wives of their preceptors 31. TIus proves that the compiler of this part knew that Kurma-p. not only by' its name but was.also roughly conversant with its subject-matter. According toscholarsthcdatcof this Purina falls between 550 — 800 A.D. 35 Tims allowing 150/200 years’ time for its coming to limelight, this part can be dated c 950-1000 A D.

In this part, a vivid description of the beautiful physique of the ladies ofVidcha lias been Risen in connection with the gorgeous marriage ceremony of Rama and lus brothers. From their custom of putting on the clothes, it can be suggested that the author, although going to describe the womenfolk of Vidcha (modern North Bihar) is delineating unconsciously the mode of wearing apparel b> the womenfolk of his own country, i c M Western India, Maharish{m or Rujasthana in particular. It is necessary to quote the requisite text to understand its full implication. 41.. daksinangu^h^'^parii'kacchagrA upankaccharp nlvirp kftva karndva>a>uta vastra-pradcia-kanjhamapra\ ft) 3para\ asanapanbh5gi \ ftta-stana-s asanapambhage \Am r ixrua c\a dakjmapuri\3gatcna daiabhSgcna nabluprantena pra\ehnopafoblntagAtrasasta)o yosito \i\uha-mangala-karmnkaranfi)unckasha Sgacchan 4 ” and mfdu-dha\ alajaghana-panvIta-\ astropanbhigena sntgdha-sartuLi-paraspara-sarpgharTa-pijodhara-madh) apraddopa£obhua\ amrupsa-kanthopalobhjta-\nnufim?M.

“The lower end of the tufted part of their cloth (hanging from their wnm to their feet) touched their right toe, one corner of the cloth being within the upper end of that part There was another short length of cloth emenng their upper bod\ A portion of the upper end of the tuft which was about a tenth of the entire ftbnc, was unloosened and made to come round the right side across the back and the left shoufder nghl up to the nasal where it was put into the hem of the cloth forming the belt about the want, keeping the neck open. Mam well-drrsted women came to perform the auspicious duties of the marriage erremom with such drmrs em“ and

“The upper pirt oT the soft white cloth surrounding the want, appears charming in l>etwccn the two pleasing, round-shaped, thickly-placed breasts (and) falls on the left shoulder near the neck Thus the women are beautified ”

These suggest that a portion of the lower belly, the two hands and the neck remained uncovered by the garments which they wore A picture of the Maharastn or Rajasthani (Madovan in particular) ladies is drawn before our eyes as soon as we go through the bnes What to speak of the Bihan ladies (it is to be kept in tnmd that the author was depicting the picture of the women of Mithila — modern North Bihar), the ladies in other parts of India do not put on their clothes in such a fashion The procession of a good number of ladies in connection with the auspicious marriage ceremony is an additional proof to its provenance in Western India, Mah5rastra or Rajasthana m particular.

