9. Vedangas.

Angas, member, or Vedangas, members of the Vedas, supplements to the body of the Vedas, six in number, teach the art of pronunciation, grammar, prosody, the explanation of obscure and unusual expressions of the Vedas, astronomy, and the rites and ceremonies to be observed in religion. To these belong the prosody of Pingala, the grammar of Pánini, the treatise upon astronomy called Surya, Lilawati, by Bhânará Charyya, etc.

10 Upangas.

The Upangas, four in number, contain the Hindoo learning upon logic, moral philosophy, jurisprudence, and history.

PURANAS.

Purana, Puranam, Puranon, history of life, poetical representations of Indian mythology, and fabulous history. The Puranas hold an eminent rank in the religion and literature of the Hindoos. Possessing, like the Vedas, the credit of a divine origin, and scarcely inferior to them in sanctity, they exercise a more extensive and practical influence upon Hindoo society. They regulate their ritual, direct their faith, and supply in popular legendary tales materials for their credulity. To European scholars they recommend themselves on other accounts; as they have been considered to contain not only the picturesque and mythological part of Indian superstition, but as the treasury of extensive and valuable historical remains, whose data reach back at least nearly to the deluge. The Puranas include ancient traditions respecting the gods, religious doctrines and rites, the creation, the ages of the world,

cosmography', and the genealogy and history of the ancient kings, as well as the deeds of their successors. Many of these Puranas or traditions treat only of some part of these subjects, while others take in the whole circle. Most of them relate a portion of the history of the gods, which they narrate very circumstantially.

The Puranas are considered nearly as ancient as the Vedas. They are divided into two classes, containing eighteen each. The Puranas of the first and higher class set forth in detail the attributes and powers of Krishna Dwaipayana. The Puranas belonging to this class are said to contain four hundred thousand slokas, or one million six hundred thousand lines. Ten of them comprise the love and history of fa Shivêa, four of Vishnu, and two of Brahma. Two

others, named Agni, sing the praises of the sun and of fire. The eighteenth is the Bhagavata, or Life of Crishna, which crowns the whole series ".

The actual operation of these works upon the minds of a vast portion of mankind, and the reputation they bear for high antiquity and historical worth, entitle them to a full and candid investigation. A plan has accordingly been adopted for submitting the whole of them to analysis, the result of which, as regards one of

• The section of the Puranas relating to geography is called Bhu-Chanda, or Bhuvana-Cosa.

Five of the most important of these are called the Pantschalakchana. " Every Purana treats of five subjects: the creation of the universe, its progress, and the renovation of worlds; the genealogy of gods and heroes; chronology, according to a fabulous system; and heroic history, containing the achievements of demigods and heroes. Since each Purana contains a cosmogony, with mythological and heroic history, the works which bear that title may not unaptly be compared to the Grecian theogonies. See Colebrooke's Essay on the Sanscrit, etc. in Asiatic Researches, vol. vii, p. 202; and Sir William Jones's Works, vol. i, p. 360; or Asiatic Researches, vol. i, p. 351.

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them, was communicated to the Asiatic Society of Calcutta by its secretary, the present Boden professor. The Vishnu Purana, it appears from this account, is a work of sectarial character, inculcating the preferential adoration of Vishnu. The legendary portion, although considerable, is less extravagant than in most of the Puranas; and the genealogical and historical sections, contain much curious and valuable matter. Professor Wilson does not consider this Purana to be older than the middle of the tenth century, though avowedly compiled from older materials. The historical portion is referred to ancient and apparently traditionary memorials. Upon the whole, it is considered as perhaps the most rational and valuable of the class of works to which it belongs *.

The names of single Puranas are given in detail by Sir William Jones (Works, vol. i, p. 360; or, Asiatic Researches, vol. i, p. 352, 8vo. edition); by Sainte Croix, in his translation of Ezur-Vedam; and Hamilton and Langlès, in the Catalogue of manuscripts. Their statements, however, differ.

Catalogue of ten Puranas, presented to the London Asiatic Society, by colonel Tod. See Transactions of the Royal Asiatic Society, vol. i, p. 613.

