Description
From the Jacket :
The Markandeya Purana is a famous one amongst the eighteen Mahapuranas. This Purana has a character different from that of all the others. It has nothing of a sectarial spirit, little of a religious tone; rarely inserting prayers and invocations to any deity; and such as are inserted are brief and moderate. It deals little in precepts, ceremonial or moral. Its leading feature is narrative; and it presents an uninterrupted succession of legends, most of which when ancient are embellished with new circumstances, and when new partake so far of the spirit of the old, that they are disinterested creations of the imagination, having no particular motive, being designed to recommend no special doctrine or observance.
The Purana is divided into five distinct parts, namely :-
Introduction
This translation of the Markandeya Purana being made for the Asiatic Society of Bengal naturally follows the edition of this work prepared by the Rev. Dr. K. M. Banerjee, and published in the Bibliotheca Indica in 1862; yet other editions and some MSS. have been consulted and are referred to. The translation has been kept as close to the original as possible, consistently with English sense and idiom; for a translation loses some of its interest and much of its trustworthiness, when the reader can never know whether it reproduces the original accurately or only the purport of the original. The time during which the work has been in hand has rendered it difficult to maintain one system of transliteration throughout; but, in order to place the whole in a consistent state, the system established by the Royal Asiatic Society and approved by the Asiatic Society of Bengal has been adopted in the Index and in this Introduction.
The general character of this Purana has been well summed up by Prof. Wilson in his preface to his Translation of the Visnu Purana, except that his description hardly applies to the Devi-mahatmya. “This Purana has a character different from that of all the others. It has nothing of a sectarial spirit, little of a religious tone; rarely inserting prayers and invocations to any deity; and such as are inserted are brief and moderate. It deals little in precepts, ceremonial or moral. Its leading feature is narrative; and it presents an uninterrupted succession of legends, most of which when ancient are embellished with new circumstances, and when new partake so far of the spirit of the old, that they are disinterested creations of the imagination, having no particular motive, being designed to recommend no special doctrine or observance. Whether they are derived from any other source, or whether they are original inventions, it is not possible to ascertain. They are most probably, for the greater part at least, original; and the whole has been narrated in the compiler’s own manner; a manner superior to that of the Puranas in general, with exception of the Bhagavata.”
Composition
The Purana is clearly divisible (as Dr. Banerjee noticed) into five distinct parts, namely:-
1. Chapter 1-9, in which Jaimini is referred by Markandeya to the wise Birds, and they directly explain to him the four questions that perplexed him and some connected matters.
2. Chapter 10-41, where, though Jaimini propounds further questions to me Birds and they nominally expound them, yet the real speakers are Sumati, nicknamed Jada, and his father.
3. Chapter 42-79: here, though Jaimini and the Birds are the nominal speakers, yet the real speakers are Markandeya and his disciple Kraustuki.
4. Chapter 80-89, the Devi-mahatmya, a pure interpolation, in which the real speaker is a rsi named Medhas, and which is only repeated by Markandeya.
5. Chapter 90-134, where Markandeya and Kraustuki carry on their discourse from chapter 78.
The 134th chapter concludes the work; it is a necessary corollary to the first part. There can be no doubt that only the third and fifth of these parts constituted the Purana in its original shape as Markandeya’s Purana. The name would imply that originally Markandeya was the chief figure, and it is only in the third part that he appears as the real teacher. There is, however, clearer evidence that the Purana began with the third part originally, for this is asserted almost positively in chapter 42, verses 16 to 25. There Markandeya, after declaring that this Purana, equally with the Vedas, issued from Brahma’s mouth, says- “I will now tell it to you Hear all this from me as I formerly heard it when Daksa related it. “These words plainly mean that the true Purana began here; or, if the necessary words of introduction be prefixed, that it began at verse 16 or 17, which verses have been slightly modified since in order to dovetail them into the preceding portion.