This part consists of chaps 69 99 of the Patala-khanda This portion is neither the work of the Ramaitcs nor that of the Linga worshippers, but definitely a contribution of the Bhagavata Vaishnavas who put a stamp of their own sect on it by supplementing it with some new chaps of their own interest In the discussion of group 2 we have shown how the Linga worshippers of the PaSupata sect describe Shiva being praised by Rama The present group, it appears, is a recast by the Bhagavata-Vaishnavas who have paid back the Linga worshippers in their own com In this group it is seen that Parvati and ISvara were glonfymg the Mahatmyas and celebrity of Krshna and RadhS^His eternal consort, and Vmdavana — their eternal blissful abode Radha has been highly eulogised She is conceived as the eternal Prakfli She pervades the whole universe, phenomenal and real and is the prune cause of creation, existence and destruction She is self-luminous and illumines the external objects The eternal unity of Kf?na and RadhS is the Supreme Truth and this unity must be realised m order to reach the highest goal — the summum bonum of human life RAdhS is the abode of the highest bliss, and beauty She is the essence ofall fair instincts She is the concept of love but this love or Prema is high above the physico-mental level It is perfect when it reaches beyond the realm of senses Madhurya is high above the Srngara Rasa, and this Madhurya Rasa is the alpha and omega of the Radha cult The love of Radha for Krishna is full-fledged only when it is purged of all sensual attractions, that is why Radha has been called the restramer of all senses She is the presiding deity of Vayu, Agni, Naka, Bhumi and is the embodiment of nescience and consciousness as such She is the very existence of Krishna and manifests Her Sakti in various modes She is Shivananda in Shivakunda, Nandim m Dehikalata, Rukmml in Dvaravati, DevakI in Mathura, Sita in Candrakuta, Vindhya-mvasinl in the Vindhyas, ViSalJksi in Varanasi and Vimala in Purusottama But as Vrndavana is the resort of supreme bliss and Radha is eternal bliss as such, so it is highly justified that Vrndavana has been regarded as the suitable abode of the supreme being The celebrity of Vrndavana has also been highly spoken of It has been regarded as situated above this Brahmanda It is much superior to the ever blissful Vaikuntha and other similar regions of the universe It is the playful abode of Lord Krishna and has been worshipped by the devoted Vaishnavas who are absolutely pure m mind It is an outward expression of the Puma Brahma as such and an abode of charming Rasa of evershimng bliss Even Brahma and other gods and the Siddhas pay homage to that Vrndavana There is m it no anger, no sense of egoism and of difference It is famous as it has the touch of dust from the feet of Govinda It is secret among secrets, pleasant, most sacred and ever blissful 38

This group seems to have come from a very late date We have seen how it depicts a picture of a developed Radha cult Moreover, it abounds in references to Tulasi 39 Traces of Tantricism are also vividly observable 40 Agama has been admitted as an authority 41 Tantric mudras, nyasas have been referred to more than once 42 Hand ala and Yantra have been regarded as the medium of worship 45 All these tend to assign a much later date to this part We have also shown that it has been contributed later than the group 2, the date of which is c 950-1000 A D Some 200 years' time should be given to the group 2 to attain recognition Then obviously this part dates between 1150-1200 AD And this may be accepted if we keep the fact in view that Gopalabhatta (of 1400 A D) m his Han+bhakti-ulasa has quoted numerous vss from this part 44, and the contents of these chaps are given in the Naradiya-p I 93 which is also of a very later origin.

Thus, to be precise, we can say that the first part of the Fatala-khanda belonging to the Ramaites and consisting of chaps 1-68 dates between 750-850 AD The second part, comprising chaps 100113 (i e, to the end) is the work of the Linga-worshippers and can be dated between 950-1000 A D And the third part from chaps 69-99 which is a contribution of theBhagavata-Vaishnavas should be dated between 11501200 A.D.

91 It thould howwcf, be noled intbi connection that the Bengal mss ef tht Pataiakhapda da not contain all that refatnets as they end in chap 80 of the Anss ed of the Patala khanda.

The Uttara-khanda of the Padma-p undisputedly occupies the last place m its different recensions The very' name uttara suggests that it is the concluding part, and in all the five printed editions, the Padma p ends with it.

The Uttara-khanda m its present form is the most \olummous Khanda of the Padmap and it has dealt with various subjects There are several chaps in this Khanka which are widely divergent in nature from one another For example, it may be stated that it deals with the glorification of several vratas, of different holy places, of various sacred books like the Bhagavata, Bhagavadgita etc, of different incarnations of Vjsmi, and in the same breath also gives out the story of kingDilipa and his wife Sudaksina — how they were granted a son In fact, in the Ams cd we find that this Khanda has 282 chaps 1 The total number of chaps of the Padma p according to the Anss ed is 628 Among 48452 vss which constitute the whole of the Padma p the Uttara khanda alone contains 16779 vss, i e, it is more than one third of the whole of the Padma p m its present form.

But, unfortunately, the importance of the work is not proportionate to its size There is not even a single chap which contains anything of historical interest Further, the work entails a dull reading and it is with great patience that one can go through the whole of it.

