Varaha Purana

K Chaturvedi B

Description

Hearing, reading, reciting Varaha Purana destroys one?s sins, liberates one and assuages the mind?s sufferings. It also yields sons and grandsons. When Varaha Purana is heard in a ?Teertha? it bestows much greater ?punya? than received by hearing it at any other place. Reading one chapter of the Varaha Purana grants the same amount of ?Punya? as can be obtained by donating to a Brahmin a healthy cow. One gets the reward received by performing a huge yagya (sacrifice) if one reads ten chapters of this Purana. He who reads, listens or arranges the recital of this Purana becomes beloved of Lord Narayana immediately.

Sujets

• Philosophie et théologie

Informations

• Publié par: Diamond Books
• Date de parution: 08 décembre 2021
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9788128822261
• Langue: English

Extrait

Varaha Purana

eISBN: 978-81-2882-226-1
© Publisher
Publisher: Diamond Pocket Books (P) Ltd.
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Edition: 2011
Varaha Puran
By - B.K. Chaturvedi
Hearing, reading, reciting Varaha Purana destroys one’s sins, liberates one and assuages the mind’s sufferings. It also yields sons and grandsons. When Varaha Purana is heard in a ‘Teertha’ it bestows much greater ‘ punya’ than received by hearing it at any other place. Reading one chapter of the Varaha Purana grants the same amount of ‘ Punya ’ as can be obtained by donating to a Brahmin a healthy cow. One gets the reward received by performing a huge yagya (sacrifice) if one reads ten chapters of this Purana. He who reads, listens or arranges the recital of this Purana becomes beloved of Lord Narayana immediately.
Contents
Preface What Are the Puranas? Varaha and Its Various Representations The Beginning of the Purana and the Beginning of Creation Narada and Priyavarta The Tale of Ashwashira, Vasu and Raivya Vaishnavi Devi (Saraswati) Rudrani and Ruru The Importance of Kapalika Vrata The Tale of Satyatapa Shveta and Vinitashva How the Earth Was Rescued? The Way to Propitiate Lord Vishnu The Tale of Durjaya Sage Markandeya’s Instructions to Gauramukha on Sharddha The Significance of the Vratas on Special Tithis The Cycle of Ages Lord Vishnu Is Supreme Details of the Bhuvankosha (Geography & Astronomy) Penance or Atonement for Various Sins Maya (Illusion) Important Teerthas Mathura and Other Near-About Holy Spots How to Build the Images? How to Honour the Dead? The Story of Nachiketa Alms Giving, Donation etc. Significance of Varaha Purana
Preface
The ‘Varaha Purana’ is an average length Purana i.e. neither too long like the Skanda Purana , nor too short like the Markandeya Purana. It has twenty four thousand couplets. It has its text divided into two sections ( Bhaga)— the Poorva Bhaga (initial section) and the Uttara Bhaga or subsequent section. This is a Mahapurana and usually listed as twelfth in the series of the Purana.
We attempt in presenting this series of the Puranas before the curious modern reader in an easy and engrossing style—sans those ritualistic details meant chiefly for the priest performing the related rituals. The emphasis has been on highlighting the moral values enshrined in the tales so that the reader reared up on these values could discern the purpose behind them. Since there are many details and stories that have repeatedly appeared in various Puranas , having briefly shown their relevance in the context, we have skipped the details for the reasons of paucity of space.
These Puranas are not history recorded differently but represent the very fount of the beliefs that eventually went to mould the psyche of the people in this part of the world. That is the reason why the basic aim of the present series is to show the eternal relevance of these ancient records. The compiler-translator-editor of the series is immensely grateful to Shri Narendra ji of Diamond Pocket Books for giving him full liberty to edit the text.
—B.K. Chaturvedi
What Are the Puranas?
The word ‘Purana’ originally means ‘ancient’ or ‘old narratives’ but long before the beginning of Christian era it came to be used as the designation of a class of books dealing mainly, among other things, with old popular stories arid legends. As the extensive Purana literature handed down to posterity included both early and late, as well as major and minor works, the distinguishing name ‘Mahapurana’ was given in later days to those particular major Puranas which commanded the highest respect of the people for their antiquity and importance. At present, generally eighteen works are known as Mahapuranas , and all of them have been printed many a time. Hence the availability of many versions confounding the authenticity of the text. The only way to circumvent this problem is to seek help from other mythological accounts like the Ramayana or the Mahabharata. It is, however, difficult to say when these Puranas first came into existence though their claim to great antiquity, next only to that of the Vedas , cannot be denied. The Atharva Veda contains the earliest mention of the word ‘Puranas’. The traditions, though somewhat different, are unanimous in recognising the sacred origin of the Puranas as also giving it a status almost equal to that of the Vedas (viz. Atma Puranam Vedanam).