The first and second parts were composed afterwards and then prefixed to the Purana proper. That they were later compositions is implied by the fact that the Birds recite the Purana proper as an authority, and is indeed indicated by the origin attributed to them. While the original Purina was proclaimed to be a revelation from Brahma himself, no higher authority is claimed for the first and second parts than Markandeya and the unknown brahmana Sumati Jada. Further, mention is made in chapter 23, verse 33, of Puranas which narrate Visnu’s manifestations. This expression is vague. If it means lengthy descriptions of some of the incarnations, such Puranas might be the Vis nu, Brahma-vaivarta, Brahma and Bhagavata; but the last two were pronounced by Prof. Wilson to be late compositions, and the reference here may be to the former two only, to which he assigned about an equal date with this Purana. There is nothing definite to show whether the first and second parts had been united before they were prefixed to the Purana proper, or whether the second part was inserted after the first had been prefixed; yet it would seem more probable that they had been united before they were prefixed. There is a marked similarity between them.
The prefixing of the discourses delivered by the Birds to the Purana proper raised the Birds to the primary and chief position and tended to derogate from Markandeya’s pre-eminence; but clashing was avoided and Markandeya’s supremacy was preserved by two expedients; first, he was introduced at the very beginning in order that he might expressly declare the wisdom and authority of the Birds; and secondly, the original Purana was interfered with as little as possible by making the Birds repeat it in its entirety as Markandeya’s teaching, conclusive upon the subjects dealt with in it. The Birds on beginning it retire from further notice, but reappear with jaimini in the final chapter to conclude their discourse and give consistency to the combined instruction. This was a termination rendered necessary by the prefixing of the first two parts to the original Purana,
The second part appears to have been amplified beyond its primary scope. It discourses about birth and death, about the helis, about sins and their punishments and about yoga or religious devotion. All these subjects are briefly dealt with, though the description of the different hells is ampler than in other Puranas, but the last subject leads to a discursive exposition. If dealt with like the other subjects, the exposition would pass from chapter 16, verse 12 immediately to chapter 34, where king Alarka is driven by adversity to seek Dattatreya’s advice and that rsi expounds the doctrines of yoga to him in chapters 35 to 40, and the story naturally closes with chapter 41. But the reference to that king and that rsi was considered to require some elucidation at. chapter 16, verse 13, hence the story of Dattatreya and the story of Alarka’s parents Rtadhvaja and Madalasa are made the introduction to the direct exposition of yoga, with the result that the digression is so long that, when the subject of yoga is reached, its connection with Jaimini’s questions has been lost to sight; and even the passage from the story of Dattatreya to that of Alarka at the end of chapter 16 is inapt and abrupt.
Both these stories moreover appear in their turn to have been expanded beyond their natural course. The story of the Brahmana and his devoted wife in chapter 16, which furnishes an unnecessary explanation of the birth of Dattatreya, is a story of common town life, an absurd anachronism compared with what it explains; and it seems with its reference to a temple dedicated to Anasuya during her life-time to be an interpolation intended for her glorification. The story of Rtadhvaja and Madalasa is a charming one of simple marvel and runs its natural course in chapters 17 to 24 as far as Madalasa’s instruction of her son Alarka in kingly duties; but the following chapters 25 to 32, in which she expounds the laws regarding brahmanas, sraddhas, custom, etc., hardly accord with the story or with her position and knowledge, and seem to be an interpolation. Some teaching on such matters being deemed desirable, here was the only place where the addition was possible.
Chapters 1-9, in which Jaimini is referred by Markandeya to the wise Birds, and they directly explain to him the four questions that perplexed him and some connected matters.
Chapters 10-41, where, though Jaimini propounds further questions to the Birds and they nominally expound them, yet the real speakers are Sumati, nicknamed Jada, and his father.
Chapters 42-78: here, though Jaimini and the Birds are the nominal speakers, yet the real speakers are Markandeya and his disciple Kraustuki.
Chapters 79-90, the Devi-mahatmya, (popularly known as Durgasaptasati) a pure interpolation, in which the real speaker is a rsi named Medhas, and which is only repeated by Markandeya.
Chapters 91-134, Markandeya and Kraustuki carry on their discourse. In the end, the Birds close here the long discourse delivered by Markandeya, and Jaimini thanks them and departs.
The present edition is a newly composed and revised with currently available Sanskrit text and Pargiter’s translation. Also, the editor has rendered his own translation at appropriate places and ignored the translation of flowless verses that are found in the available text of Bombay edition and other available editions.
