DIVINE INFORMATION 2-22 Dearfriends,
I am starting Matsya Purana from this posting. Hope this could beinformative. Gopalakrishnan 21-11-2021. Introduction The Puranas are sacred texts which were composed many hundreds of years ago.There are many stories and rituals which form an integral part of Hinduism. Mostof these are to be found in the Puranas. Together with the two epics, theRamayana and the Mahabharata, the Puranas are read, revered and believed in. There are eighteen majorPuranas or mahapuranas, the word maha, meaning great. There are also severalother minor Puranas or upapuranas, the word upa signifying minor. It issometimes believed that the upapuranas are also eighteen in number. Amongst the eighteen mahapuranas, the Matsya Purana is number sixteen. Thisdoes not mean that it is sixteenth in order of important. It just happens to besixteenth in the list. The Puranas themselvesdescribes the five characteristics (pancha lakshana) that a text must satisfybefore being classified as a mahapurana. That is, any such text must describefive different subjects. These are the original creation of the universe(sarga), the periodical process of destruction and re-creation (pratisaryga),the various eras (manvantara), the histories of the solar dynasty (suryavamsha), and lunar dynasty (chandra vamsha) and royal genealogies(vamshanucharita). As you will see, the Matysa Purana does describe these fivedifferent subjects. Traditionally, the Ramayana is believed to have been composed by the sageValmiki and the Mahabharata is believed to have been composed by the sageVedavyasa. Vedavyasa was the son ofSatyavati and the sage Parashara. His real name was Krishna Dvaipayana. The word krishna meansdark and he came to acquire the name because he was dark in complexion. Theword dvipa means island and the sage acquired the name of Dvaipayana as he wasborn on an island. The Mahabharata has one lakh shlokas or couplets. It is believed that, after composing theMahabharata. Vedavyasa composed the eighteen mahapuranas. These texts have four lakhshlokas between them, although they are not equal in length. The Matsya Purana is amedium-length Purana, is comprises of fifteen thousand couplets. Thelongest Purana, the Skanda Purana, has eighty-one thousand. And the shortestPurana, the Markandeya Purana, has only nine thousand. The fourteen thousand shlokas of the Matysya Purana are divided into twohundred and ninety-one chapters (adhyaya). The eighteen mahapuranas are sometimes divided into three groups, with sixPuranas in each group. There are many gods in the Hindu pantheon. But theprimary gods are Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva. Brahma is regarded as the creator,Vishnu as the preserver, and Shiva as the destroyer. Since all three areimportant gods, any sacred text will glorify each of them. But the relativeemphasis often varies from text to text. For example, a text which spends manychapters on the act of creation tends to glorify Brahma relatively more and isknown as a rajasika Purana. A text which describes the incarnations (avatara)of Vishnu in great detail tends to glorify Vishnu more and is known as asattvika Purana. A textreoccupies with rituals and norms tends to attach more importance to Shiva andis known as a tamasika Purana. The Matsya Purana is regarded as a tamasika Purana. The five others in this group are the Kurma Purana,the Linga Purana, the Shiva Purana, the Skanda Purana and the Agni Purana.Although we have mentioned this classification, it is also fair to point outthat the classification is slightly artifical. You now ought to be toldwhy the Matsya Purana has such a name. The word matsya means fish. UsuallyVishnu is regarded as having had nine incarnations, with a tenth one, Kalki,due to come in the future. The names of these incarnations are asfollows. (i) Matsya or fish. This is sometimes also referred to as the mina (fish)avatara. (ii) Kurma or turtle. (iii)Varaha or boar. (iv) Nrisimha or narasimha,the half-man and half-lion. (v) Vamana or dwarf. (vi) Parashurama. (vii) Rama (viii) Balarama (ix) Krishna (x) Kalki. The Matsya Purana is sonamed because it was firstrecited by Vishnu himself, in his incarnation of a fish. We have referred to thebelief that Vedavyasa composed all the mahapuranas. (There is no such generalbelief regarding the upapauranas.) No scholar however believes that a singleindividual could have composed all these texts. What Vedavyasa might have doneis to have composed an original text known as the Purana samhita. This hetaught to this chief disciple, Lomaharshana or Romaharshana. In general,Lomaharshana is the raconteur of the Puranas. The word roma or loma means body-hair and harshana meansto thrill. Some of the Puranas state that Lomaharshana’s recitalsthrilled the body-hair of his listeners and the thus came to acquire his name.He belonged to the suta class, a class of coss-breeds who specialised instory-telling. >From Lomaharshana, the Puranas passed on the others. There was no writing, >sothe compositions passed by word of mouth. In the process, each raconteur >addedhis own compositions to what he himself had heard and thus the Puranas >grew involume and number. These subsequent additons are known as >interpolations, andtoday, it is impossible to distinguish an original >composition from asubsequent interpolation. In this sense, it is difficult to >date thecomposition of the Puranas. They were not composed at any one specific >point oftime. There will be earlier sections and later sections in the same >Purana. We have said that Lomaharshana was Vedavyasa’s chiefdisciple. This is partially correct; it is only correct in so far as thePuranas are concerned. Vedavyasa did