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DECEMBER, 1896.] APASTAMBA'S QUOTATIONS FROM THE PURANAS.
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Apastamba's quotations thus leave no doubt the Purá nas of his time treated of the two topics sargaḥ pratirargas cha" the primary creation and the reproduction of the universe," with which the well-known definition of the scope of the Puranas begins. From the same section of the Puranas come in all probability the statements, Ap. Dk. Si. II. 24, 13-14, according to which the creation is the work of Prajapati and the Sages and the bodies of the pious Sager, i.e., as Haradatta suggests, of Marichi, Vasishtha, and so forth, are visible in the sky "most excellent and brilliant." Both agree in substance with the two passages, marked as quotations, and may be considered as condensed renderings of the teaching of the ancient Puráņas. They show that the outlines of the doctrina regarding the successive creations of the universe, as taught in our Puranas, had been settled.
Both the quotations indicate tlint the language of the ancient Paränas was closely allied to that of the Vedic texts, and, if a pastamba is exact, they prove too that these works contained a mixture of prose and verse. This second point is confirmed by the character of two other Puranic quotations in the Dharmasitra, I. 19, 13 and I. 297. The former contains two epic élokas from a Purana, enjoining the acceptance of an unsolicited gift of food, spontaneously offered by a sinner, and the latter contains a prose passage, declaring the killing of an assailant to be no murder. I have not been able to trace them in the existing Purán is accessible to me. But I must acknowledge that my exploration of these works is far from complete.
While the identification of Apastambu's first mentioned two quotations is sufficient to substantiate the proposition that existing Puranas are connected with the lonionymous worke, mentioned in Vedic literature, various publications, which have appeared of late, permit us to assert with even greater confidence thau formerly that Prof. Wilson's estimate of the Antiquity of our Puraņas is very much too low. Numerons quotations from these works aro found already in the eldest known Dharmanibandhas, such as Vijnanesvara's Mitakshard (ca A. D. 1100), Apararki's Yojaucalliyudharmaśástraniban.th it (ca A. D. 1140). Halayudha's Brálmanasarvasta (not long after ca d. D. 1118/19), where the Puranas are reckoned anong the sources of the sacred law and considered to embody the traditions of the Rishis, ranking either on a par with, or just after, the lawbooks proper. Börünt's India, I. 130 f., written in A.D. 1630 contains an enumeration of their names and sufficient quotations from the Aditya Váyu, Matsya, Vishnu and Vishnudharmottara in order to establish the identity of his texts with those known to ns. In his notes Prof. Sachau has shown this with respect to the Váyup. and the Vishnup. and I have proved it in in detail for tlie Vishnudhar mottara and the Vishnulharmáh, ante, Vol. XIX. p. 381. A Hindu writer of the eleventh century, the Kaśmîrian poet Kshemendra, likewise may be cited as a witness for the existence of our Puráņas, from which he has extracted his Dasavataracharita. Two hundred years before. Bérůni and Kshemendra Samkaracharya quotes, as Prof. Deussen has found, the Markandayapurdņu and calls it simply smriti the tradition of of the sages and repeatedly adduces passages from "& Purana." A further exploration of his numerous works and of the Puranas will permit us to make considerable additions to Prof. Deussen's list of quotations and will lead to further identifications. His immediate predecessor Kamârila (ca 750 A, D.) also mentions the Puranas as sources of the sacred law.
Though the published portions of his Tantravarttiku do not contain any of their names nor any direct quotations, they yet describe their contents with an exactness sufficient to show that he knew works similar to the Vaynp., Alatsyap. and Vishnup. In one place he states that they contain prithivicibhága, the description of the earth, varráánukramana, the genealogies, deszkáluparimún, the measures of space and time, and bhávikathara, predictions of the future events, all of which correspond to sections of our larger Puranas. Among the writers of the seventh century it is particularly Bâņa (ca 625 A. D.), who frequently mentions the Puránas. He has also worked up the story of the Deviinahatmya of the Márkandeya purind, into his
• Kashmir Report, p. 47.
. Das System des Verlanta, p. 36. 10 Tuntravirttika, p. 79 (Bon, Ed.). Othor roforences to particular Pauripio doctrines are found pp. 245 vad 235.
