Shiva Purana

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The Shiva Purana is one of the purāṇas dedicated to the Hindu deity Shiva. According to a tradition which is stated in the Vāyaviya Saṁhitā (the Venkateshvara Press edition) of this text, the original text was known as the Śaiva Purāṇa. It consisted 12 Saṁhitās and 1,00,000 ślokas (verses). After the reconstruction and the abridgement by Vedavyasa, the extant text comprises 24000 ślokas (verses), which he taught to his disciple Romaharshana (or Lomaharshana).

[edit] The recensions of the text

Several recensions of this text exist. The recension presented by the edition published by the Bangabasi Press, Calcutta (1907) consists of six Saṁhitās (sections), (1) Jñāna Saṁhitā, (2) Vidyeśvara Saṁhitā, (3) Kailaśa Saṁhitā, (4) Sanatkumara Saṁhitā, (5) Vāyaviya Saṁhitā (further divided into two parts, Pūrvabhāga and Uttarabhāga) and (6) Dharma Saṁhitā. The Bangabasi edition consists 260 Adhyāyas (chapters) of which Jñāna Saṁhitā has 78 chapters, Vidyeśvara Saṁhitā has 16 chapters, Kailāśa Saṁhitā has 12 chapters, Sanatkumara Saṁhitā has 59 chapters, Vāyaviya Saṁhitā has 30 chapters and Dharma Saṁhitā has 65 chapters.

The recension presented by the two other editions published by the Shri Venkateshvara Press, Bombay and the Pandit Pustakalaya, Kashi consists of seven Saṁhitās, (1) Vidyeśvara Saṁhitā, (2) Rudra Saṁhitā, (3) Śatarudra Saṁhitā, (4) Koṭirudra Saṁhitā, (5) Umā Saṁhitā, (6) Kailāśa Saṁhitā and (7) Vāyaviya Saṁhitā (also divided into two parts, Pūrvabhāga and Uttarabhāga). These two editions have 456 Adhyāyas (chapters). The Vidyeśvara Saṁhitā has 25 chapters. The Rudra Saṁhitā comprises 5 khandas (sections), section I (Sṛśṭikhaṇḍa) has 20 chapters, section II (Satikhaṇḍa) has 43 chapters, section III (Pārvatikhaṇḍa) has 54 chapters, section IV ((Kumārakhaṇḍa) has 20 chapters and section V ((Yuddhakhaṇḍa) has 59 chapters. The Śatarudra Saṁhitā consists 42 chapters, the Koṭirudra Saṁhitā has 43 chapters, the Umā Saṁhitā has 51 chapters and the Kailāśa Saṁhitā has 23 chapters. The Pūrvabhāga of the Vāyaviya Saṁhitā comprises 35 chapters, while the Uttarabhāga consists 41 chapters. The Vāyaviya Saṁhitā of these recensions mention the names of the five lost Saṁhitās as Vaināyaka Saṁhitā, Mātṛ Saṁhitā, Rudraikādaśa Saṁhitā, Sahasrakoṭi Saṁhitā and Dharma Saṁhitā.

Several other Saṁhitās are also ascribed to the Śiva Purāṇa. These are the Īśāna Saṁhitā, the Īśvara Saṁhitā, the Sūrya Saṁhitā, the Tirthakṣetramāhātmya Saṁhitā and the Mānavī Saṁhitā

Haraprasad Shastri mentioned in the Notices of Sanskrit MSS IV, pp. 220-3, Nos, 298-299 about another manuscript of the Śiva Purāṇa, which is divided into two khandas (parts), the Pūrvakhaṇḍa and the Uttarakhaṇḍa. The Pūrvakhaṇḍa consists 3270 ślokas in 51 chapters written in Nagari script and the Uttarakhaṇḍa has 45 chapters written in Oriya script. It was preserved in Mahimprakash Brahmachari Matha in Puri. The Pūrvakhaṇḍa of this manuscript is same as the Sanatkumara Saṁhitā of the Bangabasi Press edition.

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