and the other ingredients of the universe;1 be to us the bestower of understanding, wealth, and final emancipation. Having adored Vishnu,' the lord of all, and paid quiescence; Rajas (T), foulness, passion, activity; and Tamas (H), darkness, ignorance, inertia. * — Pradhánabuddhyàdijagatprapanchasúh (प्रधानबुद्ध्या दिजगत्प्रपञ्चसूः). This predicate of the deity distinguishes most of the Puránas from several of the philosophical systems, which maintain, as did the earliest Grecian systems of cosmogony, the eternal and independent existence of the first principle of things, as nature, matter, or chaos. Accordingly, the commentator notices the objection. Pradhána being without beginning, it is said, How can Vishnu be its parent? To which he replies, that this is not so; for, in a period of worldly destruction (Pralaya), when the creator desists from creating, nothing is generated by virtue of any other energy or parent. Or, if this be not satisfactory, then the text may be understood to imply that intellect (Buddhi), &c., are formed through the materiality of crude nature or Pradhána. 2 Vishnu is commonly derived, in the Puráñas, from the root Vis (fa), to enter; entering into or pervading the universe: agreeably to the text of the Vedas : तत्सृष्ट्वा तदेवानुप्रविशति । 'Having created that (world), he then afterwards enters into it;' being, as our comment observes, undistinguished by place, time, or property: देशकालस्वरूपतो व्यवच्छेदाभावात् । According to the Matsya P., the name alludes to his entering into the mundane egg: according to the Padma P., to his entering into, or combining with, Prakriti, as Purusha or spirit: स एव भगवान्विष्णुः प्रकृत्यामाविवेश ह । In the Moksha Dharma of the Mahábhárata, s. 165, the word is derived from the root ví (t), signifying motion, pervasion, 骨 See the editor's second note in p. 26, and note in p. 35, infra. reverence to Brahma and the rest;' having also saluted the spiritual preceptor; I will narrate a Purána equal in sanctity to the Vedas. production, radiance; or, irregularly, from kram (क्रम), to go, with the particle vi (fa), implying variously, prefixed. * 1 Brahma and the rest is said to apply to the series of teachers through whom this Purána was transmitted from its first reputed author, Brahmá, to its actual narrator, the sage Paráśara. See, also, b. VI., c. 8. 2 The Guru or spiritual preceptor is said to be Kapila or Sáraswata. The latter is included in the series of teachers of the Purána. Paráśara must be considered also as a disciple of Kapila, as a teacher of the Sankhya philosophy. * There seems to be a misunderstanding, here, on the part of the translator; for, in the passage of the Mahabharata referred to by him,which can be no other than the Sánti-parvan, Moksha- dharma, 13170 and 13171– Vishnu is taken to be derived, with the affix नु, from विच्छ्, "to shine" and also "to move". That passage is subjoined: गतिश्च सर्वभूतानां प्रजनश्चापि भारत । व्याप्ता मे रोदसी पार्थ कान्तिश्चाभ्यधिका मम ॥ Arjuna Miśra, commenting on these verses, derives the word from fa in the acceptation of "to go". He seems to admit this verb likewise in the Vaidik sense of "to eat." But the latter view is not borne out by the text. His words are: विष्णुपदव्युत्पत्तिमाह । गतिश्चेति । विच्छिर्गत्यर्थः। तेन विच्छ्यते। अनेनेति विष्णुः । अत्तीति वा निरुक्तम् । In the Nighañitu, II., 8, वेवेष्टि occurs as a synonym of अन्ति. Gangadhara, in his metrical gloss on the thousand names of Vishnu, expresses himself as follows, touching the six hundred and fifty-seventh of them: वेवेष्टि कान्तित इमे किल रोदसी वा । विष्णुः स विच्छ्यति सो ऽथ हि दीप्यते नुः ॥ 3 Maitreya, having saluted him reverentially, thus addressed Paráśara,-the excellent sage, the grandson of Vasishtha,*—who was versed in traditional history and the Puráńas; who was acquainted with the Vedas and the branches of science dependent upon them, and skilled in law and philosophy; and who had performed the morning rites of devotion. Maitreya said: Master! I have been instructed, by you, in the whole of the Vedas, and in the institutes of law and of sacred science. Through your favour, other men, even though they be my foes, cannot accuse me of having been remiss in the acquirement of knowledge. I am now desirous, O thou who art profound in piety, to hear from thee how this world was, and how in future it will be? what is its substance, O Brahman; and whence