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Cassim in the cave, by Maxfield Parrish, 1909, from the story Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves | |
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One Thousand and One Nights (Arabic: أَلْف لَيْلَة وَلَيْلَة, romanized: ʾAlf layla wa-layla)[1] is a collection of Middle Eastern folk tales compiled in Arabic during the Islamic Golden Age. It is often known in English as the Arabian Nights, from the first English-language edition (c. 1706 – c. 1721), which rendered the title as The Arabian Nights' Entertainment.[2]
The work was collected over many centuries by various authors, translators, and scholars across West, Central, and South Asia and North Africa. Some tales themselves trace their roots back to ancient and medieval Arabic, Persian, Indian, Greek, Jewish and Turkish[3] folklore and literature. In particular, many tales were originally folk stories from the Abbasid and Mamluk eras, while others, especially the frame story, are most probably drawn from the Pahlavi Persian workHezār Afsān (Persian: هزار افسان, lit. A Thousand Tales), which in turn relied partly on Indian elements.[4]
What is common throughout all the editions of the Nights is the initial frame story of the ruler Shahryār and his wife Scheherazade and the framing device incorporated throughout the tales themselves. The stories proceed from this original tale; some are framed within other tales, while others begin and end of their own accord. Some editions contain only a few hundred nights, while others include 1,001 or more. The bulk of the text is in prose, although verse is occasionally used for songs and riddles and to express heightened emotion. Most of the poems are single couplets or quatrains, although some are longer.
Some of the stories commonly associated with The Nights, in particular 'Aladdin's Wonderful Lamp', 'Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves', and 'The Seven Voyages of Sinbad the Sailor', were not part of The Nights in its original Arabic versions but were added to the collection by Antoine Galland and other European translators.[5]
- 2History: versions and translations
- 3Literary themes and techniques
- 4In world culture
- 4.5Music
Synopsis[edit]
Scheherazade and Shahryār by Ferdinand Keller, 1880
The main frame story concerns Shahryār (Arabic: شهريار, from Middle Persianšahr-dār, lit. 'holder of realm'[6]), whom the narrator calls a 'Sasanian king' ruling in 'India and China'.[7] Shahryār is shocked to learn that his brother's wife is unfaithful; discovering that his own wife's infidelity has been even more flagrant, he has her killed. In his bitterness and grief, he decides that all women are the same. Shahryār begins to marry a succession of virgins only to execute each one the next morning, before she has a chance to dishonor him. Eventually the vizier, whose duty it is to provide them, cannot find any more virgins. Scheherazade (Persian/ Farsi: شهْرزادShahrazād, from Middle Persian čehrشهر, 'lineage' + āzādازاد, 'noble'[6][8]), the vizier's daughter, offers herself as the next bride and her father reluctantly agrees. On the night of their marriage, Scheherazade begins to tell the king a tale, but does not end it. The king, curious about how the story ends, is thus forced to postpone her execution in order to hear the conclusion. The next night, as soon as she finishes the tale, she begins another one, and the king, eager to hear the conclusion of that tale as well, postpones her execution once again. This goes on for one thousand and one nights, hence the name.
The tales vary widely: they include historical tales, love stories, tragedies, comedies, poems, burlesques, and various forms of erotica. Numerous stories depict jinns, ghouls, apes,[9]sorcerers, magicians, and legendary places, which are often intermingled with real people and geography, not always rationally. Common protagonists include the historical AbbasidcaliphHarun al-Rashid, his Grand Vizier, Jafar al-Barmaki, and the famous poet Abu Nuwas, despite the fact that these figures lived some 200 years after the fall of the Sassanid Empire, in which the frame tale of Scheherazade is set. Sometimes a character in Scheherazade's tale will begin telling other characters a story of his own, and that story may have another one told within it, resulting in a richly layered narrative texture.
An Abbasid manuscript of the One Thousand and One Nights
The different versions have different individually detailed endings (in some Scheherazade asks for a pardon, in some the king sees their children and decides not to execute his wife, in some other things happen that make the king distracted) but they all end with the king giving his wife a pardon and sparing her life.
The narrator's standards for what constitutes a cliffhanger seem broader than in modern literature. While in many cases a story is cut off with the hero in danger of losing his life or another kind of deep trouble, in some parts of the full text Scheherazade stops her narration in the middle of an exposition of abstract philosophical principles or complex points of Islamic philosophy, and in one case during a detailed description of human anatomy according to Galen—and in all these cases turns out to be justified in her belief that the king's curiosity about the sequel would buy her another day of life.
History: versions and translations[edit]
The history of the Nights is extremely complex and modern scholars have made many attempts to untangle the story of how the collection as it currently exists came about. Back to the future 3 free. Robert Irwin summarises their findings:
In the 1880s and 1890s a lot of work was done on the Nights by Zotenberg and others, in the course of which a consensus view of the history of the text emerged. Most scholars agreed that the Nights was a composite work and that the earliest tales in it came from India and Persia. At some time, probably in the early 8th century, these tales were translated into Arabic under the title Alf Layla, or 'The Thousand Nights'. This collection then formed the basis of The Thousand and One Nights. The original core of stories was quite small. Then, in Iraq in the 9th or 10th century, this original core had Arab stories added to it—among them some tales about the CaliphHarun al-Rashid. Also, perhaps from the 10th century onwards, previously independent sagas and story cycles were added to the compilation [..] Then, from the 13th century onwards, a further layer of stories was added in Syria and Egypt, many of these showing a preoccupation with sex, magic or low life. In the early modern period yet more stories were added to the Egyptian collections so as to swell the bulk of the text sufficiently to bring its length up to the full 1,001 nights of storytelling promised by the book's title.[10]
Possible Indian influence[edit]
Devices found in Sanskrit literature such as frame stories and animal fables are seen by some scholars as lying at the root of the conception of the Nights.[11] The motif of the wise young woman who delays and finally removes an impending danger by telling stories has been traced back to Indian sources.[8] Indian folklore is represented in the Nights by certain animal stories, which reflect influence from ancient Sanskrit fables. The influence of the Panchatantra and Baital Pachisi is particularly notable.[12]The Jataka Tales are a collection of 547 Buddhist stories, which are for the most part moral stories with an ethical purpose. The Tale of the Bull and the Ass and the linked Tale of the Merchant and his Wife are found in the frame stories of both the Jataka and the Nights.[13]
It is possible that the influence of the Panchatantra is via a Sanskrit adaptation called the Tantropakhyana. Only fragments of the original Sanskrit form of this work survive, but translations or adaptations exist in Tamil,[14] Lao,[15] Thai[16] and Old Javanese.[17] The frame story is particularly interesting, as it follows the broad outline of a concubine telling stories in order to maintain the interest and favour of a king—although the basis of the collection of stories is from the Panchatantra—with its original Indian setting.[18]
The Panchatantra and various tales from Jatakas were first translated into Persian by Borzūya in 570 CE,[19] they were later translated into Arabic by Ibn al-Muqaffa in 750 CE.[20] The Arabic version was translated into several languages, including Syriac, Greek, Hebrew and Spanish.[21]
Persian prototype: Hezār Afsān[edit]
A page from Kelileh va Demneh dated 1429, from Herat, a Persian version of the Panchatantra – depicts the manipulative jackal-vizier, Dimna, trying to lead his lion-king into war.
The earliest mentions of the Nights refer to it as an Arabic translation from a Persian book, Hezār Afsān (or Afsaneh or Afsana), meaning 'The Thousand Stories'. In the 10th century Ibn al-Nadim compiled a catalogue of books (the 'Fihrist') in Baghdad. He noted that the Sassanid kings of Iran enjoyed 'evening tales and fables'.[22] Al-Nadim then writes about the Persian Hezār Afsān, explaining the frame story it employs: a bloodthirsty king kills off a succession of wives after their wedding night; eventually one has the intelligence to save herself by telling him a story every evening, leaving each tale unfinished until the next night so that the king will delay her execution.[23] However, according to al-Nadim, the book contains only 200 stories. He also writes disparagingly of the collection's literary quality, observing that 'it is truly a coarse book, without warmth in the telling'.[24] In the same century Al-Masudi also refers to the Hezār Afsān, saying the Arabic translation is called Alf Khurafa ('A Thousand Entertaining Tales') but is generally known as Alf Layla ('A Thousand Nights'). He mentions the characters Shirāzd (Scheherazade) and Dināzād.[25]
No physical evidence of the Hezār Afsān has survived,[11] so its exact relationship with the existing later Arabic versions remains a mystery.[26] Apart from the Scheherazade frame story, several other tales have Persian origins, although it is unclear how they entered the collection.[27] These stories include the cycle of 'King Jali'ad and his Wazir Shimas' and 'The Ten Wazirs or the History of King Azadbakht and his Son' (derived from the 7th-century Persian Bakhtiyārnāma).[28]
In the 1950s, the Iraqi scholar Safa Khulusi suggested (on internal rather than historical evidence) that the Persian writer Ibn al-Muqaffa' may have been responsible for the first Arabic translation of the frame story and some of the Persian stories later incorporated into the Nights. This would place genesis of the collection in the 8th century.[29][30]
Evolving Arabic versions[edit]
The story of Princess Parizade and the Magic Tree by Maxfield Parrish.[31]
In the mid-20th century, the scholar Nabia Abbott found a document with a few lines of an Arabic work with the title The Book of the Tale of a Thousand Nights, dating from the 9th century. This is the earliest known surviving fragment of the Nights.[32] The first reference to the Arabic version under its full title The One Thousand and One Nights appears in Cairo in the 12th century.[33] Professor Dwight Reynolds describes the subsequent transformations of the Arabic version:
Some of the earlier Persian tales may have survived within the Arabic tradition altered such that Arabic Muslim names and new locations were substituted for pre-Islamic Persian ones, but it is also clear that whole cycles of Arabic tales were eventually added to the collection and apparently replaced most of the Persian materials. One such cycle of Arabic tales centres around a small group of historical figures from 9th-century Baghdad, including the caliph Harun al-Rashid (died 809), his vizier Jafar al-Barmaki (d. 803) and the licentious poet Abu Nuwas (d. c. 813). Another cluster is a body of stories from late medieval Cairo in which are mentioned persons and places that date to as late as the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries.[34]
Two main Arabic manuscript traditions of the Nights are known: the Syrian and the Egyptian. The Syrian tradition includes the oldest manuscripts; these versions are also much shorter and include fewer tales. It is represented in print by the so-called Calcutta I (1814–1818) and most notably by the Leiden edition (1984), which is based above all on the Galland manuscript.[35][36] The Leiden Edition, prepared by Muhsin Mahdi, is the only critical edition of 1001 Nights to date,[37] believed to be most stylistically faithful representation of mediaeval Arabic versions currently available.[35][36]
Texts of the Egyptian tradition emerge later and contain many more tales of much more varied content; a much larger number of originally independent tales have been incorporated into the collection over the centuries, most of them after the Galland manuscript was written,[38] and were being included as late as in the 18th and 19th centuries, perhaps in order to attain the eponymous number of 1001 nights. The final product of this tradition, the so-called Zotenberg Egyptian Recension, does contain 1001 nights and is reflected in print, with slight variations, by the editions known as the Bulaq (1835) and the Macnaghten or Calcutta II (1839–1842).
All extant substantial versions of both recensions share a small common core of tales:[39]
- The Merchant and the Genie
- The Porter and the Three Ladies
- The Hunchback cycle
- Nur al-Din Ali and Anis al-Jalis
- Ali Ibn Bakkar and Shams al-Nahar
The texts of the Syrian recension do not contain much beside that core. It is debated which of the Arabic recensions is more 'authentic' and closer to the original: the Egyptian ones have been modified more extensively and more recently, and scholars such as Muhsin Mahdi have suspected that this may have been caused in part by European demand for a 'complete version'; but it appears that this type of modification has been common throughout the history of the collection, and independent tales have always been added to it.[38][40]
Modern translations[edit]
Sinbad the sailor and Ali Baba and the forty thieves by William Strang, 1896
The first European version (1704–1717) was translated into French by Antoine Galland from an Arabic text of the Syrian recension and other sources. This 12-volume work, Les Mille et une nuits, contes arabes traduits en français ('The Thousand and one nights, Arab stories translated into French'), included stories that were not in the original Arabic manuscript. 'Aladdin's Lamp', and 'Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves' (as well as several other lesser-known tales) appeared first in Galland's translation and cannot be found in any of the original manuscripts. He wrote that he heard them from a Syrian Christian storyteller from Aleppo, a Maronite scholar whom he called 'Hanna Diab.' Galland's version of the Nights was immensely popular throughout Europe, and later versions were issued by Galland's publisher using Galland's name without his consent.
As scholars were looking for the presumed 'complete' and 'original' form of the Nights, they naturally turned to the more voluminous texts of the Egyptian recension, which soon came to be viewed as the 'standard version'. The first translations of this kind, such as that of Edward Lane (1840, 1859), were bowdlerized. Unabridged and unexpurgated translations were made, first by John Payne, under the title The Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night (1882, nine volumes), and then by Sir Richard Francis Burton, entitled The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night (1885, ten volumes) – the latter was, according to some assessments, partially based on the former, leading to charges of plagiarism.[41][42] In view of the sexual imagery in the source texts (which Burton emphasized even further, especially by adding extensive footnotes and appendices on Oriental sexual mores[42]) and the strict Victorian laws on obscene material, both of these translations were printed as private editions for subscribers only, rather than published in the usual manner. Burton's original 10 volumes were followed by a further six (seven in the Baghdad Edition and perhaps others) entitled The Supplemental Nights to the Thousand Nights and a Night, which were printed between 1886 and 1888. It has, however, been criticized for its 'archaic language and extravagant idiom' and 'obsessive focus on sexuality' (and has even been called an 'eccentric ego-trip' and a 'highly personal reworking of the text').[42]
Later versions of the Nights include that of the French doctor J. C. Mardrus, issued from 1898 to 1904. It was translated into English by Powys Mathers, and issued in 1923. Like Payne's and Burton's texts, it is based on the Egyptian recension and retains the erotic material, indeed expanding on it, but it has been criticized for inaccuracy.[41]
A notable recent version, which reverts to the Syrian recension, is a critical edition based on the 14th- or 15th-century Syrian manuscript in the Bibliothèque Nationale, originally used by Galland. This version, known as the Leiden text, was compiled in Arabic by Muhsin Mahdi (1984) and rendered into English by Husain Haddawy (1990). Mahdi argued that this version is the earliest extant one (a view that is largely accepted today) and that it reflects most closely a 'definitive' coherent text ancestral to all others that he believed to have existed during the Mamluk period (a view that remains contentious).[38][43][44] Still, even scholars who deny this version the exclusive status of 'the only real Arabian Nights' recognize it as being the best source on the original style and linguistic form of the mediaeval work[35][36] and praise the Haddawy translation as 'very readable' and 'strongly recommended for anyone who wishes to taste the authentic flavour of those tales'.[44] An additional second volume of Arabian nights translated by Haddawy, composed of popular tales not present in the Leiden edition, was published in 1995.
In 2008 a new English translation was published by Penguin Classics in three volumes. It is translated by Malcolm C. Lyons and Ursula Lyons with introduction and annotations by Robert Irwin. This is the first complete translation of the Macnaghten or Calcutta II edition (Egyptian recension) since Burton's. It contains, in addition to the standard text of 1001 Nights, the so-called 'orphan stories' of Aladdin and Ali Baba as well as an alternative ending to The seventh journey of Sindbad from Antoine Galland's original French. As the translator himself notes in his preface to the three volumes, '[N]o attempt has been made to superimpose on the translation changes that would be needed to 'rectify' .. accretions, .. repetitions, non sequiturs and confusions that mark the present text,' and the work is a 'representation of what is primarily oral literature, appealing to the ear rather than the eye'.[45] The Lyons translation includes all the poetry (in plain prose paraphrase) but does not attempt to reproduce in English the internal rhyming of some prose sections of the original Arabic. Moreover, it streamlines somewhat and has cuts. In this sense it is not, as claimed, a complete translation.
Timeline[edit]
Arabic manuscript of The Thousand and One Nights dating back to the 14th century
Scholars have assembled a timeline concerning the publication history of The Nights:[46][47][48]
- One of the oldest Arabic manuscript fragments from Syria (a few handwritten pages) dating to the early 9th century. Discovered by scholar Nabia Abbott in 1948, it bears the title Kitab Hadith Alf Layla ('The Book of the Tale of the Thousand Nights') and the first few lines of the book in which Dinazad asks Shirazad (Scheherazade) to tell her stories.[34]
- 10th century: Mention of Hezār Afsān in Ibn al-Nadim's 'Fihrist' (Catalogue of books) in Baghdad. He attributes a pre-Islamic Sassanian Persian origin to the collection and refers to the frame story of Scheherazade telling stories over a thousand nights to save her life.[24]
- 10th century: Reference to The Thousand Nights, an Arabic translation of the Persian Hezār Afsān ('Thousand Stories'), in Muruj Al-Dhahab (The Meadows of Gold) by Al-Masudi.[25]
- 12th century: A document from Cairo refers to a Jewish bookseller lending a copy of The Thousand and One Nights (this is the first appearance of the final form of the title).[33]
- 14th century: Existing Syrian manuscript in the Bibliothèque nationale de France in Paris (contains about 300 tales).
- 1704: Antoine Galland's French translation is the first European version of The Nights. Later volumes were introduced using Galland's name though the stories were written by unknown persons at the behest of the publisher wanting to capitalize on the popularity of the collection.
- c. 1706 – c. 1721: An anonymously translated version in English appears in Europe dubbed the 12-volume 'Grub Street' version. This is entitled Arabian Nights' Entertainments—the first known use of the common English title of the work.[49]
- 1768: first Polish translation, 12 volumes. Based, as many European on the French translation.
- 1775: Egyptian version of The Nights called 'ZER' (Hermann Zotenberg's Egyptian Recension) with 200 tales (no surviving edition exists).
- 1804-1806, 1825: The Austrian polyglot and orientalist Joseph von Hammer-Purgstall (1774-1856) translates a subsequently lost manuscript into French between 1804 and 1806. His French translation, which was partially abridged and included Galland's 'orphan stories', has been lost, but its translation into German that was published in 1825 still survives.[50]
- 1814: Calcutta I, the earliest existing Arabic printed version, is published by the British East India Company. A second volume was released in 1818. Both had 100 tales each.
- 1811: Jonathan Scott (1754-1829), an Englishman who learned Arabic and Persian in India, produces an English translation, mostly based on Galland's French version, supplemented by other sources. Robert Irwin calls it the 'first literary translation into English', in contrast to earlier translations from French by 'Grub Street hacks'.[51]
- Early 19th century: Modern Persian translations of the text are made, variously under the title Alf leile va leile, Hezār-o yek šhab (هزار و یک شب), or, in distorted Arabic, Alf al-leil. One early extant version is that illustrated by Sani al-Molk (1814–1866) for Mohammad Shah Qajar.[52]
- 1825–1838: The Breslau/Habicht edition is published in Arabic in 8 volumes. Christian Maximilian Habicht (born in Breslau, Kingdom of Prussia, 1775) collaborated with the Tunisian Mordecai ibn al-Najjar to create this edition containing 1001 nights. In addition to the Galland manuscript, they used what they believed to be a Tunisian manuscript, which was later revealed as a forgery by al-Najjar.[37] Using versions of The Nights, tales from Al-Najjar, and other stories from unknown origins Habicht published his version in Arabic and German.
- 1842–1843: Four additional volumes by Habicht.
- 1835: Bulaq version: These two volumes, printed by the Egyptian government, are the oldest printed (by a publishing house) version of The Nights in Arabic by a non-European. It is primarily a reprinting of the ZER text.
- 1839–1842: Calcutta II (4 volumes) is published. It claims to be based on an older Egyptian manuscript (which was never found). This version contains many elements and stories from the Habicht edition.
- 1838: Torrens version in English.
- 1838–1840: Edward William Lane publishes an English translation. Notable for its exclusion of content Lane found immoral and for its anthropological notes on Arab customs by Lane.
- 1882–1884: John Payne publishes an English version translated entirely from Calcutta II, adding some tales from Calcutta I and Breslau.
- 1885–1888: Sir Richard Francis Burton publishes an English translation from several sources (largely the same as Payne[41]). His version accentuated the sexuality of the stories vis-à-vis Lane's bowdlerized translation.
- 1889–1904: J. C. Mardrus publishes a French version using Bulaq and Calcutta II editions.
- 1973: First Polish translation based on the original language edition, but compressed 12 volumes to 9, by PIW.
- 1984: Muhsin Mahdi publishes an Arabic edition based on the oldest Arabic manuscript surviving (based on the oldest surviving Syrian manuscript currently held in the Bibliothèque Nationale).
- 1986–1987: French translation by Arabist René R. Khawam
- 1990: Husain Haddawy publishes an English translation of Mahdi.
- 2008: New Penguin Classics translation (in three volumes) by Malcolm C. Lyons and Ursula Lyons of the Calcutta II edition
Literary themes and techniques[edit]
Illustration of One Thousand and One Nights by Sani ol Molk, Iran, 1853
The One Thousand and One Nights and various tales within it make use of many innovative literary techniques, which the storytellers of the tales rely on for increased drama, suspense, or other emotions.[53] Some of these date back to earlier Persian, Indian and Arabic literature, while others were original to the One Thousand and One Nights.
Frame story[edit]
An early example of the frame story, or framing device, is employed in the One Thousand and One Nights, in which the character Scheherazade narrates a set of tales (most often fairy tales) to the Sultan Shahriyar over many nights. Many of Scheherazade's tales are also frame stories, such as the Tale of Sinbad the Seaman and Sinbad the Landsman being a collection of adventures related by Sinbad the Seaman to Sinbad the Landsman.
Embedded narrative[edit]
An early example of the 'story within a story' technique can be found in the One Thousand and One Nights, which can be traced back to earlier Persian and Indian storytelling traditions, most notably the Panchatantra of ancient Sanskrit literature. The Nights, however, improved on the Panchatantra in several ways, particularly in the way a story is introduced. In the Panchatantra, stories are introduced as didactic analogies, with the frame story referring to these stories with variants of the phrase 'If you're not careful, that which happened to the louse and the flea will happen to you.' In the Nights, this didactic framework is the least common way of introducing the story, but instead, a story is most commonly introduced through subtle means, particularly as an answer to questions raised in a previous tale.[54]
The general story is narrated by an unknown narrator, and in this narration the stories are told by Scheherazade. In most of Scheherazade's narrations there are also stories narrated, and even in some of these, there are some other stories.[55] This is particularly the case for the 'Sinbad the Sailor' story narrated by Scheherazade in the One Thousand and One Nights. Within the 'Sinbad the Sailor' story itself, the protagonist Sinbad the Sailor narrates the stories of his seven voyages to Sinbad the Porter. The device is also used to great effect in stories such as 'The Three Apples' and 'The Seven Viziers'. In yet another tale Scheherazade narrates, 'The Fisherman and the Jinni', the 'Tale of the Wazir and the Sage Duban' is narrated within it, and within that there are three more tales narrated.
Dramatic visualization[edit]
Dramatic visualization is 'the representing of an object or character with an abundance of descriptive detail, or the mimetic rendering of gestures and dialogue in such a way as to make a given scene 'visual' or imaginatively present to an audience'. This technique is used in several tales of the One Thousand and One Nights.[56] An example of this is the tale of 'The Three Apples' (see Crime fiction elements below).
Fate and destiny[edit]
A common theme in many Arabian Nights tales is fate and destiny. The Italian filmmaker Pier Paolo Pasolini observed:[57]
every tale in The Thousand and One Nights begins with an 'appearance of destiny' which manifests itself through an anomaly, and one anomaly always generates another. So a chain of anomalies is set up. And the more logical, tightly knit, essential this chain is, the more beautiful the tale. By 'beautiful' I mean vital, absorbing and exhilarating. The chain of anomalies always tends to lead back to normality. The end of every tale in The One Thousand and One Nights consists of a 'disappearance' of destiny, which sinks back to the somnolence of daily life .. The protagonist of the stories is in fact destiny itself.
Though invisible, fate may be considered a leading character in the One Thousand and One Nights.[58] The plot devices often used to present this theme are coincidence,[59]reverse causation and the self-fulfilling prophecy (see Foreshadowing below).
Foreshadowing[edit]
Sindbad and the Valley of Diamonds, from the Second Voyage.
Early examples of the foreshadowing technique of repetitive designation, now known as 'Chekhov's gun', occur in the One Thousand and One Nights, which contains 'repeated references to some character or object which appears insignificant when first mentioned but which reappears later to intrude suddenly in the narrative'.[60] A notable example is in the tale of 'The Three Apples' (see Crime fiction elements below).
Another early foreshadowing technique is formal patterning, 'the organization of the events, actions and gestures which constitute a narrative and give shape to a story; when done well, formal patterning allows the audience the pleasure of discerning and anticipating the structure of the plot as it unfolds'. This technique is also found in One Thousand and One Nights.[56]
Another form of foreshadowing is the self-fulfilling prophecy, which dates back to the story of Krishna in ancient Sanskrit literature, and Oedipus or the death of Heracles in the plays of Sophocles. A variation of this device is the self-fulfilling dream, which can be found in Arabic literature (or the dreams of Joseph and his conflicts with his brothers, in the Hebrew Bible). Several tales in the One Thousand and One Nights use this device to foreshadow what is going to happen, as a special form of literary prolepsis. A notable example is 'The Ruined Man who Became Rich Again through a Dream', in which a man is told in his dream to leave his native city of Baghdad and travel to Cairo, where he will discover the whereabouts of some hidden treasure. The man travels there and experiences misfortune, ending up in jail, where he tells his dream to a police officer. The officer mocks the idea of foreboding dreams and tells the protagonist that he himself had a dream about a house with a courtyard and fountain in Baghdad where treasure is buried under the fountain. The man recognizes the place as his own house and, after he is released from jail, he returns home and digs up the treasure. In other words, the foreboding dream not only predicted the future, but the dream was the cause of its prediction coming true. A variant of this story later appears in English folklore as the 'Pedlar of Swaffham' and Paulo Coelho's 'The Alchemist'; Jorge Luis Borges' collection of short stories A Universal History of Infamy featured his translation of this particular story into Spanish, as 'The Story Of The Two Dreamers.'[61]
Another variation of the self-fulfilling prophecy can be seen in 'The Tale of Attaf', where Harun al-Rashid consults his library (the House of Wisdom), reads a random book, 'falls to laughing and weeping and dismisses the faithful vizierJa'far ibn Yahya from sight. Ja'afar, 'disturbed and upset flees Baghdad and plunges into a series of adventures in Damascus, involving Attaf and the woman whom Attaf eventually marries.' After returning to Baghdad, Ja'afar reads the same book that caused Harun to laugh and weep, and discovers that it describes his own adventures with Attaf. In other words, it was Harun's reading of the book that provoked the adventures described in the book to take place. This is an early example of reverse causation.[62] Near the end of the tale, Attaf is given a death sentence for a crime he didn't commit but Harun, knowing the truth from what he has read in the book, prevents this and has Attaf released from prison. In the 12th century, this tale was translated into Latin by Petrus Alphonsi and included in his Disciplina Clericalis,[63] alongside the 'Sindibad' story cycle.[64] In the 14th century, a version of 'The Tale of Attaf' also appears in the Gesta Romanorum and Giovanni Boccaccio's The Decameron.[63]
Repetition[edit]
Illustration of One Thousand and One Nights by Sani ol molk, Iran, 1849–1856
Leitwortstil is 'the purposeful repetition of words' in a given literary piece that 'usually expresses a motif or theme important to the given story'. This device occurs in the One Thousand and One Nights, which binds several tales in a story cycle. The storytellers of the tales relied on this technique 'to shape the constituent members of their story cycles into a coherent whole.'[53]
Thematic patterning is 'the distribution of recurrent thematic concepts and moralistic motifs among the various incidents and frames of a story. In a skillfully crafted tale, thematic patterning may be arranged so as to emphasize the unifying argument or salient idea which disparate events and disparate frames have in common'. This technique is also used in the One Thousand and One Nights.[56]
Several different variants of the 'Cinderella' story, which has its origins in the Egyptian story of Rhodopis, appear in the One Thousand and One Nights, including 'The Second Shaykh's Story', 'The Eldest Lady's Tale' and 'Abdallah ibn Fadil and His Brothers', all dealing with the theme of a younger sibling harassed by two jealous elders. In some of these, the siblings are female, while in others they are male. One of the tales, 'Judar and His Brethren', departs from the happy endings of previous variants and reworks the plot to give it a tragic ending instead, with the younger brother being poisoned by his elder brothers.[65]
Sexual humour[edit]
The Nights contain many examples of sexual humour. Some of this borders on satire, as in the tale called 'Ali with the Large Member' which pokes fun at obsession with human penis size.[66][67]
Unreliable narrator[edit]
The literary device of the unreliable narrator was used in several fictional medieval Arabic tales of the One Thousand and One Nights. In one tale, 'The Seven Viziers' (also known as 'Craft and Malice of Women or The Tale of the King, His Son, His Concubine and the Seven Wazirs'), a courtesan accuses a king's son of having assaulted her, when in reality she had failed to seduce him (inspired by the Qur'anic/Biblical story of Yusuf/Joseph). Seven viziers attempt to save his life by narrating seven stories to prove the unreliability of women, and the courtesan responds back by narrating a story to prove the unreliability of viziers.[68] The unreliable narrator device is also used to generate suspense in 'The Three Apples' and humor in 'The Hunchback's Tale' (see Crime fiction elements below).
Crime fiction elements[edit]
Illustration depicting Morgiana and the thieves from Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves.
An example of the murder mystery[69] and suspense thriller genres in the collection, with multiple plot twists[70] and detective fiction elements[71] was 'The Three Apples', also known as Hikayat al-sabiyya 'l-maqtula ('The Tale of the Murdered Young Woman'),[72] one of the tales narrated by Scheherazade in the One Thousand and One Nights.In this tale, Harun al-Rashid comes to possess a chest, which, when opened, contains the body of a young woman. Harun gives his vizier, Ja'far, three days to find the culprit or be executed. At the end of three days, when Ja'far is about to be executed for his failure, two men come forward, both claiming to be the murderer. As they tell their story it transpires that, although the younger of them, the woman's husband, was responsible for her death, some of the blame attaches to a slave, who had taken one of the apples mentioned in the title and caused the woman's murder.Harun then gives Ja'far three more days to find the guilty slave. When he yet again fails to find the culprit, and bids his family goodbye before his execution, he discovers by chance his daughter has the apple, which she obtained from Ja'far's own slave, Rayhan. Thus the mystery is solved.
Another Nights tale with crime fiction elements was 'The Hunchback's Tale' story cycle which, unlike 'The Three Apples', was more of a suspensefulcomedy and courtroom drama rather than a murder mystery or detective fiction. The story is set in a fictional China and begins with a hunchback, the emperor's favourite comedian, being invited to dinner by a tailor couple. The hunchback accidentally chokes on his food from laughing too hard and the couple, fearful that the emperor will be furious, take his body to a Jewish doctor's clinic and leave him there. This leads to the next tale in the cycle, the 'Tale of the Jewish Doctor', where the doctor accidentally trips over the hunchback's body, falls down the stairs with him, and finds him dead, leading him to believe that the fall had killed him. The doctor then dumps his body down a chimney, and this leads to yet another tale in the cycle, which continues with twelve tales in total, leading to all the people involved in this incident finding themselves in a courtroom, all making different claims over how the hunchback had died.[73] Crime fiction elements are also present near the end of 'The Tale of Attaf' (see Foreshadowing above).
