Bhavishya Purana part-1 | भविष्य पुराण अध्याय १

• published: 17 Apr 2015
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The Bhavishya Purana (Sanskrit: भविष्य पुराण Bhaviṣya Purāṇa) is one of the eighteen major Hindu Puranas. It is written in Sanskrit and attributed to Rishi Vyasa, the compiler of the Vedas. The title Bhavishya Purana signifies a work that contains prophecies regarding the future (Sanskrit: bhaviṣya). Despite being labelled a Purana, purāṇa meaning "tales of ancient times", the work relates only a few legends. It is one of several Puranas in which a list of royal dynasties of the "past" are followed by lists of kings predicted to rule in the future. The Padma Purana categorizes Bhavishya Purana as a Rajas Purana (Purana which represents passion). Dating and texts In records of land grants of the fifth century BCE verses are quoted which occur only in the Padma, Bhavishya, and Brahma Puranas, and on this basis Pargiter in 1912 assigned these particular Puranas to an even earlier period. Maurice Winternitz considers it more probable that these verses, both in the inscriptions and in the puranas, were taken as quotations from earlier Dharmashastras, and thus argues that chronological deductions cannot be made on that basis. The Bhavishya Purana itself tells us that it consists of five parts (Sanskrit: parvans), but the extant printed edition of the work contains only four parts (Brāhma, Madhyama, Pratisarga, and Uttara). These four parts have distinctive content and dating. Brāhmaparvan The greater part of the work deals with brahmanical ceremonies and feasts, the duties of castes, some accounts of snake myths, and other matters. It also covers the duties of women, good and bad signs of people, and methods of worshipping Brahma, Ganesha, Skanda, and the Nāga. A considerable section deals with Sun worship in a place called "Śākadvīpa" which may be a reference to Scythia. Madhyamaparvan Of the four existing parts of the text, the Madhyamaparvan, which is not mentioned anywhere else as having formed a part of the Bhavishya Purana, is characterized by Rajendra Hazra as "a late appendage abounding in Tantric elements." Pratisargaparvan The Pratisarga parvan deals with the genealogy of the kings and sages. It is written as a universal history with the first and the second parts (called Khandas) deal with old time, the third part with the medieval, while the fourth deals with the new age. Alf Hiltebeitel (2009) considers that 1739 marks the terminus a quo for the text's history of the Mughals and the same terminus a quo would apply to Pratisargaparvan's first khanda Genesis-Exodus sequence, and the diptych in the section concerning "Isha Putra" (Jesus Christ) and Muhammad in its third khanda - the Krsnamsacarita. Mention of Queen Victoria's Calcutta places the terminus ad quem at mid to late 19th Century. The First Khanda (7 chapters) It deals shortly with all the kings of the solar and the lunar family, their period of reign and their great works. Next it deals with the kings of Maurya dynasty and without dealing with the Sungas, the Guptas, the Kanvas, the Yavanas, the Sakas and the Kushanas, it straightaway jumps to the origin of the four Rajputs (Pramaras, Chauhans, Tomaras and Chalukyas) born of the fire on the mount Abu. Hence, they are called Agnivamsis (of the family of Agni, the fire). The Second Khanda (35 chapters) It consists of the fables narrated by Vetâla to the king Vikramaditya of the family of Pramaras. In the last sections of Khanda mention is made of sage Satyanarâyana, grammarian Pânini, and other well-known personalities like Patanjali and Bopadeva. The Third Khanda (32 chapters) The Mahoba, Kanauj ând Delhi Kingdoms which were the centre of political activities in the medieval times, act as a pivot for events mentioned in this Khanda. The Fourth Khanda (26 chapters) It deals with some mleccha rulers like Qutubuddin and Timur and acharyas like Krishnachaitanya, Sankara, Nanak and Kabir. It then proceeds to the matters of the Mughals, especially Akbar the Great and Aurangzeb. It then describes the rise of Shivaji and the invasion of Nadir Shah. Last of all it deals with the British (called Gurundas) and their occupation of India. Uttaraparvan The Uttaraparvan, though nominally attached to the Bhavishya Purana, is usually considered to be an independent work, also known as the Bhaviṣyottara Purāṇa, and as such is included among the Upapuranas (Lesser Puranas). The Bhaviṣyottara Purana is primarily a handbook of religious rites with a few legends and myths. Rajendra Hazra characterizes it as "a loose collection of materials taken from various sources" that is lacking in many of the traditional five characteristics of a purana, but which offers an interesting study of vows, festivals, and donations from sociological and religious point of view.