There are grounds to believe that this Khanda was originally not so voluminous in size In course of years man) independent accounts containing glorifications of different sectarian interests (Mahatmyas) which had fundamentally no connection with this Khanda, began to be incorporated into it and later on these individual accounts came to be regarded as part and parcel of this Khanda In fact, these accounts constitute a few chaps of the work although quite a large number of them is available elsewhere as independent mss A perusal of the work enables the reader to identify the superfluous nature of these accounts as these have no bearing on the original theme of the Uttara khanda TheBha gavata mahatmya (chaps 189 194), Gita mahatmya (chaps 171 188),Magha mahatmya(chaps 219 250)etc clearly show that they bear no connection with the chaps that preceded or succeeded them The number of such accounts is not mean enough and deserves considerable attention of the scholars We are aware of about a dozen of such accounts which cor respond to certain chaps of the Uttara khanda in toto the subject matter of which closely resembles that in some portions of the same Khanda The names of the former type of such accounts are given below:

These accounts which claim to be parts of this Uttara-khanda were independent compositions and had no direct connection with this Khanda, but as time passed by, they came to be regarded as parts of it and acquired the garb of antiquity and authenticity.

The view that the Uttara-khanda was not so voluminous in the beginning may be further supported on the evidence of the Bengal mss We have examined five Bengal mss of the Uttara-khanda These are all written in the Bengali script The contents of these mss differ in a considerable way from those of the printed text The mss of this Khanda are comparatively small in size It may be stated, for example, that while the printed ed contains 282 chaps Aufrecht in his Bodleian Cat notices a ms of the Uttara-khanda which has 174 chaps only Ms no G 4416 of the Asiatic Society (Calcutta) has 173 chaps and ms no 1624 of the Dacca University has 174 chaps The two other Bengal mss of the Uttara-khanda, no G 4493 of the Asiatic Society (Calcutta) and no 1429 (kha) belonging to the Vangiya Sahitya Pansat, Calcutta, are, however, incomplete and possess only seventeen and sixtytwo chaps respectively In the former the eighteenth chap is incomplete Leaving these two aside, even if we take into consideration the above three mss, it is difficult to avoid the conclusion that the Uttara-khanda was originally not so much voluminous.

That some portion has been added later is further proved ’yR C Hazra who has examined a ms ofYatharthamanjari nd in the marginal notes of it has found references to such;marks as undoubted!) prove the superfluousness of at least me of the chaps of the Uttara-khanda. 14

This can be proved by internal evidence also In some cases ltis the exact repetition ofa part of some otherKhanda 16. It may be shown in this connection that the story of conflict between DaSaratha and Sani (Uttara-khanda 34) occurs already in the Patala-khanda mss. of the Bengal recension 16. The most curious thing is that one single story has been twice dealt with in the same manner in the Uttarakhanda in different places which definitely proves that one of them surely has come later. The reason for introducing a particular story for the second time will be explained in due course; but is this not a pointer strong enough to suggest that at least some portion of the Uttara-khanda has been written later and added to it? We are referring to Jalamdharopfikhyana. This episode of Jalaipdhara first appears in chap. 3 and is continued to chap. 19 and again we find it in chaps. 98-106 The first version of this story is the larger one and is significantly absent in the Bengal mss. which possess the shorter version of this story. The argument that one has been added to supplement the other does not hold good as the story in both the places is independent and complete The self-sufficiency and completeness of the story may be shown by giving in a nutshell the sum and substance of the story.

35 Uttara khantfa 243 3 42-Adi Uun^a 30 Ml, Uttara kha^da 243 43 96bAdi khantja 31 1 53 Uttara khaitfa 244 67 88a Adi khaod Si 54 74, the reading mtya snSnena (Adi khamfc 31 54a) is palpably wrong, Uttara khantfa 245 1-16Adi khanda 31 75 209 Thus the whole of the chapi 30 and 31 of the Adi khantfa ha, been pracc cally and literally followed in the ebapj 243 245 of the Uttara kbanda» Ms no G 1416A,» e,?at3la khanda of the Padma p belonging to the Asia Society (Calcutta), chap H»fol 22

