Translated by Bibek Debroy

THE BRAHMA PURANA Volume 2

From the master translator of the Critical Editions of the M A H A B H A R ATA and the R A M AYA N A

PENGUIN BOOKS

THE BRAHMA PURANA VOLUME 2 Bibek Debroy is a renowned economist, scholar and translator. He has worked in universities, research institutes, the industry and for the government. He has widely published books, papers and articles on economics. As a translator, he is best known for his magnificent rendition of the Mahabharata in ten volumes, the three-volume translation of the Valmiki Ramayana and additionally the Harivamsha, published to wide acclaim by Penguin Classics. He is also the author of Sarama and Her Children, which splices his interest in Hinduism with his love for dogs.

PRAISE FOR THE MAHABHARATA ‘The modernization of language is visible, it’s easier on the mind, through expressions that are somewhat familiar. The detailing of the story is intact, the varying tempo maintained, with no deviations from the original. The short introduction reflects a brilliant mind. For those who passionately love the Mahabharata and want to explore it to its depths, Debroy’s translation offers great promise . . .’—Hindustan Times ‘[Debroy] has really carved out a niche for himself in crafting and presenting a translation of the Mahabharata . . . The book takes us on a great journey with admirable ease’—Indian Express ‘The first thing that appeals to one is the simplicity with which Debroy has been able to express himself and infuse the right kind of meanings . . . Considering that Sanskrit is not the simplest of languages to translate a text from, Debroy exhibits his deep understanding and appreciation of the medium’—The Hindu ‘Debroy’s lucid and nuanced retelling of the original makes the masterpiece even more enjoyably accessible’—Open ‘The quality of translation is excellent. The lucid language makes it a pleasure to read the various stories, digressions and parables’—Tribune ‘Extremely well-organized, and has a substantial and helpful Introduction, plot summaries and notes. The volume is a beautiful example of a well thought-out layout which makes for much easier reading’—Book Review

‘The dispassionate vision [Debroy] brings to this endeavour will surely earn him merit in the three worlds’—Mail Today ‘Debroy’s is not the only English translation available in the market, but where he scores and others fail is that his is the closest rendering of the original text in modern English without unduly complicating the readers’ understanding of the epic’—Business Standard ‘The brilliance of Ved Vyasa comes through, ably translated by Bibek Debroy’—Hindustan Times

PRAISE FOR THE VALMIKI RAMAYANA ‘It is a delight to read Bibek Debroy’s translation of the Valmiki Ramayana. It’s like Lord Ram has blessed Dr Debroy, and through him, blessed us with another vehicle to read His immortal story’—Amish Tripathi ‘Bibek Debroy’s translation of the Ramayana is easy to navigate . . . It is an effort for which Debroy deserves unqualified praise’—Business Standard ‘A nuanced translation of a beloved epic . . . There is much to recommend this three volume set that can renew our interest in the Ramayana, surely one of the greatest stories ever told’—Indian Express

PRAISE FOR THE BHAGAVATA PURANA ‘An exhaustive but accessible translation of a crucial mythological text’ —Indian Express ‘The beauty of recounting these stories lies in the manner in which the cosmic significance and the temporal implications are intermingled. Debroy’s easy translation makes that experience even more sublime’—Business Standard ‘The Puranas are 18 volumes with more than four lakh shlokas, and all in Sanskrit—the language of our ancestors and the sages, which only a few can speak and read today and only a handful have the mastery to translate. Bibek Debroy is one such master translator, who wears the twin title of economist and Sanskrit scholar, doing equal justice to both’—Outlook

THE BRAHMA PURANA Volume 2

Translated by Bibek Debroy

PENGUIN BOOKS USA | Canada | UK | Ireland | Australia New Zealand | India | South Africa | China Penguin Books is part of the Penguin Random House group of companies whose addresses can be found at global.penguinrandomhouse.com Published by Penguin Random House India Pvt. Ltd 4th Floor, Capital Tower 1, MG Road, Gurugram 122 002, Haryana, India

First published in Penguin Books by Penguin Random House India 2021 Translation copyright © Bibek Debroy 2021 All rights reserved 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 The views and opinions expressed in this book are the author’s own and the facts are as reported by him which have been verified to the extent possible, and the publishers are not in any way liable for the same. ISBN 9780143454908 Typeset in Sabon by Manipal Technologies Limited, Manipal

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For Shaifalika Panda and Subhrakant Panda

Contents Acknowledgements Introduction Part I of Brahma Purana Part II (Goutami Mahatmya)

