Introduction:
“Purana” is wrongly translated as "mythology".
The term mythology is used to describe "stories" that are "not objectively true". For example in Greek mythology, we find poetic stories which are objectively not true. They seldom have any spiritual, philosophical or metaphysical discourse.
However in “purana”, instead of poetry, we find stories that are philosophical, spiritual, and metaphysical in nature. All these are representations of truth in different versions at different degrees.
For example, in “Bhagavata-purana”, the story of “Puranjana” is purely philosophical, wherein a city is used as metaphor for the human body, enemies for temptations…etc. In “Brahmanda-purana”, the story of “Sri Lalitha” contains “lalitha-sahasranama” which is completely spiritual. In “Garuda-purana”, a meta-physical discussion is made regarding the journey of the soul after death.
In addition, puranas contain these five essential elements: “Sarga” (creation), “Pratisarga” (annihilation), “Vamsa”, (lineage), “Manvantara” (the reign of Manus) and “Vamsanucarita” (stories of the kings and sages).
The trinity of “Vedanta” (“jnana-bhakti-vairagya”) are invariably found in all puranas.
Hence, “purana” is completely distinct from “mythology”.
Vedic tribe is happy to bring you the aforementioned five essential elements of puranas and show how they are different from mythology.
In the next write-up, we will discuss the “Sarga” (creation) element of puranas.
Our aim is to create enough curiosity in you to enable you to study puranas, appreciate our tradition and adopt their teaching in your day to day life.
All the best.
Madhwesh K
Vedic Tribe
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The five characteristics of a Purana
1. “Sarga” (creation)
Creationism is a striking feature of all Puranas. Every purana invariably lays down a different version of the cosmic event “sarga” or “srishti”.
However, this is not found in any mythology except Chinese (It may be noted that though Abrahamic Religions’ Torah, Zabur, Gospel and Quran, do invariably contain creationism, they are not treated as independent mythology).
In puranas, creation is not a one-time event. Instead it is an endless cycle of events.
Also, there is no novelty in creation. Ie., It's not creation "out of nothing" but an expansion and admixture of primordial matter ("prakriti").
Bhagavata-purana discusses expansion of "prakriti"; Garuda-purana discusses evolution of consciousness starting from the first one "virinchi"; Linga-purana discusses creation via symbolism & iconography. Similarly different purana discusses creation from different perspectives.
All these perspectives are philosophical, spiritual, and metaphysical in nature.
This is a striking departure from mythological texts of other cultures / religions.
In the next write-up, we will discuss the “Pratisarga” (annihilation) element of puranas.
Madhwesh K
Vedic Tribe
—
The five characteristics of a Purana
2. “Pratisarga” (annihilation)
Annihilations are four types in purana. 1. "Nithya" (constant annihilation), 2. "athyantika" (liberatory annihilation), 3. "Naimittika" (occasional annihilation) and 4. "Prakritika". (natural annihilation).
1. "Life" comes into existence when a conscious entity gets hooked into matter. When that entity moves on, it is called "death". This constant cycle of birth and death is called "Nithya" ie., constant annihilation.
2. When that conscious entity is finally free from this cycle, it is called "athyantika" i.e, liberatory annihilation
3. Universe's highest consciousness is "Virinchi". When four Yugas turn a thousand times, "Virinchi" experiences one day and for the same span of time one night is experienced. Day indicates creation & activity and night indicates annihilation & inactivity. This is called "Naimittika" ie., occasional annihilation.
4. When "Virinchi" experiences one hundred years, then the whole universe is dissolved and this is called "Prakritika". I.e, natural annihilation.
All these perspectives are philosophical, spiritual, and metaphysical in nature.
This is a striking departure from mythological texts of other cultures / religions.
In the next write-up, we will discuss the “Vamsa” (lineage) element of puranas.
Madhwesh K
Vedic Tribe
—
The five characteristics of a Purana
3. “Vamsa” (lineage):
One of the striking features of Purana is that it provides the lineage of Kings & Rishis.