Jalamdhara was born out of the fire on the forehead of Mahadeva who threw this fire into the sea At the request of the sea, Brahma taught him all the Shastras and astras 17 and installed him as a king 18 Jalamdhara married Vrnda, the daughter of Kalanemt In order to punish Indra, Jalarpdhara, the king of the daityas, with all his force laid siege to his kingdom Many were the daityas who had to die in this battle; but SukracArya, the priest and minister of Jalamdhara, revived them by liis power named mrta-sarjijlvani (restoring life to the dead persons). Brhaspati, the minister of the gods, also revived some of the dead soldiers of the heaven by drugs brought from (lie Drona mountain but as Jalamdhara took that mountain up and hurled it down to the deep depth of the sea, 19 Brhaspati could not now revive all of them and finally the gods were defeated Jalamdhara occupied the throne of the heaven. Being entreated by the defeated gods Vishnu himself fought with Jalaipdhara, but in vain. Vishnu, however, was pleased at heart at his prowess and on his request agreed to live with Lakshml in his domain Now' being ill-advised by Narada, the demon king cast his lustful eye on Parvati, the female consort of Shiva, and thereby caused displeasure of the latter who, in order to punish him, waged war with him All the gods contributed the best of their energy and thence was created the Sudarlana Cakra which was used by Shiva in this battle. In the meantime the demon king by his may A assumed the shape of Sarnkara and wanted to hoodwink Parvati but failed; as a counter device Vishnu assuming the form of Jalarpdhara easily deceived Vfnda, the wife of Jalarndhara. However, after a hard and long battle with Shiva and all His Pramathas, Jalaipdhara was killed at last by Saipkara with theSudarSana. The energy' of Jalarpdhara was merged into Sainkara 20.

It is a completely independent episode. Here we have outlined the summary' of the shorter version, but it should be remembered that the theme in both the \onions is the same. Let us try' to show very briefly the salient features of the two as they have been presented.

There arc differences between the two as regards the origin and birth of Kirtimukha In the longer version it has been said that he was born from the matted locks of MaheSvara 21 whereas in the shorter one it has been said that he had his origin from the middle point between the eye-brows of MaheSvara 22. From the longer version we know that Kirtimukha from his very birth continued to be very hungry. Saipkara asked him to devour the corpse in the battle field, but as there was no battle anywhere, he was about to swallow Brahma when he was prevented by Shiva from doing so. Being pained with acute hunger, Kirtimukha began to eat his own limbs but Shiva prevented him this time also 25.

But in the shorter version the story is slightly different. As soon as Kirtimukha was bom, he began to cat Rahu, the messenger of Jalatpdhara. Rahu cried for help and Mahadeva ordered Kirtimukha to release HHhu and asked him to eat his own body 21.

Moreover, the longer version contains very elaborate descriptions The shorter one totally omits what we find in the fourth chap m the longer Much of the subjectmatter of the chaps from the sixth to the eighth is not found in the shorter \ersion The long description of war between the Devas and the Dana\as in the longer one has been given only in a \ery few lines m the shorter one Only the brief substance of a few lines of the eighth chap where reference to the Drona mountain has been made is found in the shorter form There are the minor points of distinction where these two versions do not agree, but in spite of that it cannot be denied that the mam theme of the two is the same

We will now focus our attention on determining which of the two is the earlier and why and by whom the later was added It is rather an intriguing question and a satisfactory explanation seems rather difficult We, however, propose to offer our own opinion in the following manner.