Horror fiction elements[edit]
Haunting is used as a plot device in gothic fiction and horror fiction, as well as modern paranormal fiction. Legends about haunted houses have long appeared in literature. In particular, the Arabian Nights tale of 'Ali the Cairene and the Haunted House in Baghdad' revolves around a house haunted by jinns.[74] The Nights is almost certainly the earliest surviving literature that mentions ghouls, and many of the stories in that collection involve or reference ghouls. A prime example is the story The History of Gherib and His Brother Agib (from Nights vol. 6), in which Gherib, an outcast prince, fights off a family of ravenous Ghouls and then enslaves them and converts them to Islam.[75]
Horror fiction elements are also found in 'The City of Brass' tale, which revolves around a ghost town.[76]
The horrific nature of Scheherazade's situation is magnified in Stephen King's Misery, in which the protagonist is forced to write a novel to keep his captor from torturing and killing him. The influence of the Nights on modern horror fiction is certainly discernible in the work of H. P. Lovecraft. As a child, he was fascinated by the adventures recounted in the book, and he attributes some of his creations to his love of the 1001 Nights.[77]
Fantasy and science fiction elements[edit]
Illustration of the story of Prince Ahmed and the Fairy Paribanou, More tales from the Arabian nights by Willy Pogany (1915)
Several stories within the One Thousand and One Nights feature early science fiction elements. One example is 'The Adventures of Bulukiya', where the protagonist Bulukiya's quest for the herb of immortality leads him to explore the seas, journey to Paradise and to Hell, and travel across the cosmos to different worlds much larger than his own world, anticipating elements of galactic science fiction;[78] along the way, he encounters societies of djinn,[79]mermaids, talking serpents, talking trees, and other forms of life.[78] In 'Abu al-Husn and His Slave-Girl Tawaddud', the heroine Tawaddud gives an impromptu lecture on the mansions of the Moon, and the benevolent and sinister aspects of the planets.[80]
In another 1001 Nights tale, 'Abdullah the Fisherman and Abdullah the Merman', the protagonist Abdullah the Fisherman gains the ability to breathe underwater and discovers an underwater society that is portrayed as an inverted reflection of society on land, in that the underwater society follows a form of primitive communism where concepts like money and clothing do not exist. Other Arabian Nights tales also depict Amazon societies dominated by women, lost ancient technologies, advanced ancient civilizations that went astray, and catastrophes which overwhelmed them.[81] 'The City of Brass' features a group of travellers on an archaeological expedition[82] across the Sahara to find an ancient lost city and attempt to recover a brass vessel that Solomon once used to trap a jinn,[83] and, along the way, encounter a mummified queen, petrified inhabitants,[84] lifelike humanoid robots and automata, seductive marionettes dancing without strings,[85] and a brass horseman robot who directs the party towards the ancient city,[86] which has now become a ghost town.[76] The 'Third Qalandar's Tale' also features a robot in the form of an uncanny boatman.[86]
Poetry[edit]
There is an abundance of Arabic poetry in One Thousand and One Nights. Characters occasionally provide poetry in certain settings, covering many uses. However, pleading, beseeching and praising the powerful is the most significant.
The uses would include but are not limited to:
- Giving advice, warning, and solutions.
- Praising God, royalties and those in power.
- Pleading for mercy and forgiveness.
- Lamenting wrong decisions or bad luck.
- Providing riddles, laying questions, challenges.
- Criticizing elements of life, wondering.
- Expressing feelings to others or one's self: happiness, sadness, anxiety, surprise, anger.
In a typical example, expressing feelings of happiness to oneself from Night 203, Prince Qamar Al-Zaman,[87] standing outside the castle, wants to inform Queen Bodour of his arrival. He wraps his ring in a paper and hands it to the servant who delivers it to the Queen. When she opens it and sees the ring, joy conquers her, and out of happiness she chants this poem:[88]
وَلَقـدْ نَدِمْـتُ عَلى تَفَرُّقِ شَمْــلِنا :: دَهْـرَاً وّفاضَ الدَّمْـعُ مِنْ أَجْفـاني
وَنَـذَرْتُ إِنْ عـادَ الزَّمـانُ يَلُمـُّـنا :: لا عُــدْتُ أَذْكُــرُ فُرْقًــةً بِلِســاني
هَجَــمَ السُّــرورُ عَلَــيَّ حَتَّـى أَنَّهُ :: مِـنْ فَــرَطِ مـا سَــرَّني أَبْكــــاني
يا عَيْـنُ صـارَ الدَّمْـعُ مِنْكِ سِجْيَةً :: تَبْكيــنَ مِـنْ فَـــرَحٍ وَأَحْزانـــــي
وَنَـذَرْتُ إِنْ عـادَ الزَّمـانُ يَلُمـُّـنا :: لا عُــدْتُ أَذْكُــرُ فُرْقًــةً بِلِســاني
هَجَــمَ السُّــرورُ عَلَــيَّ حَتَّـى أَنَّهُ :: مِـنْ فَــرَطِ مـا سَــرَّني أَبْكــــاني
يا عَيْـنُ صـارَ الدَّمْـعُ مِنْكِ سِجْيَةً :: تَبْكيــنَ مِـنْ فَـــرَحٍ وَأَحْزانـــــي
Transliteration:
Wa-laqad nadimtu 'alá tafarruqi shamlinā :: Dahran wa-fāḍa ad-dam'u min ajfānī
Wa-nadhartu in 'āda az-zamānu yalumanā :: la 'udtu adhkuru furqatan bilisānī
Hajama as-sarūru 'alayya ḥattá annahu :: min faraṭi mā sarranī abkānī
Yā 'aynu ṣāra ad-dam'u minki sijyatan :: tabkīna min faraḥin wa-'aḥzānī
Wa-nadhartu in 'āda az-zamānu yalumanā :: la 'udtu adhkuru furqatan bilisānī
Hajama as-sarūru 'alayya ḥattá annahu :: min faraṭi mā sarranī abkānī
Yā 'aynu ṣāra ad-dam'u minki sijyatan :: tabkīna min faraḥin wa-'aḥzānī
Literal translation:
And I have regretted the separation of our companionship :: An eon, and tears flooded my eyes
And I've sworn if time brought us back together :: I'll never utter any separation with my tongue
Joy conquered me to the point of :: which it made me happy that I cried
Oh eye, the tears out of you became a principle :: You cry out of joy and out of sadness
And I've sworn if time brought us back together :: I'll never utter any separation with my tongue
Joy conquered me to the point of :: which it made me happy that I cried
Oh eye, the tears out of you became a principle :: You cry out of joy and out of sadness
Burton's verse translation:
Long, long have I bewailed the sev'rance of our loves, With tears that from my lids streamed down like burning rain
And vowed that, if the days deign reunite us two, My lips should never speak of severance again:
Joy hath o'erwhelmed me so that, for the very stress Of that which gladdens me to weeping I am fain.
Tears are become to you a habit, O my eyes, So that ye weep as well for gladness as for pain.
And vowed that, if the days deign reunite us two, My lips should never speak of severance again:
Joy hath o'erwhelmed me so that, for the very stress Of that which gladdens me to weeping I am fain.
Tears are become to you a habit, O my eyes, So that ye weep as well for gladness as for pain.
In world culture[edit]
The Flying Carpet, a depiction of the hero of Russian folklore, Ivan Tsarevich.
The influence of the versions of The Nights on world literature is immense. Writers as diverse as Henry Fielding to Naguib Mahfouz have alluded to the collection by name in their own works. Other writers who have been influenced by the Nights include John Barth, Jorge Luis Borges, Salman Rushdie, Orhan Pamuk, Goethe, Walter Scott, Thackeray, Wilkie Collins, Elizabeth Gaskell, Nodier, Flaubert, Marcel Schwob, Stendhal, Dumas, Gérard de Nerval, Gobineau, Pushkin, Tolstoy, Hofmannsthal, Conan Doyle, W. B. Yeats, H. G. Wells, Cavafy, Calvino, Georges Perec, H. P. Lovecraft, Marcel Proust, A. S. Byatt and Angela Carter.[89]
Various characters from this epic have themselves become cultural icons in Western culture, such as Aladdin, Sinbad and Ali Baba. Part of its popularity may have sprung from improved standards of historical and geographical knowledge. The marvelous beings and events typical of fairy tales seem less incredible if they are set further 'long ago' or farther 'far away'; this process culminates in the fantasy world having little connection, if any, to actual times and places. Several elements from Arabian mythology are now common in modern fantasy, such as genies, bahamuts, magic carpets, magic lamps, etc. When L. Frank Baum proposed writing a modern fairy tale that banished stereotypical elements, he included the genie as well as the dwarf and the fairy as stereotypes to go.[90]
In 1982, the International Astronomical Union (IAU) began naming features on Saturn's moon Enceladus after characters and places in Burton's translation[91] because 'its surface is so strange and mysterious that it was given the Arabian Nights as a name bank, linking fantasy landscape with a literary fantasy'.[1]
In Arab culture[edit]
There is little evidence that the Nights was particularly treasured in the Arab world. It is rarely mentioned in lists of popular literature and few pre-18th-century manuscripts of the collection exist.[92] Fiction had a low cultural status among Medieval Arabs compared with poetry, and the tales were dismissed as khurafa (improbable fantasies fit only for entertaining women and children). According to Robert Irwin, 'Even today, with the exception of certain writers and academics, the Nights is regarded with disdain in the Arabic world. Its stories are regularly denounced as vulgar, improbable, childish and, above all, badly written.'[93] Nevertheless, the Nights have proved an inspiration to some modern Egyptian writers, such as Tawfiq al-Hakim (author of the Symbolist play Shahrazad, 1934), Taha Hussein (Scheherazade's Dreams, 1943)[94] and Naguib Mahfouz (Arabian Nights and Days, 1981). Also film and TV adaptations based on stories like Sinbad and Aladdin enjoyed long lasting popularity in Arabic speaking countries.
Possible early influence on European literature[edit]
Although the first known translation into a European language only appeared in 1704, it is possible that the Nights began exerting its influence on Western culture much earlier. Christian writers in Medieval Spain translated many works from Arabic, mainly philosophy and mathematics, but also Arab fiction, as is evidenced by Juan Manuel's story collection El Conde Lucanor and Ramón Llull's The Book of Beasts.[95] Knowledge of the work, direct or indirect, apparently spread beyond Spain. Themes and motifs with parallels in the Nights are found in Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales (in The Squire's Tale the hero travels on a flying brass horse) and Boccaccio's Decameron. Echoes in Giovanni Sercambi's Novelle and Ariosto's Orlando Furioso suggest that the story of Shahriyar and Shahzaman was also known.[96] Evidence also appears to show that the stories had spread to the Balkans and a translation of the Nights into Romanian existed by the 17th century, itself based on a Greek version of the collection.[97]
Western literature from the 18th century onwards[edit]
Classic Comics issue #8
The modern fame of the Nights derives from the first known European translation by Antoine Galland, which appeared in 1704. According to Robert Irwin, Galland 'played so large a part in discovering the tales, in popularizing them in Europe and in shaping what would come to be regarded as the canonical collection that, at some risk of hyperbole and paradox, he has been called the real author of the Nights.'[98] The immediate success of Galland's version with the French public may have been because it coincided with the vogue for contes de fées ('fairy stories'). This fashion began with the publication of Madame d'Aulnoy's Histoire d'Hypolite in 1690. D'Aulnoy's book has a remarkably similar structure to the Nights, with the tales told by a female narrator. The success of the Nights spread across Europe and by the end of the century there were translations of Galland into English, German, Italian, Dutch, Danish, Russian, Flemish and Yiddish.[99] Galland's version provoked a spate of pseudo-Oriental imitations. At the same time, some French writers began to parody the style and concoct far-fetched stories in superficially Oriental settings. These tongue-in-cheek pastiches include Anthony Hamilton's Les quatre Facardins (1730), Crébillon's Le sopha (1742) and Diderot's Les bijoux indiscrets (1748). They often contained veiled allusions to contemporary French society. The most famous example is Voltaire's Zadig (1748), an attack on religious bigotry set against a vague pre-Islamic Middle Eastern background.[100] The English versions of the 'Oriental Tale' generally contained a heavy moralising element,[101] with the notable exception of William Beckford's fantasy Vathek (1786), which had a decisive influence on the development of the Gothic novel. The Polish nobleman Jan Potocki's novel Saragossa Manuscript (begun 1797) owes a deep debt to the Nights with its Oriental flavour and labyrinthine series of embedded tales.[102]
The work was included on a price-list of books on theology, history, and cartography, which was sent by the Scottish bookseller Andrew Millar (when an apprentice) to a Presbyterian minister. This is illustrative of the title's widespread popularity and availability in the 1720s.[103]
The Nights continued to be a favourite book of many British authors of the Romantic and Victorian eras. According to A. S. Byatt, 'In British Romantic poetry the Arabian Nights stood for the wonderful against the mundane, the imaginative against the prosaically and reductively rational.'[104] In their autobiographical writings, both Coleridge and de Quincey refer to nightmares the book had caused them when young. Wordsworth and Tennyson also wrote about their childhood reading of the tales in their poetry.[105]Charles Dickens was another enthusiast and the atmosphere of the Nights pervades the opening of his last novel The Mystery of Edwin Drood (1870).[106]
Several writers have attempted to add a thousand and second tale,[107] including Théophile Gautier (La mille deuxième nuit, 1842)[94] and Joseph Roth (Die Geschichte von der 1002. Nacht, 1939).[107]Edgar Allan Poe wrote 'The Thousand-and-Second Tale of Scheherazade' (1845). It depicts the eighth and final voyage of Sinbad the Sailor, along with the various mysteries Sinbad and his crew encounter; the anomalies are then described as footnotes to the story. While the king is uncertain—except in the case of the elephants carrying the world on the back of the turtle—that these mysteries are real, they are actual modern events that occurred in various places during, or before, Poe's lifetime. The story ends with the king in such disgust at the tale Scheherazade has just woven, that he has her executed the very next day.
Another important literary figure, the Irish poet W. B. Yeats was also fascinated by the Arabian Nights, when he wrote in his prose book, A Vision an autobiographical poem, titled The Gift of Harun Al-Rashid,[108] in relation to his joint experiments with his wife Georgie Hyde-Lees, with Automatic writing. The automatic writing, is a technique used by many occultists in order to discern messages from the subconscious mind or from other spiritual beings, when the hand moves a pencil or a pen, writing only on a simple sheet of paper and when the person's eyes are shut. Also, the gifted and talented wife, is playing in Yeats's poem as 'a gift' herself, given only allegedly by the caliph to the Christian and Byzantine philosopher Qusta Ibn Luqa, who acts in the poem as a personification of W. B. Yeats. In July 1934 he was asked by Louis Lambert, while in a tour in the United States, which six books satisfied him most. The list that he gave placed the Arabian Nights, secondary only to William Shakespeare's works.[109]
Modern authors influenced by the Nights include James Joyce, Marcel Proust, Jorge Luis Borges and John Barth.
Cinema and television[edit]
Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp (1917).
Stories from the One Thousand and One Nights have been popular subjects for films, beginning with Georges Méliès' Le Palais des Mille et une nuits (1905).
The critic Robert Irwin singles out the two versions of The Thief of Baghdad (1924 version directed by Raoul Walsh; 1940 version produced by Alexander Korda) and Pier Paolo Pasolini's Il fiore delle Mille e una notte, 1974) as ranking 'high among the masterpieces of world cinema.'[110] Michael James Lundell calls Il fiore 'the most faithful adaptation, in its emphasis on sexuality, of The 1001 Nights in its oldest form.'[111]
UPA, an American animation studio, produced an animated feature version of 1001 Arabian Nights (1959), featuring the cartoon character Mr. Magoo.[112]
The 1949 animated film The Singing Princess, another movie produced in Italy, is inspired by The Arabian Nights. The animated feature film, One Thousand and One Arabian Nights (1969), produced in Japan and directed by Osamu Tezuka and Eichii Yamamoto, featured psychedelic imagery and sounds, and erotic material intended for adults.[113]
Alif Laila (The Arabian Nights), a 1997–2002 Indian TV series based on the stories from One Thousand and One Nights produced by Sagar Entertainment Ltd, starts with Scheherazade telling her stories to Shahryār, and contains both the well-known and the lesser-known stories from One Thousand and One Nights.
Arabian Nights (2000), a two-part television mini-series adopted for BBC and ABC studios, starring Mili Avital, Dougray Scott, and John Leguizamo, and directed by Steve Barron, is based on the translation by Sir Richard Francis Burton.
Shabnam Rezaei and Aly Jetha created, and the Vancouver-based Big Bad Boo Studios produced 1001 Nights (2012), an animated television series for children, which launched on Teletoon and airs in 80 countries around the world, including Discovery Kids Asia.[114]
Arabian Nights (2015, in Portuguese: As Mil e uma Noites), a three-part film directed by Miguel Gomes, is based on One Thousand and One Nights.[115]
Music[edit]
The Nights has inspired many pieces of music, including:
Classical[edit]
- François-Adrien Boieldieu: Le calife de Bagdad (1800)
- Carl Maria von Weber: Abu Hassan (1811)
- Luigi Cherubini: Ali Baba (1833)
- Robert Schumann: Scheherazade (1848)
- Peter Cornelius: Der Barbier von Bagdad (1858)
- Ernest Reyer: La statue (1861)
- C. F. E. Horneman (1840–1906), Aladdin (overture), 1864
- Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov : Scheherazade Op. 35 (1888)[116]
- Dikran Tchouhadjian (1837–1898), Zemire (1891)
- Ferrucio Busoni: Piano Concerto in C major (1904)
- Henri Rabaud: Mârouf, savetier du Caire (1914)
- Carl Nielsen, Aladdin Suite (1918–1919)
- Collegium musicum, Suita po tisic a jednej noci (1969)
- Fikret Amirov: Arabian Nights (Ballet, 1979)
- Ezequiel Viñao, La Noche de las Noches (1990)
- Carl Davis, Aladdin (Ballet, 1999)
Pop and Rock[edit]
- Renaissance: Scheherazade and Other Stories (1975)
- Icehouse: No Promises (From the album 'Measure for Measure', 1986)
- Kamelot, Nights of Arabia (1999)
- Sarah Brightman, Harem and Arabian Nights (2003)
- Ch!pz, '1001 Arabian Nights' (2004)
- Nightwish, Sahara (2007)
- Rock On!!, Sinbad The Sailor (2008)
- Abney Park (band), Scheherazade (2013)
Games[edit]
Popular modern games with an Arabian Nights theme include the Prince of Persia series, Sonic and the Secret Rings, Disney's Aladdin, Bookworm Adventures, and the pinball table, Tales of the Arabian Nights.
Illustrators[edit]
Many artists have illustrated the Arabian nights, including: Pierre-Clément Marillier for Le Cabinet des Fées (1785–1789), Gustave Doré, Léon Carré (Granville, 1878 – Alger, 1942), Roger Blachon, Françoise Boudignon, André Dahan, Amato Soro, Albert Robida, Alcide Théophile Robaudi and Marcelino Truong; Vittorio Zecchin (Murano, 1878 – Murano, 1947) and Emanuele Luzzati; The German Morgan; Mohammed Racim (Algiers, 1896 – Algiers 1975), Sani ol-Molk (1849–1856), Anton Pieck and Emre Orhun.
Famous illustrators for British editions include: Arthur Boyd Houghton, John Tenniel, John Everett Millais and George John Pinwell for Dalziel's Illustrated Arabian Nights Entertainments, published in 1865; Walter Crane for Aladdin's Picture Book (1876); Frank Brangwyn for the 1896 edition of Lane's translation; Albert Letchford for the 1897 edition of Burton's translation; Edmund Dulac for Stories from the Arabian Nights (1907), Princess Badoura (1913) and Sindbad the Sailor & Other Tales from the Arabian Nights (1914). Others artists include John D. Batten, (Fairy Tales From The Arabian Nights, 1893), Kay Nielsen, Eric Fraser, Errol le Cain, Maxfield Parrish, W. Heath Robinson and Arthur Szyk (1954).[117]
Gallery[edit]
- The Sultan
- One Thousand and One Nights book.
- Harun ar-Rashid, a leading character of the 1001 Nights
- The fifth voyage of Sindbad
- William Harvey, The Fifth Voyage of Es-Sindbad of the Sea, 1838–40, woodcut
- William Harvey, The Story of the City of Brass, 1838–40, woodcut
- William Harvey, The Story of the Two Princes El-Amjad and El-As'ad, 1838–40, woodcut
- William Harvey, The Story of Abd Allah of the Land and Abd Allah of the Sea
- William Harvey, The Story of the Fisherman, 1838–40, woodcut
- Friedrich Gross, ante 1830, woodcut
- Friedrich Gross, ante 1830, woodcut
- Friedrich Gross, ante 1830, woodcut
- Friedrich Gross, ante 1830, woodcut
- Friedrich Gross, ante 1830, woodcut
- Friedrich Gross, ante 1830, woodcut
- Friedrich Gross, ante 1830, woodcut
- Friedrich Gross, ante 1830, woodcut
- Frank Brangwyn, Story of Abon-Hassan the Wag ('He found himself upon the royal couch'), 1895–96, watercolour and tempera on millboard
- Frank Brangwyn, Story of the Merchant ('Sheherezade telling the stories'), 1895–96, watercolour and tempera on millboard
- Frank Brangwyn, Story of Ansal-Wajooodaud, Rose-in-Bloom ('The daughter of a Visier sat at a lattice window'), 1895–96, watercolour and tempera on millboard
- Frank Brangwyn, Story of Gulnare ('The merchant uncovered her face'), 1895–96, watercolour and tempera on millboard
- Frank Brangwyn, Story of Beder Basim ('Whereupon it became eared corn'), 1895–96, watercolour and tempera on millboard
- Frank Brangwyn, Story of Abdalla ('Abdalla of the sea sat in the water, near the shore'), 1895–96, watercolour and tempera on millboard
- Frank Brangwyn, Story of Mahomed Ali ('He sat his boat afloat with them'), 1895–96, watercolour and tempera on millboard
- Frank Brangwyn, Story of the City of Brass ('They ceased not to ascend by that ladder'), 1895–96, watercolour and tempera on millboard
See also[edit]
- List of stories from The Book of One Thousand and One Nights (translation by R. F. Burton)
Notes[edit]
- ^Marzolph, Ulrich (2007). 'Arabian Nights'. In Kate Fleet; Gudrun Krämer; Denis Matringe; John Nawas; Everett Rowson (eds.). Encyclopaedia of Islam (3rd ed.). doi:10.1163/1573-3912_ei3_COM_0021.
Arabian Nights, the work known in Arabic as Alf layla wa-layla
- ^See illustration of title page of Grub St Edition in Yamanaka and Nishio (p. 225)
- ^Ulrich Marzolph (2007). The Arabian Nights in Transnational Perspective. Wayne State University Press. pp. 183–. ISBN978-0-8143-3287-0.
- ^Marzolphpa (2007), 'Arabian Nights', Encyclopaedia of Islam, I, Leiden: Brill.
- ^John Payne, Alaeddin and the Enchanted Lamp and Other Stories, (London 1901) gives details of Galland's encounter with 'Hanna' in 1709 and of the discovery in the Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris of two Arabic manuscripts containing Aladdin and two more of the added tales. Text of 'Alaeddin and the enchanted lamp'
- ^ abCh. Pellat (2011). 'Alf Layla Wa Layla'. Encyclopaedia Iranica.
- ^The Arabian Nights, translated by Malcolm C. Lyons and Ursula Lyons (Penguin Classics, 2008), vol. 1, p. 1
- ^ abHamori, A. (2012). 'S̲h̲ahrazād'. In P. Bearman; Th. Bianquis; C.E. Bosworth; E. van Donzel; W.P. Heinrichs (eds.). Encyclopaedia of Islam (2nd ed.). Brill. doi:10.1163/1573-3912_islam_SIM_6771.
- ^The Third Voyage of Sindbad the Seaman – The Arabian Nights – The Thousand and One Nights – Sir Richard Burton translator. Classiclit.about.com (2013-07-19). Retrieved on 2013-09-23.
- ^Irwin p. 48
- ^ abReynolds p. 271
- ^Burton, Richard F. (2002). Vikram and the Vampire Or Tales of Hindu Devilry p. xi. Adamant Media Corporation
- ^Irwin, Robert (2003), The Arabian Nights: A Companion, Tauris Parke Paperbacks, p. 65, ISBN1-86064-983-1
- ^Artola. Pancatantra Manuscripts from South India in the Adyar Library Bulletin. 1957. pp. 45ff.
- ^K. Raksamani. The Nandakaprakarana attributed to Vasubhaga, a Comparative Study. University of Toronto Thesis. 1978. pp. 221ff.
- ^E. Lorgeou. Les entretiensde Nang Tantrai. Paris. 1924.
- ^C. Hooykaas. Bibliotheca Javaneca No. 2. Bandoeng. 1931.
- ^A. K. Warder. Indian Kāvya Literature: The art of storytelling, Volume VI. Motilal Banarsidass Publishers. 1992. pp. 61–62, 76–82.
- ^IIS.ac.uk Dr Fahmida Suleman, 'Kalila wa Dimna', in Medieval Islamic Civilization, An Encyclopaedia, Vol. II, pp. 432–33, ed. Josef W. Meri, New York-London: Routledge, 2006
- ^The Fables of Kalila and Dimnah, translated from the Arabic by Saleh Sa'adeh Jallad, 2002. Melisende, London, ISBN1-901764-14-1
- ^Kalilah and Dimnah; or, The fables of Bidpai; being an account of their literary history, p. xiv
- ^Pinault p. 1
- ^Pinault p. 4
- ^ abIrwin pp. 49–50
- ^ abIrwin p. 49
- ^Irwin p. 51: 'It seems probable from all the above [..] that the Persian Hezār Afsaneh was translated into Arabic in the eighth or early 9th century and was given the title Alf Khurafa before being subsequently retitled Alf Layla. However, it remains far from clear what the connection is between this fragment of the early text and the Nights stories as they have survived in later and fuller manuscripts; nor how the Syrian manuscripts related to later Egyptian versions.'
- ^Eva Sallis Scheherazade Through the Looking-Glass: The Metamorphosis of the Thousand and One Nights (Routledge, 1999), p. 2 and note 6
- ^Irwin p. 76
- ^Safa Khulusi, Studies in Comparative Literature and Western Literary Schools, Chapter: Qisas Alf Laylah wa Laylah (One thousand and one Nights), pp. 15–85. Al-Rabita Press, Baghdad, 1957.
- ^Safa Khulusi, The Influence of Ibn al-Muqaffa' on The Arabian Nights. Islamic Review, Dec 1960, pp. 29–31
- ^The Thousand and One Nights; Or, The Arabian Night's Entertainments – David Claypoole Johnston – Google Books. Books.google.com.pk. Retrieved on 2013-09-23.
- ^Irwin p. 51
- ^ abIrwin p. 50
- ^ abReynolds p. 270
- ^ abcBeaumont, Daniel. Literary Style and Narrative Technique in the Arabian Nights. p. 1. In The Arabian nights encyclopedia, Volume 1
- ^ abcIrwin, Robert. 2004. The Arabian nights: a companion. p. 55
- ^ abMarzolph, Ulrich (2017). 'Arabian Nights'. In Kate Fleet; Gudrun Krämer; Denis Matringe; John Nawas; Everett Rowson (eds.). Encyclopaedia of Islam (3rd ed.). Brill.
- ^ abcSallis, Eva. 1999. Sheherazade through the looking glass: the metamorphosis of the Thousand and One Nights. pp. 18–43
- ^Payne, John (1901). The Book Of Thousand Nights And One Night Vol-ix. London. p. 289. Retrieved 19 March 2018.
- ^Pinault, David. Story-telling techniques in the Arabian nights. pp. 1–12. Also in Encyclopedia of Arabic Literature, v. 1
- ^ abcSallis, Eva. 1999. Sheherazade through the looking glass: the metamorphosis of the Thousand and One Nights. pp. 4 passim
- ^ abcMarzolph, Ulrich and Richard van Leeuwen. 2004. The Arabian nights encyclopedia, Volume 1. pp. 506–08
- ^Madeleine Dobie, 2009. Translation in the contact zone: Antoine Galland's Mille et une nuits: contes arabes. p. 37. In Makdisi, Saree and Felicity Nussbaum: 'The Arabian Nights in Historical Context: Between East and West'
- ^ abIrwin, Robert. 2004. The Arabian nights: a companion. pp. 1–9
- ^PEN American Center. Pen.org. Retrieved on 2013-09-23.
- ^Dwight Reynolds. 'The Thousand and One Nights: A History of the Text and its Reception.' The Cambridge History of Arabic Literature: Arabic Literature in the Post-Classical Period. Cambridge UP, 2006.
- ^Irwin, Robert (2003), The Arabian Nights: A Companion, Tauris Parke Palang-faacks, ISBN1-86064-983-1
- ^'The Oriental Tale in England in the Eighteenth Century', by Martha Pike Conant, Ph.D. Columbia University Press (1908)
- ^Mack, Robert L., ed. (2009) [1995]. Arabian Nights' Entertainments. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. xvi, xxv. ISBN0192834797. Retrieved 2 July 2018.
- ^Robert Irwin (2004). The Arabian Nights: A Companion. Tauris Parke Paperbacks (Kindle edition). p. 474 (Kindle loc).
- ^Robert Irwin (2004). The Arabian Nights: A Companion. Tauris Parke Paperbacks (Kindle edition). p. 497 (Kindle loc).
- ^Ulrich Marzolph, The Arabian nights in transnational perspective, 2007, ISBN978-0-8143-3287-0, p. 230.
- ^ abHeath, Peter (May 1994), 'Reviewed work(s): Story-Telling Techniques in the Arabian Nights by David Pinault', International Journal of Middle East Studies, Cambridge University Press, 26 (2): 358–60 [359–60], doi:10.1017/s0020743800060633
- ^Ulrich Marzolph, Richard van Leeuwen, Hassan Wassouf (2004), The Arabian Nights Encyclopedia, ABC-CLIO, pp. 3–4, ISBN1-57607-204-5
- ^Burton, Richard (September 2003), The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, Volume 1, Project Gutenberg
- ^ abcHeath, Peter (May 1994), 'Reviewed work(s): Story-Telling Techniques in the Arabian Nights by David Pinault', International Journal of Middle East Studies, Cambridge University Press, 26 (2): 358–60 [360], doi:10.1017/s0020743800060633
- ^Irwin, Robert (2003), The Arabian Nights: A Companion, Tauris Parke Palang-faacks, p. 200, ISBN1-86064-983-1
- ^Irwin, Robert (2003), The Arabian Nights: A Companion, Tauris Parke Palang-faacks, p. 198, ISBN1-86064-983-1
- ^Irwin, Robert (2003), The Arabian Nights: A Companion, Tauris Parke Palang-faacks, pp. 199–200, ISBN1-86064-983-1
- ^Heath, Peter (May 1994), 'Reviewed work(s): Story-Telling Techniques in the Arabian Nights by David Pinault', International Journal of Middle East Studies, Cambridge University Press, 26 (2): 358–60 [359], doi:10.1017/s0020743800060633
- ^Irwin, Robert (2003), The Arabian Nights: A Companion, Tauris Parke Palang-faacks, pp. 193–94, ISBN1-86064-983-1
- ^Irwin, Robert (2003), The Arabian Nights: A Companion, Tauris Parke Palang-faacks, p. 199, ISBN1-86064-983-1
- ^ abUlrich Marzolph, Richard van Leeuwen, Hassan Wassouf (2004), The Arabian Nights Encyclopedia, ABC-CLIO, p. 109, ISBN1-57607-204-5
- ^Irwin, Robert (2003), The Arabian Nights: A Companion, Tauris Parke Palang-faacks, p. 93, ISBN1-86064-983-1
- ^Ulrich Marzolph, Richard van Leeuwen, Hassan Wassouf (2004), The Arabian Nights Encyclopedia, ABC-CLIO, p. 4, ISBN1-57607-204-5
- ^Ulrich Marzolph, Richard van Leeuwen, Hassan Wassouf (2004), The Arabian Nights Encyclopedia, ABC-CLIO, pp. 97–98, ISBN1-57607-204-5
- ^'Ali with the Large Member' is only in the Wortley Montague manuscript (1764), which is in the Bodleian Library, and is not found in Burton or any of the other standard translations. (Ref: Arabian Nights Encyclopedia).
- ^Pinault, David (1992), Story-telling Techniques in the Arabian Nights, Brill Publishers, p. 59, ISBN90-04-09530-6
- ^Marzolph, Ulrich (2006), The Arabian Nights Reader, Wayne State University Press, pp. 240–42, ISBN0-8143-3259-5
- ^Pinault, David (1992), Story-Telling Techniques in the Arabian Nights, Brill Publishers, pp. 93, 95, 97, ISBN90-04-09530-6
- ^Pinault, David (1992), Story-Telling Techniques in the Arabian Nights, Brill Publishers, pp. 91, 93, ISBN90-04-09530-6
- ^Marzolph, Ulrich (2006), The Arabian Nights Reader, Wayne State University Press, p. 240, ISBN0-8143-3259-5
- ^Ulrich Marzolph, Richard van Leeuwen, Hassan Wassouf (2004), The Arabian Nights Encyclopedia, ABC-CLIO, pp. 2–4, ISBN1-57607-204-5
- ^Yuriko Yamanaka, Tetsuo Nishio (2006), The Arabian Nights and Orientalism: Perspectives from East & West, I.B. Tauris, p. 83, ISBN1-85043-768-8
- ^Al-Hakawati. 'The Story of Gherib and his Brother Agib'. Thousand Nights and One Night. Archived from the original on December 21, 2008. Retrieved October 2, 2008.
- ^ abHamori, Andras (1971), 'An Allegory from the Arabian Nights: The City of Brass', Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, Cambridge University Press, 34 (1): 9–19 [10], doi:10.1017/S0041977X00141540 The hero of the tale is an historical person, Musa bin Nusayr.
