Padma Purana
Encyclopedia
Padma Purana also called Nagari , is an abugida alphabet of India and Nepal...
: पद्म पुराण), one of the major eighteen Puranas
Puranas
The Puranas are a genre of important Hindu, Jain and Buddhist religious texts, notably consisting of narratives of the history of the universe from creation to destruction, genealogies of kings, heroes, sages, and demigods, and descriptions of Hindu cosmology, philosophy, and geography.Puranas...
, a Hindu
Hindu
Hindu refers to an identity associated with the philosophical, religious and cultural systems that are indigenous to the Indian subcontinent. As used in the Constitution of India, the word "Hindu" is also attributed to all persons professing any Indian religion...
religious text, is divided into five parts.
In the first part of the text, sage Pulastya
Pulastya
Pulatsya was one of the ten Prajapati or mind-born sons of Brahma, and one of the Saptarishis in the first Manvantara....
explains to Bhishma
Bhishma
Bhishma or Bheeshma or Devavrata or 'Bhishma Pitamah' was the eighth son of Kuru King Shantanu who was blessed with wish-long life and had sworn to serve the ruling Kuru king. He was one of the most prominent characters of the great Indian epic, the Mahabharata. He was the grand uncle of both the...
about religion and the essence of the religion. The second part describes in detail Prithvi
Prithvi
Prithvi is the sanskrit name for earth and its essence Prithivi Tattwa, in the form of a mother goddess or godmother. Prithvi is also called Dhra, Dharti, Dhrithri, meaning that which holds everything. As Prithvi Devi, she is one of two wives of Lord Vishnu. His other wife is Lakshmi. Prithvi is...
(earth). In the third part, a description of the cosmos
Cosmos
In the general sense, a cosmos is an orderly or harmonious system. It originates from the Greek term κόσμος , meaning "order" or "ornament" and is antithetical to the concept of chaos. Today, the word is generally used as a synonym of the word Universe . The word cosmos originates from the same root...
is given, including creation, and description of India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
(Bharata Varsha). The fourth part describes the life and deeds of Rama
Rama
Rama or full name Ramachandra is considered to be the seventh avatar of Vishnu in Hinduism, and a king of Ayodhya in ancient Indian...
. The fifth part is in the style of a dialogue between Shiva
Shiva
Shiva is a major Hindu deity, and is the destroyer god or transformer among the Trimurti, the Hindu Trinity of the primary aspects of the divine. God Shiva is a yogi who has notice of everything that happens in the world and is the main aspect of life. Yet one with great power lives a life of a...
and his consort, Parvati
Parvati
Parvati is a Hindu goddess. Parvati is Shakti, the wife of Shiva and the gentle aspect of Mahadevi, the Great Goddess...
, and deals with the essential knowledge about religion.
The Padma Purana is one of the Mahapurana
Mahapurana
Mahapurana may refer to:* one of the 18 major Hindu Puranas*Mahapurana , a well-known 9th century Jain text by Jinasena...
s, dating to roughly between the 8th and the 11th centuries. There are a number of later Jaina
Jainism
Jainism is an Indian religion that prescribes a path of non-violence towards all living beings. Its philosophy and practice emphasize the necessity of self-effort to move the soul towards divine consciousness and liberation. Any soul that has conquered its own inner enemies and achieved the state...
works also known as Padma-purana, and also dealing with the life of Rama. These include the Padma-purana (Balabhadrapurana) or Raidhu (15th century), the Padma-purana of Somadeva (1600), the Padma-purana of Dharmakirti (1612),
the Padma-purana of Bhattaraka Candrakirti (17th century).
Contents
This text was passed on in two different versions (often called recensions), the Bengal and the South Indian. The former recension consists of five khandas (sections): Shrishti Khanda, Bhumi Khanda, Svarga Khanda, Patala Khanda and Uttara Khanda. The latter recension consists of six khandas: Adi Khanda (also called Svarga Khanda in some printed editions), Bhumi Khanda, Brahma Khanda, Patala Khanda, Srishti Khanda and Uttara Khanda. The Bhumi Khanda of the Bengal recension contains additional thirteen chapters, while the Patala Khanda of this recension contains thirty-one additional chapters. The Svarga Khanda of this recension contains the descriptions about different regions (lokas) and narratives of kings and demons. The Srishti Khanda can be divided into two parts and the second part is not found in the Bengal recension.Srishti Khanda
The Srishti Khanda (Book of the Creation) is in the form of a dialogue between BhishmaBhishma
Bhishma or Bheeshma or Devavrata or 'Bhishma Pitamah' was the eighth son of Kuru King Shantanu who was blessed with wish-long life and had sworn to serve the ruling Kuru king. He was one of the most prominent characters of the great Indian epic, the Mahabharata. He was the grand uncle of both the...
and the sage Pulastya. It also contains a detailed description of Pushkara
Pushkara
In Hindu mythology Pushkara was the brother of Nala to whom Nala lost his kingdom and all that he possessed in gambling. Kali got very angry when Damayanti chose Nala in the swayamvar. Kali possessed Nala and was defeated by his brother Pushkara....