proceeded animate and inanimate things? into what has it been resolved; and into what will its dissolution again occur? how were the elements manifested? whence proceeded the gods and other beings? what are the situation and extent of the oceans and the mountains, the earth, the sun, and the planets? what are the families of the gods and 3 Maitreya is the disciple of Paráśara, who relates the Vishnu Purána to him. He is also one of the chief interlocutors in the Bhagavata, and is introduced, in the Mahábhárata (Vana Parvan, s. 10), as a great Rishi or sage, who denounces Duryodhana's death. In the Bhagavata, he is also termed Kauśáravi, or the son of Kusarava. * Literally, "Vasishtha's son's son". Paráśara's father, as the commentator remarks, was Śaktri. See my second note in p. 8, infra. "And philosophy" is the commentator's definition of the original, ádi, "and the rest". * others, the Manus, the periods called Manwantaras, those termed Kalpas, and their subdivisions, and the four ages: the events that happen at the close of a Kalpa, and the terminations of the several ages:1 the histories, O great Muni, of the gods, the sages, and kings; and how the Vedas were divided into branches (or schools), after they had been arranged by Vyása: the duties of the Brahmans and the other tribes, as well as of those who pass through the different orders of life? All these things I wish to hear from you, grandson of Vasishtha. † Incline thy thoughts benevolently towards me, that I may, through thy favour, be informed of all I desire to know. Parásara replied: Well inquired, pious Maitreya. You recall to my recollection that which was of old narrated by my father's father, Vasishtha. I had heard that my father had been devoured by a Rákshasa employed by Viswamitra. Violent anger seized me; and I commenced a sacrifice for the destruction of the Rákshasas. Hundreds of them were reduced to ashes by the rite; when, as they were about to be entirely extirpated, my grandfather Vasishtha thus spake to me: Enough, my child; let thy wrath be appeased: the Rakshasas are not culpable: thy father's death was the work of destiny. Anger is the passion of fools; it becometh not a wise man. By whom, it may be asked, One copy reads Yugadharma, the duties peculiar to the four ages, or their characteristic properties, instead of Yugánta. * Vyása-kartrika has, rather, the signification of "composed by Vyása". To the letter, "son of Vásishtha", whose father was Vasishtha. is any one killed? Every man reaps the consequences of his own acts. Anger, my son, is the destruction of all that man obtains, by arduous exertions, of fame and of devout austerities, and prevents the attainment of heaven or of emancipation. The chief sages always shun wrath: be not thou, my child, subject to its influence. Let no more of these unoffending spirits of darkness be consumed.* Mercy is the might of the righteous. 1 1 1 Sacrifice of Parásara. The story of Parásara's birth is narrated in detail in the Mahábhárata (Ádi Parvan, s. 176). King Kalmáshapáda, meeting with Sakti, the son of Vasishtha, in a narrow path in a thicket, desired him to stand out of his way. The sage refused; on which the Rájá beat him with his whip; and Sakti cursed him to become a Rákshasa, a man-devouring spirit. The Rájá, in this transformation, killed and ate its author, or Śakti, together with all the other sons of Vasishtha. Śakti left his wife, Adriśyanti, pregnant; and she gave birth to Paráśara, who was brought up by his grandfather. When he grew up, and was informed of his father's death, he instituted a sacrifice for the destruction of all the Rákshasas, but was dissuaded from its completion by Vasishtha and other sages, or Atri, Pulastya, Pulaha, and Kratu. The Mahábhárata adds, that, when he desisted from the rite, he scattered the remaining sacrificial fire upon the northern face of the Himalaya mountain, where it still blazes forth, at the phases of the moon, consuming Rakshasas, forests, and mountains. The legend alludes, possibly, to some trans-himalayan volcano. The transformation of Kalmáshapáda is ascribed, in other places, to a different cause; but he is everywhere regarded as the devourer of Śakti † or Śaktri, as the name also occurs. The story is told in the Linga * Supply: "Let this thy sacrifice cease”: udi à facuâda | This is hardly the name of a male. The right word seems to be Śak tri. |