- ^Daniel Harms, John Wisdom Gonce, John Wisdom Gonce, III (2003), The Necronomicon Files: The Truth Behind Lovecraft's Legend, Weiser, pp. 87–90, ISBN978-1-57863-269-5
- ^ abIrwin, Robert (2003), The Arabian Nights: A Companion, Tauris Parke Palang-faacks, p. 209, ISBN1-86064-983-1
- ^Irwin, Robert (2003), The Arabian Nights: A Companion, Tauris Parke Palang-faacks, p. 204, ISBN1-86064-983-1
- ^Irwin, Robert (2003), The Arabian Nights: A Companion, Tauris Parke Palang-faacks, p. 190, ISBN1-86064-983-1
- ^Irwin, Robert (2003), The Arabian Nights: A Companion, Tauris Parke Palang-faacks, pp. 211–12, ISBN1-86064-983-1
- ^Hamori, Andras (1971), 'An Allegory from the Arabian Nights: The City of Brass', Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, Cambridge University Press, 34 (1): 9–19 [9], doi:10.1017/S0041977X00141540
- ^Pinault, David (1992), Story-Telling Techniques in the Arabian Nights, Brill Publishers, pp. 148–49, 217–19, ISBN90-04-09530-6
- ^Irwin, Robert (2003), The Arabian Nights: A Companion, Tauris Parke Palang-faacks, p. 213, ISBN1-86064-983-1
- ^Hamori, Andras (1971), 'An Allegory from the Arabian Nights: The City of Brass', Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, Cambridge University Press, 34 (1): 9–19 [12–3], doi:10.1017/S0041977X00141540
- ^ abPinault, David (1992), Story-Telling Techniques in the Arabian Nights, Brill Publishers, pp. 10–11, ISBN90-04-09530-6
- ^Burton Nights. Mythfolklore.net (2005-01-01). Retrieved on 2013-09-23.
- ^Tale of Nur Al-Din Ali and His Son Badr Al-Din Hasan – The Arabian Nights – The Thousand and One Nights – Sir Richard Burton translator. Classiclit.about.com (2013-07-19). Retrieved on 2013-09-23.
- ^Irwin, Robert (2003), The Arabian Nights: A Companion, Tauris Parke Palang-faacks, p. 290, ISBN1-86064-983-1
- ^James Thurber, 'The Wizard of Chitenango', p. 64 Fantasists on Fantasy edited by Robert H. Boyer and Kenneth J. Zahorski, ISBN0-380-86553-X.
- ^Blue, J.; (2006) Categories for Naming Planetary Features. Retrieved November 16, 2006.
- ^Reynolds p. 272
- ^Irwin pp. 81–82
- ^ ab'Encyclopaedia Iranica'. Iranicaonline.org. Retrieved 2013-10-18.
- ^Irwin pp. 92–94
- ^Irwin pp. 96–99
- ^Irwin pp. 61–62
- ^Irwin p. 14
- ^Reynolds pp. 279–81
- ^Irwin pp. 238–41
- ^Irwin p.242
- ^Irwin pp. 245–60
- ^'The manuscripts, Letter from Andrew Millar to Robert Wodrow, 5 August, 1725. Andrew Millar Project. University of Edinburgh'. www.millar-project.ed.ac.uk. Retrieved 2016-06-03.
- ^A. S. Byatt On Histories and Stories (Harvard University Press, 2001) p. 167
- ^Wordsworth in Book Five of The Prelude; Tennyson in his poem 'Recollections of the Arabian Nights'. (Irwin, pp. 266–69)
- ^Irwin p. 270
- ^ abByatt p. 168
- ^'The Cat and the Moon and Certain Poems by William Butler Yeats'(PDF).
- ^Jeffares, A. Norman; Cross, K. G. W. (18 June 1965). 'In Excited Reverie: Centenary Tribute to W.B. Yeats'. Springer – via Google Books.
- ^Irwin, pp. 291–92
- ^Lundell, Michael (2013), 'Pasolini's Splendid Infidelities: Un/Faithful Film Versions of The Thousand and One Nights', Adaptation, Oxford University Press, 6 (1): 120–27, doi:10.1093/adaptation/aps022
- ^Maltin, Leonard (1987). Of Mice and Magic: A History of American Animated Cartoons. New American Library. pp. 341–42. ISBN0-452-25993-2.
- ^One Thousand and One Arabian Nights Review (1969). Thespinningimage.co.uk. Retrieved on 2013-09-23.
- ^1001 Nights heads to Discovery Kids Asia. Kidscreen (2013-06-13). Retrieved on 2013-09-23.
- ^The Most Ambitious Movie At This Year's Cannes Film Festival is 'Arabian Nights'. Retrieved on 2015-01-18.
- ^See Encyclopædia Iranica (NB: Some of the dates provided there are wrong)
- ^Irwin, Robert (March 12, 2011). 'The Arabian Nights: a thousand and one illustrations'. The Guardian.
Sources[edit]
- Robert IrwinThe Arabian Nights: A Companion (Tauris Parke, 2005)
- David Pinault Story-Telling Techniques in the Arabian Nights (Brill Publishers, 1992)
- Ulrich Marzolph, Richard van Leeuwen, Hassan Wassouf,The Arabian Nights Encyclopedia (2004)
- Ulrich Marzolph (ed.) The Arabian Nights Reader (Wayne State University Press, 2006)
- Dwight Reynolds, 'A Thousand and One Nights: a history of the text and its reception' in The Cambridge History of Arabic Literature Vol 6. (CUP 2006)
- Eva Sallis Scheherazade Through the Looking-Glass: The Metamorphosis of the Thousand and One Nights (Routledge, 1999),
- Yamanaka, Yuriko and Nishio, Tetsuo (ed.) The Arabian Nights and Orientalism – Perspectives from East and West (I.B.Tauris, 2006) ISBN1-85043-768-8
- Ch. Pellat, 'Alf Layla Wa Layla' in Encyclopædia Iranica. Online Access June 2011 at [2]
Further reading[edit]
- Where is A Thousand Tales? [Hezar Afsan Kojast?] by Bahram Beyzai, Roshangaran va Motale'ate Zanan, 2012.
- Horta, Paulo Lemos, Marvellous Thieves: The Secret Authors of the Arabian Nights (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2017).
- Marzolph, Ulrich, 'Arabian Nights', in Encyclopaedia of Islam, 3rd edn (Leiden: Brill, 2007-), doi:10.1163/1573-3912_ei3_COM_0021
- The Islamic Context of The Thousand and One Nights by Muhsin J. al-Musawi, Columbia University Press, 2009.
- Nurse, Paul McMichael. Eastern Dreams: How the Arabian Nights Came to the World Viking Canada: 2010. General popular history of the 1001 Nights from its earliest days to the present.
- Shah, Tahir, In Arabian Nights: A search of Morocco through its stories and storytellers (Doubleday, 2008).
External links[edit]
Media related to Arabian Nights at Wikimedia Commons Quotations related to One Thousand and One Nights at Wikiquote Arabic Wikisource has original text related to this article: ألف ليلة وليلة Works related to One Thousand and One Nights at Wikisource
- The Thousand Nights and a Night in several classic translations, including the Sir Richard Francis Burton unexpurgated translation and John Payne translation, with additional material.
- The Arabian Nights Entertainments, Selected and Edited by Andrew Lang, Longmans, Green and Co., 1918 (1898).
- Read all the 1001 Nights fairytales
- The Arabian Nights public domain audiobook at LibriVox
- The Arabian Nights, BBC Radio 4 discussion with Robert Irwin, Marina Warner and Gerard van Gelder (In Our Time, October 18, 2007)
Retrieved from 'https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=One_Thousand_and_One_Nights&oldid=904464701'
Agni | |
---|---|
Member of the Pancha Bhoota | |
Agni with an aura of flames, seated on ram | |
Affiliation | Deva, Aditya |
Abode | Agniloka |
Weapon | Staff |
Mount | Ram[1] |
Personal information | |
Consort | Svaha |
Parents | Kashyapa and Aditi[2] |
Siblings | Indra, Brihaspati, Varuna, Vayu, Dyaus, Samudra |
Agni (/ˈæɡni/AG-nee,[5]Sanskrit: अग्नि, Pali: Aggi, Malay: Api) is a Sanskrit word meaning fire, and connotes the Vedic fire god of Hinduism.[6][7][8] He is also the guardian deity of the southeast direction, and is typically found in southeast corners of Hindu temples.[9] In the classical cosmology of the Indian religions, Agni as fire is one of the five inert impermanent constituents (Dhatus) along with space (Akasha/Dyaus), water (Jal), air (Vayu/ Varuna) and earth (Prithvi), the five combining to form the empirically perceived material existence (Prakriti).[7][10][11]
In Vedic literature, Agni is a major and oft-invoked god along with Indra and Soma.[7][12] Agni is considered the mouth of the gods and goddesses, and the medium that conveys offerings to them in a homa (votive ritual).[6][13][14] He is conceptualized in ancient Hindu texts to exist at three levels, on earth as fire, in the atmosphere as lightning, and in the sky as the sun. This triple presence connects him as the messenger between gods and human beings in the Vedic thought.[7] The relative importance of Agni declined in the post-Vedic era,[15] as he was internalized[16] and his identity evolved to metaphorically represent all transformative energy and knowledge in the Upanishads and later Hindu literature.[17][18][19] Agni remains an integral part of Hindu traditions, such as being the central witness of the rite-of-passage ritual in traditional Hindu weddings called Saptapadi or Agnipradakshinam (seven steps and mutual vows), as well being part of Diya (lamp) in festivals such as Divali and Aarti in Puja.[7]
Agni (Pali: Aggi) is a term that appears extensively in Buddhist texts,[20] and in the literature related to the Senika heresy debate within the Buddhist traditions.[21][22] In the ancient Jainism thought, Agni (fire) contains soul and fire-bodied beings,[23] additionally appears as Agni-kumara or 'fire princes' in its theory of rebirth and a class of reincarnated beings,[24] and is discussed in its texts with the equivalent term Tejas.[25]
- 3Texts
- 4Significance
- 5Iconography
- 6Relationships
- 7Mythologies
- 8Buddhism
Etymology and meaning[edit]
Agni (fire) is a part of major rites-of-passage rituals such as weddings and cremation in Indian religions.
Sanskrit Agni continues one of two core terms for fire reconstructed to Proto-Indo-European, *h₁n̥gʷnís, other reflexes of which include Latinignis (the root of English ignite), Sclavonian ogni;[26] Russian огонь (ogon), Polish 'ogień', Slovenian 'ogenj', Serbian oganj, and Lithuanian ugnis, all meaning 'fire'.[27]; synchronically, the ancient Indian grammarians variously derived it:
- from root aj, which in Sanskrit means 'to drive' and mirrors in Indo-European languages (Latin ago, Greek ἄγω) in the sense of 'nimble, agile'.[28][29]
- from agri, the root of which means 'first', referring to 'that first in the universe to arise' or 'fire' according to Shatapatha Brahmana section 6.1.1; the Brahmana claims this is cryptically called as Agni because everyone including the gods are known to love short nicknames.[30]
- according to the 5th-century BCE Sanskrit text Nirukta-Nighantu in section 7.14, sage Śakapūṇi states the word Agni is derived from three verbs – from 'going', from 'shining or burning', and from 'leading'; the letter 'a' (अ) is from root 'i' which he claims implies 'to go', the letter 'g' (ग्) is from the root 'añj' meaning 'to shine' or 'dah' meaning 'to burn', and the last letter is by itself the root 'nī' (नी) which means 'to lead'.[31]
In the early Vedic literature, Agni primarily connotes the fire as a god, one reflecting the primordial powers to consume, transform and convey.[32][33] Yet the term is also used with the meaning of a Mahabhuta (constitutive substance), one of five that the earliest Vedic thinkers believed to constitute material existence, and that later Vedic thinkers such as Kanada and Kapila expanded widely, namely Akasha (ether, space), Vayu (air), Ap (water), Prithvi (earth) and Agni (fire).[34][35]
The word Agni is used in many contexts, ranging from fire in the stomach, the cooking fire in a home, the sacrificial fire in an altar, the fire of cremation, the fire of rebirth, the fire in the energetic saps concealed within plants, the atmospheric fire in lightning and the celestial fire in the sun.[8][36][32] In the Brahmanas layer of the Vedas, such as in section 5.2.3 of Shatapatha Brahmana, Agni represents all the gods, all concepts of spiritual energy that permeates everything in the universe.[17][37] In the Upanishads and post-Vedic literature, Agni additionally became a metaphor for immortal principle in man, and any energy or knowledge that consumes and dispels a state of darkness, transforms and procreates an enlightened state of existence.[18][19][34]
Origins[edit]
Agni with an aura of flames, seated on ram.
There are many theories about the origins of the god Agni, some tracing it to Indo-European mythologies, others tracing to mythologies within the Indian tradition.[38][39]
The origin myth found in many Indo-European cultures is one of a bird, or bird like being, that carries or brings fire from the gods to mankind. Alternatively, this messenger brings an elixir of immortality from heaven to earth. In either case, the bird returns everyday with sacrificial offerings for the gods, but sometimes the bird hides or disappears without trace. Agni is molded in similar mythical themes, in some hymns with the phrase the 'heavenly bird that flies'.[39][40]
The earliest layers of the Vedic texts of Hinduism, such as section 6.1 of Kathaka Samhita and section 1.8.1 of Maitrayani Samhita state that the universe began with nothing, neither night nor day existed, what existed was just Prajapati (also referred to as Brahman).[38] Agni originated from the forehead of Prajapati, assert these texts. With the creation of Agni came light, and with that were created day and night. Agni, state these Samhitas, is the same as the Brahman, the truth, the eye of the manifested universe.[38] These mythologies develop into more complex stories about Agni's origins in the later layers of Vedic texts, such as in section 2.1.2 of the Taittiriya Brahmana and sections 2.2.3–4 of Shatapatha Brahmana.[38]
Agni is originally conceptualized as the ultimate source of the 'creator-maintainer-destroyer' triad, then one of the trinities, as the one who ruled the earth. His twin brother Indra ruled the atmosphere as the god of storm, rain and war, while Surya ruled the sky and heavens.[15][42] His position and importance evolves over time, in the 'creator-maintainer-destroyer' aspects of existence in Hindu thought.[43][note 1]
The Shatapatha Brahmana mentions there have been three previous Agnis and current one is the fourth in the series.[47]
Fourfold, namely, was Agni (fire) at first. Now that Agni whom they at first chose for the office of Hotri priest passed away. He also whom they chose the second time passed away. He also whom they chose the third time passed away. Thereupon the one who still constitutes the fire in our own time, concealed himself from fear. He entered into the waters. Him the gods discovered and brought forcibly away from the waters. - 1:2:3:1
Texts[edit]
Agni seated on a ram, 14th–15th century Indonesia.
Vedas[edit]
In the Vedic pantheon, Agni occupies, after Indra, the most important position.[8] Agni is prominent in the hymns of the Vedas and particularly the Brahmanas. In the Rig Veda there are over 200 hymns that praise Agni. His name or synonyms appear in nearly a third of 1,028 hymns in the Rigveda.[48] The Rigveda opens with a hymn inviting Agni, who is then addressed later in the hymn as the guardian of Ṛta (Dharma).[49][50][note 2]
The Vedas describe the parents of Agni as two kindling fire sticks, whose loving action creates him. Just born, he is poetically presented as a tender baby, who needs loving attention lest he vanishes. With care, he sparks and smokes, then flames and grows stronger than his parents, finally so strong that he devours what created him.[52]
The hymns in these ancient texts refer to Agni with numerous epithets and synonyms, such as Jaatavedas (one with knowledge of all births and successions), Vaishvaanara (one who treats all equally), Tanunapat (son of himself, self-made), Narasansa (praised by all men), Tripatsya (with three dwellings), and many others.[52][53] In Vedic mythologies, Agni is also presented as one who is mysterious with a tendency to play hide and seek, not just with humans but with the gods. He hides in strange places such as waters where in one myth he imbues life force into living beings that dwell therein, and in another where the fishes report his presence to the gods.[54]
Agni is in hymn 10.124 of the Rigveda, a Rishi (sage-poet-composer) and along with Indra and Surya makes up the Vedic triad of deities.[55]
Agni is considered equivalent to and henotheistically identified with all the gods in the Vedic thought, which formed the foundation for the various non-dualistic and monistic theologies of Hinduism.[48] These theme of equivalence is repeatedly presented in the Vedas, such as with the following words in the Mandala 1 of the Rigveda:
They call it Indra, Mitra, Varuna, Agni,
and he is heavenly-winged Garutman.
To what is One, sages give many a title,
they call it Agni, Yama, Matarisvan.
and he is heavenly-winged Garutman.
To what is One, sages give many a title,
they call it Agni, Yama, Matarisvan.
— Rigveda 1.164.46, Translator: Klaus Klostermaier[56][57][58]
Upanishads[edit]
Agni features prominently in the major and minor Upanishads of Hinduism. Among the earliest mention is the legend of a boy named Satyakama, of uncertain parentage from an unwed mother, in chapter 4 of the Chandogya Upanishad (~700 BCE). He honestly admits his poverty and that his mother does not know who his father was, an honesty that earns him a spot in a Vedic school (gurukul).[59][60] During his studies, the boy meets Agni, who then becomes the metaphor for him as a cardinal direction, world body, eye and knowledge, and the abstract principle of Brahman which the Upanishad states is in everything and is everywhere.[59][61][62] Agni appears in section 1.13 of Chandogya Upanishad as well.[63]
In verse 18 of the Isha Upanishad, Agni is invoked with, 'O Agni, you know all the paths, lead me on to success by the good path, keep me away from the wrong path of sin'.[64][65][note 3] In sections 4.5–6 of the Maitri Upanishad, students ask their Vedic Guru (teacher) about which god is best among gods they name, a list that includes Agni.[67][68] The Guru replies that they are all supreme, all merely forms of the Brahman, the whole world is Brahman. So pick anyone, suggests the Upanishad, meditate and adore that one, then meditate over them all, then deny and discard the individuality of every one of these gods including of Agni, thus journey unto the universal, for a communion with the Purusha, the Atman.[69][70]
Sections 3 and 4 of Kena Upanishad, another major ancient Upanishad, present an allegorical story which includes gods Agni, Vayu, Indra and goddess Uma.[71] After a battle between good gods and evil demons, where Brahman helps the good gain victory, the gods wonder, 'what is this Brahman, a wonderful being?' Agni goes first to find out, but fails. Vayu too fails.[71] Then Indra tries, but meets the goddess who already understands Brahman, explains what Brahman is and how the good reached victory through the nature of Brahman.[72][73] Indra shares this knowledge with Agni and Vayu. The Kena Upanishad closes these sections by stating that 'Agni, Vayu and Indra' are revered first because they were the first among gods to realize Brahman.[71][72] The allegorical legend, states Paul Deussen, aims to teach that all the Vedic gods and natural phenomenon have their basis in the timeless, universal monistic principle called Brahman.[71]
Another ancient major Hindu scripture named Prashna Upanishad mentions Agni in its second Prashna (question section).[74] The section states that Agni and other deities manifest as five gross constituents that combine to make the entire universe, and that all the deities are internalized in the temple of a living body with Agni as the eyes.[75][76]
Agni is mentioned in many minor Upanishads, such as the Pranagnihotra Upanishad, the Yogatattva Upanishad, the Yogashikha Upanishad, the Trishikhibrahmana Upanishad and others.[77] The syncretic and monistic Shaivism text, namely Rudrahridaya Upanishad states that Rudra is same as Agni, and Uma is same as Svaha.[78][79]
Significance[edit]
Vedic rituals involve Agni. He is a part of many Hindu rites-of-passage ceremonies such as celebrating a birth (lighting a lamp), prayers (aarti lamp), at weddings (the yajna where the bride and groom circle the fire seven times) and at death (cremation). According to Atharvaveda, it is Agni that conveys the soul of the dead from the pyre to be reborn in the next world or life.[15] However, this role was in post-Vedic texts subsumed in the role of god Yama.[15] Agni has been important in temple architecture, is typically present in the southeast corner of a Hindu temple.
Saptapadi, a Hindu wedding ritual, around Agni in progress.
Rites of passage: Hindu wedding[edit]
The most important ritual of Hindu weddings is performed around Agni. It is called the Saptapadi (Sanskrit for 'seven steps/feet') or Sat Phere, and it represents the legal part of Hindu marriage.[80][81] The ritual involves a couple completing seven actual or symbolic circuits around the Agni, which is considered a witness to the vows they make to each other.[82] Each circuit of the consecrated fire is led by either the bride or the groom, varying by community and region. With each circuit, the couple makes a specific vow to establish some aspect of a happy relationship and household for each other, with Agni as the divine witness to those mutual vows.[83] In Central India and Suriname, the bride leads the first three or four circuits.[82]
Rituals: Agnihotra[edit]
The Agnihotra involves fire, and the term refers to the ritual of keeping fire at home, and in some cases making 'sacrificial offerings' such as milk and seeds to this fire.[84] The Srauta texts state that it is the duty of man to perform Agnihotra. A wide range of Agnihotra procedures are found in the Brahmana layer of the Vedas, ranging from the most common simple keeping of sacred fire and its symbolism, to more complicated procedures for the expiation of guilt, to rituals claimed to grant immortality to the performer.[85] According to the Jaiminiya Brahmana, for example, an Agnihotra sacrifice frees the performer from evil and death.[86] In contrast, states the Shatapatha Brahmana, Agnihotra is a symbolic reminder and equivalent to the Sun, where the fire keeper is reminded of the heat that creates life, the fire in beings, the heat in the womb behind the cycle of life.[87]
Festivals: Holi and Diwali[edit]
Agni is a part of the ritual grammar in many Hindu festivals. Above Holika for Holi, includes Agni.[88]
Two major festivals in Hinduism, namely Holi (festival of colors) and Diwali (festival of lights) incorporate Agni in their ritual grammar, as a symbol of divine energy.[89][90] During the autumn celebrations of Diwali, traditional small fire lamps called Diya are included to mark the festivities. For Holi, Hindus burn bonfires as Holika, on the night before the spring festival. The bonfire marks god Agni, and in rural India mothers carry their babies around the fire clockwise on Holika in Agni's remembrance.[88]
Forms[edit]
Agni has two forms: Jataveda and Kravyada:
- Jātaveda is the fire that carries the quid-pro-quo offerings to the gods, in which case Agni is light identified with knowledge and with Brahman. In the Jātaveda form, 'He who knows all creatures', Agni acts as the divine model for the priest. He is the messenger who carries the oblation from humans to the gods, bringing the Gods to sacrifice, and intercedes between gods and humans (Rig Veda I.26.3). Together with Indra, Soma, Agni is invoked in the Rig Veda more than any other gods.[91]
- Kravyād (क्रव्याद) is the form of Agni which cremates corpses, the fire of the funeral pyre that triggers the recycling of matter and spirit.[92] In this way, states Shatapatha Brahmana in verse 2.2.4.8, after one's death and at the time of cremation, Agni heats up and burns only the body, yet by its heat, one is reborn.[93]
Symbolism[edit]
One of Agni's epithets is Abhimāni (from Sanskrit: abhi (towards) + man (the verbal root man 'to think', 'reflect upon') meaning dignified, proud; longing for, thinking. Agni is a symbol of piety and purity. As expression of two kinds of energy i.e. light and heat, he is the symbol of life and activity.[citation needed]
Agni is symbolism for psychological and physiological aspects of life, states Maha Purana section LXVII.202–203. There are three kinds of Agni inside every human being, states this text, the krodha-agni or 'fire of anger', the kama-agni or 'fire of passion and desire', and the udara-agni or 'fire of digestion'. These respectively need introspective and voluntary offerings of forgiveness, detachment and fasting, if one desires spiritual freedom and liberation.[41]
Agni variously denotes the natural element fire, the supernatural deity symbolized by fire and the inner natural will aspiring for the highest knowledge.[94][95][96]
Heat, combustion and energy is the realm of Agni which symbolizes the transformation of the gross to the subtle; Agni is the life-giving energy.[97]Agnibija is the consciousness of tapas (proto-cosmic energy); agni (the energizing principle); the sun, representing the Reality (Brahman) and the Truth (Satya), is Rta, the order, the organizing principle of everything that is.[98]
Agni, who is addressed as Atithi ('guest'), is also called Jatavedasam (जातवेदसम्), meaning 'the one who knows all things that are born, created or produced.'[99] He symbolizes will-power united with wisdom.[100]
Agni is the essence of the knowledge of Existence. Agni destroys ignorance and all delusions, removes nescience. The Kanvasatpathabrahmanam (SB.IV.i.iv.11) calls Agni 'wisdom'.[note 4][101] Agni is symbolism for 'the mind swiftest among (all) those that fly.'[102] It also symbolises the soul; it is the power of change that cannot be limited or overcome. Light, heat, colour and energy are merely its outer attributes; inwardly, agni impels consciousness, perception and discernment.[103]
Iconography[edit]
The icons for Agni show wide regional variations. Left: Agni on ram, Right: Agni with goddess Svaha.
The iconography of Agni varies by region.[104] The design guidelines and specifications of his iconography are described in the Hindu Agama texts. He is shown with one to three heads, two to four armed, is typically red-complexioned or smoky grey complexioned standing next to or riding a ram, with a characteristic dramatic halo of flames leaping upwards from his crown.[105][106] He is shown as a strong looking man, sometimes bearded, with a large belly because he eats everything offered into his flames, with golden brown hair, eyes and mustache to match the color of fire.[107]
Agni holds a rosary in one hand to symbolize his prayer-related role, and a sphere in another hand in eastern states of India. In other regions, his four arms hold an ax, torch, spoon (or fan) and a flaming spear (or rosary).[107]
Seven rays of light or flames emit from his body. One of his names is Saptajihva, 'the one having seven tongues', to symbolize how rapidly he consumes sacrificial butter.[108] Occasionally, Agni iconography is shown in Rohitasva form, which has no ram as his vahana, but where he is pulled in a chariot with seven red horses, and the symbolic wind that makes fire move as the wheels of the chariot.[107] In Khmer art, Agni has been depicted with a rhinoceros as his vahana.[109][110] The number seven symbolizes his reach in all seven mythical continents in ancient Hindu cosmology or colors of a rainbow in his form as the sun.[111]
Agni has three forms, namely fire, lightning and the Sun, forms sometimes symbolized by giving his icon three heads or three legs. He sometimes is shown wearing a garland of fruits or flowers, symbolic of the offerings made into the fire.[111]
History[edit]
Agni god in southeast corner of the 11th-century Rajarani Temple in Bhubaneshwar Odisha. The ram is carved below him.
The earliest surviving artwork of Agni have been found at archaeological sites near Mathura (Uttar Pradesh), and these date from 1st-century BCE.[112] In the collection at Bharat Kalā Bhavan, there is a red sandstone sculpture from around the start of the common era but no later than 1st-century CE, identifiable as Agni shown in the garb of a Brahmin, very much like sage Kashyapa. In the Panchala coins of Agnimitra, a deity is always present with a halo of flames. In Gupta sculptures, Agni is found with a halo of flames round the body, the sacred thread across his chest, a beard, pot-bellied and holding in his right hand a amrtaghata (nectar-pot).[113] Many of these early carvings and early statues show just one head, but elaborate details such as ear-rings made of three fruits, a detailed necklace, a slightly smiling face wearing a crown, and flames engraved into the hairs at the back of Agni's statue.[112]
The iconographic statues and reliefs of god Agni are typically present in the southeast corners of a Hindu temple. However, in rare temples where Agni is envisioned as a presiding astrological divinity, according to texts such as the Samarangana Sutradhara, he is assigned the northeast corner.[114]
Agni is historically considered to be present in every grihastha (home), and therein presented in one of three forms – gārhapatya (for general domestic usage), āhavaniya (for inviting and welcoming a personage or deity) and dakshinagni (for fighting against all evil).[115]Yāska states that his predecessor Sākapuṇi regarded the threefold existence of Agni as being in earth, air and heaven as stated by the Rig Veda, but a Brāhmana considered the third manifestation to be the Sun.
Relationships[edit]
Agni (right) with his son Skanda (Karttikeya), about 1st-century CE.
Wife and children[edit]
Goddess Svaha is Agni's wife. Her name is pronounced with offerings such as butter and seeds poured into the fire during ceremonies. However, like many names in Hindu traditions, the name Svaha embeds symbolic meanings, through its relationship with the Vedic word Svadha found in the hymns of the Rigveda. Thomas Coburn states that the term Svadha refers to 'one's own particular nature or inclination', and the secondary sense of 'a customary pleasure or enjoyment, a refreshment that nourishes'.[116]Svaha is also found in the hymns of the Vedic literature, in the sense of 'welcome, praise to you'. This salutation is a remembrance of Agni, as an aspect of that which is 'the source of all beings'.[116] As a goddess and wife of Agni, Svaha represents this Shakti.[117]
In the text Devi Mahatmya of the goddess tradition of Hinduism (Shaktism), and in the Hindu mythologies, Svaha is the daughter of goddess Daksha, Svaha has a crush for Agni. She seduces him by successively impersonating six of seven women at a gurukul (school) that Agni desired for, and thus with him has a baby who grows to become god Skanda – the god of war.[117]
Other gods[edit]
Agni is identified with same characteristics, equivalent personality or stated to be identical as many major and minor gods in different layers of the Vedic literature, including Vayu, Soma, Rudra (Shiva), Varuna and Mitra.[118][119] In hymn 2.1 of the Rigveda, in successive verses, Agni is identified to be the same as twelve gods and five goddesses.[119]
Some of the gods that Agni is identified with:
- Prajapati: The vedic text Shatapatha Brahmana, in section 6.1.2 describes how and why Prajapati is the father of Agni, and also the son of Agni, because they both are the image of the one Atman (Soul, Self) that was, is and will be the true, eternal identity of the universe.[120] The Prajapati, cosmic Purusha and Agni are stated to be the same in sections 6.1.1 and 6.2.1 of Shatapatha Brahmana.[121]
- Varuna and Mitra: when Agni is born, he is Varuna; when he is kindled, he is Mitra.[119] He is also stated to become Varuna in the evening, and he is Mitra when he rises in the morning.[119]
- Indra: Agni is generally presented as Indra's twin, they both go and appear together.[122] In chapter 13.3 of the Atharvaveda, Agni is said to become Indra when he illumines the sky.[119] Agni is also called Vishva-Vedāh,[note 5] 'dawn,' which refers both to Indra, the Protector, and to the all-knowing Agni.[123]
- Rudra: in the Rig Veda Agni is addressed as having the same fierce nature as Rudra.[note 6][note 7] The Shiva-linga represents that pillar of fire which is Agni,[124][125] a Skambha symbolism borrowed in some Buddhist artworks.[126] The verses 8 through 18 in section 6.1.3 of the Shatapatha Brahmana state Rudra is same as Agni, who is known by many other names.[127] Later, in section 9.1.1, the Shatapatha Brahmana states, 'this entire Agni (fire altar) has now been completed, he is now this god Rudra'.[127]
- Savitr (Sun): Agni is same as Savitr during the day, as he traverses the space delivering light and energy to all living beings.[119]
- Vayu and Soma: in the Vedas, Agni or 'fire' (light and heat), Vayu or 'air' (energy and action), and Soma or 'water', are major deities who cooperate to empower all life. In some passages, they are stated to be aspects of the same energy and principle that transforms.[118][128]
- Gayatri: is identified with Agni in Aitareya Brahmana section 1.1, Jaiminiya Brahmana section 3.184 and Taittiriya Brahmana section 7.8, and the most revered Gayatri meter in the Sanskrit prosody and Hindu traditions is associated with Agni.[121]
- Vāc (goddess of speech) and Prana (life force): are identified with Agni in Jaiminiya Brahmana sections 1.1 and 2.54, Shatapatha Brahmana sections 2.2.2 and 3.2.2.[121]
- Sarama: in a hymn in praise of Agni,[note 8] Rishi Parāśara Śāktya speaks of Saramā, the goddess of Intuition, the forerunner of the dawn of Truth in the Human mind, who finds the Truth which is lost.[note 9] It is Saramā who is a power of the Truth, whose cows are the rays of the dawn of illumination and who awakens man who finds Agni standing in the supreme seat and goal.[129]
Mythologies[edit]
A pre-3rd century CE, Kushan Empire era red colored Agni statue.
A sage of the Rig Veda (Sukta IV.iii.11) states that the Sun became visible when Agni was born.[130]
Epics[edit]
Offended by Agni, Bhrigu had cursed Agni to become the devourer of all things on this earth, but Brahma modified that curse and made Agni the purifier of all things he touched.[131]
In the 'Khandava-daha Parva' (Mahabharata CCXXV), Agni in disguise approaches Krishna and Arjuna seeking sufficient food for gratification of his hunger; and on being asked about the kind of food which would gratify, Agni expressed the desire to consume the forest of Khandava protected by Indra for the sake of Takshaka, the chief of the Nagas. Aided by Krishna and Arjuna, Agni consumes the Khandava Forest, which burnt for fifteen days, sparing only Aswasena, Maya, and the four birds called sarangakas; later, as a boon Arjuna got all his weapons from Indra and also the bow, Gandiva, from Varuna.[132]
There is the story about King Shibi who was tested by Agni assuming the form of a pigeon and by Indra assuming the form of a hawk; Shibi offered his own flesh to the hawk in exchange of pigeon's life. The pigeon which had sought Shibi's shelter was thus saved by the king's sacrifice.[133]
Agniparikshā or 'the Fire test' has Agni as the witness. In the Ramayana, Sita voluntarily goes through this ordeal to prove her virtue.
