[Advaita-l] Re: itihAsa purANa in the bR^ihadAraNyaka

sriram srirudra at vsnl.com
Thu Aug 3 10:03:02 CDT 2006


Dear members
Iam giving the no.of slokas each Puranam contains just for the benefit of
those who may be interested to know how big or small each puranam
is:Brahma-10000,Padma-55000,Vishnu-33000,Saiva24000,Bagavatha-18000,Narada-1
5000,Markandeya-9000,Agni-15400,Bavishya-14500,Brahma
kaivartha-18000,Linga-11000,Varaha-24000,Skanda-81000,Vamana-10000-Kurma1700
0,machcha-14000,Garuda-19000andBrahmanmda-12000.Totally 399900verses or
slokas.
----- Original Message -----
From: Jaldhar H. Vyas <jaldhar at braincells.com>
To: A discussion group for Advaita Vedanta
<advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org>
Sent: Saturday, July 29, 2006 9:24 AM
Subject: Re: [Advaita-l] Re: itihAsa purANa in the bR^ihadAraNyaka


> On Fri, 28 Jul 2006, Ramakrishnan Balasubramanian wrote:
>
> > I was able to locate the shAyaNa bhAShya, where he says:
> >
> > brAhmaNAni - karmacodanA.h "vAyavyAgm shvetamAlabheta"
> > The brAhmaNa (passages) are the ones impelling action such as "place
> > the white (animal?) in the northwest direction" (?)
> >
>
> That the important Vedic statements are those that impell action (vidhi)
> is the standard Mimamsaka party line.  "offer a white animal to Vayu" is
> also a stock Mimamsaka example of a vidhi.  So he seems to be saying
> Brahmana = vidhi.
>
> > itihAsA - mahabhAratAdayaH
> > The itihAsas are mahAbhArata and the rest. Note: the plural being used
> > he seems to have in mind the rAmAyaNa and at least one another since
> > the plural and not dual is used.
> >
> > purANAni - brahmANDAdIni
> > The purANas are the brahmANDa and the rest
> >
>
> I think a better translation would be "including upto Brahmanda".  See
> below.
>
>
> > yadva "devaasuraa.h sa.myattaa aasan" ityaadaya.h itihaasaa.h
> > ****Or it could mean**** Passages such as "The devas and asuras were
> > prepared for war" (emphasis mine)
> >
> > "AtmA vA idameka evAgra aasiinnAnyatki.mcana miShat" - ityaadi
> > sR^iShTyAdi pratipAdakAni purANAni
> > Teachings of creation, etc., such as "The Atman was alone existing in
> > the begnning, nothing else blinked" are the purANas
> >
>
> So in this case, itihasa-purana = the Mimamsaka category of arthavada.
>
> > So it appears there were two conflicting opinions among the
> > traditional school on the meaning of purANas and itihAsas when
> > referred to in the veda. Actually shAyaNa, if mentions his preference
> > first (as seems likely by his use of yadvA), seems to be in tune with
> > Sureshvara and not Shankara.
> >
>
> Isn't it interesting that Sureshvaracharya is held to have been an
> ex-Mimamsaka (even by those who don't agree with the identification with
> Mandana Mishra.)
>
> > It is interesting that shAyaNa thinks that the archetypal purANa
> is > the brahmANDa, just like the bhArata is the archetypal itihAsa.
> >
>
> Rather I think he is merely recollecting the traditional shlokas that
> name the 18 mahapuranas.
>
> brAhmaMI pAdmaM vaiShNavaM cha shivaM bhAgavataM tatha |
> tathanyannAradIyaM cha mArkaNDeyaM cha saptamaM ||
> AgneyaM aShTamaM proktaM bhaviShyannavamaM tathA |
> dashamaM brahmavaivartaM lingamekAdashaM tathA ||
> vArAhaM dvAdashaM proktaM skAndaM chAtra trayodashaM |
> chaturdasham vAmanaM cha kaurmaM pa~nchadashaM tathA ||
> mAtysaM cha garuDaM chaiva brAhmANDAShTAdashaM tathA ||
>
> --
> Jaldhar H. Vyas <jaldhar at braincells.com>
>
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