, a famous place of pilgrimage
Pilgrimage
A pilgrimage is a journey or search of great moral or spiritual significance. Typically, it is a journey to a shrine or other location of importance to a person's beliefs and faith...
. It is a matter of interest that some sections of this part is derisive of the worship of grahas (include, but not limited to, planets).
Bhumi Khanda
The Bhumi Khanda (Book of the Earth) has a description of PrithviPrithvi
Prithvi is the sanskrit name for earth and its essence Prithivi Tattwa, in the form of a mother goddess or godmother. Prithvi is also called Dhra, Dharti, Dhrithri, meaning that which holds everything. As Prithvi Devi, she is one of two wives of Lord Vishnu. His other wife is Lakshmi. Prithvi is...
(the earth) and tales of kings like Prithu
Prithu
According to Hindu mythology, Prithu is a sovereign , named in the Vedic scriptures and considered an Avatar of the preserver god—Vishnu. He is also called Pruthu, Prithi and Prithu Vainya, literally, Prithu — the son of Vena...
and Yayati
Yayati
Yayati was a Puranic king and the son of king Nahusha and one of ancestors of Pandavas. He was a great scholar of Vedas. He had five brothers, Yati, Samyati, Ayati, Viyati and Kriti. He had two wives, Devayani and Sharmishtha. Devayani was the daughter of Shukracharya, the priest of Asuras ....
and of several sages. Some scholars believe that the description of earth and tales of kings and sages in this Purana has factual elements of geography and history of that period.
Svarga Khanda
The Svarga Khanda (Book of Heaven) contains details of the sequence of creation of the cosmos. It also describes the significance and importance of holy places and geographical expansion and features of JambudvipaJambudvipa
Jambudvīpa is the dvipa of the terrestrial world, as envisioned in the cosmologies of Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism, which is the realm where ordinary human beings live...
, including its mountains and rivers. It also tells about the people of India in ancient times.
Patala Khanda
The Patala Khanda (Book of the Netherworld) Ugrasrava SautiUgrasrava Sauti
Ugrashravas was the narrator of several Puranas, including Mahābhārata, Bhagavata Purana, Harivamsa, and Padma Purana, with the narrations typically taking place before the sages gathered in Naimisha Forest...
narrates the life story of Rama
Rama
Rama or full name Ramachandra is considered to be the seventh avatar of Vishnu in Hinduism, and a king of Ayodhya in ancient Indian...
, an Avatar
Avatar
In Hinduism, an avatar is a deliberate descent of a deity to earth, or a descent of the Supreme Being and is mostly translated into English as "incarnation," but more accurately as "appearance" or "manifestation"....
of Vishnu
Vishnu
Vishnu is the Supreme god in the Vaishnavite tradition of Hinduism. Smarta followers of Adi Shankara, among others, venerate Vishnu as one of the five primary forms of God....
, to an assembly of sages. There are also sections devoted to the life and deeds of Lord Krishna
Krishna
Krishna is a central figure of Hinduism and is traditionally attributed the authorship of the Bhagavad Gita. He is the supreme Being and considered in some monotheistic traditions as an Avatar of Vishnu...
. 16 chapters of the Patala Khanda are together known as the Shiva Gita.
Uttara Khanda
The Uttara Khanda presents the metaphysical aspects of religion in the form of a dialogue between ShivaShiva
Shiva is a major Hindu deity, and is the destroyer god or transformer among the Trimurti, the Hindu Trinity of the primary aspects of the divine. God Shiva is a yogi who has notice of everything that happens in the world and is the main aspect of life. Yet one with great power lives a life of a...
and Parvati
Parvati
Parvati is a Hindu goddess. Parvati is Shakti, the wife of Shiva and the gentle aspect of Mahadevi, the Great Goddess...
. This part also contains another version of Vishnu sahasranama
Vishnu sahasranama
The Vishnu sahasranama is a list of 1,000 names of Vishnu, one of the main forms of God in Hinduism and the personal supreme God for Vaishnavas . It is also one of the most sacred and commonly chanted stotras in Hinduism...
(not the Mahabharata
Mahabharata
The Mahabharata is one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India and Nepal, the other being the Ramayana. The epic is part of itihasa....
version) and Rama sahasranama
Rama sahasranama
The Rama sahasranāma is a list of 1,000 names for Rama, an Avatar of Vishnu....
.
Further reading
- Mani, Vettam. Puranic Encyclopedia. 1st English ed. New Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1975.