Puranas[edit]
Agni is the eldest son of Brahma. In the Visnu Purana, Agni, called Abhimāni is said to have sprung from the mouth of the Virat purusha, the Cosmic Man. In another version, Agni emerged from the ritual fire produced by the wife of Dharma (eternal law) named Vasubhāryā (literally, 'daughter of Light').[134]
According to the Puranic mythology, Agni married Svāhā (invocation offering) and fathered three sons - Pāvaka (purifier), Pāvamāna (purifying) and Śuchi (purity). From these sons, he has forty-five grandchildren which are symbolic names of different aspects of a fire.[134][135] In some texts, Medhā (intelligence) is Agni's sister.[134]
Buddhism[edit]
Left: Agni sitting on a red goat, as medicine Buddha in 15th-century Tibetan Buddhist art;
Right: Four-armed Katen in 17th-century Japan.
Right: Four-armed Katen in 17th-century Japan.
Canonical texts[edit]
Agni (Sanskrit; Pali; Aggi) appears in many Buddhist canonical texts, as both a god as well as a metaphor for the element of heart or fire. In Pali literature, he is also called Aggi-Bhagavā, Jātaveda, and Vessānara.[136]
The Aggi-Vacchagotta Sutta, presents a philosophical exchange between Buddha and a wandering ascetic named Śreṇika Vatsagotra (Sanskrit; Pali: Senika Vacchagotta).[21][137] The conversation between Buddha and Śreṇika have remained a part of a debate that continues in modern Buddhism.[21][138] It is called the Śreṇika heresy (Japanese: Sennigedō 先尼外道).[21][139]
Śreṇika suggested that there is an eternal Self (Atman) that lives in a temporary physical body and is involved in rebirth. In the Buddhist traditions, the Buddha taught there is rebirth and Anātman, or that there is no eternal Self. The Pali texts state that Śreṇika disagreed and asked the Buddha many questions, which the Buddha refused to answer, calling his questions as indeterminate. The Buddha clarified that were he to answer Śreṇika's questions, it would 'entangle' him.[21] The Buddha explains the Dharma with Agni as a metaphor, stating that just like fire is extinguished and no longer exists after it is extinguished, in the same way all skandha that constitute a human being are extinguished after death. Different versions of this debate appear throughout scripture across traditions, such as the Mahāparinibbāṇa Sutta, and the Mahāprajñāpāramitōpadeśa. In some versions, Śreṇika offers his own simile of Agni to further his views.[21] Scholars such as Nagarjuna have extensively commented on the Śreṇika heresy.[137]
In a manner similar to the Hindu texts, the Buddhist texts also treat Agni (referred to as the fire element Tejas) as a fundamental material and building block of nature. For example, in section 11.31 of the Visuddhimagga as well as the Rūpakaṇḍa section of the Dhammasangani, Agni and Tejas are credited as that which warms, ages, burns and digests food and life processes.[41]
Art[edit]
Agni is featured prominently in the art of the Mahayana tradition.
In Tibet, he is one of the fifty-one Buddhist deities found in the mandala of medicine Buddha.[140][141] He appears in Tibetan Manjushri's mandalas as well, where he is depicted with Brahma and Indra.[142] The Tibetan iconography for Agni strongly resembles that found in the Hindu tradition, with elements such as red colored skin, a goat vehicle, conical hair and crown, a beard, and wielding a pot of water or fire in one hand, and rosary beads in the other. Such art will often include Buddhist themes such as the dharma wheel, white conch, golden fish, elephant, the endless knot.[140]
In Theravada traditions, such as that found in Thailand, Agni is a minor deity. Agni is called Phra Phloeng (also spelled Phra Plerng, literally, 'holy flames').[143][144] He is commonly depicted with two faces, eight arms, red in color, wearing a headdress in the shape of a gourd, and emitting flames. Medieval era Thai literature describes him as a deity with seven tongues, a purple crown of smoke, and fiery complexion. He rides a horse chariot, a rhinoceros or a ram.[143] Phra Phloeng's wife in these texts is stated to be Subanee, Garudee, or Swaha.[143] Some Thai texts state Nilanon to be their son.[145]
In East Asian Buddhism, Agni is a dharmapāla and often classed as one of a group of twelve deities (Japanese: Jūniten, 十二天) grouped together as directional guardians.[146]
In Japan, he is called 'Katen'. He is included with the other eleven devas, which include Taishakuten (Śakra/Indra), Fūten(Vāyu), Enmaten (Yama), Rasetsuten (Nirṛti/Rākṣasa), Ishanaten (Īśāna), Bishamonten (Vaiśravaṇa/Kubera), Suiten (Varuṇa) Bonten (Brahmā), Jiten (Pṛthivī), Nitten (Sūrya/Āditya), and Gatten (Candra).[147] While iconography varies, he is often depicted as an elderly mountain ascetic with two or three legs, and two or four arms.
Jainism[edit]
The word Agni in Jainism refers to fire, but not in the sense of Vedic ideas. Agni appears in Jain thought, as a guardian deity and in its cosmology. He is one of the eight dikpalas, or directional guardian deities in Jain temples, along with these seven: Indra, Yama, Nirrti, Varuna, Vayu, Kubera and Isana. They are typically standing, with their iconography is similar to those found in Hindu and Buddhist temple pantheon.[148][149][150]
In ancient Jain thought, living beings have souls and exist in myriad of realms, and within the earth realm shared by human beings, there are two kinds of beings: mobile and immobile.[151][152] The mobile beings – which includes tiny insects, birds, aquatic life, animals and human beings – have two or more senses, while the immobile beings have only a single sense (ekenderiya).[41][153] Among the single sense beings are plant beings, air beings (whirlwind[note 10]), earth beings (clay), water beings (dew drop) and fire beings (burning coal, meteor, lightning). The last class of beings are Agni-bodies, and these are believed to contain soul and fire-bodied beings.[23][151]Ahimsa, or non-violence, is the highest precept in Jainism. In their spiritual pursuits, Jain monks go to great lengths to practice Ahimsa; they neither start Agni nor extinguish Agni because doing so is considered violent to 'fire beings' and an act that creates harmful Karma.[41][155]
Agni-kumara or 'fire princes' are a part of Jain theory of rebirth and a class of reincarnated beings.[24] Agni or Tejas are terms used to describe substances and concepts that create beings, and in which transmigrating soul gets bound according to Jainism theology.[156]
Ancient medicine and food[edit]
Agni, as constitutive principle of fire or heat, was incorporated in Hindu texts of ancient medicine such as the Charaka Samhita and Sushruta Samhita. It is, along with Soma, the two classification premises in the pre-4th century CE medical texts found in Hinduism and Buddhism. Agni-related category, states Dominik Wujastyk, included that of 'hot, fiery, dry or parched' types, while Soma-related category included 'moist, nourishing, soothing and cooling' types. This classification system was a basis of grouping medicinal herbs, seasons of the year, tastes and foods, empirical diagnosis of human illnesses, veterinary medicine, many other aspects of health and lifestyle.[157][158][159]
Agni was viewed as the life force in a healthy body, the power to digest foods, and innate in food.[160][161] In Ayurveda, states Fleischman, 'the amount of Agni determines the state of health'.[162]
Agni is an important entity in Ayurveda. Agni is the fiery metabolic energy of digestion, allows assimilation of food while ridding the body of waste and toxins, and transforms dense physical matter into subtle forms of energy the body needs. Jathar-agni determines the production of hydrochloric acid in the stomach, Bhuta-agni determines the production of bile in the liver, Kloma-agni determines the production of sugar-digesting pancreatic enzymes and so forth. The nature and quality of these agnis depend on one's dosha which can be – vata, pitta or kapha.[163]
Agni is also known as Vaisvanara. Just as the illuminating power in the fire is a part of Agni's own effulgence, even so the heating power in the foods digestive and appetizing power is also a part of Agni's energy or potency.[164]
See also[edit]
- Atar (Zoroastrianyazata of fire)
- Hephaestus – Greek god of fire and metalworking
- Hestia – Greek goddess of hearth and sacrifice
- Kamui Fuchi – Japanese fire deity
- Vahagn – Armenian god of fire and war
- Vesta – Roman goddess of hearth and sacrifice
Notes[edit]
- ^The Trimurti idea of Hinduism, states Jan Gonda, 'seems to have developed from ancient cosmological and ritualistic speculations about the triple character of an individual god, in the first place of Agni, whose births are three or threefold, and who is threefold light, has three bodies and three stations'.[44] Other trinities, beyond the more common 'Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva', mentioned in ancient and medieval Hindu texts include: 'Indra, Vishnu, Brahmanaspati', 'Agni, Indra, Surya', 'Agni, Vayu, Aditya', 'Mahalakshmi, Mahasarasvati, and Mahakali', and others.[45][46]
- ^Other hymns of the Rigveda link Ṛta (cosmic harmony) to other Vedic deities, such as verse 10.133.6 calls on Indra for guidance on Ṛta.[51]
- ^This prayer to Agni appears in Rigveda verse 1.89.1, composed before 1200 BCE.[66]
- ^मेधायैमनसेऽग्नये स्वाहेति
- ^विश्ववेदा, appearing in the Taittiriya Samhita (IV.iii.2.10) – अभून्मम सुमतौ विश्ववेदा आष्ट प्रतिष्ठामविदद्धि गाधम्, and in the Rig Veda:
* ये पायवो मामतेयं ते अग्ने पश्यन्तो अन्धं दुरितादरक्षन् - ^According to Śatarudriya (oblation) section of the Yajurveda
- ^In a prayer (R.V.I.27.10) addressed to Agni, the sage prays ': जराबोध तद्विविड्ढि विशेविशे यज्ञियाय
- ^स्वाध्यो दिव आ सप्त यह्वी रायो (Rig Veda I.72.8)
- ^He says – विदद् गव्यं सरमा दृहमूर्वमं येना नु कं मानुषी भोजते विट् – 'Saramā discovered the strong and wide places of the hidden knowledge; this discovery brings happiness to all human beings'.
- ^For other examples from Uttaradhyayana Sutra text of Jainism, see Chapple.[154]
References[edit]
- ^Alexandra Anna Enrica van der Geer (2008). Animals in Stone: Indian Mammals Sculptured Through Time. BRILL Academic. p. 324. ISBN978-90-04-16819-0.
- ^Antonio Rigopoulos (1998). Dattatreya: The Immortal Guru, Yogin, and Avatara: A Study of the Transformative and Inclusive Character of a Multi-faceted Hindu Deity. State University of New York Press. p. 72. ISBN978-0-7914-3696-7.
- ^George M. Williams (2008). Handbook of Hindu Mythology. Oxford University Press. p. 48. ISBN978-0-19-533261-2.
- ^Wendy Doniger O'Flaherty (1994). Hindu Myths. Penguin Books. p. 97. ISBN978-0-14-400011-1.
- ^'Agni–pronunciation'. The Columbia University Press.
- ^ abPatrick Olivelle (1998). The Early Upanishads: Annotated Text and Translation. Oxford University Press. p. 18. ISBN978-0-19-535242-9.
- ^ abcdeJames G. Lochtefeld (2002). The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Hinduism: A-M. The Rosen Publishing Group. pp. 14–15. ISBN978-0-8239-3179-8.
- ^ abcStephanie W. Jamison; Joel P. Brereton (2014). The Rigveda: 3-Volume Set. Oxford University Press. pp. 40–41. ISBN978-0-19-972078-1.
- ^Stella Kramrisch; Raymond Burnier (1976). The Hindu Temple. Motilal Banarsidass. p. 92. ISBN978-81-208-0223-0.
- ^Alexander Wynne (2007). The Origin of Buddhist Meditation. Routledge. pp. 31–32. ISBN978-1-134-09741-8.
- ^Kapila Vatsyayan (1995). Prakr̥ti: Vedic, Buddhist, and Jain traditions. Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts. pp. 7, 94–95. ISBN978-81-246-0038-2.
- ^Cavendish, Richard (1998). Mythology, An Illustrated Encyclopedia of the Principal Myths and Religions of the World. ISBN1-84056-070-3
- ^Richard Payne (2015). Michael Witzel (ed.). Homa Variations: The Study of Ritual Change Across the Longue Durée. Oxford University Press. pp. 1–3. ISBN978-0-19-935158-9.
- ^Axel Michaels (2016). Homo Ritualis: Hindu Ritual and Its Significance for Ritual Theory. Oxford University Press. pp. 237–248. ISBN978-0-19-026263-1.
- ^ abcdGeorge M. Williams (2008). Handbook of Hindu Mythology. Oxford University Press. pp. 48–51. ISBN978-0-19-533261-2.
- ^Tadeusz Skorupski (2015). Michael Witzel (ed.). Homa Variations: The Study of Ritual Change Across the Longue Durée. Oxford University Press. pp. 78–84. ISBN978-0-19-935158-9.
- ^ abN. J. Shende (1965), Agni in the Brahmanas of the Ṛgveda, Annals of the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, Volume 46, Number 1/4, pages 1–28
- ^ abEdward Washburn Hopkins (1968). Epic Mythology. Biblo & Tannen. pp. 97–99. ISBN978-0-8196-0228-2.
- ^ abBettina Bäumer; Kapila Vatsyayan (1988). Kalatattvakosa: A Lexicon of Fundamental Concepts of the Indian Arts. Motilal Banarsidass. pp. 203–204. ISBN978-81-208-1402-8.
- ^T. W. Rhys Davids; William Stede (1905). The Pali-English Dictionary. Asian Educational Services. pp. 4–5. ISBN978-81-206-1273-0.
- ^ abcdefRobert E. Buswell Jr.; Donald S. Lopez Jr. (2013). The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism. Princeton University Press. pp. 852, 962. ISBN978-1-4008-4805-8.
- ^Masao Abe; Steven Heine (1992). A Study of Dogen: His Philosophy and Religion. State University of New York Press. pp. 158–162. ISBN978-0-7914-0837-7.
- ^ abChristopher Key Chapple (2006). Jainism and Ecology: Nonviolence in the Web of Life. Motilal Banarsidass. pp. 31, 43–44, 56, 173–175. ISBN978-81-208-2045-6.
- ^ abHelmuth von Glasenapp (1999). Jainism: An Indian Religion of Salvation. Motilal Banarsidass. pp. 263–264. ISBN978-81-208-1376-2.
- ^Bettina Bäumer; Kapila Vatsyayan (1988). Kalatattvakosa: A Lexicon of Fundamental Concepts of the Indian Arts. Motilal Banarsidass. pp. 226–227. ISBN978-81-208-1402-8.
- ^Maurice Phillips (1895). The Teaching of the Vedas: What Light Does it Throw on the Origin and Development of Religion?. Longmans Green. p. 57.
- ^Jaan Puhvel (2011). Words beginning with PA. Walter de Gruyter. pp. 25–26. ISBN978-3-11-023865-5.
- ^Arthur Anthony Macdonell (1898). Vedic Mythology. Motilal Banarsidass. p. 99. ISBN978-81-208-1113-3.
- ^Hervey De Witt Griswold (1971). The Religion of the Ṛigveda. Motilal Banarsidass. pp. 160 footnote 2. ISBN978-81-208-0745-7.
- ^Annette Wilke; Oliver Moebus (2011). Sound and Communication: An Aesthetic Cultural History of Sanskrit Hinduism. Walter de Gruyter. pp. 418 with footnote 147. ISBN978-3-11-024003-0.
- ^Lakshman Sarup (1998). The Nighantu and the Nirukta. Motilal Banarsidass. p. 120. ISBN978-81-208-1381-6.
- ^ abArthur Anthony Macdonell (1898). Vedic Mythology. Motilal Banarsidass. pp. 15–16, 92–93. ISBN978-81-208-1113-3.
- ^William Norman Brown; Rosane Rocher (1978). India and Indology: Selected Articles. Motilal Banarsidass. pp. 59–61.
- ^ abV.S. Agrawala (1960), Fire in the Ṛigveda, East and West, Volume 11, Number 1 (March 1960), pages 28–32
- ^Surendranath Dasgupta (1933). A History of Indian Philosophy. Cambridge University Press. pp. 73–76. ISBN978-0-521-04779-1.
- ^Cite error: The named reference
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was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^Jan Gonda (1980). 'Deities and their position and function'. Handbuch Der Orientalistik: Indien. Zweite Abteilung. BRILL Academic. pp. 301–302. ISBN978-90-04-06210-8.
- ^ abcdH. W. Bodewitz (1976). The Daily Evening and Morning Offering (Agnihotra) According to the Brāhmanas. Motilal Banarsidass. pp. 14–19. ISBN978-81-208-1951-1.
- ^ abWendy Doniger O'Flaherty (1994). Hindu Myths. Penguin Books. pp. 97–98. ISBN978-0-14-400011-1.
- ^Wendy Doniger (1981). The Rig Veda: An Anthology : One Hundred and Eight Hymns, Selected, Translated and Annotated. Penguin Books. pp. 80, 97. ISBN978-0-14-044402-5.
- ^ abcdeBettina Bäumer; Kapila Vatsyayan (1988). Kalatattvakosa: A Lexicon of Fundamental Concepts of the Indian Arts. Motilal Banarsidass. pp. 225–226. ISBN978-81-208-1402-8.
- ^The Vedic idea that the sun, lightning and fire were different manifestation of the same element and principle is summarized in many Hindu texts, such as the ancient Bṛhaddevatā.[41]
- ^Alain Daniélou (1991). The Myths and Gods of India: The Classic Work on Hindu Polytheism from the Princeton Bollingen Series. Inner Traditions. pp. 106–107. ISBN978-0-89281-354-4.
- ^Jan Gonda (1969), The Hindu Trinity, Anthropos, Bd 63/64, H 1/2, pages 218–219
- ^Jan Gonda (1969), The Hindu Trinity, Anthropos, Bd 63/64, H 1/2, pages 212–226
- ^David White (2006), Kiss of the Yogini, University of Chicago Press, ISBN978-0-226-89484-3, pages 4, 29
- ^'Satapatha Brahmana Part 1 (SBE12): First Kân'da: I, 2, 3. Third Brâhmana'.
- ^ abMerv Fowler (1999). Buddhism: Beliefs and Practices. Sussex Academic Press. pp. 6–7. ISBN978-1-898723-66-0.
- ^Wendy Doniger (1988). Textual Sources for the Study of Hinduism. Manchester University Press. pp. 6–7. ISBN978-0-7190-1866-4.
- ^William K. Mahony (1998). The Artful Universe: An Introduction to the Vedic Religious Imagination. State University of New York Press. p. 123 verse 8. ISBN978-0-7914-3580-9.
- ^William K. Mahony (1998). The Artful Universe: An Introduction to the Vedic Religious Imagination. State University of New York Press. pp. 46–55. ISBN978-0-7914-3580-9.
- ^ abStephanie W. Jamison; Joel P. Brereton (2014). The Rigveda: 3-Volume Set. Oxford University Press. pp. 41–42. ISBN978-0-19-972078-1.
- ^Arthur Anthony Macdonell (1898). Vedic Mythology. Motilal Banarsidass. pp. 71, 93–95, 99–100. ISBN978-81-208-1113-3.
- ^Wendy Doniger O'Flaherty (1994). Hindu Myths. Penguin Books. pp. 97–101. ISBN978-0-14-400011-1.
- ^Encyclopaedia of the Hindu World Vol.1. Concept Publishing Company. 1992. p. 210. ISBN9788170223740.
- ^Klaus K. Klostermaier (2010). A Survey of Hinduism: Third Edition. State University of New York Press. pp. 103 with footnote 10 on page 529. ISBN978-0-7914-8011-3.
- ^Wendy Doniger (1981). The Rig Veda: An Anthology : One Hundred and Eight Hymns, Selected, Translated and Annotated. Penguin Books. p. 80. ISBN978-0-14-044402-5.
- ^Sanskrit: इन्द्रं मित्रं वरुणमग्निमाहुरथो दिव्यः स सुपर्णो गरुत्मान् । एकं सद्विप्रा बहुधा वदन्त्यग्निं यमं मातरिश्वानमाहुः ॥४६॥, ऋग्वेद: सूक्तं १.१६४, Wikisource
- ^ abPaul Deussen, Sixty Upanishads of the Veda, Volume 1, Motilal Banarsidass, ISBN978-81-208-1468-4, pages 122–126 with preface and footnotes
- ^Max Muller, Chandogya Upanishad 4.4 – 4.9, The Upanishads, Part I, Oxford University Press, pages 60–64 with footnotes
- ^Robert Hume, Chandogya Upanishad 4.4 - 4.9, The Thirteen Principal Upanishads, Oxford University Press, pages 218–221
- ^Chandogya Upanishad with Shankara Bhashya Ganganath Jha (Translator), pages 189–198
- ^Robert Hume, Chandogya Upanishad 1.13.1 – 1.13.4, The Thirteen Principal Upanishads, Oxford University Press, pages 189–190
- ^Max Muller (Translator), Vajasaneyi Samhita (Isha) Upanishad, Oxford University Press, pages 313–314
- ^Paul Deussen (1990). Sixty Upaniṣads of the Veda, Part 2. Motilal Banarsidass. p. 551. ISBN978-81-208-0430-2.
- ^E Washburn Hopkins (1908), The Mediatorial Office of the Vedic Fire-God, The Harvard Theological Review, Cambridge University Press, Volume 1, Number 4, page 509
- ^Maitri Upanishad - Sanskrit Text with English Translation[permanent dead link] EB Cowell (Translator), Cambridge University, Bibliotheca Indica, page 254
- ^Hume, Robert Ernest (1921), The Thirteen Principal Upanishads, Oxford University Press, p. 422
- ^Max Muller, The Upanishads, Part 2, Maitrayana-Brahmana Upanishad, Oxford University Press, page 302
- ^Paul Deussen (1980). Sixty Upaniṣads of the Veda, Part 1. Motilal Banarsidass. pp. 343–344. ISBN978-81-208-1468-4.
- ^ abcdPaul Deussen (1980). Sixty Upaniṣads of the Veda, Part 1. Motilal Banarsidass. pp. 207–208, 211–213 verses 14–28. ISBN978-81-208-1468-4.
- ^ abCharles Johnston, Kena Upanishad in The Mukhya Upanishads: Books of Hidden Wisdom, (1920–1931), The Mukhya Upanishads, Kshetra Books, ISBN978-1-4959-4653-0 (Reprinted in 2014), Archive of Kena Upanishad - Part 3 as published in Theosophical Quarterly, pages 229–232
- ^Kena Upanishad Mantra 12, G Prasadji (Translator), pages 23–26
- ^Max Muller, The Upanishads, Part 2, Prasna Upanishad, Second Question Verse 2.1, Oxford University Press, pages 274–275
- ^Paul Deussen (1990). Sixty Upaniṣads of the Veda, Part 2. Motilal Banarsidass. pp. 592–593. ISBN978-81-208-0430-2.
- ^Robert Hume, Prasna Upanishad, Thirteen Principal Upanishads, Oxford University Press, pages 381–382
- ^Ayyangar, TR Srinivasa (1938). The Yoga Upanishads. The Adyar Library. pp. 92, 314, 355, 378.
- ^Ayyangar, TRS (1953). Saiva Upanisads. Jain Publishing Co. (Reprint 2007). p. 196. ISBN978-0-89581-981-9.
- ^Hattangadi, Sunder (2000). 'रुद्रहृदयोपनिषत् (Rudrahridaya Upanishad)'(PDF) (in Sanskrit). p. 2. Retrieved 2 March 2016.
- ^BBC News article on Hinduism & Weddings, Nawal Prinja (August 24, 2009)
- ^Office of the Registrar General, Government of India (1962), v. 20, pt. 6, no. 2, Manager of Publications, Government of India, On Hindu wedding rituals
- ^ abShivendra Kumar Sinha (2008), Basics of Hinduism, ISBN978-81-7806-155-9,
The two rake the holy vow in the presence of Agni .. In the first four rounds, the bride leads and the groom follows, and in the final three, the groom leads and the bride follows. While walking around the fire, the bride places her right palm on the groom's right palm and the bride's brother pours some unhusked rice or barley into their hands and they offer it to the fire ..
- ^Office of the Registrar General, Government of India (1962), Census of India, 1961, v. 20, pt. 6, no. 2, Manager of Publications, Government of India,
The bride leads in all the first six pheras but follows the bridegroom on the seventh
- ^H. W. Bodewitz (1976). The Daily Evening and Morning Offering: (Agnihotra) According to the 'Brāhmaṇas. BRILL Academic. pp. 1–4. ISBN978-90-04-04532-3.
- ^H. W. Bodewitz (1976). The Daily Evening and Morning Offering: (Agnihotra) According to the 'Brāhmaṇas. BRILL Academic. pp. 5–14. ISBN978-90-04-04532-3.
- ^Essays in Indian Philosophy, Religion and Literature. Motilal Banarsidass. 2004. pp. 54, 55. ISBN9788120819788.
- ^The Satapatha-Brahmana. pp. 327–329.
- ^ abJeaneane D. Fowler (1997). Hinduism: Beliefs and Practices. Sussex Academic Press. p. 71. ISBN978-1-898723-60-8.
- ^Elizabeth Peirce (2003). Multi-Faith Activity Assemblies. Routledge. pp. 238–239. ISBN978-1-134-41163-4.
- ^Stephen P. Huyler (2002). Meeting God: Elements of Hindu Devotion. Yale University Press. pp. 60–64. ISBN978-0-300-08905-9.
- ^Doniger, Wendy (2010). The Hindus: An Alternative History. Oxford University Press. ISBN978-0-19-959334-7 (Pbk)
- ^Danielle Feller (2004). Sanskrit Epics. Motilal Banarsidass. p. 91. ISBN9788120820081.
- ^Walter O.Kaelber (1989). Tapta Marga: Asceticism and Initiation in Vedic India. State University of New York Press. pp. 36, 37, 52. ISBN9780887068133.
- ^John A.Grimes (1996). A Concise Dictionary of Indian Philosophy. SUNY Press. p. 18. ISBN9780791430675.
- ^Categorisation in Indian Philosophy. Ashgate Publishing. 1980. p. 14.
- ^Bina Gupta (19 April 2012). An Introduction to Indian Philosophy. Routledge. pp. 22, 24. ISBN9781136653100.
- ^Jeaneane D. Fowler (2012). Hinduism: Beliefs and Practices. Sussex Academic Press. p. 98. ISBN9781105817267.
- ^The transition to a Global Consciousness. Allied Publishers. 2007. p. 294. ISBN9788184241945.
- ^Rig Veda I.xliv.4
- ^R.L.Kashyap. Agni in Rig Veda. Sri Aurobindo Kapali Sastry Institute of Vedic Culture. p. 14. ASIN817994042X.
- ^Kanvasatpathabrahmanam Vol.3. Motilal Banarsidas. 1994. p. 21. ISBN9788120815490.
- ^The Rig Veda. Oxford University Press. 23 April 2014. p. 783. ISBN9780199720781.
- ^Roger Calverley. Crystal Yoga. Lotus Press. p. 244.
- ^Roshen Dalal (2010). Hinduism: An Alphabetical Guide. Penguin Books. p. 10. ISBN978-0-14-341421-6.
- ^Anna Libera Dallapiccola (2010). South Indian Paintings: A Catalogue of the British Museum Collection. British Museum Press. p. 145. ISBN978-0-7141-2424-7.
- ^The compendium on Gaṇeśa, Saligrama Krishna Ramachandra Rao (2005), page 5
- ^ abcAlain Daniélou (1991). The Myths and Gods of India: The Classic Work on Hindu Polytheism from the Princeton Bollingen Series. Inner Traditions. pp. 88–89. ISBN978-0-89281-354-4.
- ^Jansen, Eva Rudy (1993). The Book of Hindu Imagery: Gods, Manifestations and Their Meaning. p. 64
- ^Poole, Colin M; Duckworth, John W (2005). 'A documented 20th century record of Javan Rhinoceros Rhinoceros sondaicus from Cambodia'. Mammalia. 69 (3–4). doi:10.1515/mamm.2005.039.
- ^Stönner, Heinrich (1925). 'Erklärung des Nashornreiters auf den Reliefs von Angkor-Vat'. Artibus Asiae. 1 (2): 128–130. doi:10.2307/3248014. JSTOR3248014.
- ^ abCharles Russell Coulter; Patricia Turner (2013). Encyclopedia of Ancient Deities. Routledge. p. 26. ISBN978-1-135-96390-3.
- ^ abSonya Rhie Quantanilla (2007). History of Early Stone Sculpture of Mathura. BRILL. pp. 215, 366–367, xix with caption for Figure 86. ISBN978-9004155374.
- ^Sonya Rhie Quantanilla (2007). History of Early Stone Sculpture of Mathura. BRILL. pp. 215–216. ISBN978-9004155374.
- ^Stella Kramrisch; Raymond Burnier (1976). The Hindu Temple. Motilal Banarsidass. p. 33. ISBN978-81-208-0223-0.
- ^B.K.Chaturvedi. Agni Purana. Diamond Pocket Books. pp. 18, 21.
- ^ abThomas B. Coburn (1988). Devī-Māhātmya: The Crystallization of the Goddess Tradition. Motilal Banarsidass. pp. 164–165. ISBN978-81-208-0557-6.
- ^ abThomas B. Coburn (1988). Devī-Māhātmya: The Crystallization of the Goddess Tradition. Motilal Banarsidass. pp. 165–166, 317–318 with footnotes. ISBN978-81-208-0557-6.
- ^ abFrederick M. Smith (1985), Names of Agni in the Vedic Ritual, Annals of the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, Volume 66, Number 1/4, pages 219–221 with footnotes
- ^ abcdefArthur Anthony Macdonell (1898). Vedic Mythology. Motilal Banarsidass. p. 95. ISBN978-81-208-1113-3.
- ^David Shulman; Guy S. Stroumsa (2002). Self and Self-Transformations in the History of Religions. Oxford University Press. pp. 24–25. ISBN978-0-19-534933-7.
- ^ abcBettina Bäumer; Kapila Vatsyayan (1988). Kalatattvakosa: A Lexicon of Fundamental Concepts of the Indian Arts. Motilal Banarsidass. p. 216. ISBN978-81-208-1402-8.
- ^Friedrich Max Müller (1897). Contributions to the Science of Mythology. Longmans Green. p. 827.
- ^Bal Gangadhar Tilak (May 2011). The Arctic Home of the Vedas. Arktos. pp. 88–93. ISBN9781907166341.
- ^Devdutt Pattanaik (2011). 7 Secrets of Shiva. Westland. pp. 11–13. ISBN9789380658636.
- ^'Stone statue of Shiva as Lingodbhava'. British Museum.
- ^Umakant Premanand Shah (1987). Jaina Iconography. Abhinav Publications. p. 11. ISBN978-81-7017-208-6.
- ^ abDoris Srinivasan (1997). Many Heads, Arms, and Eyes: Origin, Meaning, and Form of Multiplicity in Indian Art. BRILL Academic. pp. 78–79. ISBN978-90-04-10758-8.
- ^Anna J. Bonshek (2001). Mirror of Consciousness. Motilal Banarsidass. p. 135. ISBN9788120817746.
- ^Sri Aurobindo (2003). The Secret of the Veda. Sri Aurobindo Ashram Publication. p. 218. ISBN9788170587149.
- ^Arthur Anthony Mcdonell (1995). Vedic Mythology. Motilal Banarsidass. pp. 88–99. ISBN9788120811133.
- ^Encyclopaedia of the Hindu World Vol.1. Concept Publishing. 1992. pp. 210, 212. ISBN9788170223740.
- ^The Mahabharata Book 1. Sacred-texts.com. pp. 434–447.
- ^Eastern Wisdom. Wilder Publications. April 2008. p. 200. ISBN9781604593051.
- ^ abcAlain Danielou. The Myths and Gods of India. Inner Traditions. p. 88.
- ^Dowson, John (1961). A Classical Dictionary of Hindu Mythology and Religion: Geography, History, and Literature. Kessinger Publishing. ISBN0-7661-7589-8
- ^'Buddhist Dictionary of Pali Proper Names'. Tipitaka, Dreikorb, der Palikanon des Theravada Buddhismus. Retrieved 23 January 2019.
- ^ abEdward Conze (1985). The Large Sutra on Perfect Wisdom: With the Divisions of the Abhisamayalankara. University of California Press. pp. 12–13, 101–102. ISBN978-0-520-05321-2.
- ^Damien Keown (2006). Buddhist Studies from India to America: Essays in Honor of Charles S. Prebish. Routledge. p. 19. ISBN978-1-134-19632-6.
- ^Peter Harvey (2013). An Introduction to Buddhism: Teachings, History and Practices. Cambridge University Press. pp. 231–233. ISBN978-0-521-85942-4.
- ^ abAgni, God of Fire, 15th Century Art Work, Rubin Museum of Art
- ^Eng Soon Teoh (2016). Medicinal orchids of Asia. Singapore: Springer. pp. 33–49. ISBN978-3-319-24272-9.
