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ARTICLE : Puraanas ( was Re: REQUEST : What is VEDANTA AND .....
Jaldhar H. Vyas <jaldhar@braincells.com> wrote in article
<ghenDxu5r3.6Dy@netcom.com>...
> The problem with the Veda is that it is off-limits to women and Shudras.
> As it would be unjust to deny access to the shastras to the vast majority
> of Dharmik people Maharshi Veda Vyas took the essence of the Veda and
> wrote the Mahabharata (of which the Bhagavad Gita is a part) and the
> Purana which he taught to his student Suta Pauranik. The original one
> Purana was split into 18 Mahapuranas and 18 Upapuranas. The Mahabharata
> together with the Ramayana of Maharshi Valmiki are called Itihasa. The
> Itihasa's and Puranas together with the shastras various other sages
wrote
> are collectively called Smrti. ("Remembered") Although they are very
old,
> they are acknowledged to be written by actual people unlike the Veda.
I have also heard it said that there was one Puraana that was split into 18
puraanas, but in all honesty, I am having trouble finding scriptural
references to this. I know that the Chandogya Upanishad refers to the
Puraanas in the singular (as in itihaasa-puraanam panchama vedaanam veda.h)
but I was not sure if this was done to indicate a puraana as a genre of
literature or if it was actually because there was originally one puraana
(of course, there was originally one Veda, but...).
Do you know of any scriptural information where this 1 Puraana --> 18
Puraanas split is described?
regards,
-- Krishna