What is the mam theme of the Jalamdhara episode 7 We think that primarily this episode proclaims the glorifications of Shiva. This is proved by the fact that it is He only who has succeeded in killing Jalamdhara while all other gods including Vishnu failed From this it can be safely presumed that it must have been the contribution of the Shaivas On a critical analysis it appears, however, that the shorter version of this story which was incorporated later into the Uttara khanda is a production of the Vaishnavas. They have made so in order to counteract the Shaiva influence to some extent by denouncing Him or rather by curtailing a good deal of His glorifications. That a creature, produced from Shiva, will be able to overwhelm Brahma by his prowess was perhaps too much for the non-Shaiva sect. The Vaishnavas in particular could not tolerate this pre-eminence of Shiva and hence omitted such parts of the episode Moreover, they tried to minimise the glory of Shiva by associating Him with a dirty affair as we see in the shorter version. It is He who orders Kirtimukha to do an inhuman work, 1 e, to devour lus own body whereas, as it has been pointed before, in the longer version He, like a noble Lord, prevented His man from doing such a criminal and reprehensible act.

We can, therefore, say that the shorter version was in all probability added later by the Vaishnavas The two versions of the story, however, went side by side and later on when the Uttara khanda was on the verge of assuming its present shape, both the stones found their place in it, as both of them had gained so wide a popularity that it was not possible to drop any of them.

Thus it has been pointed out that the Uttara^khanda in its present form is the outcome of the contributions of different sects at different periods It is also clear that it cannot be ascribed to any particular period of time It can be safely remarked that there is not even a single chap which bears the stamp of an early date On the other hand, impressions of a later period can easily be detected We should discuss now the question of the actual date of this work m its present form One of its passages reads as follows:

Tins shows its acquaintance with the Bhagaiata p 2S More over, some chaps beginning from chap 190 of this Khanda describe the glorification of the Bhagavala p Thus it is absolutely certain that this Furana was not only known to the writer of the Uttara khanda but had also obtained so much popularity at that time that it was glorified in the other Purana. This Khanda was acquainted with the Shaiva characteristics of the Kurma-p The following lines may be quoted in this connection —

The Kurma-p. which was originally a Vaishnava work has been recast by the Pasupatas and it has been held that the date of recasting should be placed towards the beginning of the 8th century A D. 25 Thus it is seen that this Khanda cannot be placed earlier than 1000 A D. There are references to Pancayatana Puj a 29 (worship of the five deities, i e.,Surya, Shiva, Ganesa, Vishnu and Sakti) of the Smfirtas, long stories and glorification in eulogy of the goddess TulasI, the famous list of the incarnations of Vishnu which includes Buddha and Kalkh The writer was acquainted with the famous doctrine of Samkara, i.e., the doctrine of Mayavada as is proved by the following lines:

Moreover, it has been found that among the many vss. of the Padma-p. which have been quoted by different early Nibandha^writers not a single one can be traced in this Khanda, All these go to support such a late date of the work.

It is, we think, not very difficult to ascertain its upper limit. There is a ms. of the Magha-mahatmya (which is part of the Uttara-khanda although it differs to some extent from the same version of the Uttara-khanda) which bears such an early date as 1311 iaka or 1389 A.D. 31 We know that the famous Telugu poet of the fifteenth century Pillalamarri Pinavirabhadraih translated the Magha-mahatmya into the Tclugu language 32. Surely it took at least 200 years’ time for a particular work to attain so much popularity that it should be translated into a local language. The upper limitisthus determined to be the twclvth-thirteenth century. VachaspatimUra, Govindananda, Raghunandana, Gopalabhatta, and Vyrninabhiksu have quoted vss. from this Khanda 33, The author of Pranatosanl-tantra (c. 18th century A.D.) also quotes a number of vss. from this Khanda which are all found in the printed ed. of this Khanda 34.

The upper limit cannot be further pushed back. The fact that the summary of this Khanda as given in the NarQdlyap, I. 93 is very much similar to that of the printed texts, also tends to strengthen our view that it was composed somewhere between 1100 and 1200 AD.

” Uttara thantf-a 263 70a 71a But it should be noted that tome of the DcvanSgarl mss do not possess these vss In Vang and Vchkat editions these vss arc found (236 6b-7b a 236 6a 7a respectively) The latter reads 'mahat' in place of asaC w the first frnc and ‘kathyate m place of in the last hfle The Bengal mss also retain these vss, see, r g, ms no G 4393 of the Asiatic Society (Calcutta), chap 43 fol 36a.

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