- ^Steven Kossak; Jane Casey Singer; Robert Bruce-Gardner (1998). Sacred Visions: Early Paintings from Central Tibet. Metropolitan Museum of Art. pp. 68–69, 158–159. ISBN978-0-87099-862-1.
- ^ abcJack M. Clontz (2016). Khon Mask : Thailand Heritage. MOCA Bangkok. p. 250. ISBN978-1-78301-872-7.
- ^Justin Thomas McDaniel; Lynn Ransom (2015). From Mulberry Leaves to Silk Scrolls: New Approaches to the Study of Asian Manuscript Traditions. University of Pennsylvania Press. pp. 26–27, 35. ISBN978-0-8122-4736-7.
- ^Jack M. Clontz (2016). Khon Mask : Thailand Heritage. MOCA Bangkok. p. 318. ISBN978-1-78301-872-7.
- ^Twelve Heavenly Deities (Devas) Nara National Museum, Japan
- ^'juuniten 十二天'. JAANUS. Retrieved 23 January 2019.
- ^Sehdev Kumar (2001). A Thousand Petalled Lotus: Jain Temples of Rajasthan : Architecture & Iconography. Abhinav Publications. p. 18. ISBN978-81-7017-348-9.
- ^Charles Russell Coulter; Patricia Turner (2013). Encyclopedia of Ancient Deities. Routledge. p. 152. ISBN978-1-135-96390-3.
- ^For Osian Jain temple example: Asha Kalia (1982). Art of Osian Temples: Socio-economic and Religious Life in India, 8th-12th Centuries A.D. Abhinav Publications. pp. 130–131. ISBN978-0-391-02558-5.
- ^ abJohn E. Cort (2001). Jains in the World: Religious Values and Ideology in India. Oxford University Press. pp. 20–21. ISBN978-0-19-803037-9.
- ^Neil Dalal; Chloë Taylor (2014). Asian Perspectives on Animal Ethics: Rethinking the Nonhuman. Routledge. p. 40. ISBN978-1-317-74995-0.
- ^Christopher Key Chapple (2006). Jainism and Ecology: Nonviolence in the Web of Life. Motilal Banarsidass. pp. xiv–xviii, 3–8. ISBN978-81-208-2045-6.
- ^Christopher Key Chapple (2006). Jainism and Ecology: Nonviolence in the Web of Life. Motilal Banarsidass. p. 56. ISBN978-81-208-2045-6.
- ^Christopher Key Chapple (2006). Jainism and Ecology: Nonviolence in the Web of Life. Motilal Banarsidass. pp. 46, 31–48. ISBN978-81-208-2045-6.
- ^Bettina Bäumer; Kapila Vatsyayan (1988). Kalatattvakosa: A Lexicon of Fundamental Concepts of the Indian Arts. Motilal Banarsidass. pp. 271–274. ISBN978-81-208-1402-8.
- ^Wujastyk D (2004). 'Agni and Soma: A Universal Classification'. Studia Asiatica. 4–5: 347–369. PMC2585368. PMID19030111.;
D. Wujastyk (2003). The Roots of Ayurveda: Selections from Sanskrit Medical Writings. Penguin. pp. xviii, 74, 197–198. ISBN978-0-14-044824-5. - ^Chopra, Arvind; Doiphode, Vijay V (2002). 'Ayurvedic medicine: core concept, therapeutic principles, and current relevance'. Medical Clinics of North America. 86 (1): 75–89. doi:10.1016/s0025-7125(03)00073-7.
- ^Loukas, Marios; Lanteri, Alexis; Ferrauiola, Julie; et al. (2010). 'Anatomy in ancient India: a focus on the Susruta Samhita'. Journal of Anatomy. 217 (6): 646–650. doi:10.1111/j.1469-7580.2010.01294.x. PMC3039177. PMID20887391.
- ^Zimmermann, Francis (1988). 'The jungle and the aroma of meats: An ecological theme in Hindu medicine'. Social Science & Medicine. 27 (3): 197–206. doi:10.1016/0277-9536(88)90121-9. PMC1036075.
- ^Guha, Amala (2006). 'Ayurvedic Concept of Food and Nutrition'. Ayurveda Health and Nutrition. 4 (1). Retrieved 12 October 2016.
- ^Fleischman, P. R. (1976). 'Ayurveda'. International Journal of Social Psychiatry. 22 (4): 282–287. doi:10.1177/002076407602200406. PMID799625.
- ^Yoga Journal Sep-Oct 2003. Active Interest Media. September – October 2003. p. 38.
- ^Jayadayal Goyandka. Srimadbhagavadagita Tattvavivecani. Gita Press. p. 613.
Verses BG 15.14
External links[edit]
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Agni (God). |
Wikiquote has quotations related to: Agni |
- Agni: Indian god, Encyclopædia Britannica
- Agni Suktam, Rigveda, Rāmakṛṣṇa Janasvāmi
- Agni, the fire altar, The Pluralism Project, Harvard University
- Vedic Agni, Herman Tull, Oxford Bibliographies
Retrieved from 'https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Agni&oldid=904720306'
(Redirected from Kula Purana)
The word Puranas (/pʊˈrɑːnəz/; Sanskrit: पुराण, purāṇa) literally means 'ancient, old',[1] and it is a vast genre of Indian literature about a wide range of topics, particularly myths, legends and other traditional lore.[2] Composed primarily in Sanskrit, but also in Tamil and other Indian languages,[3][4] several of these texts are named after major Hindu deities such as Vishnu, Shiva and Devi.[5][6] The Puranas genre of literature is found in both Hinduism and Jainism.[3]
The Puranic literature is encyclopedic,[1] and it includes diverse topics such as cosmogony, cosmology, genealogies of gods, goddesses, kings, heroes, sages, and demigods, folk tales, pilgrimages, temples, medicine, astronomy, grammar, mineralogy, humor, love stories, as well as theology and philosophy.[2][4][5] The content is highly inconsistent across the Puranas, and each Purana has survived in numerous manuscripts which are themselves inconsistent.[3] The Hindu Puranas are anonymous texts and likely the work of many authors over the centuries; in contrast, most Jaina Puranas can be dated and their authors assigned.[3]
There are 18 Maha Puranas (Great Puranas) and 18 Upa Puranas (Minor Puranas),[7] with over 400,000 verses.[2] The first versions of the various Puranas were likely composed between the 3rd- and 10th-century CE.[8] The Puranas do not enjoy the authority of a scripture in Hinduism,[7] but are considered a Smriti.[9]
They have been influential in the Hindu culture, inspiring major national and regional annual festivals of Hinduism.[10] Their role and value as sectarian religious texts and historical texts has been controversial because all Puranas praise many gods and goddesses and 'their sectarianism is far less clear cut' than assumed, states Ludo Rocher.[11] The religious practices included in them are considered Vaidika (congruent with Vedic literature), because they do not preach initiation into Tantra.[12] The Bhagavata Purana has been among the most celebrated and popular text in the Puranic genre, and is of non-dualistic tenor.[13][14] The Puranic literature wove with the Bhakti movement in India, and both Dvaita and Advaita scholars have commented on the underlying Vedantic themes in the Maha Puranas.[15]
- 3Texts
- 4Content
- 4.4Puranas as religious texts
- 5Manuscripts
- 8References
- 9External links
Etymology[edit]
Douglas Harper states that the etymological origins of Puranas are from SanskritPuranah, literally 'ancient, former,' from pura 'formerly, before,' cognate with Greekparos 'before,' pro 'before,' Avestan paro 'before,' Old English fore, from Proto-Indo-European *pre-, from *per-.'[16]
Origin[edit]
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Vyasa, the narrator of the Mahabharata, is hagiographically credited as the compiler of the Puranas. The ancient tradition suggests that originally there was but one Purana. Vishnu Purana (3.6.15) mentions that Vyasa entrusted his Puranasamhita to his disciple Lomaharshana, who in turn imparted it to his disciples,[note 1] three of whom compiled their own samhitas. These three, together with Lomaharshana's, comprise the Mulasamhita, from which the later eighteen Puranas were derived.[17][18]
The term Purana appears in the Vedic texts. For example, Atharva Veda mentions Purana (in the singular) in XI.7.24 and XV.6.10-11:[19]
The rk and saman verses, the chandas, the Purana along with the Yajus formulae, all sprang from the remainder of the sacrificial food, (as also) the gods that resort to heaven. He changed his place and went over to great direction, and Itihasa and Purana, gathas, verses in praise of heroes followed in going over.
— Atharva Veda XV.6.10-11, [20]
Similarly, the Shatapatha Brahmana (XI.5.6.8) mentions Itihasapuranam (as one compound word) and recommends that on the 9th day of Pariplava, the hotr priest should narrate some Purana because 'the Purana is the Veda, this it is' (XIII.4.3.13). However, states P.V. Kane, it is not certain whether these texts suggested several works or single work with the term Purana.[21] The late Vedic text Taittiriya Aranyaka (II.10) uses the term in the plural. Therefore, states Kane, that in the later Vedic period at least, the Puranas referred to three or more texts, and that they were studied and recited [21] In numerous passages the Mahabharata mentions 'Purana' in both singular and plural forms. Moreover, it is not unlikely that, where the singular 'Puranam' was employed in the texts, a class of works was meant.[21] Further, despite the mention of the term Purana or Puranas in the Vedic texts, there is uncertainty about the contents of them until the composition of the oldest Dharmashastra Apastamba Dharmasutra and Gautama Dharmasutra, that mention Puranas resembling with the extant Puranas.[21]
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Another early mention of the term 'Itihas-purana' is found in the Chandogya Upanishad (7.1.2), translated by Patrick Olivelle as 'the corpus of histories and ancient tales as the fifth Veda'.[22][23][note 2] The Brhadaranyaka Upanishad also refers to purana as the 'fifth Veda',[25]
According to Thomas Coburn, Puranas and early extra-puranic texts attest to two traditions regarding their origin, one proclaiming a divine origin as the breath of the Great Being, the other as a human named Vyasa as the arranger of already existing material into eighteen Puranas. In the early references, states Coburn, the term Purana occurs in singular unlike the later era which refers to a plural form presumably because they had assumed their 'multifarious form'. While both these traditions disagree on the origins of the Puranas, they affirm that extant Puranas are not identical with the original Purana.[18]
According to the Indologists J. A. B. van Buitenen and Cornelia Dimmitt, the Puranas that have survived into the modern era are ancient but represent 'an amalgam of two somewhat different but never entirely different separate oral literatures: the Brahmin tradition stemming from the reciters of the Vedas, and the bardic poetry recited by Sutas that was handed down in Kshatriya circles'.[26] The original Puranas comes from the priestly roots while the later genealogies have the warrior and epic roots. These texts were collected for the 'second time between the fourth and sixth centuries A.D. under the rule of the Gupta kings', a period of Hindu renaissance.[27] However, the editing and expansion of the Puranas did not stop after the Gupta era, and the texts continued to 'grow for another five hundred or a thousand years' and these were preserved by priests who maintained Hindu pilgrimage sites and temples.[27] The core of Itihasa-Puranas, states Klaus Klostermaier, may possibly go back to the seventh century BCE or even earlier.[28]
It is not possible to set a specific date for any Purana as a whole, states Ludo Rocher. He points out that evenfor the better established and more coherent puranas such as Bhagavata and Vishnu, the dates proposed by scholars continue to vary widely and endlessly.[17] The date of the production of the written texts does not define the date of origin of the Puranas.[29] They existed in an oral form before being written down.[29] In the 19th century, F. E. Pargiter believed the 'original Purana' may date to the time of the final redaction of the Vedas.[30]Wendy Doniger, based on her study of indologists, assigns approximate dates to the various Puranas. She dates Markandeya Purana to c. 250 CE (with one portion dated to c. 550 CE), Matsya Purana to c. 250–500 CE, Vayu Purana to c. 350 CE, Harivamsa and Vishnu Purana to c. 450 CE, Brahmanda Purana to c. 350–950 CE, Vamana Purana to c. 450–900 CE, Kurma Purana to c. 550–850 CE, and Linga Purana to c. 600–1000 CE.[8]
Texts[edit]
Mahapuranas[edit]
Of the many texts designated 'Puranas' the most important are the Mahāpurāṇas or the major Puranas.[7] These are said to be eighteen in number, divided into three groups of six, though they are not always counted in the same way.
S.No. | Purana name | Verses number | Comments |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Agni | 15,400 verses | Contains encyclopedic information. Includes geography of Mithila (Bihar and neighboring states), cultural history, politics, education system, iconography, taxation theories, organization of army, theories on proper causes for war, diplomacy, local laws, building public projects, water distribution methods, trees and plants, medicine, Vastu Shastra (architecture), gemology, grammar, metrics, poetry, food, rituals and numerous other topics.[31] |
2 | Bhagavata | 18,000 verses | The most studied and popular of the Puranas,[13][32] telling of Vishnu's Avatars, and of Vaishnavism. It contains controversial genealogical details of various dynasties.[33] Numerous inconsistent versions of this text and historical manuscripts exist, in many Indian languages.[34] Influential and elaborated during Bhakti movement.[35] |
3 | Brahma | 10,000 verses | Sometimes also called Adi Purana, because many Mahapuranas lists put it first of 18.[36] The text has 245 chapters, shares many passages with Vishnu, Vayu, Markendeya Puranas, and with the Mahabharata. Includes mythology, theory of war, art work in temples, and other cultural topics. Describes holy places in Odisha, and weaves themes of Vishnu and Shiva, but hardly any mention of deity Brahma despite the title.[36] |
4 | Brahmanda | 12,000 verses | One of the earliest composed Puranas, it contains a controversial genealogical details of various dynasties.[33] Includes Lalita Sahasranamam, law codes, system of governance, administration, diplomacy, trade, ethics. Old manuscripts of Brahmanda Purana have been found in the Hindu literature collections of Bali, Indonesia.[37][38] |
5 | Brahmavaivarta | 18,000 verses | It is related by Savarni to Narada, and centres around the greatness of Krishna and Radha. In this, the story of Brahma-varaha is repeatedly told.[39] Notable for asserting that Krishna is the supreme reality and the gods Vishnu, Shiva, Brahma are incarnations of him.[40] Mentions geography and rivers such as Ganga to Kaveri. |
6 | Garuda | 19,000 verses | An encyclopedia of diverse topics.[38] Primarily about Vishnu, but praises all gods. Describes how Vishnu, Shiva and Brahma collaborate. Many chapters are a dialogue between Vishnu and the bird-vehicle Garuda. Cosmology, Describes cosmology, relationship between gods. Discusses ethics, what are crimes, good versus evil, various schools of Hindu philosophies, the theory of Yoga, the theory of 'heaven and hell' with 'karma and rebirth', includes Upanishadic discussion of self-knowledge as a means of moksha.[41] Includes chapters on rivers, geography of Bharat (India) and other nations on earth, types of minerals and stones, testing methods for stones for their quality, various diseases and their symptoms, various medicines, aphrodisiacs, prophylactics, Hindu calendar and its basis, astronomy, moon, planets, astrology, architecture, building home, essential features of a temple, rites of passage, virtues such as compassion, charity and gift making, economy, thrift, duties of a king, politics, state officials and their roles and how to appointment them, genre of literature, rules of grammar, and other topics.[41] The final chapters discuss how to practice Yoga (Samkhya and Advaita types), personal development and the benefits of self-knowledge.[41] |
7 | Kurma | 17,000 verses | Contains a combination of Vishnu and Shiva related legends, mythology, Tirtha (pilgrimage) and theology |
8 | Linga | 11,000 verses | Discusses Lingam, symbol of Shiva, and origin of the universe. It also contains many stories of Lingam, one of which entails how Agni Lingam solved a dispute between Vishnu and Brahma. |
9 | Markandeya | 9,000 verses | Describes Vindhya Range and western India. Probably composed in the valleys of Narmada and Tapti rivers, in Maharashtra and Gujarat.[42] Named after sage Markandeya, a student of Brahma. Contains chapters on dharma and on Hindu epic Mahabharata.[43] The Purana includes Devi Mahatmyam of Shaktism. |
10 | Matsya | 14,000 verses | An encyclopedia of diverse topics.[38] Narrates the story of Matsya, the first of ten major Avatars of Vishnu. Likely composed in west India, by people aware of geographical details of the Narmada river. Includes legends about Brahma and Saraswati.[44] It also contains a controversial genealogical details of various dynasties.[33] |
11 | Narada | 25,000 verses | Also called Naradiya Purana. Discusses the four Vedas and the six Vedangas. Dedicates one chapter each, from Chapters 92 to 109, to summarize the other 17 Maha Puranas and itself. Lists major rivers of India and places of pilgrimage, and a short tour guide for each. Includes discussion of various philosophies, soteriology, planets, astronomy, myths and characteristics of major deities including Vishnu, Shiva, Devi, Krishna, Rama, Lakshmi and others.[45] |
12 | Padma | 55,000 verses | A large compilation of diverse topics, it escribes cosmology, the world and nature of life from the perspective of Vishnu. It also discusses festivals, numerous legends, geography of rivers and regions from northwest India to Bengal to the kingdom of Tripura, major sages of India, various Avatars of Vishnu and his cooperation with Shiva, a story of Rama-Sita that is different from the Hindu epic Ramayana.[46]The north Indian manuscripts of Padma Purana are very different from south Indian versions, and the various recensions in both groups in different languages (Devanagari and Bengali, for example) show major inconsistencies.[47] Like the Skanda Purana, it is a detailed treatise on travel and pilgrimage centers in India.[46][48] |
13 | Shiva | 24,000 verses | Discusses Shiva, and stories about him. |
14 | Skanda | 81,100 verses | Describes the birth of Skanda (or Karthikeya), son of Shiva. The longest Purana, it is an extraordinarily meticulous pilgrimage guide, containing geographical locations of pilgrimage centers in India, with related legends, parables, hymns and stories. Many untraced quotes are attributed to this text.[49] |
15 | Vamana | 10,000 verses | Describes North India, particularly Himalayan foothills region. |
16 | Varaha | 24,000 verses | Primarily Vishnu-related worship manual, with large Mahatmya sections or travel guide to Mathura and Nepal.[50] Presentation focuses on Varaha as incarnation of Narayana, but rarely uses the terms Krishna or Vasudeva.[50] Many illustrations also involve Shiva and Durga.[51] |
17 | Vayu | 24,000 verses | Possibly the oldest of all Maha Puranas. Some medieval Indian texts call it Vayaviya Purana. Mentioned and studied by Al Biruni, the 11th century Persian visitor to India. Praises Shiva. Discusses rituals, family life, and life stages of a human being. The content in Vayu Purana is also found in Markandeya Purana. Describes south India, particularly modern Telangana and Andhra Pradesh regions. It contains a controversial genealogical details of various dynasties.[33] |
18 | Vishnu | 23,000 verses | One of the most studied and circulated Puranas, it also contains a controversial genealogical details of various dynasties.[33] Better preserved after the 17th century, but exists in inconsistent versions, more ancient pre-15th century versions are very different from modern versions, with some versions discussing Buddhism and Jainism. Some chapters likely composed in Kashmir and Punjab region of South Asia. A Vaishnavism text, focussed on Vishnu.[52] |
The Mahapuranas have also been classified based on a specific deity, although the texts are mixed and revere all gods and goddesses:
Brāhma:[47] | Brahma Purana, Padma Purana |
Surya:[47] | Brahma Vaivarta Purana[note 3] |
Agni:[47] | Agni Purana[note 4] |
Śaiva:[47] | Shiva Purana, Linga Purana, Skanda Purana, Varaha Purana,[note 5][note 6]Vāmana Purana,[note 5]Kūrma Purana,[note 5]Matsya Purana,[note 5]Mārkandeya Purana,[note 7]Bhavishya Purana, Brahmānda Purana |
Vaiṣṇava:[47] | Vishnu Purana, Bhagavata Purana, Nāradeya Purana, Garuda Purana, Vayu Purana, Varaha Purana[note 6] |
The Padma Purana, Uttara Khanda (236.18-21),[57] classifies the Puranas in accordance with the three gunas or qualities; truth, passion, and ignorance.
Sattva ('truth')[note 8] | Shiva Purana, Linga Purana, Vishnu Purana, Bhagavata Purana, Naradeya Purana, Garuda Purana, Padma Purana, Varaha Purana |
Rajas ('passion')[note 8] | Brahmanda Purana, Brahma Vaivarta Purana, Markandeya Purana, Bhavishya Purana, Vamana Purana, Brahma Purana |
Tamas ('ignorance')[note 8] | Matsya Purana, Kurma purana, Skanda Purana, Agni Purana |
All major Puranas contain sections on Devi (goddesses) and Tantra; the six most significant of these are: Markandeya Purana, Shiva Purana, Linga Purana, Brahma Vaivarta Purana, Agni Purana and Padma Purana.[58]
Upapuranas[edit]
The Goddess Durga Leading the Eight Matrikas in Battle Against the Demon Raktabija, Folio from Devi Mahatmyam, Markandeya Purana.
The difference between Upapuranas and Mahapuranas has been explained by Rajendra Hazra as, 'a Mahapurana is well known, and that what is less well known becomes an Upapurana'.[59] Rocher states that the distinction between Mahapurana and Upapurana is ahistorical, there is little corroborating evidence that either were more or less known, and that 'the term Mahapurana occurs rarely in Purana literature, and is probably of late origin.'[60]
The Upapuranas are eighteen in number, with disagreement as to which canonical titles belong in that list of eighteen. They include among many: Sanat-kumara, Narasimha, Brihan-naradiya, Siva-rahasya, Durvasa, Kapila, Vamana, Bhargava, Varuna, Kalika, Samba, Nandi, Surya, Parasara, Vasishtha, Devi-Bhagavata, Ganesha, Mudgala, and Hamsa, with only a few having been critically edited.[61][62]
The Ganesha and Mudgala Puranas are devoted to Ganesha.[63][64] The Devi-Bhagavata Purana, which extols the goddess Durga, has become (along with the Devi Mahatmya( from Markandey Purana) and Mahabhagavata Purana/also called Devi Purana) a basic text for Devi worshipers.[65]
Sthala Puranas[edit]
This corpus of texts tells of the origins and traditions of particular TamilShiva temples or shrines. There are numerous Sthala Puranas, most written in vernaculars, some with Sanskrit versions as well. The 275 Shiva Sthalams of the continent have puranas for each, famously glorified in the Tamil literatureTevaram. Some appear in Sanskrit versions in the Mahapuranas or Upapuranas. Some Tamil Sthala Puranas have been researched by David Dean Shulman.[66]
Skanda Purana[edit]
The Skanda Purana is the largest Purana with 81,000 verses,[67] named after deity Skanda, the son of Shiva and Uma, and brother of deity Ganesha.[68] The mythological part of the text weaves the stories of Shiva and Vishnu, along with Parvati, Rama, Krishna and other major gods in the Hindu pantheon.[67] In Chapter 1.8, it declares,
Vishnu is nobody but Shiva, and he who is called Shiva is but identical with Vishnu.
— Skanda Purana, 1.8.20-21[69][70]
The Skanda Purana has received renewed scholarly interest ever since the late 20th-century discovery of a Nepalese Skanda Purana manuscript dated to be from the early 9th century. This discovery established that Skanda Purana existed by the 9th century. However, a comparison shows that the 9th-century document is entirely different from versions of Skanda Purana that have been circulating in South Asia since the colonial era.[71]
Content[edit]
The Puranas include cosmos creation myths such as the Samudra Manthan (churning of the ocean). It is represented in the Angkor Wat temple complex of Cambodia, and at Bangkok airport, Thailand (above).
Several Puranas, such as the Matsya Purana,[72] list 'five characteristics' or 'five signs' of a Purana.[2] These are called the Pancha Lakshana ( pañcalakṣaṇa), and are topics covered by a Purana:[2][73][74]
- Sarga: cosmogony
- Pratisarga: cosmogony and cosmology[75]
- Vamśa: genealogy of the gods, sages and kings[76]
- Manvañtara: cosmic cycles,[77] history of the world during the time of one patriarch
- Vamśānucaritam: legends during the times of various kings.
A few Puranas, such as the most popular Bhagavata Purana, add five more characteristics to expand this list to ten:[78]
- Utaya: karmic links between the deities, sages, kings and the various living beings
- Ishanukatha: tales about a god
- Nirodha: finale, cessation
- Mukti: moksha, spiritual liberation
- Ashraya: refuge
These five or ten sections weave in biographies, myths, geography, medicine, astronomy, Hindu temples, pilgrimage to distant real places, rites of passage, charity, ethics,[79] duties, rights, dharma, divine intervention in cosmic and human affairs, love stories,[80] festivals, theosophy and philosophy.[2][4][5] The Puranas link gods to men, both generally and in religious bhakti context.[78] Here the Puranic literature follows a general pattern. It starts with introduction, a future devotee is described as ignorant about the god yet curious, the devotee learns about the god and this begins the spiritual realization, the text then describes instances of God's grace which begins to persuade and convert the devotee, the devotee then shows devotion which is rewarded by the god, the reward is appreciated by the devotee and in return performs actions to express further devotion.[78]
The Puranas, states Flood, document the rise of the theistic traditions such as those based on Vishnu, Shiva and the goddess Devi and include respective mythology, pilgrimage to holy places, rituals and genealogies.[81] The bulk of these texts in Flood's view were established by 500 CE, in the Gupta era though amendments were made later. Along with inconsistencies, common ideas are found throughout the corpus but it is not possible to trace the lines of influence of one Purana upon another so the corpus is best viewed as a synchronous whole.[82] An example of similar myths woven across the Puranas, but in different versions, include the lingabhava – the 'apparition of the linga'. The story features Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva, the three major deities of Hinduism, who get together, debate, and after various versions of the story, in the end the glory of Shiva is established by the apparition of linga. This myth, state Bonnefoy, and Doniger, appears in Vayu Purana 1.55, Brahmanda Purana 1.26, Shiva Purana's Rudra Samhita Sristi Khanda 15, Skanda Purana's chapters 1.3, 1.16 and 3.1, and other Puranas.[83]
The texts are in Sanskrit as well as regional languages,[3][4] and almost entirely in narrative metric couplets.[1]
Symbolism and layers of meaning[edit]
The texts use ideas, concepts and even names that are symbolic.[83] The words can interpreted literally, and at an axiological level.[84] The Vishnu Purana, for example, recites a myth where the names of the characters are loaded with symbolism and axiological significance. The myth is as follows,
The progeny of Dharma by the daughters of Daksha were as follows: by Sraddhá (devotion) he had Kama (desire); by Lakshmí (wealth, prosperity), was born Darpa (pride); by Dhriti (courage), the progeny was Niyama (precept); by Tusht́i (inner comfort), Santosha (contentment); by Pusht́i (opulence), the progeny was Lobha (cupidity, greed); by Medhá (wisdom, experience), Sruta (sacred tradition); by Kriyá (hard work, labour), the progeny were Dańd́a, Naya, and Vinaya (justice, politics, and education); by Buddhi (intellect), Bodha (understanding); by Lajjá (shame, humility), Vinaya (good behaviour); by Vapu (body, strength), Vyavasaya (perseverance). Shanti (peace) gave birth to Kshama (forgiveness); Siddhi (excellence) to Sukha (enjoyment); and Kírtti (glorious speech) gave birth to Yasha (reputation). These were the sons of Dharma; one of whom, Kama (love, emotional fulfillment) had baby Hersha (joy) by his wife Nandi (delight).The wife of Adharma (vice, wrong, evil) was Hinsá (violence), on whom he begot a son Anrita (falsehood), and a daughter Nikriti (immorality): they intermarried, and had two sons, Bhaya (fear) and Naraka (hell); and twins to them, two daughters, Máyá (deceit) and Vedaná (torture), who became their wives. The son of Bhaya (fear) and Máyá (deceit) was the destroyer of living creatures, or Mrityu (death); and Dukha (pain) was the offspring of Naraka (hell) and Vedaná (torture). The children of Mrityu were Vyádhi (disease), Jará (decay), Soka (sorrow), Trishńa (greediness), and Krodha (wrath). These are all called the inflictors of misery, and are characterised as the progeny of Vice (Adharma). They are all without wives, without posterity, without the faculty to procreate; they perpetually operate as causes of the destruction of this world. On the contrary, Daksha and the other Rishis, the elders of mankind, tend perpetually to influence its renovation: whilst the Manus and their sons, the heroes endowed with mighty power, and treading in the path of truth, as constantly contribute to its preservation.
— Vishnu Purana, Chapter 7, Translated by Horace Hayman Wilson[85]
Puranas as a complement to the Vedas[edit]
The mythology in the Puranas has inspired many reliefs and sculptures found in Hindu temples.[86] The legend behind the Krishna and Gopis relief above is described in the Bhagavata Purana.[87]
The relation of the Puranas with Vedas has been debated by scholars, some holding that there's no relationship, others contending that they are identical.[88] The Puranic literature, stated Max Muller, is independent, has changed often over its history, and has little relation to the Vedic age or the Vedic literature.[89] In contrast, Purana literature is evidently intended to serve as a complement to the Vedas, states Vans Kennedy.[5]
Some scholars such as Govinda Das suggest that the Puranas claim a link to the Vedas but in name only, not in substance. The link is purely a mechanical one.[89] Scholars such as Viman Chandra Bhattacharya and PV Kane state that the Puranas are a continuation and development of the Vedas.[90] Sudhakar Malaviya and VG Rahurkar state the connection is closer in that the Puranas are companion texts to help understand and interpret the Vedas.[90][91] K.S. Ramaswami Sastri and Manilal N. Dvivedi reflect the third view which states that Puranas enable us to know the 'true import of the ethos, philosophy, and religion of the Vedas'.[92]
Barbara Holdrege questions the fifth Veda status of Itihasas (the Hindu epics) and Puranas.[93][note 9] The Puranas, states V.S. Agrawala, intend to 'explicate, interpret, adapt' the metaphysical truths in the Vedas.[18] In the general opinion, states Rocher, 'the Puranas cannot be divorced from the Vedas' though scholars provide different interpretations of the link between the two.[90] Scholars have given the Bhagavata Purana as an example of the links and continuity of the Vedic content such as providing an interpretation of the Gayatri mantra.[90]
Puranas as encyclopedias[edit]
The Puranas, states Kees Bolle, are best seen as 'vast, often encyclopedic' works from ancient and medieval India.[95] Some of them, such as the Agni Purana and Matsya Purana, cover all sorts of subjects, dealing with – states Rocher – 'anything and everything', from fiction to facts, from practical recipes to abstract philosophy, from geographic Mahatmyas (travel guides)[96] to cosmetics, from festivals to astronomy.[4][97] Like encyclopedias, they were updated to remain current with their times, by a process called Upabrimhana.[98] However, some of the 36 major and minor Puranas are more focussed handbooks, such as the Skanda Purana, Padma Purana and Bhavishya Purana which deal primarily with Tirtha Mahatmyas (pilgrimage travel guides),[96] while Vayu Purana and Brahmanda Purana focus more on history, mythology and legends.[99]
Puranas as religious texts[edit]
The colonial era scholars of Puranas studied them primarily as religious texts, with Vans Kennedy declaring in 1837, that any other use of these documents would be disappointing.[100]John Zephaniah Holwell, who from 1732 onwards spent 30 years in India and was elected Fellow of the Royal Society in 1767, described the Puranas as '18 books of divine words'.[101] British officials and researchers such as Holwell, states Urs App, were orientalist scholars who introduced a distorted picture of Indian literature and Puranas as 'sacred scriptures of India' in 1767. Holwell, states Urs App, 'presented it as the opinion of knowledgeable Indians; But it is abundantly clear that no knowledgeable Indian would ever have said anything remotely similar'.[101]
Modern scholarship doubts this 19th-century premise.[102] Ludo Rocher, for example, states,
I want to stress the fact that it would be irresponsible and highly misleading to speak of or pretend to describe the religion of the Puranas.
— Ludo Rocher, The Puranas[100]
The study of Puranas as a religious text remains a controversial subject.[103] Some Indologists, in colonial tradition of scholarship, treat the Puranic texts as scriptures or useful source of religious contents.[104] Other scholars, such as Ronald Inden, consider this approach 'essentialist and antihistorical' because the Purana texts changed often over time and over distance, and the underlying presumption of they being religious texts is that those changes are 'Hinduism expressed by a religious leader or philosopher', or 'expressiveness of Hindu mind', or 'society at large', when the texts and passages are literary works and 'individual geniuses of their authors'.[105]
Jainism[edit]
The Jaina Puranas are like Hindu Puranas encyclopedic epics in style, and are considered as anuyogas (expositions), but they are not considered Jain Agamas and do not have scripture or quasi-canonical status in Jainism tradition.[3] They are best described, states John Cort, as post-scripture literary corpus based upon themes found in Jain scriptures.[3]
Sectarian, pluralistic or monotheistic theme[edit]
Scholars have debated whether the Puranas should be categorized as sectarian, or non-partisan, or monotheistic religious texts.[11][106] Different Puranas describe a number of stories where Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva compete for supremacy.[106] In some Puranas, such as Devi Bhagavata, the Goddess Devi joins the competition and ascends for the position of being Supreme. Further, most Puranas emphasize legends around one who is either Shiva, or Vishnu, or Devi.[11] The texts thus appear to be sectarian. However, states Edwin Bryant, while these legends sometimes appear to be partisan, they are merely acknowledging the obvious question of whether one or the other is more important, more powerful. In the final analysis, all Puranas weave their legends to celebrate pluralism, and accept the other two and all gods in Hindu pantheon as personalized form but equivalent essence of the Ultimate Reality called Brahman.[107][108] The Puranas are not spiritually partisan, states Bryant, but 'accept and indeed extol the transcendent and absolute nature of the other, and of the Goddess Devi too'.[106]
[The Puranic text] merely affirm that the other deity is to be considered a derivative manifestation of their respective deity, or in the case of Devi, the Shakti, or power of the male divinity. The term monotheism, if applied to the Puranic tradition, needs to be understood in the context of a supreme being, whether understood as Vishnu, Shiva or Devi, who can manifest himself or herself as other supreme beings.
