PUR 



PUR 



nava), it defcribes Virtinu as the Deity. On this point, 

 fee Sects of Hindoos. It argues that all other gods are 

 but emblems of the works of Malia Viflinu, and the female 

 deities, or faktis, emblems or perfonifications of his powers. 

 Other Hindoo fefts fay the fame of the deity of their ex- 

 clufive worfliip, as noticed under Krishna, Rama, Siva, 

 &c. It Hates that the worfhip of the Trimurti, or either 

 of the triad (fee Tkimurti), whether the creator, pre- 

 ferver, or regenerator, is in effeft worfliipping of Vifhnu. 

 This Parana concludes with rules for the feveral tribes in 

 their fpiritual and temporal conduA through hfe. 



Thefe voluminous and certainly curious poems, are held 

 in the general eftimation of the Hindoos, as fecond only to 

 the Veda, their immediate fcripture. (See Veda.) In 

 each of the Vedas are certain palfages interfperfed, relating 

 chiefly to cofmogony, which are called Purana, but are 

 wholly different from the eighteen mythological poems, 

 the fubjccl more efpecially of this article. 



With refpeft to the age of the Puranas, orientalifts differ 

 widely. Sir W. Jones fatisfied himfelf that they have been 

 written about 2500 years. He does not ftate precifely 

 the mode of reafoning, by which he arrived at this con- 

 clufioii ; he gives, however, the outline of the procefs, and 

 allts the public to give him credit for a few very curious 

 fafts, which, although, he fays, capable of ttrift proof, 

 could then be only alferted. We are not aware that the 

 proofs were ever fubmitted to the public ; and whatever 

 they were, they have not wrought conviftion on the minds 

 of all. Mr. Colebroke, however, (Af. Ref. vol. vii.) leaves 

 us to infer that he thought them very little inferior in point 

 of antiquity to the age affigned them by his illuftrious pre- 

 deceffor in the chair of the Afiatic Society. Mr. Wilford 

 exprefsly fays, that " the Puranas are certainly a modern 

 compilation from valuable materials, that I am afraid no 

 longer exift : an aftronomical obfervation of the heliacal 

 rifing of Canopus, mentioned in two of the Puranas, puts 

 this beyond doubt." (Af. Ref. vol. v.) Mr. Bentley, after 

 giving various reafons and calculations for the foundation of 

 his opinion, fays, " It muft be evident that none of the 

 modern romances, commonly called the Puranas, at lead in 

 the form in which they now ftand, are older than 684 (now 

 18 1 3, about 695) years, but that fome of them are the 

 compilations of ftill later times." (lb. vol. viii.) As far, 

 indeed, as the eighteenth Purana, called Sri Bhagavat, is 

 concerned, Mr. Colebroke countenances Mr. Bentley's opi- 

 nion. " I am inclined," he fays, " to adopt an opinion 

 fupported by many learned Hindoos, who confider the 

 celebrated Sri Bhagavata as the work of a grammarian, 

 fuppofed to hare lived about 600 years ago." lb. (See 

 Sri Bhagavat.) Be this as it may, the orthodox Hin- 

 doos have implicit faith in, and great veneration for, thofe 

 celebrated poems, or " facred hiitories," as they call them ; 

 and it is authoritatively aflerted, that " the Veda, the re- 

 vealed fyftem of medicine, the Puranas, and the code of 

 Menu, are four works of fupreme authority, which ought 

 never to be {haken by arguments merely human. (See 

 Menu.) Thera^pre, however, many individuals of all the 

 four tribes of Hindoos, feweft certainly in that of Brah- 

 mana, who correfpond with the Levites of Ifrael, who deny 

 the divine origin of the Puranas, looking upon them in 

 nearly the fame light as a rational critic of Europe may do. 



PURANGURRAH, in Geography, a town of Bengal ; 

 20 miles S.E. of Illamabad. 



PURARI, a name of the Hindoo deity Siva ; which 

 fee. 



