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Updated: June 8, 2025
In the period extending from the eighth to the twelfth centuries, in which Buddhism practically disappeared and Islam came to the front as a formidable though not irresistible antagonist, the dominant form of Hinduism was that which finds expression in the older Puranas, in the temples of Orissa and Khajarao and the Kailâsa at Ellora.
They cannot be treated as personal documents similar to the Koran or the Epistles of Paul. The works of middle antiquity such as the Epics, Puranas, and Mahayanist sutras were also not produced by one author. Many of them exist in more than one recension and they usually consist of a nucleus enveloped and sometimes itself affected by additions which may exceed the original matter in bulk.
"Sauti continued, 'The illustrious Suta named Lohitaksha also, conversant with the Puranas, had said so before. "Asked by the king on the present occasion he again told the monarch, 'Sire, it is even so as the Brahmanas have said Knowing the Puranas, I say, O monarch, that Indra hath granted him this boon, saying, 'Dwell with me in concealment, and Agni shall not burn thee.
And yet when the Puranas tell us that this same Rama received his apotheosis and appeared as an incarnation of Vishnu in the Tretha yuga, say one or two millions of years ago, we are astounded at the credulity of those who could write such a statement as well as those who can accept it; and we are led to question whether, after all, Rama ever existed or is simply a poetic conception carried far away into an imaginary time.
The Brahmans hold that the higher classes of gods outlive the wreck of things which, at the close of the day of Brahm, involves all men and many divinities in elemental chaos; while elsewhere, in the later Puranas and in the myths of Mexico, Peru, and Assyria, one or a few of the race of man escape a deluge which is universal, and serve to people the new-made earth.
It is this dialogue between the hero and the god which constitutes the Bhagavad Gita. And yet one can hardly call it a dialogue, since Krishna's remarks make up more than nine-tenths of the book. The dialogue is one of the favourite forms of Hindu literature. Most of the Puranas and the Tantras are cast in that form.
The commentator takes Avala and Gana together. Digvasas means nude. The Puranas say that for stupefying the wives of certain ascetics, Mahadeva became nude on one occasion. The real meaning, however, is that he is capable of covering and does actually cover even infinite space. In the sense of nude, the word means one that has empty space for his cover or vestments.
"'The holy one said, "In the Rigveda, in the Yajurveda, in the Atharvans and the Samans, in the Puranas and the Upanishads, as also in the treatises on Astrology, O Arjuna, in the Sankhya scriptures, in the Yoga scriptures, and in the treatises also on the Science of Life, many are the names that have been mentioned by the great Rishis.
That high knowledge, O king, which exists in persons conversant with Brahma, and that which occurs in the Vedas, and that which is found in other scriptures, and that in Yoga, and that which may be seen in the diverse Puranas, are all, O monarch, to be found in Sankhya philosophy.
His works bespeak the superior order of his scholarship his acquaintance with the important systems of philosophy, the Upanishads and the Puranas; his close observation of society and its intricate problems; his delicate appreciation of the most refined feelings, his familiarity with the conflicting sentiments and emotions of the human heart, and his keen perception of and deep sympathy with the beauties of Nature.
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