— Edwin Bryant, Krishna: The Beautiful Legend of God: Srimad Bhagavata Purana[106]
Ludo Rocher, in his review of Puranas as sectarian texts, states, 'even though the Puranas contain sectarian materials, their sectarianism should not be interpreted as exclusivism in favor of one god to the detriment of all others'.[109]
Puranas as historical texts[edit]
Despite the diversity and wealth of manuscripts from ancient and medieval India that have survived into the modern times, there is a paucity of historical data in them.[33] Neither the author name nor the year of their composition were recorded or preserved, over the centuries, as the documents were copied from one generation to another. This paucity tempted 19th-century scholars to use the Puranas as a source of chronological and historical information about India or Hinduism.[33] This effort was, after some effort, either summarily rejected by some scholars, or become controversial, because the Puranas include fables and fiction, and the information within and across the Puranas was found to be inconsistent.[33]
In early 20th-century, some regional records were found to be more consistent, such as for the Hindu dynasties in Telangana, Andhra Pradesh. Basham, as well as Kosambi, have questioned whether lack of inconsistency is sufficient proof of reliability and historicity.[33] More recent scholarship has attempted to, with limited success, states Ludo Rocher, use the Puranas for historical information in combination with independent corroborating evidence, such as 'epigraphy, archaeology, Buddhist literature, Jaina literature, non-Puranic literature, Islamic records, and records preserved outside India by travelers to or from India in medieval times such as in China, Myanmar and Indonesia'.[110][111]
Manuscripts[edit]
An 11th-century Nepalese palm-leaf manuscript in Sanskrit of Devimahatmya (Markandeya Purana).
The study of Puranas manuscripts has been challenging because they are highly inconsistent.[112][113] This is true for all Mahapuranas and Upapuranas.[112] Most editions of Puranas, in use particularly by Western scholars, are 'based on one manuscript or on a few manuscripts selected at random', even though divergent manuscripts with the same title exist. Scholars have long acknowledged the existence of Purana manuscripts that 'seem to differ much from printed edition', and it is unclear which one is accurate, and whether conclusions drawn from the randomly or cherrypicked printed version were universal over geography or time.[112] This problem is most severe with Purana manuscripts of the same title, but in regional languages such as Tamil, Telugu, Bengali and others which have largely been ignored.[112]
Modern scholarship noticed all these facts. It recognized that the extent of the genuine Agni Purana was not the same at all times and in all places, and that it varied with the difference in time and locality. (..) This shows that the text of the Devi Purana was not the same everywhere but differed considerably in different provinces. Yet, one failed to draw the logical conclusion: besides the version or versions of Puranas that appear in our [surviving] manuscripts, and fewer still in our [printed] editions, there have been numerous other versions, under the same titles, but which either have remained unnoticed or have been irreparably lost.
— Ludo Rocher, The Puranas[59][114]
Chronology[edit]
Newly discovered Puranas manuscripts from the medieval centuries has attracted scholarly attention and the conclusion that the Puranic literature has gone through slow redaction and text corruption over time, as well as sudden deletion of numerous chapters and its replacement with new content to an extent that the currently circulating Puranas are entirely different from those that existed before 11th century, or 16th century.[115]
For example, a newly discovered palm-leaf manuscript of Skanda Purana in Nepal has been dated to be from 810 CE, but is entirely different from versions of Skanda Purana that have been circulating in South Asia since the colonial era.[71][115] Further discoveries of four more manuscripts, each different, suggest that document has gone through major redactions twice, first likely before the 12th century, and the second very large change sometime in the 15th-16th century for unknown reasons.[116] The different versions of manuscripts of Skanda Purana suggest that 'minor' redactions, interpolations and corruption of the ideas in the text over time.[116]
Rocher states that the date of the composition of each Purana remains a contested issue.[117][118] Dimmitt and van Buitenen state that each of the Puranas manuscripts is encyclopedic in style, and it is difficult to ascertain when, where, why and by whom these were written:[119]
As they exist today, the Puranas are a stratified literature. Each titled work consists of material that has grown by numerous accretions in successive historical eras. Thus no Purana has a single date of composition. (..) It is as if they were libraries to which new volumes have been continuously added, not necessarily at the end of the shelf, but randomly.
— Cornelia Dimmitt and J.A.B. van Buitenen, Classical Hindu Mythology: A Reader in the Sanskrit Puranas[119]
Forgeries[edit]
Many of the extant manuscripts were written on palm leaf or copied during the British India colonial era, some in the 19th century.[120][121] The scholarship on various Puranas, has suffered from frequent forgeries, states Ludo Rocher, where liberties in the transmission of Puranas were normal and those who copied older manuscripts replaced words or added new content to fit the theory that the colonial scholars were keen on publishing.[120][121]
Translations[edit]
Horace Hayman Wilson published one of the earliest English translations of one version of the Vishnu Purana in 1840.[122] The same manuscript, and Wilson's translation, was reinterpreted by Manmatha Nath Dutt, and published in 1896.[123] The All India Kashiraj Trust has published editions of the Puranas.[124]
Maridas Poullé (Mariyadas Pillai) published a French translation from a Tamil version of the Bhagavata Purana in 1788, and this was widely distributed in Europe becoming an introduction to the 18th-century Hindu culture and Hinduism to many Europeans during the colonial era. Poullé republished a different translation of the same text as Le Bhagavata in 1795, from Pondicherry.[125] A copy of Poullé translation is preserved in Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris.
Influence[edit]
The Puranas have had a large cultural impact on Hindus, from festivals to diverse arts. Bharata natyam (above) is inspired in part by Bhagavata Purana.[126]
The most significant influence of the Puranas genre of Indian literature have been, state scholars and particularly Indian scholars,[127] in 'culture synthesis', in weaving and integrating the diverse beliefs from ritualistic rites of passage to Vedantic philosophy, from fictional legends to factual history, from individual introspective yoga to social celebratory festivals, from temples to pilgrimage, from one god to another, from goddesses to tantra, from the old to the new.[128] These have been dynamic open texts, composed socially, over time. This, states Greg Bailey, may have allowed the Hindu culture to 'preserve the old while constantly coming to terms with the new', and 'if they are anything, they are records of cultural adaptation and transformation' over the last 2,000 years.[127]
The Puranic literature, suggests Khanna, influenced 'acculturation and accommodation' of a diversity of people, with different languages and from different economic classes, across different kingdoms and traditions, catalyzing the syncretic 'cultural mosaic of Hinduism'.[129] They helped influence cultural pluralism in India, and are a literary record thereof.[129]
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Om Prakash states the Puranas served as efficient medium for cultural exchange and popular education in ancient and medieval India.[130] These texts adopted, explained and integrated regional deities such as Pashupata in Vayu Purana, Sattva in Vishnu Purana, Dattatreya in Markendeya Purana, Bhojakas in Bhavishya Purana.[130] Further, states Prakash, they dedicated chapters to 'secular subjects such as poetics, dramaturgy, grammar, lexicography, astronomy, war, politics, architecture, geography and medicine as in Agni Purana, perfumery and lapidary arts in Garuda Purana, painting, sculpture and other arts in Vishnudharmottara Purana'.[130]
- Indian Arts
The cultural influence of the Puranas extended to Indian classical arts, such as songs, dance culture such as Bharata Natyam in south India[126] and Rasa Lila in northeast India,[131] plays and recitations.[132]
- Festivals
The myths, lunar calendar schedule, rituals and celebrations of major Hindu cultural festivities such as Holi, Diwali and Durga Puja are in the Puranic literature.[133][134]
Notes[edit]
- ^ Six disciples: Sumati, Agnivarchaha, Mitrayu, Shamshapyana, Akritaverna and Savarni
- ^The early Buddhist text (Sutta Nipata 3.7 describes the meeting between the Buddha and Sela. It has been translated by Mills and Sujato as, '(..) the brahmin Sela was visiting Āpaṇa. He was an expert in the three Vedas, with the etymologies, the rituals, the phonology and word analysis, and fifthly the legendary histories'.[24]
- ^This text underwent a near complete rewrite in or after 15th/16th century CE, and almost all extant manuscripts are Vaishnava (Krishna) bhakti oriented.[53]
- ^Like all Puranas, this text underwent extensive revisions and rewrite in its history; the extant manuscripts are predominantly an encyclopedia, and so secular in its discussions of gods and goddesses that scholars have classified as Smartism, Shaktism, Vaishnavism and Shaivism Purana.[54]
- ^ abcdThis text is named after a Vishnu avatar, but extant manuscripts praise all gods and goddesses equally with some versions focusing more on Shiva.[55]
- ^ abHazra includes this in Vaishnava category.[50]
- ^This text includes the famous Devi-Mahatmya, one of the most important Goddess-related text of the Shaktism tradition in Hinduism.[56]
- ^ abcScholars consider the Sattva-Rajas-Tamas classification as 'entirely fanciful' and there is nothing in each text that actually justifies this classification.[47]
- ^There are only four Vedas in Hinduism. Several texts have been claimed to have the status of the Fifth Veda in the Hindu tradition. For example, the Natya Shastra, a Sanskrit text on the performing arts, is also so claimed.[94]
References[edit]
Citations[edit]
- ^ abcMerriam-Webster's Encyclopedia of Literature (1995 Edition), Article on Puranas, ISBN0-877790426, page 915
- ^ abcdefGreg Bailey (2001), Encyclopedia of Asian Philosophy (Editor: Oliver Leaman), Routledge, ISBN978-0415172813, pages 437-439
- ^ abcdefgJohn Cort (1993), Purana Perennis: Reciprocity and Transformation in Hindu and Jaina Texts (Editor: Wendy Doniger), State University of New York Press, ISBN978-0791413821, pages 185-204
- ^ abcdeGregory Bailey (2003), The Study of Hinduism (Editor: Arvind Sharma), The University of South Carolina Press, ISBN978-1570034497, page 139
- ^ abcdLudo Rocher (1986), The Puranas, Otto Harrassowitz Verlag, ISBN978-3447025225, p.16, 12-21
- ^Nair, Shantha N. (2008). Echoes of Ancient Indian Wisdom: The Universal Hindu Vision and Its Edifice. Hindology Books. p. 266. ISBN978-81-223-1020-7.
- ^ abcCornelia Dimmitt (2015), Classical Hindu Mythology: A Reader in the Sanskrit Puranas, Temple University Press, ISBN978-8120839724, page xii, 4
- ^ abCollins, Charles Dillard (1988). The Iconography and Ritual of Śiva at Elephanta. SUNY Press. p. 36. ISBN978-0-88706-773-0.
- ^Greg Bailey (2001), Encyclopedia of Asian Philosophy (Editor: Oliver Leaman), Routledge, ISBN978-0415172813, page 503
- ^Ludo Rocher (1986), The Puranas, Otto Harrassowitz Verlag, ISBN978-3447025225, pages 12-13, 134-156, 203-210
- ^ abcLudo Rocher (1986), The Puranas, Otto Harrassowitz Verlag, ISBN978-3447025225, pages 21-24, 104-113, 115-126
- ^Dominic Goodall (1996), Hindu Scriptures, University of California Press, ISBN978-0520207783, page xxxix
- ^ abThompson, Richard L. (2007). The Cosmology of the Bhagavata Purana 'Mysteries of the Sacred Universe. Motilal Banarsidass Publishers. p. 10. ISBN978-81-208-1919-1.
- ^Dominic Goodall (1996), Hindu Scriptures, University of California Press, ISBN978-0520207783, page xli
- ^BN Krishnamurti Sharma (2008), A History of the Dvaita School of Vedānta and Its Literature, Motilal Banarsidass, ISBN978-8120815759, pages 128-131
- ^Douglas Harper (2015), Purana, Etymology Dictionary
- ^ abLudo Rocher (1986). The Purāṇas. Otto Harrassowitz Verlag. pp. 45–. ISBN978-3-447-02522-5.
- ^ abcThomas B. Coburn (1988). Devī-Māhātmya: The Crystallization of the Goddess Tradition. Motilal Banarsidass. pp. 23–27. ISBN978-81-208-0557-6.
- ^P. V. Kane. History of Dharmasastra (Ancient and Medieval Religious and Civil Law in India), Vol.5.2, 1st edition, 1962. Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute. pp. 816–821.
- ^Kane, P. V. 'History of Dharmasastra (Ancient and mediaeval Religious and Civil Law), v.5.2, 1st edition, 1962 : P. V. Kane'. p. 816.
- ^ abcdP. V. Kane. History of Dharmasastra (Ancient and Medieval Religious and Civil Law in India), Vol.5.2, 1st edition, 1962. Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute. pp. 816–817.
- ^Patrick Olivelle (1998). The Early Upanishads: Annotated Text and Translation. Oxford University Press. p. 259. ISBN978-0-19-535242-9.
- ^Thomas Colburn (2002), Devī-māhātmya: The Crystallization of the Goddess Tradition, Motilal Banarsidass, ISBN978-8120805576, page 24-25
- ^Sutta Nipata 3.7, To Sela and his Praise of the Buddha, Laurence Mills and Bhikkhu Sujato
- ^Brhadaranyaka Upanisad 2.4.10, 4.1.2, 4.5.11. Satapatha Brahmana (SBE, Vol. 44, pp. 98, 369). Moghe 1997, pp. 160,249
- ^Dimmitt & van Buitenen 2012, p. 7.
- ^ abDimmitt & van Buitenen 2012, pp. 7-8, context: 4-13.
- ^Klaus K. Klostermaier (5 July 2007). A Survey of Hinduism: Third Edition. SUNY Press. pp. 59–. ISBN978-0-7914-7082-4.
- ^ abJohnson 2009, p. 247
- ^Pargiter 1962, pp. 30–54.
- ^Ludo Rocher (1986), The Puranas, Otto Harrassowitz Verlag, ISBN978-3447025225, pages 134-137
- ^Monier-Williams 1899, p. 752, column 3, under the entry Bhagavata.
- ^ abcdefghiLudo Rocher (1986), The Puranas, Otto Harrassowitz Verlag, ISBN978-3447025225, pages 115-121 with footnotes
- ^Ludo Rocher (1986), The Puranas, Otto Harrassowitz Verlag, ISBN978-3447025225, pages 139-149
- ^Hardy 2001
- ^ abLudo Rocher (1986), The Puranas, Otto Harrassowitz Verlag, ISBN978-3447025225, pages 154-156
- ^H Hinzler (1993), Balinese palm-leaf manuscripts, In: Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Landen Volkenkunde, Manuscripts of Indonesia 149 (1993), No 3, Leiden: BRILL, page 442
- ^ abcLudo Rocher (1986), The Puranas, Otto Harrassowitz Verlag, ISBN978-3447025225, page 78-79
- ^John Dowson (2000). A Classical Dictionary of Hindu Mythology and Religion, Geography, History and Literature. Psychology Press. pp. 62–. ISBN978-0-415-24521-0.
- ^Rocher, Ludo (1986). The Puranas. Otto Harrassowitz Verlag. ISBN978-3447025225.
- ^ abcMN Dutt, The Garuda Purana Calcutta (1908)
- ^Ludo Rocher (1986), The Puranas, Otto Harrassowitz Verlag, ISBN978-3447025225, pages 70-71
- ^RC Hazra (1987), Studies in the Puranic Records on Hindu Rites and Customs, Motilal Banarsidass, ISBN978-8120804227, pages 8-11
- ^Catherine Ludvik (2007), Sarasvatī, Riverine Goddess of Knowledge, BRILL, ISBN978-9004158146, pages 139-141
- ^Ludo Rocher (1986), The Puranas, Otto Harrassowitz Verlag, ISBN978-3447025225, pages 202-203
- ^ abLudo Rocher (1986), The Puranas, Otto Harrassowitz Verlag, ISBN978-3447025225, pages 209-215
- ^ abcdefgLudo Rocher (1986), The Puranas, Otto Harrassowitz Verlag, ISBN978-3447025225, pages 59-61
- ^Klaus Klostermaier (2007), A Survey of Hinduism: Third Edition, State University of New York Press, ISBN978-0791470824, pages 281-283 with footnotes on page 553
- ^Doniger 1993, pp. 59–83
- ^ abcRC Hazra (1940), Studies in the Puranic Records on Hindu Rites and Customs, Motilal Banarsidass (1987 Reprint), ISBN978-8120804227, pages 96-97
- ^Wilson, Horace H. (1864), The Vishṅu Purāṅa: a system of Hindu mythology and tradition Volume 1 of 4, Trübner, p. LXXI
- ^Lochtefeld, James G. (2002), The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Hinduism: N-Z, The Rosen Publishing Group, p. 760, ISBN978-0-8239-3180-4
- ^Ludo Rocher (1986), The Puranas, Otto Harrassowitz Verlag, ISBN978-3447025225, pages 161-164
- ^Ludo Rocher (1986), The Puranas, Otto Harrassowitz Verlag, ISBN978-3447025225, pages 20-22, 134-137
- ^Ludo Rocher (1986), The Puranas, Otto Harrassowitz Verlag, ISBN978-3447025225, pages 35, 185, 199, 239-242
- ^Ludo Rocher (1986), The Puranas, Otto Harrassowitz Verlag, ISBN978-3447025225, pages 191-192
- ^Wilson, H. H. (1840). The Vishnu Purana: A system of Hindu mythology and tradition. Oriental Translation Fund. p. 12.
- ^Ludo Rocher (1986), The Puranas, Otto Harrassowitz Verlag, ISBN978-3447025225, pages 113-114, 153-154, 161, 167-169, 171-174, 182-187, 190-194, 210, 225-227, 242
- ^ abLudo Rocher (1986), The Puranas, Otto Harrassowitz Verlag, ISBN978-3447025225, page 63
- ^Ludo Rocher (1986), The Puranas, Otto Harrassowitz Verlag, ISBN978-3447025225, page 68
- ^R. C. Hazra, Studies in the Upapuranas, vol. I, Calcutta, Sanskrit College, 1958. Studies in the Upapuranas, vol. II, Calcutta, Sanskrit College, 1979. Studies in Puranic Records on Hindu Rites and Customs, Delhi, Banarsidass, 1975. Ludo Rocher, The Puranas - A History of Indian Literature Vol. II, fasc. 3, Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz, 1986.
- ^Verbal Narratives: Performance and Gender of the Padma Purana, by T.N. Sankaranarayana in Kaushal 2001, pp. 225–234
- ^Thapan 1997, p. 304
- ^'Purana at Gurjari'.
- ^Mackenzie 1990
- ^Shulman 1980
- ^ abStephen Knapp (2005), The Heart of Hinduism, ISBN978-0595350759, pages 44-45
- ^Yves Bonnefoy and Wendy Doniger (1993), Asian Mythologies, University of Chicago Press, ISBN978-0226064567, pages 92-95
- ^Gregor Maehle (2009), Ashtanga Yoga, New World, ISBN978-1577316695, page 17
- ^Skanda Purana Shankara Samhita Part 1, Verses 1.8.20-21 (Sanskrit)
- ^ abR Andriaensen et al (1994), Towards a critical edition of the Skandapurana, Indo-Iranian Journal, Vol. 37, pages 325-331
- ^Matsya Purana 53.65
- ^Rao 1993, pp. 85–100
- ^Johnson 2009, p. 248
- ^Jonathan Edelmann (2013), The Bhagavata Purana: Sacred Text and Living Tradition (Editors: Ravi Gupta and Kenneth Valpey), Columbia University Press, ISBN978-0231149983, pages 48-62
- ^Vayu Purana 1. 31-2.
- ^RC Hazra (1987), Studies in the Puranic Records on Hindu Rites and Customs, Motilal Banarsidass, ISBN978-8120804227, page 4
- ^ abcGreg Bailey (2001), Encyclopedia of Asian Philosophy (Editor: Oliver Leaman), Routledge, ISBN978-0415172813, pages 440-443
- ^Gopal Gupta (2013), The Bhagavata Purana: Sacred Text and Living Tradition (Editors: Ravi Gupta and Kenneth Valpey), Columbia University Press, ISBN978-0231149983, pages 63-75
- ^Graham Schweig (2013), The Bhagavata Purana: Sacred Text and Living Tradition (Editors: Ravi Gupta and Kenneth Valpey), Columbia University Press, ISBN978-0231149983, pages 117-132
- ^Flood 1996, pp. 104-110.
- ^Flood 1996, pp. 109–112
- ^ abYves Bonnefoy and Wendy Doniger (1993), Asian Mythologies, University of Chicago Press, ISBN978-0226064567, pages 38-39
- ^Ravi Gupta and Kenneth Valpey (2013), The Bhagavata Purana: Sacred Text and Living Tradition, Columbia University Press, ISBN978-0231149983, pages 130-132
- ^Vishnu Purana Chapter 7
- ^Sara Schastok (1997), The Śāmalājī Sculptures and 6th Century Art in Western India, BRILL, ISBN978-9004069411, pages 77-79, 88
- ^Edwin Bryant (2007), Krishna : A Sourcebook: A Sourcebook, Oxford University Press, ISBN978-0195148923, pages 111-119
- ^Patton, Laurie L.(1994), Authority, Anxiety, and Canon: Essays in Vedic Interpretation SUNY Series in Hindu Studies, State University of New York Press, ISBN978-0585044675, p. 98
- ^ abLudo Rocher (1986), The Puranas, Otto Harrassowitz Verlag, ISBN978-3447025225, pages 13-16
- ^ abcdRocher 1986, pp. 14-15 with footnotes.
- ^Barbara Holdrege (1995), Veda and Torah: Transcending the Textuality of Scripture, State University of New York Press, ISBN978-0791416402, pages 95-97
- ^Rocher 1986, pp. 15 with footnotes.
- ^Barbara Holdrege (2012). Hananya Goodman (ed.). Between Jerusalem and Benares: Comparative Studies in Judaism and Hinduism. State University of New York Press. p. 110. ISBN978-1-4384-0437-0.
- ^D. Lawrence Kincaid (2013). Communication Theory: Eastern and Western Perspectives. Elsevier. p. 165. ISBN978-1-4832-8875-8.
- ^Kee Bolle (1963), Reflections on a Puranic Passage, History of Religions, Vol. 2, No. 2 (Winter, 1963), pages 286-291
- ^ abAriel Glucklich 2008, p. 146, Quote: The earliest promotional works aimed at tourists from that era were called mahatmyas.
- ^Ludo Rocher (1986), The Puranas, Otto Harrassowitz Verlag, ISBN978-3447025225, pages 1-5, 12-21, 79-80, 96-98; Quote: These are the true encyclopedic Puranas. in which detached chapters or sections, dealing with any imaginable subject, follow one another, without connection or transition. Three Puranas especially belong to this category: Matsya, Garuda and above all Agni.
- ^Ronald Inden (2000), Querying the Medieval : Texts and the History of Practices in South Asia, Oxford University Press, ISBN978-0195124309, pages 94-95
- ^Ludo Rocher (1986), The Puranas, Otto Harrassowitz Verlag, ISBN978-3447025225, pages 78-79
- ^ abLudo Rocher (1986), The Puranas, Otto Harrassowitz Verlag, ISBN978-3447025225, pages 104-106 with footnotes
- ^ abUrs App (2010), The Birth of Orientalism, University of Pennsylvania Press, ISBN978-0812242614, pages 331, 323-334
- ^Jan Gonda (1975), Selected Studies: Indo-European linguistics, BRILL, ISBN978-9004042285, pages 51-86
- ^Ronald Inden (2000), Querying the Medieval : Texts and the History of Practices in South Asia, Oxford University Press, ISBN978-0195124309, pages 87-98
- ^Ludo Rocher (1986), The Puranas, Otto Harrassowitz Verlag, ISBN978-3447025225, pages 19-20
- ^Ronald Inden (2000), Querying the Medieval : Texts and the History of Practices in South Asia, Oxford University Press, ISBN978-0195124309, pages 95-96
- ^ abcdEdwin Bryant (2003), Krishna: The Beautiful Legend of God: Srimad Bhagavata Purana, Penguin, ISBN978-0141913377, pages 10-12
- ^EO James (1997), The Tree of Life, BRILL Academic, ISBN978-9004016125, pages 150-153
- ^Barbara Holdrege (2015), Bhakti and Embodiment, Routledge, ISBN978-0415670708, pages 113-114
- ^Ludo Rocher (1986), The Puranas, Otto Harrassowitz Verlag, ISBN978-3447025225, page 23 with footnote 35
- ^Ludo Rocher (1986), The Puranas, Otto Harrassowitz Verlag, ISBN978-3447025225, pages 121-127 with footnotes
- ^L Srinivasan (2000), Historicity of the Indian mythology : Some observations, Man in India, Vol. 80, No. 1-2, pages 89-106
- ^ abcdLudo Rocher (1986), The Puranas, Otto Harrassowitz Verlag, ISBN978-3447025225, pages 59-67
- ^Gregory Bailey (2003), The Study of Hinduism (Editor: Arvind Sharma), The University of South Carolina Press, ISBN978-1570034497, pages 141-142
- ^Rajendra Hazra (1956), Discovery of the genuine Agneya-purana, Journal of the Oriental Institute Baroda, Vol. 4-5, pages 411-416
- ^ abDominic Goodall (2009), Parākhyatantram, Vol 98, Publications de l'Institut Français d'Indologie, ISBN978-2855396422, pages xvi-xvii
- ^ abKengo Harimoto (2004), in Origin and Growth of the Purāṇic Text Corpus (Editor: Hans Bakker), Motilal Banarsidass, ISBN978-8120820494, pages 41-64
- ^Rocher 1986, p. 249.
- ^Gregory Bailey 2003, pp. 139-141, 154-156.
- ^ abDimmitt & van Buitenen 2012, p. 5.
- ^ abRocher 1986, pp. 49-53.
- ^ abAvril Ann Powell (2010). Scottish Orientalists and India: The Muir Brothers, Religion, Education and Empire. Boydell & Brewer. pp. 130, 128–134, 87–90. ISBN978-1-84383-579-0.
- ^HH Wilson (1840), Vishnu Purana Trubner and Co., Reprinted in 1864
- ^MN Dutt (1896), Vishnupurana Eylsium Press, Calcutta
- ^Mittal 2004, p. 657
- ^Jean Filliozat (1968), Tamil Studies in French Indology, in Tamil Studies Abroad, Xavier S Thani Nayagam, pages 1-14
- ^ abKatherine Zubko (2013), The Bhagavata Purana: Sacred Text and Living Tradition (Editors: Ravi Gupta and Kenneth Valpey), Columbia University Press, ISBN978-0231149983, pages 181-201
- ^ abGreg Bailey (2001), Encyclopedia of Asian Philosophy (Editor: Oliver Leaman), Routledge, ISBN978-0415172813, pages 442-443
- ^Gregory Bailey (2003), The Study of Hinduism (Editor: Arvind Sharma), The University of South Carolina Press, ISBN978-1570034497, pages 162-167
- ^ abR Champakalakshmi (2012), Cultural History of Medieval India (Editor: M Khanna), Berghahn, ISBN978-8187358305, pages 48-50
- ^ abcOm Prakash (2004), Cultural History of India, New Age, ISBN978-8122415872, pages 33-34
- ^Guy Beck (2013), The Bhagavata Purana: Sacred Text and Living Tradition (Editors: Ravi Gupta and Kenneth Valpey), Columbia University Press, ISBN978-0231149983, pages 181-201
- ^Ilona Wilczewska (2013), The Bhagavata Purana: Sacred Text and Living Tradition (Editors: Ravi Gupta and Kenneth Valpey), Columbia University Press, ISBN978-0231149983, pages 202-220
- ^A Whitney Sanford (2006), Alternative Krishnas: Regional and Vernacular Variations on a Hindu Deity (Editor: Guy Beck), State University of New York Press, ISBN978-0791464168, pages 91-94
- ^Tracy Pintchman (2005), Guests at God's Wedding: Celebrating Kartik among the Women of Benares, State University of New York Press, ISBN978-0791465950, pages 60-63, with notes on 210-211
Cited sources[edit]
- Bailey, Gregory (2003). 'The Puranas'. In Sharma, Arvind (ed.). The Study of Hinduism. University of South Carolina Press. ISBN978-1-57003-449-7.
- Dimmitt, Cornelia; van Buitenen, J. A. B. (2012) [1977]. Classical Hindu Mythology: A Reader in the Sanskrit Puranas. Temple University Press. ISBN978-1-4399-0464-0.
- Doniger, Wendy, ed. (1993). Purāṇa Perennis: Reciprocity and Transformation in Hindu and Jaina Texts. Albany, NY: State University of New York. ISBN0-7914-1382-9.
- Hardy, Friedhelm (2001). Viraha-Bhakti - The Early History of Krsna Devotion in South India. ISBN0-19-564916-8.
- Flood, Gavin (1996). An Introduction to Hinduism. Cambridge University Press. ISBN0-521-43304-5.
- Johnson, W.J. (2009). A Dictionary of Hinduism. Oxford University Press. ISBN978-0-19-861025-0.
- Kaushal, Molly, ed. (2001). Chanted Narratives - The Katha Vachana Tradition. ISBN81-246-0182-8.
- Glucklich, Ariel (2008). The Strides of Vishnu : Hindu Culture in Historical Perspective: Hindu Culture in Historical Perspective. Oxford University Press. ISBN978-0-19-971825-2.
- Mackenzie, C Brown (1990). The Triumph of the Goddess - The Canonical Models and Theological Visions of the DevI-BhAgavata PuraNa. State University of New York Press. ISBN0-7914-0363-7.
- Mittal, Sushil (2004). The Hindu World. Routledge. ISBN978-0-415-21527-5.
- Moghe, S. G., ed. (1997). Professor Kane's contribution to Dharmasastra literature. New Delhi: D.K. Printworld (P) Ltd. ISBN81-246-0075-9.
- Monier-Williams, Monier (1899). A Sanskrit-English Dictionary. Oxford University Press.
- Pargiter, F. E. (1962) [1922]. Ancient Indian historical tradition. Original publisher Oxford University Press, London. Delhi: Motilal Banarasidass. OCLC1068416.
- Rao, Velcheru Narayana (1993). 'Purana as Brahminic Ideology'. In Doniger Wendy (ed.). Purana Perennis: Reciprocity and Transformation in Hindu and Jaina Texts. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press. ISBN0-7914-1381-0.
- Rocher, Ludo (1986). The Puranas. Otto Harrassowitz Verlag. ISBN978-3447025225.
- Shulman, David Dean (1980). Tamil Temple Myths: Sacrifice and Divine Marriage in the South Indian Saiva Tradition. ISBN0-691-06415-6.
- Singh, Nagendra Kumar (1997). Encyclopaedia of Hinduism. ISBN81-7488-168-9.
- Thapan, Anita Raina (1997). Understanding Gaṇapati: Insights into the Dynamics of a Cult. New Delhi: Manohar Publishers. ISBN81-7304-195-4.
External links[edit]
Wikiquote has quotations related to: Puranas |
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- GRETIL (uni-goettingen.de)
Translations[edit]
- Agni Purana (in English), Volume 2, MN Dutt (Translator), Hathi Trust Archives
- Vishnu Purana H.H. Wilson
- Vishnu Purana, MN Dutt
- Brahmanda Purana, GV Tagare
Retrieved from 'https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Puranas&oldid=902608419#Kula_Puranas'
The Pandavas go into exile (pictured) for 13 years - the first 12 years in forest, the last year incognito. Aranya Parva describes the first 12 years of the exile.
Vana Parva or Aranya Parva, also known as the “Book of the Forest”, is the third of eighteen parvas of the Indian epic Mahabharata.[1] Aranya Parva traditionally has 21 sub-books and 324 chapters.[2][3] The critical edition of Aranya Parva has 16 sub-books and 299 chapters.[4][5] It is one of the longest books in the Epic.[6]
It discusses the twelve-year sojourn of the Pandavas in the forest, the lessons they learn there and how it builds their character.[7]
It is one of the longest of the 18 books in the Mahabharata, and contains numerous discussions on virtues and ethics, along with myths of Arjuna, Yudhishthara, Bhima tales of “Nahusha the snake and Yudhishthira” as well as “Ushinara and the hawk”, love stories of “Nala and Damayanti”, as well as “Savitri and Satyavan”.[1][7]
Structure and chapters[edit]
This book traditionally has 21 sub-parvas (sub-books or little books) and 324[8] sections (chapters).[3][9] The following are the sub-parva(s):
- 1. Aranyak Parva (sections: 1-10)[9]
- The Pandavas go into exile to the forest of Kamyaka. Sage Vidura advises Dhritarashtra to recall Yudhishthira and give him back his kingdom. Dhritarashtra refuses, so Vidura leaves and joins the Pandava brothers. Vyasa, as well as Maitreya counsel Dhritarashtra to conclude peace with the Pandavas. Dhritarashtra refuses.