Nevertheless, scholars believe that they were composed between the years 300 A.D. and 1000 A.D. This big time frame appears to claim justification because in those times the books were not written the way they are written now. In fact most of these Puranas survived on the ‘oral’ traditions and these compositions passed down by word of mouth with variety of interpolations from each intervening age. Today, it is virtually impossible to distinguish their interpolation from the original text. With the result, the texts grew in volume and in number. Although there may have been one original text of the Puranas known as the Purana Samhita , eventually there emerged eighteen Puranas known as the Mahapuranas.
These Puranas in all have more than four lakh Shlokas , believed to have been compiled by Sage Vedavyas, although the general belief is that this was the name of the editor of the body responsible for presenting the Puranas in the form of tomes. The Puranas not only contain stories and anecdotes but they are full of rituals and norms as well. According to the definition given in these very Puranas , a Mahapurana must exhibit five characteristics (Pancha Lakshana). In other words, the text of a Mahapurana must describe five different subjects: the original creation of the universe (Sarga), the periodical process of destruction and re-creation (Pratisarga), the histories of the solar and lunar dynasties, the various eras (‘Manavantaras’) and royal genealogies (Vanshanucharita). This Varaha Purana fulfils these conditions and hence it is a Mahapurana.
Almost all the Puranas are in the form of dialogues between an exponent and the aspirants. Thus the Vishnu Purana was a gift to Pulastya by Brahma. Pulastya communicated it to Parashara and Parashara to Maitreya. The eighteen Puranas are sometimes divided into three groups, each group consisting of six Puranas. The Hindu Trinity consists of the gods Brahma, Vishnu and Shiv. Brahma is the creator, Vishnu the sustainer and Shiv the destroyer. Since all three are important gods, any Purana will tend to glorify all the three. But there is often a difference in relative emphasis. Puranas which describe creation tend to glorify Brahma more and are known as ‘Rajasika Puranas’. The Puranas which emphasise on describing Vishnu’s incarnations in great detail and thus glorifying Vishnu come in the category of ‘Sattvika Puranas’. And the texts which devote many sections to norms and rituals that tend to glorify Shiv more are called ‘Tamasika Puranas’.
Some scholars have expressed the view that the traditional lore out of which the Puranas have been fashioned was of Kshatriya and not of Brahmana origin. The main argument in favour of this view is that Lomaharshana, who is the narrator in almost all the extant Puranas , is called a ‘Soota’ i.e. born of a Kshatriya father and Brahmana mother and having the profession of a bard in royal courts, as the Smritis , the Mahabharata and the Puranas tell us. But this view is fraught with serious objections: all the extant Puranas are unanimous in declaring that Lomaharshana was a mere transmitter of the Puranic traditions learnt from Vyasa and could have nothing to do with the origin of the Puranas. In fact, even Vyasa is not said to be the author but a mere compiler of the original Purana Samhita. As a matter of fact, a study of the Brahmana literature will show that in the performance of a Vedic sacrifice, ‘Puranas’, ‘Akhyanas’ etc were narrated and ‘gathas’ were recited generally by the Brahmana priests. ‘Since they formed the best brains of the age, it was their inherent duty to record what they felt best in any age.
It is, however, not possible to say how and when the Purana texts of the Vedic times passed into the hands of the ‘Sootas’ as mentioned in the extant Puranas. As the Puranic lore of post-vedic times got mixed up with popular ideas, it lost much of its previous sacredness, making the Sootas become the bearers of this new lore. The older Puranas , viz Vayu, Vishnu etc, state that after compiling the original Purana Samhita , Vyasa imparted it to his disciple Soota Lomaharshana who in his turn made it into six versions and taught them to his six Brahmana disciples and that three of them, namely Kaashyapa, Saavarni and Samsapayana, made three separate ‘Samhitas’. These were called after their names and which, together with Lomaharshana’s one, were the four original compilations (‘Moola Samhita ;’) from which the Puranas of the later days were derived. This changing character of the Puranic texts seems to be hinted at by the extant Puranas themselves of which the Matsya Purana says that when, in course of time, the Puranas were no longer accepted by the people, Lord Vishnu took the form of Vyasa and re-edited them in every ‘Yuga’. So we see the Puranas have reached us from almost times immemorial to give us an invaluable record of history and mythology of the people of this part of the world.
As far as this Varaha Purana is concerned, although it claims to contain twenty-four thousand couplets, part of the original is seemingly lost and what is now available is derived from the existing 10,000 couplets only. There are not all that many references to creation, royal genealogies or to the ‘Manvantaras’. This creates the confusion to believe that some of its parts must have been lost. The available text consists of mostly prayers, rules, rituals and description of ‘