Author: Subhasini Singha
DOI Link: https://doi.org/10.70798/Bijmrd/04090002
Abstract:
The Pauranic literature occupies an important place in Sanskrit literature. As many Puranas state, the “Purana” is the divine voice (vaani) of Lord Brahma. In the Matsyapurana, it stated:
पुराणंसबशा ानां थमं णाकृ तम्। अ
न रंचव े ोदेवा िविनगता:।। (म पुराण 5/3/3)
—This means that the Puranas were the first of all scriptures composed by Brahma, holding a place right after the Vedas. “Puranangvedasammatam”—the Puranas arose following the tradition of the Vedas, with the Vedas serving as their origin. Furthermore, the Puranas consistently praise the Vedas. They act as a storehouse of ancient stories (aakhyanas and upakhyanas), through which not only later Sanskrit epic literature, but all subsequent literature across various Indian languages, has been enriched and made to flourish. The Puranas accurately reflect the religious and socio-cultural landscape of ancient India down to the present day. Indian epics draw their subject matter from the Puranas.
The earliest traces of the epics of India can be found in Vedic literature—specifically, in the akhyana hymns of the Rigveda, as well as the akhyanas, upakhyanas, Itihasas, and Puranas of the Brahmana literature.
There are eighteen Puranas, which are called Mahapuranas. These Mahapuranas serve as the source for various well-known epics in Sanskrit literature and other Indian literatures, such as the Adhyatma Ramayana, the works of the great poet Kalidasa, Bharavi’s Kiratarjuniyam, and in Awadhi language, the renowned Sanskrit scholar Tulsidas created the masterpiece ‘Ramcharitmanas’, which is also rooted in the Puranas. Similarly, the great religious epic ‘Kirtan Ghosha’ in Assamese literature by Mahapurusha Srimanta Sankardev, the great preacher of the Vaishnav religion, and Mahapurush Madhavdeva—a disciple of Mahapurush Srimanta Sankardev—wrote numerous devotional works inspired by the Puranas, primarily the Bhagavata Purana. Consequently, Pauranic literature significantly influenced the development of later epic poetry. All in all, without the Puranas, Indian literatureespecially epic literature is incomplete.
Keywords: Mahabharata, Brahmanda Purana, Matsya- Purana, Kalidasa, Kiratarjuniyam, Bhagavata Purana.
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