- 2. Kirmirabadh Parva (section 11)
- The battle between the man-eating demon Kirmira and the giant Pandava brother, Bhima. Kirmira is killed.
- 3. Arjunabhigamana Parva (sections: 12-37)[10]
- The parva introduces Krishna, his accomplishments in the past. Krishna criticizes gambling as one of four sins that ruins a man, laments he was absent when Yudhishthira accepted the game of dice. Yudhishthira expresses remorse and anguish for his gambling habit. Krishna suggests persuasion, followed by force if necessary, is appropriate to prevent one's friend before he commits a sinful act such as gambling. Draupadi appeals to Yudhishthira to wreak vengeance on Kaurava (Kuru) brothers. In Chapters 27 through 36, the theory of forgiveness is debated between various characters - should one always forgive, never forgive, and forgive sometimes; when is it appropriate to forgive people or oneself, when it is not; what are appropriate and proportionate punishment? The chapters also discuss anger, how it is destructive to a person and to society at large. Draupadi offers arguments of cause and effect of actions (karma), suggests free will, and questions whether forgiveness defeats the principle of consequences. Yudhishthira disagrees with Draupadi, and presents the theory that virtue is its own reward. Draupadi praises those who believe in free will and shape the future, she censures those who believe in chance or destiny. Bhima questions whether virtue is virtue if it creates misery for everyone; suggests that Dharma (virtue) and Artha (profit) and Kama (emotional pleasure) should normally go together, thereafter he presents arguments for use of will and force to regain the kingdom. Yudhishthira disagrees with Bhima, argues one must keep one's pledge once made. The arguments are left open ended, with no consensus conclusion presented, the characters retire from the debate pensively. Vyasa arrives, and shares the theory and knowledge of Pratismriti with the Pandavas.
- 4. Kirata Parva (sections: 38-41)[9][11]
- Arjuna meditates and lives like an austere Rishi in the forest, to gain knowledge. Due to his fierce penances, all Rishis went to god of gods Sthanu(Shiva) to relieve them. Knowing Arjuna desire, that god of Pinaka visits Arjuna, disguised as Kirata, accompanied by Uma(wife), spirits, and women in thousands. At that time, a boar is about to attack Arjuna. But was struck down by two shafts. They both quarreled that he himself is the one who killed boar not other. Then they battle each other, in which Arjuna get amused that all shafts that he fired, either got baffled or consumed by that person remaining unharmed, considering he is not an ordinary person but a divine. Soon Arjuna's shafts were exhausted, so he started to fight with his bow, but it was snatched by that god. Then Arjuna struck his golden hilt sword upon the head of that Kirata, but as soon as it touched his crown, broke into pieces. Then they both wrestled and fistfighted in which at last Kairata press Arjuna with his chest and Arjuna became deprived of his senses. Regaining senses, Arjuna started to worshipped Mahadeva offering floral garlands. However, he finds the garland that he offered, decking the crown of the Kairata he understands the whole situation. Shiva reveals his true identity and blesses Arjuna with the knowledge of Pasupata weapon. Indra and other deities visit Arjuna and provides him their weapon. Yama(god of death) gives his mace, Varuna(lord of water) his divine noose, and Kubera(lord of treasures) grant his favourite weapon called 'Antarddhana'(sleeping weapon).
- 5. Indralokagamana Parva (sections: 42-51)[3]
Aranya Parva has the love story of Nala and Damayanti, where Nala like Yudhishthira once suffered from gambling. The story describes how Nala overcomes his mistake and learns a life lesson. The story also describes how a swan introduces Nala to Damayanti, carries love messages between them, how at her Swayamvara - the time to choose whom she will marry, she picks Nala the human, from a parade of gods.[12][13]
- Arjuna visits heaven. The parva describes the city of Indra. Gods furnish celestial weapons to Arjuna. Goddess Urvasi seduces Arjuna, enters his bedroom. Married Arjuna declines to mate with her. Urvasi gets angry, curses. Deity Indra converts the curse into a boon.
- 6. Nalopakhyana Parva (sections: 52-79)[9]
- Yudhishthira continues in his anguish that his gambling error has caused, declares himself the most wretched person on earth. Vrihadashwa consoles him with the story of Nala, another prince who erred by gambling, and recovered from his mistake. Nalopakhyana parva recites the love story of prince Nala and princess Damayanti, who never met each other, yet fall in love with each other, after learning about each other's character, virtues, passions and beliefs through a hansa (swan). The feathery messenger transmits their love messages. Damayanti's father announces a Swayamvara - a contest between eligible bachelors so that Damayanti can watch and choose the man she wants to marry. The gods arrive to win over Damayanti, the gods pick Nala as their representative and messenger. Nala is in a bind, but tries honestly to convince Damayanti that she marry Indra, or one of the deities. Damayanti picks Nala, the human. One of the gods gets upset at Damayanti's choice, so he challenges Nala to a game of dice. Nala, like Yudhishthira, loses the game and the kingdom to Pushkara; he goes into exile, Nala and Damayanti are separated even though they want to be together. Damayanti runs away from her father's kingdom. Several chapters describe their various traumas and adventures. Damayanti's father finds her, she returns to the kingdom. A new, second Swayamvara is announced. Nala comes to the kingdom disguised as Vahuka. Damayanti discovers Vahuka, knows it is Nala. They meet, talk. Nala gets the kingdom back from Pushkara. Damayanti and Nala take over the kingdom, live happily ever after.[13] The story inspires Yudhishthira to focus on the future.
- 7. Tirtha-yatra Parva (sections: 80-157)[3]
- Sage Narada visits the Pandava brothers. He suggests tirthas to Pandava brothers - a visit to holy places in India. The parva provides the benefits, directions and a list of tirthas - Kurukshetra, Ganga, Yamuna, Prayaga, Pratisthana, Brahmasara, and others. Pandavas start the Narada-recommended tirthas. The history of various gods is described. The parva includes the story of Ushinara, the pigeon and the hawk. The hawk wants to eat the pigeon, pigeon comes to Ushinara and requests protection from hawk. The hawk questions Ushinara as to why he is going against Dharma - the principles of life. Ushinara explains that it is his Dharma to protect the weak from the strong. The hawk claims that by denying him pigeon-food, Ushinara is denying food to his children and his wife in his nest, as well he who is oppressed by hunger; by protecting the pigeon, Ushinara is saving the pigeon but killing baby-hawks. The parva then presents the theory of contesting virtues,[14] that is when one good is in conflict with another good, how must one choose between two goods, between two conflicting virtues? Ushinara answers with the theory of preponderance, then offers to hunt and feed the hawk, an offer that is questioned and rejected on celestial Dharma grounds by the hawk. Finally, to save the pigeon's life, Ushinara offers his own flesh when asked by the hawk. Ushinara cuts his own flesh of volume equal to pigeon, and weighs it. It falls short, so he cuts and adds more of his own flesh. But the pigeon's weight keeps on increasing. Ushinara finally has to weigh his whole body to equal that of the pigeon - when he does so, the hawk reappears as deity Indra and the pigeon reappears as deity Agni. They restore Ushinara, praise his virtue and compassion. Other stories include king Janaka's sacrifice, king Somaka and his liberation from hell, how Bhagiratha brought Ganges river to earth from heaven, the births of Ashtavakra, Mandhata and Rishyasringa, the journey of Bhima for celestial lotuses.
- 8. Yaksha-yudha Parva (sections: 158-164)[9]
- A demon kidnaps Yudhishthira, Draupadi and the twins. Bhima finds and slays the demon. Pandavas arrive at the hermitage of Arshtishena. Arjuna returns from heaven.
- 9. Nivata-kavacha-yudha Parva (sections: 165-175)[3]
- Arjuna describes his travel, why he left, where he was, what he did. Arjuna shows the celestial weapons he now possessed. He demonstrates their effectiveness by destroying the aerial city of Hiranyapura, then proceeds to demonstrate before Yudhishthira his power further. In Chapter 175, sage Narada appears, counsels that war and weapons should not be unleashed unless there is necessary and compelling cause, that rash violence is destructive and wrong. This puts a stop to the violence.
- 10. Ajagara Parva (sections: 176-181)[9]
- Pandavas arrive at Kailaca. A mighty snake, Nahusha ties up the giant Pandava brother, Bhima. Yudhishthira searches for Bhima, finds him in snake's grip. The snake offers to free Bhima if Yudhishthira answers his questions. The snake and Yudhishthira ask each other questions. This is a discourse on Dharma, the theory of birth-rebirth, transmigration and how to achieve moksha in Chapters 180 to 181. These chapters also offers a theory of caste - claiming it is very difficult to ascertain one's caste because all orders have had promiscuous intercourse. Ajagara Parva claims people from all the four castes are without restriction constantly interbreeding. All four have the same speech, cohabit, they all are born and die the same way. What matters, claims Yudhishthira, is the character of a person.[15] Yudhishthira and the snake then discuss the relative merit of four virtues (charity, kind speech, truthfulness and unenviousness), which virtue is better than the other? They discuss universal spirit and salvation from transmigration. The snake lets go of Bhima, is itself released from a curse, appears as Nahusha, and achieves salvation.
- 11. Markandeya-Samasya Parva (sections: 182-231)[9]
- Markandeya presents the story of yugas (Kreta, Treta, Dapara and Kali yugas), and of Vami horses. Through Chapters 200 to 206, the parva offers contrasting views - both traditional and ritualistic, as well as knowledge and personal development - on vice and virtues.[16] The parva, in Chapters 207-211, presents one of the many discussions on Karma doctrine, in Mahabharata. Chapters 211 to 215 explain the relationship between self discipline, virtues and qualities (sattva, rajas and tamas), how these qualities enables one to achieve knowledge of the supreme spirit. Markandeya-Samasya parva recites the story of Vrihaspati and of Skanda.
- 12. Draupadi-Satyabhama Samvada Parva (sections: 232-234)[9]
- Satyabhama asks Draupadi for advice on how to win affections of Krishna. Draupadi outlines duties of a wife.
Chapters 258-260 of Aranya Parva describe the meeting of Pandavas and sage Vyasa in the forest (above). The sage tells the story of Mudgala, who after his death, refuses to go to heaven, prefers the path of knowledge instead. The swans carrying Mudgala (below) signify his moksha.[3]
- 13. Ghosha-yatra Parva (sections: 235-256)[3]
- Sakuni advises Duryodhana to confront the Pandavas in exile, but Dhritarashtra dissaudes Duryodhana. Taking permission from king, Duryodhana accompanied by Karna, Sakuni and by many of his brothers, surrounded by a large host, started for beholding the Dwaitavana(lake). They met Gandharvas there and ask them to leave the spot but were refused. Duryodhana filled with rage entered with his ranks into that forest. Chitrasena knowing this with rage commanded his followers to punish those wretches. Seeing the armed Gandharvas rushing towards them, the Kuru warriors started to flee. And beholding the Kuru soldiers all flying from field to the foe, the heroic Radheya came forward to check them. And he started to slaughter them great in number. Desirous of supporting Karna, all troops returned to fight against those Gandharvas. Then whole Gandharvas host began to fight with the Kauravas, but succeded not in resisting them. The angry Chitrasena seeing his army in fear, from outside of battle, used his weapon of illusion, making Kaurava warriors to deprive of senses, causing them to see each Gandharvas as ten. And Kaurava army thus greatly afflicted, struck with panic, fled from field. But while the entire host broke and fled, Karna, that offspring of the sun, stood there, immovable as hill, still slaughtering them by large. All the Gandharvas then, desirous of slaying Karna, rushed together by thousands towards Karna. Surrounding him on all sides with weapons, they broke his car into minute fragments. Thus attacked, Karna leaped therefrom with sword and shield in hand, and mounting Vikarna's car, fled for saving himself. But King Duryodhana refused to flee, thus captured. The soldiers, who were routed, approached Pandavas for help. Bhima started to speak cruel word in sarcasm for Duryodhan but Yudhishthira explains him that its not about dispute and disunion its the honor of the family bloodline at stake. Hearing these words, Arjuna vows to rescue Duryodhana. And casing themselves in mail and arming themselves they mount the chariot and proceeded to that spot. Arjuna reaching there asks them to leave Suyodhana, but they started to laugh, thus Arjuna attacks them with shower of arrows, and a battle commenced betweem them. Then Arjuna provoked, started to hurl against them his celestial weapons. By means of Agneya(fire) weapon, killed ten thousand Gandharvas at an instant. Then they rose up in the sky and started to attack from above. But Arjuna checked them also with net weapons. By weapons called Sthunakarna, Indrajala, Saura, Agneya and Saumya, he sent most of the Gandharvas to the abode of Yama. And seeing his army in fear, Chitrasena rushed, and started to attack Arjuna from above. But Arjuna resisted his attack. By means of his science, he concealed himself from view and began to fight. The heroic Arjuna, however, countered enemy attacks by his own celestial weapons. Then seeing thus he was checked by Arjuna celestial weaponary, he entirely disappeared from sight. But Arjuna broke his concealment, by weapon called Sabda-veda. Thus assassiled Chitrasena accepts defeat and told him all the plan of Duryodhana. Then they went to Yudhishthira to know his desire. Hearing everything, he represent them to liberate Duryodhana and applauded the Gandharvas. Till now, Indra had also discovered the way of reviving beings, and coming to that spot, revived those Gandharvas that had been slain by his son, by sprinkling the celestial Amrita(nectar) over them. This act of kindness by Yudhishthira makes Duryodhana despondent, and refused to go back to his Kingdom. Karna and Sakuni tries to soothe Duryodhana but fails, then inside of his mind Duryodhana sees a Demon who tells him his origin and asks him to let his grief cease as long as Bhisma, Drona, Karna who possess soul of slain Naraka(Demon) are by his side he should not fear. Having gained consciousness and considering everything as a dream, he then stood up cheerfully saying 'I shall defeat the Pandavas in battle' went back to his Kingdom. On returning, they were critisized by Bhisma. Karna then for showing his worth, said that he will single handed conquor this earth for him, which he does. Then Duryodhana organizes Vaishnava sacrifices, and also invites Pandavas to come, but they refused due to their vow of exile. Intelligence, further, brought by spies of Karna valor, Dharma's son became exceedingly anxious. And considering Karna of the impenetrable mail to be of wonderful prowess, he knew no peace.
- 14. Mriga Sapnovbhava Parva (section 257)[3]
- Yudhishthira has a dream about a deer, who complains that the Pandavas living in the forest have invited many people to live there. The residents hunt indiscriminately, and the deer fear they will be exterminated. The deer pleads with Yudhishthira to move to another location, which will protect the deer species from extinction. Yudhishthira concludes that it is his Dharma to ensure the welfare of all creatures, including animals in a forest. The Pandava brothers discuss it, agree that wildlife deserves their compassion, and decide to move. The Pandavas move from DwaitaAranya forest to Kamyaka forest.
- 15. Vrihi Drounika Parva (sections: 258-260)[9]
- Chapter 258 describes the 11th year of the Pandavas' exile. Sage Vyasa visits the Pandavas. He instructs on morality. Vyasa recites the story of Rishi Mudgala, who after his death refused to be taken to heaven - the abode of celestial happiness. The story then describes Parabrahma, a place of contemplation and Jnana yoga, which is the path Mudgala chose for his eternal emancipation.
- 16. Draupadi-harana Parva (sections: 261-270)
- Draupadi is kidnapped by Jayadratha. Pandavas set out to rescue her. The story describes the battle and death of Jayadratha's followers and his capture. Jayadratha is not killed, but is questioned by Yudhishthira.
- 17. Jayadhratha Vimokshana Parva (section 271)
- Yudhishthira sets Jayadratha free. Jayadratha returns to his house in anger, seeking ways to take revenge against the Pandavas.
The love story of Savitri and Satyavan is described in Aranya Parva.[17]
- 18. Rama Upakhyana Parva (sections: 272-291)[11]
- The parva recites a short summary of Ramayana, the other Indian epic, in order to comfort Yudhishthira who laments the long exile his brothers have suffered. He narrated, Rama was born to Dasaratha along with three other sons. When they grew up in might, became conversant with Vedas, mysteries, and science of arms. Later on they got married. Rama was chosen as next ruler of the Kingdom. Kaikeyi, one of the wife of Dasaratha, was provoked by his maid, Manthara. She goes to King and asks as her boon that Bharata, her son, be the next King, and that Rama go into an exile of fourteen years. Rama and his wife, followed by Lakshmana, go to the forest. Bharata on returning, learning about the King's death and Rama's exile, criticizes his mother. He goes to bring Rama back but is ordered back to Ayodhya by Rama. Rama fearing repetition of intrusion, enters deeper into forest. There he was in inveigled into hostilities with Khara and Surpanakha. For the protection, the virtuous scion of Raghu's race slays fourteen thousand Rakshasas there. Surpanakha goes to her brother Ravana in Lanka, with mutilated nose and lips. Ravana was described as powerful ruler along with his brothers. They did severe austerities to please Lord Brahma and were granted boons. Ravana was granted invincibility to all except man. Kumbhakarna whose mind got clouded by darkness, long-lasting sleep. Vibhishana inclined path to righteousness. With this boon, Ravana defeated Kuvera(treasure lord), his brother and took from him his Pushpaka Vimana and sovereignty of Lanka. Kuvera curses Ravana and blesses Vibhishana before leaving. Ravana possessing power of changing form, terrible might, and passing through the air attacked god and wrested their valuable possesion. So to relieve gods, Vishnu incarnated on earth as mortal Rama for that object. Ravana reaching that forest forces Maricha to assume form of a golden deer to captivate Sita. Rama goes after him. On learning, deer was Rakshasa Rama killed him. Struck, Rakshasa imitates Rama voice in distess. Sita speaking cruel words, sent Lakshamana to track Rama. Ravana seizing Sita went towards his Kingdom via Vimana. Huge vulture named Jatayu tries to rescue her but was slain. Sita during that time dropped her costly ornaments for Rama to track. Rama returns, inspects Jatayu and goes for Sita search. They slew the Demons stopping their path. They met Sugriva and Hanuman. Rama helps Sugriva to regain his Kingdom by killing his brother from behind, during Sugriva duel with Vali. During that time Sita was held captive in a garden, guarded by female Rakshasa. A Rakshasa woman name Trijata comforts her there. Sugriva in turn helps Rama search for Sita. Hanuman meets Jatayu brother Sampati who tells him Ravana palace. Hanuman remembering his prowess crossed sea to reach Lanka, met Sita there, set fire on Lanka, and returned to inform Rama. They were visited by Vibhishana who joins them. Rama reaching sea shore asks water-god Varuna to carve a path for them or he will dry up the ocean with his great weapon. Varuna tells him that if he carve a passage for his army, with their weapons other will command him to do same. He tells him of Nala as skillful mechanic in his army who is able to construct a bridge. They construct bridge with Nala help and crossed the ocean in month. Rama killed Ravana spies in his army, with Vibhishana help. Angada(son of Vali) goes as envoy of Rama to Ravana. There he was tried to be captured but Angada resisted before returning. A fight occurs between them. Ravana fights with Rama which goes to stalemate, so Ravana retreats. Ravana sends his brother Kumbhakarna to slay Rama. Kumbhakarna with his huge size enters battlefield crushing Rama army and eating them alive. By their attacks nothing happens to his armor except for laugh. Sugriva tries to stop him but gets seized. Lakshamana confronts him, and kills him with Brahma weapon. Ravana then sends his son Indrajit to vanquish them. He enters the field, using his power of illusion defeats both of them. But as he tried to capure the unconscious heroes, was resisted by Rama army surrounding him. Later on with the help of Vibhishana and gods, Lakshamana slew him. Ravana learning his son death, tried to kill Sita but was stopped by Avindhya saying if he successfully slay Rama, she will be slain too.Then Ravana enters the field and fights with Rama. Rama kills Ravana using Brahmastra and consumed by Brahma weapon, his flesh and blood were all reduced to nothingness,-so that the ashes even could not be seen. Rama meets Sita, afraid of the loss of his honour, doubts her morality. Sita goes through trials to show her purity, Rama accepts her. Vibhishana was made King of Lanka. Rama returns to his Kingdom in Pushpaka Vimana with Sita and meet his brothers. Rama became King of Ayodhya. Hanuman was given boon of long life, as long as Rama fame exists. Rama performs Horse-sacrifice.
- 19. Pativrata-mahatmya Parva (sections: 292-299)[3]
- Pativrata-mahatmya parva describes the love story of Savitri - a princess, and Satyavan - a hermit. They meet, fall in love. Sage Narada informs Savitri of one defect of the virtuous man Satyayan, which is certain to kill him within a year.[18] Savitri accepts and weds Satyayan, nevertheless, saying, 'Whether his years be few or many, be he gifted with all grace or graceless, him my heart has chosen, and it chooseth not again.'[18] Savitri, who knows Satyavan will die soon, stays with him all the time. She follows him wherever, whenever he goes anywhere. One day Satyavan heads to the forest to collect wood, with Savitri following him. As predicted by sage Narada, the defect causes Satyayan's early death. Yama - the lord of death - appears before Savitri. Yama carries away Satyavan's soul; Savitri - in deep love for Satyayan, her husband - follows Yama.[19] The lord of death tries to console, discourage her and asks her to move on. Savitri refuses to relent, follows Satyayan's soul and Yama. She obtains four boons from Yama, which ultimately forces Yama to release Satyavan's life. Satyavan returns to consciousness. Savitri and Satyavan live happily together.
- 20. Kundalaharana Parva (sections 299-309)[9]
- The parva describes the story of Karna, how he was born to Kunti and deity Surya, why Kunti placed the baby in a basket and let him adrift on river Aswa, how she felt sorry afterwards, how baby Karna was found by Radha and reared by Adhiratha. The chapters describe how Karna grows up and learns to be an expert bowman. Yudhishthira had always great fear, in respect of Karna. During the thirteenth year exile of Pandavas set in, Indra beg Karna of his ear-rings, to benefit his son, taking advantage of Karna character. Ascertaining Sakra intention, Surya, warned Karna in his dream previous night, to refuse his request of ear-rings, saying if he gives away his armor, he will meet with death, if not, be incapable of being slain by foes in battle, as they were sprung from Amrita(nectar). Karna refuses to do so due to his vow, saying he wish for eternal fame than his life, which everlast, so if Indra himself come to ask, he will bestow upon him his ear-rings and the excellent mail. Surya thus seeing Karna firm on vow, said to him, then better ask from Indra too his infalliable dart capable of slaying all foes in exchange and then that thousand-rayed deity vanished. Next day Indra guise as Brahmana goes to Karna and exchanges ear-rings for his Vasavi dart, on condition could be used only on single person as critical situation only once. Karna taking the blazing dart, peeled off his natural mail, witnessed and applauded by all demons and gods, and gave it to Vasava, still dripping. Indra heals wounded Karna scars and warned him,'Whom he seekest to slay with this dart, is protected by an illustrious personage, Narayana, as Krishna' and ascend to heaven making him famous. And it is for this fact that he came to be called Karna(peeler of skin.) And hearing that Karna had been beguiled, all the sons of Dhritarashtra became distressed and shorn of pride. And Pandavas, learning such plight had befallen the son of charioteer, were filled with joy. This introduction to Karna sets the stage for future chapters, as Karna plays a major role in later books of the Mahabharata.
Yudhisthir answering the questions of the Dharmaraj in form of a Yaksha
- 21. Aranya Parva (sections: 310-324)[3]
- The Pandavas return to DwaitaAranya forest. They chase a deer who has carried away the firesticks of a priest. The deer is too fast to catch. The Pandava brothers rest from exhaustion and from thirst. Each goes, one after another, to a lake to fetch water, where, disregarding from pride the words of a mysterious voice, each drinks the cool water and drops dead. Finally Yudhishthira goes to the lake, where he laments the death of his brothers. Yaksha, with a booming aerial voice, appears. He interrogates Yudhishthira with 124 questions about the nature of human life, the necessary virtues for a happy life, ethics and morality.[20] Yudhishthira answers the questions correctly. Yaksha then asks him to choose one of his brothers to be revived as a reward. Instead of asking life for one of his mother Kunti's sons (Arjuna or Bhima), he asks that his step-brother Nakula be revived, so that, for the sake of virtue, one son of each of his father's two wives remain. Yaksha impressed by Yudhishthira's morality, revives all the Pandava brothers, and reveals himself to be Dharma (Lord of justice and Yudhishthira's father). He awards Yudhishthira several boons that will help the Pandavas in their 13th year of exile for a concealed life, and returns the priest's firesticks.
English translations[edit]
Several translations of the Sanskrit book Aranya Parva in English are available. Two translations from 19th century, now in public domain, are those by Kisari Mohan Ganguli[9] and Manmatha Nath Dutt.[3] The translations vary with each translator's interpretations. For example:
Original Sanskrit:
कषमा धर्मः कषमा यज्ञः कषमा वेदाः कषमा शरुतम |
यस ताम एवं विजानाति स सर्वं कषन्तुम अर्हति ||
कषमा बरह्म कषमा सत्यं कषमा भूतं च भावि च |
कषमा तपः कषमा शौचं कषमया चॊद्धृतं जगत ||
यस ताम एवं विजानाति स सर्वं कषन्तुम अर्हति ||
कषमा बरह्म कषमा सत्यं कषमा भूतं च भावि च |
कषमा तपः कषमा शौचं कषमया चॊद्धृतं जगत ||
— Kashyapa quoted in Arjunabhigamana Parva, Aranya Parva, Mahabharata Book iii[21]
Kisari Mohan Ganguli's translation:
Forgiveness is virtue; forgiveness is sacrifice, forgiveness is the Vedas, forgiveness is the Shruti. He that knoweth this is capable of forgiving everything. Forgiveness is Brahma; forgiveness is truth; forgiveness is stored ascetic merit; forgiveness protecteth the ascetic merit of the future; forgiveness is asceticism; forgiveness is holiness; and by forgiveness is it that the universe is held together.
— Kashyapa quoted in Arjunabhigamana Parva, Aranya Parva, Mahabharata Book iii.29[22]
Manmatha Nath Dutt's translation:
Forgiveness is virtue, forgiveness is sacrifice, forgiveness is the Vedas, forgiveness is Sruti,
he who knows all this is capable of forgiving all.
Forgiveness is Brahma, forgiveness is truth, forgiveness is accumulated and future (ascetic) merit,
forgiveness is the devout penance, forgiveness is purity, and by forgiveness is the universe sustained.
he who knows all this is capable of forgiving all.
Forgiveness is Brahma, forgiveness is truth, forgiveness is accumulated and future (ascetic) merit,
forgiveness is the devout penance, forgiveness is purity, and by forgiveness is the universe sustained.
— Kashyapa quoted in Arjunabhigamana Parva, Aranya Parva, Mahabharata Book iii.29[23]
J. A. B. van Buitenen completed an annotated edition of Aranya Parva, based on critically edited and least corrupted version of Mahabharata known in 1975.[1] Debroy, in 2011, notes that updated critical edition of Aranya Parva, with spurious and corrupted text removed, has 16 sub-books, 299 adhyayas (chapters) and 10,239 shlokas (verses).[24] Debroy has published a translated version of a critical edition of Aranya Parva in Volume 2 and 3 of his series.[25]
Clay Sanskrit Library has published a 15 volume set of the Mahabharata which includes a translation of Aranya Parva by William Johnson. This translation is modern and uses an old manuscript of the Epic. The translation does not remove verses and chapters now widely believed to be spurious and smuggled into the Epic in 1st or 2nd millennium AD.[26]
Inspiration for later works[edit]
The Kirata sub-parva of Aranya Parva has inspired several major poems and expanded works, such as the Kirātārjunīya by Bhāravi - considered by Monier Monier-Williams as an example of the poetic inventiveness in ancient India enabled by Sanskrit grammar, its flexibility in compounding of words and the use of mathematical meter, all accomplished with spiritual meaning.[27]
Quotations and teachings[edit]
In Kirata sub-book of Aranya Parva, Mahadeva (Shiva) visits Arjuna, disguised as Kirata. They battle, which ends in a draw. Mahadeva reveals his true identity (pictured above). In the Indralokagamana Parva, Arjuna visits heaven as a guest of the gods.
Aranyaka Parva, Chapter 1:
O foremost of men, listen to the merits and demerits, as we indicate,
that respectively arise from associating with what is good and what is bad.
As cloth, water, sesame-seeds and ground are perfumed by their association with flowers,
so qualities are derived from association.
Association with the fools produces delusion,
as daily association with the honest and good produces virtue.
Therefore those who are virtuously inclined should associate with men,
who are wise, old, honest, and pure in conduct and who are ascetics.
We get sin by serving the sinful,
conversation and association with them, cause diminution of virtue.
Association with the mean and the low,
makes one's understanding mean and low;
Association with the indifferent makes it indifferent, and
association with the good makes it good.
that respectively arise from associating with what is good and what is bad.
As cloth, water, sesame-seeds and ground are perfumed by their association with flowers,
so qualities are derived from association.
Association with the fools produces delusion,
as daily association with the honest and good produces virtue.
Therefore those who are virtuously inclined should associate with men,
who are wise, old, honest, and pure in conduct and who are ascetics.
We get sin by serving the sinful,
conversation and association with them, cause diminution of virtue.
Association with the mean and the low,
makes one's understanding mean and low;
Association with the indifferent makes it indifferent, and
association with the good makes it good.
— Aranyaka Parva, Aranya Parva, Mahabharata Book iii.1[28]
Aranyaka Parva, Chapter 2:
Thousand causes of grief and hundred causes of fear overwhelm the ignorant day after day, but not the learned.
Intelligent men never allow themselves to be deluded by acts which are opposed to true knowledge, which is fraught with every kind of evil, and which is destructive of salvation.
This world is afflicted with both bodily and mental sufferings,
Disease, contact with painful things, toil and want of objects desired — these are the four causes ef the sufferings of the body,
Disease may be allayed by the application of medicine, but mental ailments are cured by Yoga meditation.
As a hot iron ball makes the water of a jar hot, so mental grief brings bodily pains,
As water quenches fire, so knowledge allays mental ailments,
When mind enjoys peace, body also enjoys peace.
Attachment is the root of all misery and of all fear. Attachment produces joy and grief of every kind,
From attachment spring all worldly desires, and it is from attachment that springs the love of worldly goods,
The man that is influenced by attachment is tortured by desire, and from the desire that springs up in his heart, his thirst for worldly possessions increases.
This thirst is sinful, and is regarded as the source of all anxieties.
To many men, the wealth they possess is their bane. The man, who sees happiness in wealth and becomes attached to it, knows not what true happiness is.
Intelligent men never allow themselves to be deluded by acts which are opposed to true knowledge, which is fraught with every kind of evil, and which is destructive of salvation.
This world is afflicted with both bodily and mental sufferings,
Disease, contact with painful things, toil and want of objects desired — these are the four causes ef the sufferings of the body,
Disease may be allayed by the application of medicine, but mental ailments are cured by Yoga meditation.
As a hot iron ball makes the water of a jar hot, so mental grief brings bodily pains,
As water quenches fire, so knowledge allays mental ailments,
When mind enjoys peace, body also enjoys peace.
Attachment is the root of all misery and of all fear. Attachment produces joy and grief of every kind,
From attachment spring all worldly desires, and it is from attachment that springs the love of worldly goods,
The man that is influenced by attachment is tortured by desire, and from the desire that springs up in his heart, his thirst for worldly possessions increases.
This thirst is sinful, and is regarded as the source of all anxieties.
To many men, the wealth they possess is their bane. The man, who sees happiness in wealth and becomes attached to it, knows not what true happiness is.
— Aranyaka Parva, Aranya Parva, Mahabharata Book iii.2[29]
Aranyaka Parva, Chapter 2:
Pleasant looks, cheerful heart and sweet words are due to a guest. Rising up, the host should advance towards the guest; he should offer him a seat, and duly worship him. This is the eternal Dharma.
— Aranyaka Parva, Aranya Parva, Mahabharata Book iii.2[30]
Rishis Tales 21 Forgotten Sanskrit Tales In English (set Of 2 Volumes) Words
Aranya Parva dedicates many chapters on Arjuna (pictured above in Bali, Indonesia). Arjuna visits heaven, meets Indra and other deities, receives celestial weapons as gifts. When he returns to the forest home of Pandava brothers, he demonstrates to them their power by destroying an aerial city. Sage Narada appears, demands to know why he is wrongly unleashing weapons of war without cause, just to show off. Arjuna stops the violence.
Arjunabhigamana Parva, Chapters 28-29:
Vali said: Does forgiveness lead to well-being, O father, or prowess or energy ?