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Acknowledgements

T

he corpus of the Puranas is huge—in scope, coverage and size. The Mahabharata is believed to contain 100,000 shlokas. The Critical Edition of the Mahabharata, edited and published by the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute (Pune), doesn’t contain quite that many. But no matter, this gives us some idea of the size. To comprehend what 100,000 shlokas mean in a standard word count, the ten-volume unabridged translation I did of the Mahabharata amounts to a staggering 2.5 million words. After composing the Mahabharata, Krishna Dvaipayana Vedavyasa composed the eighteen mahapuranas, or major Puranas. So the belief goes. Collectively, these eighteen Puranas amount to 400,000 shlokas, translating into a disconcerting and daunting number of 10 million words. After translating the Bhagavadgita, the Mahabharata, the Harivamsha (160,000 words) and the Valmiki Ramayana (500,000 words), it was but natural to turn one’s attention towards translating the Puranas. (All these translations have been, and will be, published by Penguin India.) As the most popular and most read Purana, the Bhagavata Purana chose itself as the first to be translated (3 volumes, 500,000 words). The Markandeya Purana, another popular Purana (1 volume, 175,000 words) came next. That these translations were well-received was encouragement along the intimidating journey of translating the remaining Puranas and I am indebted to the reviewers of these various translations, including those of the Bhagavata Purana and the Markandeya Purana. ix

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Which Purana should one choose next to translate? This journey of translation has been marked by several coincidences. While still in the process of choosing, I happened to visit Pushkara for the first time in my life. Temples to Brahma are rare. Among Brahma’s temples, the most important is the one in Pushkara. As I gazed at Brahma’s image, at his kamandalu and akshamala, the decision made itself. It had to be the Brahma Purana. The eighteen MahaPuranas, as the introduction explains, are sometimes individually identified with Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva. The Bhagavata Purana is a Purana identified with Vishnu. The Markandeya Purana, though identified with Brahma, is partly about Devi, and hence, by extrapolation, identified with Shiva. One should accordingly choose Brahma Purana, often described as the first Purana, though the present text is clearly not the original Brahma Purana. Average familiarity with the Brahma Purana might not be as great as with the Bhagavata Purana or the Markandeya Purana, but there was no denying the Brahma Purana’s importance. Hence, this translation in two volumes, running into 390,000 words. The coincidence did not end there. I had completed the actual translation and was going to start on the Introduction. In the interim, I happened to visit Rajamahendravaram (Rajamahendrapuram or Rajahmundry if you prefer) for the first time in my life. From Pushkara Ghat, I looked on at the wide expanse of the Godavari and watched the arati to Goutami. I visited the Koti Lingeshvara temple. The places described in the Goutami mahatmya section seemed to come alive, from Tryambakeshvara to Antaravedi, from the Sahya range to the confluence with the ocean. The journey of translation hasn’t been an intimidating one only for me. Penguin India must also have thought about it several times, before going ahead with the Purana translations. Most people have some idea about the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. But the Puranas are typically rendered in such dumbed-down versions that the market has to be created. However, Penguin India also believed in the Purana Project, which still stretches into some interminable horizon in the future, almost two decades down the line. For both author and publisher, this is a long-term commitment. But Bhagavata Purana, Markandeya Purana and Brahma Purana have been done.

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With the publication schedule inevitably disrupted because of the COVID pandemic, Vishnu Purana comes next, followed by Shiva Purana. I am indebted to Penguin India. In particular, Meru Gokhale, Ambar Sahil Chatterjee, Tarini Uppal and Rea Mukherjee have been exceptionally patient, persevering and encouraging. But for them, the Purana Project might not have taken off. I also thank the copy editors. These Purana translations have been brought alive by the wonderful cover designs and illustrations, and I thank the illustrators and the designers. Ever since this translation journey started in 2006, my wife, Suparna Banerjee Debroy, has been a constant source of support, ensuring the conducive and propitious environment for the work to continue unimpeded. Part II has a dialogue between Agni and Atreyi. Agni tells Atreyi, ‘At first, you were a patni. Then, for sustaining, you became a bharya. To give birth, you became jaya. Through your own qualities, you became kalatra.’ The vocabulary of Sanskrit is immensely rich. There are multiple synonyms for every word, each with a slightly different nuance. This is also true of the word ‘wife’—patni, bharya, jaya and kalatra are instances. Suparna has been all these and more. In every Purana text, I have been struck by the importance given to a wife, in her different roles and in the case of the Bhagavata Purana and the Markandeya Purana, I have quoted verses. The Brahma Purana is no different.

