82 Analysis of the Purdnas. [March, 



occur but imperfectly in the body of this work, and the far greater 

 portion of its contents is of a widely different character. 



After the usual opening, the Agneya Purdna describes the ten 

 Avatdras, and in the relation of those of Rdmachandra and Krishna, 

 follows avowedly the Rdmdyana and Mahdbhdrat, being consequently 

 posterior to those works. 



The ensuing chapters relate to the worship of Krishna, as Ndrdyana 

 or Vishnu • this Purdna being of the Vaishnava class : at the same 

 time it leans very favourably to the worship of Siva, as the Linga, 

 and is full of Tdntrika ceremonies in honor of that form of the deity. 

 It was compiled therefore probably anterior to any wide separation 

 between the Saiva and Vaishanava sects, and it was undoubtedly 

 prior to that modification of the Vaishnava faith, which pays such 

 infinite veneration to Krishna as Gopdla, or Govinda, or Bdla Gopdla, 

 the cowherd or the infant god ; no allusion to whose worship has been 

 found, nor has the name of his favourite mistress Rddhd once been 

 encountered. 



The ritual, including the ceremonies of the Ho?na, or burnt 

 offering ; the Mantras, or mystical formulae ; the Mandalas, or 

 mystical diagrams ; the Pavitra, or purificatory thread ; the erection 

 and consecration of temples, images, tanks, gardens, flags, jars, 

 &c. extends through a number of chapters ; it is in its general purport 

 Vaishnava, but the hinga and several of the Tdntrika forms of 

 Durgd are also especially reverenced ; Mantras are abundantly intro- 

 duced, as are the acts and gesticulations with which they are muttered 

 or recited. The style in which they are narrated is however abrupt and 

 obscure, and the ceremonial so confusedly and indistinctly laid down 

 that the whole has the appearance of a string of garbled extracts, rather 

 than of a systematic detail. There is a general correspondence between 

 these chapters with those of the Sdreda Tilaka and Mantra Mahbdadhi 

 but it does not appear that they are identically the same. 



This chapter is followed by the Bhuvana Kosha, (the description 

 of the universe,) which corresponds generally with the same in other 

 Purdnas, but is much less explicit than in some of them. This 

 chapter comprises the Tirthas, or places of pilgrimage, of which how- 

 ever it enumerates very few, and those but briefly. It is worthy of 

 notice, that the Nermadd and Sri Saila are especially noticed, whilst 

 the northern mountains are not mentioned, and also that Benares is 

 called Avimukta in its religious character ; whence it may be inferred, 

 that the chief shrine was that of Siva, as Avimukteswara, not Viswesara, 

 the form that has been most popular for some centuries at least. The 



