Kurma Purana
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The Kurma Purana (
The manuscripts of Kurma Purana have survived into the modern era in many versions.
The text, states Ludo Rocher, is the most interesting of all the Puranas in its discussion of religious ideas, because while it is a Vaishnavism text, Vishnu does not dominate the text.[10] Instead, the text covers and expresses reverence for Vishnu, Shiva and Shakti with equal enthusiasm.[10][11] The Kurma Purana, like other Puranas, includes legends, mythology, geography, Tirtha (pilgrimage), theology and a philosophical Gita. The notable aspect of its Gita, also called the Ishvaragita, is that it is Shiva who presents ideas similar to those found in the Bhagavad Gita.[10][12]
Date
The original core of the text may have been composed about the start of the 8th-century CE, and revised thereafter over the centuries.[2]
The Kurma Purana, like all Puranas, has a complicated chronology. Dimmitt and van Buitenen state that each of the Puranas is encyclopedic in style, and it is difficult to ascertain when, where, why and by whom these were written:[13]
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[13]
Structure
The Kurma Purana exists in many versions, but all of them consist of two parts - the Purva-vibhaga (older part) and Upari-vibhaga (upper part).
Contents
Kurma is, states Rocher, the most interesting religion-themed Purana, because even though it is named after one of the
The Kurma Purana, like other Puranas, includes a philosophical Gita.[10] It is titled Ishvaragita, and its eleven chapters are an adaptation of Bhagavad Gita in a Shiva-as-spokesman format.[10] These eleven chapters are in the Uttaravibhāga.[12]
The Ishvara-gita borrows and refers to the Upanishads such as the
The
References
- ^ Dalal 2014, p. 460.
- ^ a b c d e Rocher 1986, p. 186.
- ^ Dimmitt & van Buitenen 2012, p. 63, 74.
- ^ Bryant 2007, p. 18 note 25.
- ^ Rocher 1986, pp. 18, 184–186.
- ^ Wilson 1864, pp. xxxiv–xxxv.
- ISBN 978-1-57003-449-7.
- ^ a b c d Rocher 1986, p. 184.
- ^ K P Gietz 1992, p. 500 with note 2778.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Rocher 1986, p. 185.
- ^ K P Gietz 1992, p. 903 with note 5221.
- ^ ISBN 9781438451022.
- ^ a b Dimmitt & van Buitenen 2012, p. 5.
- ISBN 81-85843-03-1, p.259
Bibliography
- Bryant, Edwin Francis (2007). Krishna: A Sourcebook. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-803400-1.
- Dimmitt, Cornelia; van Buitenen, J. A. B. (2012). Classical Hindu Mythology: A Reader in the Sanskrit Puranas. Temple University Press (1st Edition: 1977). ISBN 978-1-4399-0464-0.
- Dalal, Rosen (2014). Hinduism: An Alphabetical Guide. Penguin. ISBN 978-8184752779.
- K P Gietz; et al. (1992). Epic and Puranic Bibliography (Up to 1985) Annoted and with Indexes: Part I: A - R, Part II: S - Z, Indexes. Otto Harrassowitz Verlag. ISBN 978-3-447-03028-1.
- ISBN 978-3447025225.
- ISBN 1-84664-664-2.
Further reading
- Mani, Vettam. Puranic Encyclopedia. 1st English ed. New Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1975.