Preface to tenth part

With the publication of this volume the translation of the Padma-Purāṇa is now complete. This Part of the Purāṇa comprises the concluding chapters 246-255 of Section VI: Uttara-khaṇḍa and chapters 1-26 of the last, Section VII: Kriyāyoga-sārakhaṇḍa plus Index to the whole of the Purāṇa.

The chapters of Section VI included here describe some important events of the life of Śrīkṛṣṇa from Jarāsandha’s invasion of Mathura to the wholesale destruction of the descendants of Yadu in a terrible in-fighting and the sad end of the golden era of Kṛṣṇa. The last Section deals mainly with the details of and the rites and rituals connected with the worship of god Viṣṇu as well as the formalities of the Vaiṣṇava sect. Some interesting features and events we note here in passing.

The founding of the city of Dvārakā by Śrīkṛṣṇa in the sea and its final submergence are allegorically described in chapter 246 of Section VI. Archaeologists have recently unearthed important evidence in this regard which supports the real existence of this city in the remote past. It was to save the population of Mathura threatened by Kālayavana, a powerful and cruel ally of Jarāsandha, the father-in-law of Kaṃsa, that the city of Dvārakā was built by Śrīkṛṣṇa, where the citizens of Mathura were shifted in a hurry. Kālayavana is described as a Mleccha king with a huge army of ferocious barbarians approached by Jarāsandha to come to his help when his own army was routed and destroyed by Śrīkṛṣṇa and Balarama. The word Kālayavana means a “black Greek or foreigner”. He might have been a cruel invader from the Middle East or Africa. We could as well venture a guess that he might have been one from a Muslim country during the time when the Purāṇas were composed as the total shift of a population implies a fear of general massacre and looting for which the Muslim invaders were notorious.

In Section VI, chapter 249 Kṛṣṇa’s eight wives are listed as Rukmiṇī, Satyabhāmā, Kālindī, Mitravindā, Jāmbavatī, Nāgnajiti, Sulakṣmaṇā and Suśīlā. In addition he had to accommodate in his harem sixteen thousand maidens who were held in captivity by the demon Naraka who had terrorized the world and was killed by Kṛṣṇa. This huge number of females in Śrīkṛṣṇa’s harem resulted in an abnormal proliferation of Yādava population in the city of Dvārakā, in which in course of time evil practices, such as drinking, set in and ultimately the whole of which was destroyed in a drunken feud. This series of sad events is described in chapter 252, Section VI. One noteworthy thing here is that the wives of Yādavas committed Sati after the destruction, showing a prevalance of this practice, if not in those remote times, at least at the time when the Purāṇas and the Epics were composed.

The Purāṇa condemns those who worship demons, vampires, spirits, ghosts, Bhairavas, Yakṣas and even deities enjoying liquor and flesh. Worship of these was current in pre-Aryan societies and later also under the influence of Tantric ideas.

Recent ecological concern and mobilization of public opinion against pollution are fore-hadowed in this Purāṇa when it declares that “there is no expiation for one who urinates or excretes on the bank of Gaṅgā and he would go to hell who drops phlegm, spittle, rheum, tears or dirt on the bank of Gaṅgā”.

Speaking in highly exaggerated terms which is a characteristic feature of the Purāṇic style is very frequently seen here also. Ethically so insignificant an act as bathing the image of Viṣṇu with water from a conch is said to result in freedom from such heinous sins as murder of a brāhmaṇa, a cow, a woman, or causing abortion^[1] or drinking liquor. And, “for as many thousands of Kalpas a man rejoices with Viṣṇu as the steps he would devoutly walk while going round Viṣṇu.”

Since the ancient Vedic times the Brāhmaṇa in India enjoys the highest position, for he is said to be born from the mouth of the Cosmic Puruṣa, and the Purāṇas have carried this pro-brāhmaṇism to its extreme limit. This Purāṇa also is no exception as is evident from its declaration that “all the holy places that exist in crores of worlds exist in the right foot of a brāhmaṇa” and also from the fact that it enjoins gifts of garments, food, cow, land, horse, elephant etc. always to a brāhmaṇa. However, this is not unconditional, as the Purāṇa says that all the brāhmaṇas are superior and always respectable, but those who are spoilt by such blemishes as theft, bad conduct etc. are not respectable and gifts should not be given to them. As compared to such brāhmaṇas śūdras with their senses curbed were deemed respectable. Further, “a brāhmaṇa who is not a devotee of Viṣṇu should be known to be inferior to a cāṇḍāla, while a cāṇḍāla who is devoted to Viṣṇu should be known to be superior to a brāhmaṇa.” The Purāṇa has even gone to the other extreme by declaring that Viṣṇu is a cāṇḍāla in the city of Puruṣottama (i.e. Jagannātha Purī) and so food offered by cāṇḍālas should be accepted by brāhmaṇas at that holy place. Incidentally, this city is said to be situated on the shore of the “Lavaṇa Sea in the west”, which may be taken as showing that the author of this Purāṇa or of this Section (VII) at least was probably a native of Bengal or Assam. As regards śūdras, this much is certain that the social problems connected with this lowest stratum of the Hindu society were not as acute at the time of this Purāṇa as they became in the later and modern period, as is evident from the remark: “The wise ones should honour like Viṣṇu brāhmaṇas, kṣatriyas, vaiśyas and śūdras who have come to their house.”

—G.P. Bhatt

Acknowledgements

It is our pleasant duty to put on record our sincere thanks to Dr. R.N. Dandekar and the UNESCO authorities for their kind encouragement and valuable help in the publication of the volumes in this series.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

Control of population was no problem at the time.