Prahlada said:
Do you learn, my son, these two truths without any doubt — neither does prowess always lead to well-being nor does forgiveness,
He who forgives always, O my son, suffers many evils— servants, strangers and enemies always disregard him.
Perpetual forgiveness therefore, O my son, is avoided by the learned.
(..)
These and various other evils attend those who always forgive.
Listen, O son of Virochana, to (other) evils that beset a person that never forgives.
If an angry person, always beset by the quality of darkness, inflicts punishments,
by this own energy, upon deserving and non-deserving persons,
he is alienated from his friends and hated by outsiders as well as his own relations.
Therefore people should not be always angry or mild,
they should exhibit their anger or mildness in proper hours.
If your former benefactor commits a heinous offence you should forgive him considering his former benefaction,
Those that commit an offence out of ignorance or foolishness should be forgiven — for people cannot always easily attain to learning,
Those crooked men, who having committed an offence wittingly plead ignorance, should be punished even if their offence be trifling,
The first offence of all men should be forgiven; when they commit the second, they should not,
If a person unknowingly commits an offence — he should be pardoned, it is said, after having made a proper enquiry.
Strength might be vanquished by forgiveness, weakness might be vanquished by forgiveness; therefore forgiveness is truly fiercer.
Yudhishthira said:
Anger is in this world, the root of the destruction of mankind,
The angry man commits a sin; the angry man murders his preceptor; the angry man insults his ciders with harsh words.
The angry man cannot distinguish what should be and should not be said by him,
there is nothing which cannot be said or done by an angry man.
From anger a man may kill one who should not be killed and adore one that should be slain,
an angry man may even despatch his own self to the abode of Yama.
Anger is conquered by one desirous of excellent well being,
The wise man, though oppressed, treats his persecutor with indifference,
A wise man whether he be strong or weak, should always forgive his persecutor.
Renouncing anger a man can display his true energy,
Anger is equivalent to energy - anger has been given to mankind for the destruction of the world.
Forgiveness is the energy of the energetic,
forgiveness is the sacrifice,
forgiveness is the truth of the truthful,
forgiveness is the control of mind.
Prahlada said:
Do you learn, my son, these two truths without any doubt — neither does prowess always lead to well-being nor does forgiveness,
He who forgives always, O my son, suffers many evils— servants, strangers and enemies always disregard him.
Perpetual forgiveness therefore, O my son, is avoided by the learned.
(..)
These and various other evils attend those who always forgive.
Listen, O son of Virochana, to (other) evils that beset a person that never forgives.
If an angry person, always beset by the quality of darkness, inflicts punishments,
by this own energy, upon deserving and non-deserving persons,
he is alienated from his friends and hated by outsiders as well as his own relations.
Therefore people should not be always angry or mild,
they should exhibit their anger or mildness in proper hours.
If your former benefactor commits a heinous offence you should forgive him considering his former benefaction,
Those that commit an offence out of ignorance or foolishness should be forgiven — for people cannot always easily attain to learning,
Those crooked men, who having committed an offence wittingly plead ignorance, should be punished even if their offence be trifling,
The first offence of all men should be forgiven; when they commit the second, they should not,
If a person unknowingly commits an offence — he should be pardoned, it is said, after having made a proper enquiry.
Strength might be vanquished by forgiveness, weakness might be vanquished by forgiveness; therefore forgiveness is truly fiercer.
Yudhishthira said:
Anger is in this world, the root of the destruction of mankind,
The angry man commits a sin; the angry man murders his preceptor; the angry man insults his ciders with harsh words.
The angry man cannot distinguish what should be and should not be said by him,
there is nothing which cannot be said or done by an angry man.
From anger a man may kill one who should not be killed and adore one that should be slain,
an angry man may even despatch his own self to the abode of Yama.
Anger is conquered by one desirous of excellent well being,
The wise man, though oppressed, treats his persecutor with indifference,
A wise man whether he be strong or weak, should always forgive his persecutor.
Renouncing anger a man can display his true energy,
Anger is equivalent to energy - anger has been given to mankind for the destruction of the world.
Forgiveness is the energy of the energetic,
forgiveness is the sacrifice,
forgiveness is the truth of the truthful,
forgiveness is the control of mind.
— Arjunabhigamana Parva, Aranya Parva, Mahabharata Book iii.28-29[31]
Arjunabhigamana Parva, Chapter 30:
By actions men are placed in different situations of life; consequences of action are inevitable, from ignorance people desire for the liberation from action.
— Draupadi, Arjunabhigamana Parva, Aranya Parva, Mahabharata Book iii.30[32]
Ajagara Parva, Chapter 180:
The snake asked: O king, whom can we call a Brahmana?
Yudhishthira said: O monarch of snakes, it is said that he is a Brahmana in whom are found the qualities of truthfulness, charity, forgiveness, good conduct, benevolence, asceticism and mercy.
The serpent said: O Yudhishthira, even in the Sudras are found truthfulness, charity, forgiveness, benevolence, mercy, kindness, and knowledge of the Veda which promotes the welfare of the four orders, which is true and which is the guide in religious matters.
Yudhishthira said: The Sudra in whom these characteristics are present is no Sudra, he is a Brahmna; and the Brahmana in whom these are wanting is no Brahmana at all, he is a Sudra.
Yudhishthira said: O monarch of snakes, it is said that he is a Brahmana in whom are found the qualities of truthfulness, charity, forgiveness, good conduct, benevolence, asceticism and mercy.
The serpent said: O Yudhishthira, even in the Sudras are found truthfulness, charity, forgiveness, benevolence, mercy, kindness, and knowledge of the Veda which promotes the welfare of the four orders, which is true and which is the guide in religious matters.
Yudhishthira said: The Sudra in whom these characteristics are present is no Sudra, he is a Brahmna; and the Brahmana in whom these are wanting is no Brahmana at all, he is a Sudra.
— Ajagara Parva, Aranya Parva, Mahabharata Book iii.180[33]
Markandeya-Samasya Parva, Chapter 200:
Amongst all the senses, mind is the most dangerous.
These high-souled men who do not commit sin in word, in deed, in heart or in soul, really perform asceticism,
but not those who make their bodies emaciated by fasts and penances.
Fasts and other penances, however they may weaken and dry up the body, cannot destroy sins,
Through holiness and virtue alone, men can go to the regions of bliss.
Shaving one's head, abandoning home, having matted locks on head, observing daily fasts, worshipping fire, bathing in water - these cannot lead one to heaven,
Those only that are endued with holiness succeed with knowledge, and by observing virtuous deeds do they alone obtain a high state.
The knowledge of one's identity with the supreme soul is the sign of salvation,
Complete emancipation cannot be obtained without knowledge.
These high-souled men who do not commit sin in word, in deed, in heart or in soul, really perform asceticism,
but not those who make their bodies emaciated by fasts and penances.
Fasts and other penances, however they may weaken and dry up the body, cannot destroy sins,
Through holiness and virtue alone, men can go to the regions of bliss.
Shaving one's head, abandoning home, having matted locks on head, observing daily fasts, worshipping fire, bathing in water - these cannot lead one to heaven,
Those only that are endued with holiness succeed with knowledge, and by observing virtuous deeds do they alone obtain a high state.
The knowledge of one's identity with the supreme soul is the sign of salvation,
Complete emancipation cannot be obtained without knowledge.
— Markandeya-Samasya Parva, Aranya Parva, Mahabharata Book iii.200.98-118[34]
In the Araneya sub-book, Yaksha kills four Pandava brothers, one after another, when they arrive at a lake to fetch water. Yudhishthira arrives at the lake (shown). Yaksha offers to revive their life, if Yudhishthira answers his questions correctly. Yaksha asks some 144 questions on nature of human life, virtues, ethics, duties and society. This is one of many discussions of virtues and ethics in Aranya Parva.
Vrihi Drounika Parva, Chapter 268:
Men experience happiness and misery by turn. No man ever enjoys unmixed happiness. A wise man, possessing high wisdom, knowing that life has its ups and downs, is neither filled with joy nor with grief. When happiness comes, one should enjoy it, and when misery comes one should bear it.
— Vrihi Drounika Parva, Aranya Parva, Mahabharata Book iii.268.13-15[35]
Aranya Parva, Chapter 312:
The Yaksha asked: What is the invincible enemy of men? What is their permanent disease ? Who is honest ? Who is dishonest ?
Yudhishthira replied: Anger is the most invincible enemy. Covetuousness is the incurable disease. He who is friendly to all creatures is honest. And he who is cruel is dishonest.
The Yaksha asked: What is the path ?
Yudhishthira replied: Discussions do not lead to definite conclusions. The Srutis are divided in opinion. And there is not a single Rishi whose opinions can be accepted as conclusive. Truth about religious matters is hidden in caves. Therefore that is the proper path which has been followed by great men.
Yudhishthira replied: Anger is the most invincible enemy. Covetuousness is the incurable disease. He who is friendly to all creatures is honest. And he who is cruel is dishonest.
The Yaksha asked: What is the path ?
Yudhishthira replied: Discussions do not lead to definite conclusions. The Srutis are divided in opinion. And there is not a single Rishi whose opinions can be accepted as conclusive. Truth about religious matters is hidden in caves. Therefore that is the proper path which has been followed by great men.
— Araneya Parva, Aranya Parva, Mahabharata Book iii.312.91-92, iii.312.114-117[36]
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ^ abcvan Buitenen, J.A.B. (1975) The Mahabharata: Book 2: The Book of the Assembly Hall; Book 3: The Book of the Forest. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press
- ^Ganguli, K.M. (1883-1896) 'Vana Parva' in The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa (12 Volumes). Numerous editions
- ^ abcdefghijkDutt, M.N. (1896) The Mahabharata (Volume 3): Aranya Parva. Calcutta: Elysium Press
- ^van Buitenen, J.A.B. (1973) The Mahabharata: Book 1: The Book of the Beginning. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, p 476
- ^Debroy, B. (2010) The Mahabharata, Volume 1. Gurgaon: Penguin Books India, pp xxiii - xxvi
- ^Williams, M. (1868) Indian Epic Poetry. London: Williams & Norgate, p 103
- ^ abBibek Debroy (2011), The Mahābhārata, Volume 3, ISBN978-0143100157, Penguin Books
- ^Last Chapter of Aranya Parva The Mahabharat, Translated by Manmatha Nath Dutt (1894)
- ^ abcdefghijkArany Parva Mahabharat, Translated by Kisari Mohan Ganguli, Published by P.C. Roy (1884)
- ^Aranya Parva The Mahabharata, Translated by Manmatha Nath Dutt (1894), pages 18-61
- ^ abMonier Williams (1868), Indian Epic Poetry, University of Oxford, Williams & Norgate - London, page 104
- ^Adelaide Rudolph (1902), Nala and Damayanti, The Kirgate Press, New York
- ^ abPeter Sklivas (2013), The Secret of Enduring Love: Yoga Romance of Damayanti and Nala, ISBN978-0989649605, Boston
- ^See conflict problem in virtue ethics, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Stanford University (2012)
- ^Aranya Parva Mahabharata, Translated by Manmatha Nath Dutt (1894), page 262 (Verses 31-34)
- ^Aranya Parva Mahabharata, Translated by Manmatha Nath Dutt (1894), pages 300-314
- ^Verma, K. D. (1977). Myth and Symbol in Aurobindo's Savitri, Journal of South Asian Literature, 12 (3/4), pages 67-72
- ^ abMonier Williams (1868), Indian Epic Poetry, University of Oxford, Williams & Norgate - London, page 37-39
- ^Aaron Shepard (1992), Savitri: A Tale of Ancient India, ISBN978-0807572511, Albert Whitman & Company
- ^Manmatha Nath Dutt The Mahabharata, Aranya Parva (Verses 41 through 133), p. 446, at Google Books
- ^Aranya Parva, The Mahabharata, Verses 36-37
- ^Aranya Parva, The Mahabharata, Translated by Kisari Mohan Ganguli
- ^Aranya Parva, The Mahabharata, Translated by Manmatha Nath Dutt (1894), page 42
- ^Bibek Debroy, The Mahabharata : Volume 3, ISBN978-0143100157, Penguin Books, page xxiii - xxiv of Introduction
- ^Bibek Debroy (2011), The Mahabharata, Volume 3, Penguin, ISBN978-0143100157, Aranya Parva
- ^William Johnson, Book III - Volume 4, The Clay Sanskrit Library, Mahabharata: 15-volume Set, ISBN978-0-8147-4278-5, New York University Press, Bilingual Edition
- ^Monier Monier-Williams Indian Wisdom, Or, Examples of the Religious, Philosophical, and Ethical Doctrines of the Hindus - pages 451-453, p. 451, at Google Books; Example by Monier Monier-Williams: Kirātārjunīya verse XV.14 is constructed with just one consonant: 'न नोननुन्नो नुन्नोनो नाना नानानना ननु । नुन्नोऽनुन्नो ननुन्नेनो नानेना नुन्ननुन्ननुत् ॥'; Translation: О ye, he indeed is not a man who is defeated by an inferior; and that man is no man who persecutes the weaker. He who is not defeated though overcome, is not vanquished; he who persecutes the completely vanquished is not without sin. Kirātārjunīya, inspired by Kirata sub-parva of Aranya Parva, also features palindromes within a verse and across multiple verses.
- ^Aranya Parva Mahabharata, Translated by Manmatha Nath Dutt (1894), page 2
- ^Aranya Parva Mahabharata, Translated by Manmatha Nath Dutt (1894), page 3-4 (Verses 19-40)
- ^Aranya Parva Mahabharata, Translated by Manmatha Nath Dutt (1894), page 5 (Verse 55)
- ^Aranya Parva Mahabharata, Translated by Manmatha Nath Dutt (1894), pages 40-42 abridged
- ^Aranya Parva Mahabharata, Translated by Manmatha Nath Dutt (1894), page 43 (Verse 2)
- ^Aranya Parva Mahabharata, Translated by Manmatha Nath Dutt (1894), page 261 (Verses 20-25 abridged)
- ^Aranya Parva Mahabharata, Translated by Manmatha Nath Dutt (1894), page 300 (Verses 98-118 abridged)
- ^Aranya Parva Mahabharata, Translated by Manmatha Nath Dutt (1894), page 372
- ^Manmatha Nath Dutt The Mahabharata, Aranya Parva (Verses 91-92, 114, 117), p. 449, at Google Books
External links[edit]
Wikiquote has quotations related to: Vana Parva |
- English Translation of Aranya Parva by Kisari Mohan Ganguli
- Aranya Parva, Translation in English, by Manmatha Nath Dutt
- Le Mahabharata, Translation in French, by H. Fauche (Paris, 1868)
- English Translation, readable; Translation by Kisari Mohan Ganguli
- Aranya Parva in Sanskrit by Vyasadeva and commentary by Nilakantha (Editor: Kinjawadekar, 1929)
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Vasishtha | |
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Depiction of Vashishtha with his wife Arundhati and Kamadhenu cow | |
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Spouse | Arundhati |
Children | Śakti Maharṣi |
Vashishtha (Sanskrit: वशिष्ठ, IAST: vaśiṣṭha) is one of the oldest and most revered Vedic rishis.[1][2] He is one of the Saptarishis (seven great Rishis) of India. Vashishtha is credited as the chief author of Mandala 7 of Rigveda.[3] Vashishtha and his family are mentioned in Rigvedic verse 10.167.4,[note 1] other Rigvedic mandalas and in many Vedic texts.[6][7][8] His ideas have been influential and he was called as the first sage of the Vedanta school of Hindu philosophy by Adi Shankara.[9]
Yoga Vashishtha, Vashishtha Samhita, as well as some versions of the Agni Purana[10] and Vishnu Purana are attributed to him. He is the subject of many mythologies, such as him being in possession of the divine cow Kamadhenu and Nandini her child, who could grant anything to their owners. He is famous in Hindu mythologies for his legendary conflicts with sage Vishvamitra.[2][11][12]
- 2History
- 4Mythology
- 9References
Etymology[edit]
Vashishtha is also spelled as Vasiṣṭha and is Sanskrit for 'most excellent, best or richest. According to Monier-Williams, it is sometimes incorrectly spelt as Vashishtha or Vashistha (vaśiṣṭha, वशिष्ठ).[13]
History[edit]
In Rigvedic hymn 7.33.9, Vashishtha is described as a scholar who moved across the Indus river to establish his school.[14] He was married to Arundhati, and therefore he was also called Arundhati Nath, meaning the husband of Arundhati.[15] Vashishtha is believed to have lived on the banks of Ganga in modern-day Uttarakhand. Later, this region is believed in the Indian tradition to be the abode of sage Vyasa along with Pandavas, the five brothers of Mahabharata.[16] He is typically described in ancient and medieval Hindu texts as a sage with long flowing hairs that are neatly tied into a bun that is coiled with a tuft to the right, a beard, a handlebar moustache and a tilak on his forehead.[17]
In Buddhist Pali canonical texts such as Digha Nikaya, Tevijja Sutta describes a discussion between the Buddha and Vedic scholars of his time. The Buddha names ten rishis, calls them 'early sages' and makers of ancient verses that have been collected and chanted in his era, and among those ten rishi is Vasettha (the Pali spelling of Vashishtha in Sanskrit[18]).[19][note 2]
Ideas[edit]
Vashishtha is the author of the seventh book of the Rigveda,[3] one of its 'family books' and among the oldest layer of hymns in the Vedic scriptures of Hinduism.[20] The hymns composed by Vashishtha are dedicated to Agni, Indra and other gods, but according to RN Dandekar, in a book edited by Michael Witzel, these hymns are particularly significant for four Indravarunau hymns. These have an embedded message of transcending 'all thoughts of bigotry', suggesting a realistic approach of mutual 'coordination and harmony' between two rival religious ideas by abandoning disputed ideas from each and finding the complementary spiritual core in both.[20] These hymns declare two gods, Indra and Varuna, as equally great. In another hymn, particularly the Rigvedic verse 8.83.9, Vashishtha teaches that the Vedic gods Indra and Varuna are complementary and equally important because one vanquishes the evil by the defeat of enemies in battles, while other sustains the good during peace through socio-ethical laws.[21] The seventh mandala of the Rigveda by Vashishtha is a metaphorical treatise.[22] Vashishtha reappears as a character in Hindu texts, through its history, that explore conciliation between conflicting or opposing ideologies.[23]
According to Ellison Findly – a professor of Religion, Vashishtha hymns in the Rigveda are among the most intriguing in many ways and influential. Vashishtha emphasizes means to be as important as ends during one's life, encouraging truthfulness, devotion, optimism, family life, sharing one's prosperity with other members of society, among other cultural values.[24]
Texts[edit]
ExcellencePractise righteousness (dharma), not unrighteousness.
Speak the truth, not an untruth.
Look at what is distant, not what's near at hand.
Look at the highest, not at what's less than highest.
Speak the truth, not an untruth.
Look at what is distant, not what's near at hand.
Look at the highest, not at what's less than highest.
— Vasishtha Dharmasutra 30.1[25]
Vashishtha curses Kaikeyi
Vasishtha is a revered sage in the Hindu traditions, and like other revered sages, numerous treatises composed in ancient and medieval era are reverentially named after him.[26] Some treatises named after him or attributed to him include:
- Vashishtha samhita is a medieval era Yoga text.[27] There is an Agama as well with the same title.
- Vashishtha dharmasutra, an ancient text, and one of the few Dharma-related treatises which has survived into the modern era. This Dharmasūtra (300–100 BCE) forms an independent text and other parts of the Kalpasūtra, that is Shrauta- and Grihya-sutras are missing.[28] It contains 1,038 sutras.[29]
- Yoga Vashishtha is a syncretic medieval era text that presents Vedanta and Yoga philosophies. It is written in the form of a dialogue between Vashishtha and prince Rama of Ramayana fame, about the nature of life, human suffering, choices as the nature of life, free will, human creative power and spiritual liberation.[30][31] Yoga Vashishtha teachings are structured as stories and fables,[32] with a philosophical foundation similar to those found in Advaita Vedanta.[33][34][35] The text is also notable for its discussion of Yoga.[36][37] According to Christopher Chapple – a professor of Indic studies specializing in Yoga and Indian religions, the Yoga Vashishtha philosophy can be summarized as, 'Human effort can be used for self-betterment and that there is no such thing as an external fate imposed by the gods'.[38]
- Agni Purana is attributed to Vashishtha.[10]
- Vishnu Purana is attributed to Vashishtha along with Rishi Pulatsya. He has also contributed to many Vedic hymns and is seen as the arranger of Vedas during Dwapara Yuga.
Mythology[edit]
A Vashishtha statue in granite stone.
According to Agarwal, one mythical legend states that Vashishtha wanted to commit suicide by falling into river Saraswati. But the river prevented this sacrilege by splitting into hundreds of shallow channels. This story, states Agarwal, may have very ancient roots, where 'the early man observed the braiding process of the Satluj' and because such a legend could not have invented without the residents observing an ancient river (in Rajasthan) drying up and its tributaries such as Sutlej reflowing to merge into Indus river.[39]
Rivalry with Vishwamitra[edit]
Vashishtha is known for his feud with Vishwamitra. The king Vishwamitra coveted Vashistha's divine cow Nandini that could fulfil material desires. Vashishtha destroyed Vishwamitra's army and sons. Vishwamitra acquired weapons from Lord Shiva and incinerated Vashishtha's hermitage and sons, but Vashistha baffled all of Vishwamitra's weapons. Vishwamitra betook severe penances for thousands of years and became a Brahmarshi. He even reconciled with Vashishtha.
Disciples[edit]
Vashishtha is best known as the priest and preceptor , teacher of the Ikshvaku kings clan. He was also the preceptor of Manu, the progenitor of Kshatriyas and Ikshvaku's father. Other characters like Nahusha, Rantideva and Bhishma were his disciples.
When the Bharata king Samvarta lost his kingdom to the Panchalas, he became the disciple of Vashistha. Under Vashistha's guidance, Samvarta regained his kingdom and became the ruler of the earth.
The Vashishtha Head[edit]
A copper casting of a human head styled in the manner described for Vashishtha was discovered in 1958 in Delhi. This piece has been dated to around 3700 BCE, plus minus 800 years, in three western universities (ETH Zurich, Stanford and UC) using among other methods carbon-14 dating tests, spectrographic analysis, X-ray dispersal analysis and metallography.[17][40] This piece is called 'Vashishtha head', because the features, hairstyle, tilak and other features of the casting resembles the description for Vashishtha in Hindu texts.[17]
The significance of 'Vasishtha head' is unclear because it was not found at an archaeological site, but in open Delhi market where it was scheduled to be remelted. Further, the head had an inscription of 'Narayana' suggesting that the item was produced in a much later millennium. The item, states Edwin Bryant, likely was re-cast and produced from an ancient pre-2800 BCE copper item that left significant traces of matter with the observed C-14 dating.[17]
Vashishtha Temples[edit]
Vashishtha Temple, in Vashisht village, Himachal Pradesh
There is an Ashram dedicated to Vashishtha in Guwahati, India. This Ashram is situated close to Assam-Meghalaya border to the south of Guwahati city and is a major tourist attraction of Guwahati. Vashishtha's Temple is situated in Vashisht village, Himachal Pradesh. Vashishtha Cave, a cave on the banks of Ganges at Shivpuri, 18 km from Rishikesh is also locally believed to be his winter abode and houses a Shiva temple, also nearby is Arundhati Cave.
Guru Vashishtha is also the primary deity at Arattupuzha Temple known as Arattupuzha Sree Dharmasastha in Arattupuzha village in Thrissur district of Kerala. The famous Arattupuzha Pooram is a yearly celebration where Sri Rama comes from the Thriprayar Temple to pay obeisance to his Guru at Arattupuzha temple.
See also[edit]
Notes[edit]
- ^Kasyapa is mentioned in RV 9.114.2, Atri in RV 5.78.4, Bharadvaja in RV 6.25.9, Vishvamitra in RV 10.167.4, Gautama in RV 1.78.1, Jamadagni in RV 3.62.18, etc.;[4] Original Sanskrit text: प्रसूतो भक्षमकरं चरावपि स्तोमं चेमं प्रथमः सूरिरुन्मृजे । सुते सातेन यद्यागमं वां प्रति विश्वामित्रजमदग्नी दमे ॥४॥[5]
- ^The Buddha names the following as 'early sages' of Vedic verses, 'Atthaka (either Ashtavakra or Atri), Vamaka, Vamadeva, Vessamitta (Visvamitra), Yamataggi, Angirasa, Bharadvaja, Vasettha (Vashistha), Kassapa (Kashyapa) and Bhagu (Bhrigu)'.[19]
References[edit]
- ^James G. Lochtefeld (2002). The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Hinduism: N-Z. The Rosen Publishing Group. p. 742. ISBN978-0-8239-3180-4.
- ^ abMariasusai Dhavamony (1999). Hindu Spirituality. Gregorian. pp. 50 with footnote 63. ISBN978-88-7652-818-7.
- ^ abStephanie Jamison; Joel Brereton (2014). The Rigveda: 3-Volume Set. Oxford University Press. pp. 1681–1684. ISBN978-0-19-972078-1.
- ^Gudrun Bühnemann (1988). Pūjā: A Study in Smārta Ritual. Brill Academic. p. 220. ISBN978-3-900271-18-3.
- ^Rigveda 10.167.4, Wikisource
- ^'according to Rig Veda 7.33:11 he is the son of Maitravarun and Urvashi' Prof. Shrikant Prasoon, Pustak Mahal, 2009, ISBN8122310729, ISBN9788122310726. [1]
- ^Rigveda, translated by Ralph T.H. Griffith,
A form of lustre springing from the lightning wast thou, when Varuṇa and Mitra saw thee;
Tliy one and only birth was then, Vashiṣṭha, when from thy stock Agastya brought thee hither.
Born of their love for Urvasi, Vashiṣṭha thou, priest, art son of Varuṇa and Mitra;
And as a fallen drop, in heavenly fervour, all the Gods laid thee on a lotus-blossom - ^Maurice Bloomfield (1899). Atharvaveda. K.J. Trübner. pp. 31, 111, 126.
- ^Chapple, Christopher (1984). 'Introduction'. The Concise Yoga Vāshiṣṭha. Translated by Venkatesananda, Swami. Albany: State University of New York Press. p. xi. ISBN0-87395-955-8. OCLC11044869.
- ^ abHorace Hayman Wilson (1840). The Vishńu Puráńa: A System of Hindu Mythology and Tradition. Oriental Translation Fund of Great Britain and Ireland. p. xxxvi.
- ^Horace Hayman Wilson (1840). The Vishńu Puráńa: A System of Hindu Mythology and Tradition. Oriental Translation Fund of Great Britain and Ireland. p. lxix.
- ^Adheesh A. Sathaye (2015). Crossing the Lines of Caste: Vishvamitra and the Construction of Brahmin Power in Hindu Mythology. Oxford University Press. pp. 254–255. ISBN978-0-19-934111-5.
- ^Monier-Williams, Monier (1899). 'vaśiṣṭha'. A Sanskrit-English dictionary : etymologically and philologically arranged with special reference to cognate Indo-European languages. Oxford: Clarendon Press., Archive 2
- ^Michael Witzel (1997). Inside the Texts, Beyond the Texts: New Approaches to the Study of the Vedas: Proceedings of the International Vedic Workshop, Harvard University, June 1989. Harvard University Press. pp. 289 with footnote 145. ISBN978-1-888789-03-4.
- ^Gopal, Madan (1990). K.S. Gautam (ed.). India through the ages. Publication Division, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India. p. 70.
- ^Strauss, Sarah (2002). 'The Master's Narrative: Swami Sivananda and the Transnational Production of Yoga'. Journal of Folklore Research. Indiana University Press. 23: 221. JSTOR3814692.
- ^ abcdEdwin Bryant (2003). The Quest for the Origins of Vedic Culture: The Indo-Aryan Migration Debate. Oxford University Press. p. 164. ISBN978-0-19-516947-8.
- ^Steven Collins (2001). Aggañña Sutta. Sahitya Akademi. p. 17. ISBN978-81-260-1298-5.
- ^ abMaurice Walshe (2005). The Long Discourses of the Buddha: A Translation of the Digha Nikaya. Simon and Schuster. pp. 188–189. ISBN978-0-86171-979-2.
- ^ abMichael Witzel (1997). Inside the Texts, Beyond the Texts: New Approaches to the Study of the Vedas: Proceedings of the International Vedic Workshop, Harvard University, June 1989. Harvard University Press. pp. 41–42. ISBN978-1-888789-03-4. OCLC246746415.
- ^J. C. Heesterman; Albert W. Van den Hoek; Dirk H. A. Kolff; et al. (1992). Ritual, State, and History in South Asia: Essays in Honour of J.C. Heesterman. BRILL Academic. pp. 68–73 with footnotes. ISBN90-04-09467-9.
- ^J. C. Heesterman; Albert W. Van den Hoek; Dirk H. A. Kolff; et al. (1992). Ritual, State, and History in South Asia: Essays in Honour of J.C. Heesterman. BRILL Academic. pp. 136–137. ISBN90-04-09467-9.
- ^Ramchandra Narayan Dandekar (1981), 'Vasistha as Religious Conciliator', in Exercises in Indology, Delhi: Ajanta, pages 122-132, OCLC9098360
- ^Findly, Ellison Banks (1984). 'Vasistha: Religious Personality and Vedic Culture'. Numen. BRILL Academic. 31 (1): 74–77, 98–105. doi:10.2307/3269890. JSTOR3269890.
- ^Olivelle 1999, p. 325.
- ^Olivelle 1999, p. xxvi.
- ^Vaśiṣṭha Saṃhitā: Yoga kāṇḍa. Kaivalyadhama S.M.Y.M. samiti. 2005. ISBN978-81-89485-37-5.
- ^Robert Lingat 1973, p. 18.
- ^Patrick Olivelle 2006, p. 185.
- ^Chapple 1984, pp. xi-xii
- ^Surendranath Dasgupta, A History of Indian Philosophy, Volume 2, Cambridge University Press, ISBN978-0521047791, pages 252-253
- ^Venkatesananda, S (Translator) (1984). The Concise Yoga Vāsiṣṭha. Albany: State University of New York Press. pp. 51, 77, 87, 121, 147, 180, 188, 306, 315, 354, 410. ISBN0-87395-955-8.
- ^Chapple 1984, pp. ix-x with footnote 3
- ^KN Aiyer (1975), Laghu Yoga Vasishta, Theosophical Publishing House, Original Author: Abhinanda, ISBN978-0835674973, page 5
- ^Leslie 2003, pp. 104
- ^G Watts Cunningham (1948), How Far to the Land of Yoga? An Experiment in Understanding, The Philosophical Review, Vol. 57, No. 6, pages 573-589
- ^F Chenet (1987), Bhāvanā et Créativité de la Conscience, Numen, Vol. 34, Fasc. 1, pages 45-96 (in French)
- ^Chapple 1984, pp. x-xi with footnote 4
- ^Agarwal, D.P. (1990). 'Legends as models of Science'. Bulletin of the Deccan College Research Institute. pp. 41–42. JSTOR42930266.Missing or empty
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(help)(subscription required) - ^Harry Hicks and Robert Anderson (1990), Analysis of an Indo-European Vedic Aryan Head – 4500-2500 B.C., in Journal of Indo European studies, Vol. 18, pp 425–446. Fall 1990.
Bibliography[edit]
- Chapple, Christopher (1984). 'Introduction'. The Concise Yoga Vāsiṣṭha. Translated by Venkatesananda, Swami. Albany: State University of New York Press. ISBN0-87395-955-8. OCLC11044869.
- Robert Lingat (1973). The Classical Law of India. University of California Press. ISBN978-0-520-01898-3.
- Olivelle, Patrick (1999), Dharmasutras: The Law Codes of Ancient India, Oxford University Press, ISBN978-0-19-283882-7
- Patrick Olivelle (2006). Between the Empires: Society in India 300 BCE to 400 CE. Oxford University Press. ISBN978-0-19-977507-1.
- Atreya, B L (1981) [1935)]. The Philosophy of the Yoga Vashista. A Comparative Critical and Synthetic Survey of the Philosophical Ideas of Vashista as presented in the Yoga-Vashista Maha-Ramayan. Based on a thesis approved for the degree of Doctor of Letters in the Banaras Hindu University. Moradabad: Darshana Printers. p. 467.
- Leslie, Julia (2003). Authority and meaning in Indian religions: Hinduism and the case of Vālmīki. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. ISBN0-7546-3431-0.
- Atreya, B L (1993). The Vision and the Way of Vashista. Madras: Indian Heritage Trust. p. 583. OCLC30508760. Selected verses, sorted by subject, in both Sanskrit and English text.
- Vālmīki (2002) [1982]. The Essence of Yogavaasishtha. Compiled by Sri Jnanananda Bharati, transl. by Samvid. Chennai: Samata Books. p. 344. Sanskrit and English text.
- Vālmīki (1976). Yoga Vashista Sara: The Essence of Yoga Vashista. trans. Swami Surēśānanda. Tiruvannamalai: Sri Ramanasramam. p. 29. OCLC10560384. Very short condensation.
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