218 Analysis of the Purdnas. [June, 



city, and final liberation, and thedissipator of the errors of the Purdnas, 

 and the Upapurdnas, and even of the Vedas ! 



Sauti a< quired his knowledge of this work from Vyasa, by whom 

 it was arranged in its present form, to the extent of eighteen thousand 

 Slokas. Vyasa received the Sutra, the thread or outline of it, from 

 Nareda, who had learnt it from Narayana Rishi, the son of 

 D'herma, to whom it had been communicated by his father. D'herma 

 had been made acquainted with it by Brahma, who had been taught 

 it by Krishna himself, in his peculiar and deathless sphere, the celes- 

 tial Goloka : — a paradise, it may be observed, of which no trace occurs 

 in any other Purdna. The Brahma Vaivertta is so named, because it 

 records the manifestations of the Supreme Being in worldly forms, by 

 the interposition of Krishna, who is himself the Supreme Spirit, the 

 Parabrahma or Paramdtmd, from whom Prakriti, Brahma, Vishnu, 

 S'iva, and the rest proceeded. 



The Brahma Vaivertta Purdna is divided into four books or 

 K'handas, the Brahma K'handa, the Prakriti K'handa, the Ganes'a 

 K'handa, and the Krishna Janma K'handa, treating separately of the 

 nature and acts of the supreme; of the female personification of mat- 

 ter ; of the birth and adventures of Ganes'a ; and of the birth and 

 actions of Krishna. We shall notice the principal subjects of each di- 

 vision. 



The Brahma K'handa begins with the creation of the universe, as 

 taking place after an interval of universal destruction. The world is 

 described as waste and void, but the Supreme Krishna, the sole exis- 

 tent and eternal Being, is supposed to be present, in the centre of a 

 luminous sphere of immeasurable extent, and inconceivable splendor. 

 From him the three qualities, crude matter, individuality, and the 

 elements proceed ; also Narayana or the four-armed Vishnu, in his 

 ordinary garb and decorations, and Sankara, smeared with ashes, and 

 armed with a trident. Narayana or Vishnu comes from the right, 

 and Siva from the left side of the primeval Krishna, and Brahma 

 springs from his navel : all the gods and goddesses in like manner 

 proceed from his person, and each upon his or her birth utters a short 

 prayer or hymn in honour of him : the following are the salutations of 

 the three principal persons of the Hindu pantheon. 



Narayana's address to Krishna. 

 " I pay reverence to the cause of causes, to him who is at once the act 

 and the object, the superior boon, the giver and meriter, and source of bles- 

 sings ; who is religious austerity, and its everlasting fruit, and himself the 

 eternal ascetic j who is beautiful, black as anew cloud; delighted in his 



