Varaha Purana

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Illustration from the Varahapurana, Kalyananagaryam: Laksmivenkatesvara Mudranalaye, 1923.
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Hindu scriptures

The Varaha Purana (Sanskrit: वराह पुराण, Varāha Purāṇa) is one of the major eighteen Mahapuranas, a genre of Hindu religious texts. It describes in detail about the Varaha incarnation (Avatar) of Vishnu, and narrates about the rescue of the Prithvi. The Padma Purana categorizes Varaha Purana as a Sattva Purana (Purana which represents goodness and purity).[1]

Contents

The printed editions of this work has 217 or 218 adhyāyas (chapters). According to the Narada Purana, this text is divided into two parts: purvabhaga and uttarabhaga. While the contents of the purvabhaga almost correspond to the extant text, the uttarabhaga, as described in the Narada Purana, where the main interlocutor is sage Pulastya is not found in the text. According to R. C. Hazra, a modern scholar, the extant text has four distinct sections, differing in interlocutors and general characteristics.[2] In the first section (chapters 1 to 112), Suta is the narrator and Varaha and Prithvi are the interlocutors. In the second section (chapters 113 to 192), Suta narrates what was told by Prithvi to Sanatkumara about the dialogue between Varaha and herself. In the third section (chapters 193 to 212), Suta describes the conversation between the king Janamejaya and the sage Vaishampayana. This section is also known as the Dharma Samhita. In the final section (chapters 213 to end), Suta narrates the conversation between Brahma and Sanatkumara.[3]

References

  1. ↑ Wilson, H. H. (1840). The Vishnu Purana: A system of Hindu mythology and tradition. Oriental Translation Fund. p. 12. 
  2. ↑ Rocher, Ludo (1986). "The Purāṇas". In Jan Gonda (ed.). A History of Indian Literature. Vol.II, Epics and Sanskrit religious literature, Fasc.3. Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz Verlag. pp. 241–2. ISBN 3-447-02522-0. 
  3. ↑ Hazra, Rajendra Chandra (1987) [1940]. Studies in the Puranic Records on Hindu Rites and Customs. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass. pp. 96–107. ISBN 81-208-0422-8. 

Further reading

  • Mani, Vettam. Puranic Encyclopedia. 1st English ed. New Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1975.

External links

Mahapurana
Upapurana
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