There are two major dynasties of ancient kings: Surya Vamsha & Chandra Vamsha.
Survavamsha's lineageis provided in Puranas as: Virinchi > Marichi > Kashyapa > Surya > Vaivasvata Manu > Ikshvaku >> Kakutstha >> Mandhata > Ambareesha >> Trishanku / Satyavrata >> Satya Harishchandra >> Dileepa > Bhageeratha >> Raghu / Deergabahu >> Sri Rama >> Goutama Buddha…etc
Chandravamsha’s lineage is provided in Puranas as: Virinchi > Atri > Chandra > Buda > Pururavas >> Nahusha > Yayati >> Dushyanta > Bharatha >> Kuru >> Shantanu >> Pandu > Five pandavas > Abhimanyu > Pareekshit > Janamejaya
Lineage of kings is traced by parent-children relationship and the lineage of rishis is traced by teacher-student relationship. Almost five millennia ago, this lineage was restructured by Sri Vedavyasa and he taught four vedas to his four disciples (Rigveda to Paila, Samaveda to Jaimini, Yajurveda to Vaishampayana and Atharvaveda to Sumanthu). Even today the vedic lineage of knowledge is traced back to these Rishis.
This is a striking departure from mythological texts of other cultures / religions.
In the next write-up, we will discuss the “Manvantara” (the reign of Manus) element of puranas.
Madhwesh K
Vedic Tribe
—
The five characteristics of a Purana
4. “Manvantara” (the reign of Manus)
In puranas, creation is not a one-time event. Instead it is an endless cycle of events.
The highest conscious being in the creation is “Virinchi”. In the present cycle of creation, Virinchi’s life’s first half has elapsed and we are in the second half (“dwiteeya parardha”).
The first day of the said second half is called “Shweta Varaha kalpa”. This “kalpa” lasts for 4.32 billion (human) years and is divided into fourteen manvantaras. Currently we are in “Vyvasvata Manvantara” which is the seventh. Each “manvantara” lasts for 0.3 billion (human years).
In each “manvantara”, the “chatur-yuga” (i.e., cycle of four yugas) occurs 71 times. Currently we are in the 28th cycle of “chatur-yaga”. In other words, the present “kali-yuga” is the 28th in “Vyvasvata Manvantara”.
Each manvantara is ruled by a different “manu” and currently it is “Vyvasvatha Manu” the son of “Surya”.
This is a striking departure from mythological texts of other cultures / religions.
In the next write-up, we will discuss the “Vamsanucarita” (stories of the kings and sages) element of puranas.
Madhwesh K
Vedic Tribe
—
The five characteristics of a Purana
5. “Vamsanucarita” (stories of the kings and sages)
Roughly during 3000 BCE, Sri Vedavyasa collated the vedic literature and also composed a single pauranic magnum opus. All the puranas we currently know of, were derived from this single source.
While composing “purana”, Sri Vedavyasa compiled the life stories of ancient kings & sages. After this, due to heavy extrapolation, stories of later kings & sages also creeped into pauranic texts.
The ancient kings & sages mentioned in puranas were witness to many cosmic events. These are metaphors for higher level conscious beings observing colossal cosmic events.
For example, King Shraddhadeva (Vaivasvata Manu) witnessed the deluge which destroyed not only the earth, but also the sky & the heavens. King Priyavrata was instrumental in creating seven oceans & continents. Sage Agastya drank the ocean and Sage Vishvamitra was instrumental in creating a parallel heaven for the sake of King Trishanku.
These stories of kings & sages, lost their esoteric & mystic meanings, due to extrapolations, adaptations in fable stories & classical poems, blind beliefs…etc. Over time we lost the knowledge of interpreting these stories to decipher the real cosmic events underlying these stories.
Nonetheless, this is a striking departure from mythological texts of other cultures / religions.
With this write up we are at the close of this introductory series on “five characteristics of puranas”. Our idea is to enable you to appreciate the richness of our pauranic texts and to create enough curiosity in you to study them directly.
All the best
Madhwesh K
Vedic Tribe
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