For a general account of the Puranas the reader may consult Asiatic Researches, vol. viii, p. 480, (Hall. Lit. Zeit, 1816, Oct. No. 247), and Craufurd's Researches on India, vol. i, p. 187.

For a long time only four complete Puranas were accessible to Europeans, through a Tamulic translation from the Sanscrit: namely Saywon, Kandon, Kurmon, and Bagavadon. To these have been added, in something less than sixteen years, the Mahabbhrata and Ramayana, which, with the Bhagavata, are among

x Asiatic Journal, April, 1825, p. 458.

the most celebrated; and are now well known to Europeans by translations of long extracts and complete episodes.

1. Bhagavata.

Bagavadon, or Bhagavata, takes its name from Bhagavat, the ruler, one of the appellations of Krishna. The poem consists of twelve Skandhas, or books, and contains the history of Vishnu, as Krishna, who bore that surname. They are attributed to Krishna Dwaipayana, under the appellation of Veda-vyása, or merely Vyása, the compiler, who is said to have lived in the ninth century. Colebrooke, however, from its style, considers it of later date, and ascribes it to Vopadeva.

A copy of the Bhagavata in Devanâgari, of 1528, as well as two others in Bengalee, are in the Royal Library at Paris. See Hamilton and Langlès Catalogue des mss. Sanscrits, p. 9, and Notice sur un manuscrit du Bhagavata-Pourana, envoyé par M. Duvancel à la Société Asiatique, par M. Burnouf, fils, in the Journal Asiatique, tom. vii, Juillet, 1825, p. 46, et Octobre, p. 193.

Réflexions sur Bagavadam par Deguignes, in the Mémoires de l'Académie des Inscriptions tom. xxxviii, p. 312;-see likewise the Monthly Review, 1788, vol. lxxix, p. 591-600, and Fr. Schlegel's Geschichte der Literatur, vol. i, p. 180.

Specimens of the Bhagavat-Purana will be found in Asiatic Researches, in the Voyages de Sonnerat, and the first thirteen strophes in Paul. a. S. Bartholomæo. Sidharúbam, p. 171,

Bagavadam, ou Doctrine Divine, Ouvrage indien Canonique, sur l'être Suprême, les dieux, les géans, les hommes, les diverses parties de l'univers, etc. (Traduit du Sanscrit en Tamoul, et du Tamoul en Français, par

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un Malabar chrétien, nommé Maridas Poullé, en 1769). Publié par M. Foucher d'Obsonville, Paris, 1788, 8vo. According to Hamilton this is only an extract, of which the beginning alone is tolerably faithful. It is translated into German in the Sammlung asiatischer Originalschriften, Zürich, 1791, B. i, p. 1–216.

a. Dialogue of Narada with Brahma.

Uebersetzung eines ungedruckten Fragments des Bagavadam (Dialogue of Narada with Brahma), by J. Ith, in his translation of the Exour-Vedam from Ste. Croix, Bern, 1779, 2 Bde. 8vo. vol. ii, p. 229–242.

B. Marriage of Rukmini.

Mariage de Rukminî, tiré du Bhaghavata, in Mélanges de Littérature Sanscrite par A. Langlois, p. 85 -119. Rukmini, the golden, was the daughter of king Bhishmaka, in her shape Lakshmî descended to the earth, when her husband Vishnu, as Krishna, dwelt among mankind. This episode recites the espousals of these deities upon the earth.

2. Mahabharat.

Maha Bharata, or, as Ward writes it, Muhabharutu, that is, the great Bharata, is a gigantic Epic poem in eighteen cantos, and of more than one hundred thousand slokas, generally of two lines each. It is ascribed to the Brahman Krishna Dwaipayana Vyasa, and said to be about four thousand years old.

y Between the Vedas and Puranas, in point of antiquity, or, at least, older than parts of the latter, rank the two great epic poems, the Ramayana and Maha Bharata, the Iliad and Odyssey of Sanscrit poetry. Quarterly Review, vol. xlv, P. 6.