PURARYA, in Gesgraphy, a town of Hindooftan, in 

 Oude ; 32 miles N. Kairabad. 



PURBACH, George, in Biography, an eminent mathe- 

 matician and aflronomer in the 15th century, was born at 

 Purbach, a town on the confines of Auftria and Bavaria, i'l 

 1423. He was educated at Vienna, wliere he manifefted 

 great talents, and took his degree of M. A. with great 

 applaufe. He direfted his attention principally to mathe- 

 matics, and advanced in that fcicnce with almoll incredible- 

 rapidity. For farther improvement, he vifited the moft cele- 

 brated univerfities of Germany, France, and Italy. He 

 found a particular friend and patron in cardinal Cufa, and 

 he formed an intimacy with John Blanchini of Bologna, 

 who admiring Purbach's extcnfive knowledge, and his 

 ready method of communicating inftruckion, wifhed to pre- 

 vail upon him to deliver ledtures on aftronomy at Ferrara ; 

 but Purbach preferred returning to Vienna, where he ob- 

 tained the mathematical profefi'orlhip in that univcrfity. 

 About this time he received offers from Ladiflaus, king of 

 Hungary, to become his aftronomer, accompanied with 

 promifes of liberal rewards and diftinguifhed honours, which 

 he declined. 



The fame of Purbach, as a mathematical profeflbr, was foon 

 widely diffufed, and brought numerous ftudents to attend 

 his lectures at Vienna. Among others was the celebrated 

 Regiomontanus, who fecured the efteem of his mailer, and 

 was chofen the alliftant and companion in his labours. 

 From this time they maintained an union of Itudies, in their 

 endeavours to improve the different branches of mathe- 

 matical fcience, and more particularly attronomy. This 

 fcience they would, no doubt, have materially improved by 

 their joint labours, had Purbach's life been prolonged. 

 His iirft effay was to amend the Latin tranflation of Pto- 

 lemy's Almageft. After this he wrote " An Introdnftion 

 to Arithmetic," and proceeded to draw up another " On 

 Gnomonics," or dialling, with tables fuited to the dif- 

 ference of climates and latitudes. This was followed by a 

 fmall tra£t " Concerning the Altitudes of the Sun," with 

 a table, and " Aftrolabic Canons." After this he made 

 fohd fpheres, or ccleftial globes, and not only explained their 

 conftruftion and ufes, but added to them a new table of 

 fixed ftars, with the longitude by which every ftar had in- 

 creafed, from the time of Ptolemy to the middle of the 

 fifth century. He alfo invented various other inftruments, 

 among which w^ a " gnomon," or geometrical fquare, 

 with canons, and a table for the ufe of it, which he fent 

 to the archbifliop Strigonia, who was himfelf a man of 

 great erudition, and entertained a high opinion of Purbach. 

 Our autlior made confiderable improvements in trigono- 

 metry ; prepared tables of the fixed ftars, and undertook 

 to reform thofe of the planets, and conllrufted fome entirely 

 new ones. When thefe tables were finifhed, he drew up 

 a kind of perpetual almanack, chiefly for the moon, anfwer- 

 ing to the periods of Meton and Calippus : alfo an alma- 

 nack for the planets, or, as it was afterwards called, an 

 Ephemeris for many years. He finifhed his " Theorise 

 Novas Planetarum," (fee Mulleii,) which was made a text- 

 book in all the fchools, and was commented upon by fome 

 of the mofl eminent mathematicians. Purbach died in the 

 33th year of his age, in 1461. 



PURBECK, IJle of, in Geography, a diftrift in the 

 Blandford divifion of the county of Dorfet, England, is 

 bounded on the weit by Luckford lake ; on the fouth by 

 the Bntifh channel ; and on the other fide by the river 

 Frome, and the bay of Pool. It is improperly called an 

 ifland, being in faft only a peninfula, as it may be entered 

 from Eaft Lulworth by an ilthmus, between the head of 

 Luckford lake and the fea. This diilriA extends twelve 

 miles in length, and varies from feven to ten in breadth. 



It 



