432 Analysis of the Vishnu Purdna. [Oct. 



mentary on this Purdna exists, but of no great value, except as 

 explanatory of some of the philosophical passages. 



The first book opens with the dialogue between Maitreya and Pa- 

 rasara, as already noticed. Parasara states himself to be the son 

 of Sakti, the son of Vasisht'ha. Buchanan, from the B'hdgavat r 

 makes him the son of Upamanyu and grandson of Sakti, but the 

 Mahab'h&rat confirms the authority of the Pur ana. " The son of 

 Sakti (Parasara) next arrived there with his disciples." The passage 

 of the B'hdgavat on which Buchanan's statement rests, has not been 

 found ; the Bengali manuscripts generally read Saktri instead of 

 Sakti. 



Buchanan has also noticed the incompatibility of Paras ara's gene- 

 alogy with his being, as it is stated, cotemporary with Santanu 

 king of Hastinapur, that prince being the 44th in descent from Atri, 

 who is cotemporary with Vasisht'ha, who again is but three genera- 

 tions anterior to Parasara ; he supposes therefore, that many genera- 

 tions in the line of Vasisht'ha must have been omitted. It is not 

 necessary, however, to attempt to reconcile these incongruities, for 

 the coetaneous existence of Atri and Vasisht'ha is less chronological 

 than mythological, or, perhaps, as they are both enumerated amongst 

 the stars of the great bear, astronomical ; it extends throughout the 

 Manwantara: their immediate successors, who hold a sacred character, 

 enjoy a like longevity, and are similarly cotemporary at any period 

 with their ancestry and posterity : if we consider them as mere mor- 

 tals, we must suppose, that Parasara preceded the great war by 

 three generations, Krishna Dwaipayana, his son, being the father of 

 Dhritarashtra, Pandu and Vidura by the widow of Vichitravi- 

 rya. Vyasa was however cotemporary with his grandson and their 

 descendants, agreeably to the above system of saintly immor- 

 tality. Mr. Bentley places Parasara about 575 B. C. (Hindu 

 astronomy), Buchanan about 1300 B. C. (Genealogies of the Hindus), 

 and Wilford 1391 (A. R. ix. 87.) 



The first chapters of the first book of the Vishnu Purdna contain 

 an account of the creation, ascribing it to the association of Vishnu 

 with Pradhana and Purusha, matter and spirit, or the female and 

 male, or passive and active energies. During the intervals of creation, 

 Vishnu exists independant of all connexion or attributes, and is be- 

 yond the comprehension of human faculties. When disposed to create 

 the universe, the elements, properties, and senses generated by the two 

 sensible combinations of the deity are collected into an egg floating 

 on the water, in which Vishnu again, as Brahma, is concealed, and 