much more than compose the Mahabharata and the Puranas. The Vedasare sacred texts that are revered by Hindu. But they are very abstract andesoteric and the knowledge that is in them is not very easy to disseminate orunderstand. Comprehension becomes simpler if the wisdom of the Vedas isconveniently divided (vyasa) into separate parts. A person who does this hasthe title of Vedavyasa or Vyasadeva conferred on him. Thus it was that KrishnaDvaipaynana came to acquire the name of Vedavyasa. There have been otherVedavyases prior to him. In fact, he is believed to have been the twenty-eightVedavyasa of the present era. So far as the Vedas are concerned. Krishna Dvaipayana had four other disciples.But the Puranas were taught only to Lomaharshana. With no further preambles, let us now see what Lomaharshana has to say. MatsyapuranaPart 2 Lomaharshana and theOther Sages There was a forest known as naimisharanya.Many years ago, several sages organized a yajna (sacrifice) in the forest.After the sacrifice was over, the assembled sages told Lomaharshana. "Youhave recited to us many Puranas. These accounts are so sacred that we wouldlike to hear them once more. Please satisfy our thirst for knowledge." "I will recount for you the most holy of all thePuranas," replied Lomaharshana. "This isthe great Matsya Purana, told by Vishnu to Manu. Prepare your minds, for I am about begin." Vishnu and Manu There used to be a king named Manu. He was the son of the sun-god. (This is slightly sloppy. There has been more than one Manu. In fact, in everyera, there are fourteen. The Manu in question was the seventh in the presentera and his name was VaivasvataManu. He was the son of the sun-god Vivasvana.) When it was time for Manu to retire to the forest, he handed over the kingdomto his son Ikshvaku.) Manu then went to the foothills of Mount Malaya andstarted to perform tapasya (meditation). Thousands and thousands of yearspassed. Such were the powers of Manu’s meditation that Brahma appeared beforehim. "I am pleased with your prayers," said Brahma. "Ask for aboon." "I have only one boon to ask for," replied Manu. "Sooner orlater there will be a destruction (pralaya) and the world will no longer exist.Please grant me the boonthat it will be I who will save the world and its begins at the time of thedestruction." Brahma readily granted this boon. Days passed. On one particular occasion, Manu wasperforming ablutions in a pond near his hermitage. Heimmersed his hands in the water so that he might offer some water to hisancestors. When he raised his cuppedhands, he found that there was a minnow (shafari) swimming around in the water.Manu had no desire to kill the minnow. He placed it carefully in his water-pot(kamandalu). But the minnow started to grow and within a day, itwas sixteen fingers in length. "Save me, king." said the fish."This water-pot is too small for me." Manu then placed the fish in a vat. But the fish continued to grow and, withina day, it was three hands in length. "Save me, king." said the fish."This vat is too small for me." Manu put the fish in a well,but the well soon became too small for the fish. Manu transferred thefish to a pond, but the pond was also too small for the fish. Manu now removedthe fish to the holy river Ganga, but even this was too small for the fish. Finally, Manu transferred the fishto the ocean. There the fish grew so much that it soon occupied the entireocean. "Who are you?" asked Manu. "I have never seen or heard of suchwonders. Are you a demon that is deluding me with its illusions? No, I do notthink that you are a demon. You must be the great Vishnu himself. Please tellme the truth and satisfy my curiosity." Vishnu then revealed that it was indeed he who hadadopted the form of a fish. He told Manu that the earth would soon be floodedwith water. Vishnu had got a boat built by the gods. (In other accounts, Manuwas himself asked to construct the boat). When the earth was flooded, Manu was to place allliving beings in the boat and thus save them. Vishnu would himself arrive in his form of the fish andManu was to tie the boat to the fish’s horn. Thus the living beingswould be saved. And when the waters of the flood receded, Manu could populatethe world afresh and rule over it. (This is the more customary account. But inthe Mahabharata, it was Brahma who appeared before Manu in the form of a fish.) Vishnu disappeared, and for a hundred years there was a terrible drought onearth. The drough led tofamine and people died of starvation. Meanwhile, the sun blazed in furyand burnt up the entire world. When everything hadburnt to ashes, dark clouds loomed in the sky. These are the clouds that appearat the time of destruction and there are seven classes of cush clouds,known as samvarta, bhimananda, drona, chanda, valahaka, vidyutapataka and kona.From the clouds, rain began to pour and soon, water engulfed the entire earth.The land mass was flooded. As instructed by Vishnu, Manu gathered together living beings inside theboat. And when the fish appeared, he tied the boat to the fish’s horn.What do you think Manu used a rope? He used a gigantic snake. While the boat was thus thethered and dragged around by the fish, Manu askedVishnu several questions. The answered that Vishnu provided form the text ofthe Matsya Purana. Let us start with the account of the creation. Originally Posted by: "DILIP KUMARRAVINDRAN" [email protected] prdili in 8-2010 I will continue innext posting. Posted by R. Gopalakrishnan on 21-11-2021 to google groups. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Thatha_Patty" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/thatha_patty/1025203064.2248822.1637486948829%40mail.yahoo.com.