gdª]St ÂgE n kT« lh dk¼JlÆS ]WKn k3 lDaŒ gE n ]a o k lh Uk_kIJ SÖ]k°2 Âd2 g]kI_Œ 1.121.25 ‘Men desire wives for every kind of happiness. A wife is the source of happiness. Therefore, act in that way.’ ]] V]ªÖ^

KWWm ]] UthÖ^ Itĵ_mŒ V]kªTªDk]]x±kRk2 gud lWÂ^2 ghkl^WmŒ SĶn t hgÆSm łĶt I ]] U3n E]2 kKªWmŒ 2.10.30-31. ‘She is the mother of my dharma. She is the mistress of my body. She is always my aide in the pursuit of dharma, artha, kama and moksha. When I am content, she laughs. When I am angry, she wipes away my misery.’ One should note that this is said by a male pigeon about his wife.

Y2gn 3 gd¥fn Dk^¥fn \k^¨dth ghkl^WmŒ ÖdÐYkWk]lY Dk^kªRk2 Whm lglĦÖS^k ldWkŒ 2.59.60 ‘In every task undertaken by a man, the wife is an aide. Without her, there is no success in even the slightest of tasks.’ The translation work is not a slight task and without her as an aide and support, it wouldn’t have happened.

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The Brahma Purana is rich in geography and it brought alive for me the region in, and around Odisha, a state I am especially fond of. Shaifalika Panda and Subhrakant Panda have told us stories about Odisha and have also invited us there. This is an opportunity to tell our dear friends some stories about Odisha, by dedicating this book to a warm and generous couple. Bibek Debroy August 2021

Introduction The word Purana means old, ancient. The Puranas are old texts, usually referred to in conjunction with Itihasa (the Ramayana and the Mahabharata).1 Whether Itihasa originally meant only the Mahabharata, with the Ramayana being added to that expression later, is a proposition on which there has been some discussion. But that’s not relevant for our purposes. In the Chandogya Upanishad, there is an instance of the sage Narada approaching the sage Sanatkumara for instruction. Asked about what he already knows, Narada says he knows Itihasa and Purana, the Fifth Veda.2 In other words, Itihasa–Purana possessed an elevated status. This by no means implies that the word Purana, as used in these two Upanishads and other texts too, is to be understood in the sense of the word being applied to a set of texts known as the Puranas today. The Valmiki Ramayana is believed to have been composed by Valmiki and the Mahabharata by Krishna Dvaipayana Vedavyasa. After composing the Mahabharata, Krishna Dvaipayana Vedavyasa is believed to have composed the Puranas. The use of the word composed immediately indicates that Itihasa–Purana are ‘smriti’ texts, with a human origin. They are not ‘shruti’ texts, with a divine origin. Composition does not mean these texts were rendered into writing. Instead, there was a process of oral transmission,

1

For example, shlokas 2.4.10, 4.1.2 and 4.5.11 of the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad use the two expressions together. 2 Chandogya Upanishad, 7.1.2. xiii

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with inevitable noise in the transmission and distribution process. Writing came much later. Pargiter’s book on the Puranas is still one of the best introductions to this corpus.3 To explain the composition and transmission process, one can do no better than to quote him. ‘The Vayu and Padma Puranas tell us how ancient genealogies, tales and ballads were preserved, namely, by the sutas,4 and they describe the suta’s duty . . . The Vayu, Brahmanda and Visnu give an account on how the original Purana came into existence. Those three Puranas say: Krishna Dvaipayana divided the single Veda into four and arranged them, and so was called Vyasa. He entrusted them to his four disciples, one to each, namely Paila, Vaisampayana, Jaimini and Sumantu. Then with tales, anecdotes, songs and lore that had come down from the ages, he compiled a Purana, and taught it and the Itihasa to his fifth disciple, the suta Romaharsana or Lomaharsana . . . After that he composed the Mahabharata. The epic itself implies that the Purana preceded it . . . As explained above, the sutas had from remote times preserved the genealogies of gods, rishis and kings, and traditions and ballads about celebrated men, that is, exactly the material—tales, songs and ancient lore— out of which the Purana was constructed. Whether or not Vyasa composed the original Purana or superintended its compilation, is immaterial for the present purpose. After the original Purana was composed, by Vyasa as is said, his disciple Romaharsana taught it to his son Ugrasravas and Ugrasravas the sauti appears as the reciter in some of the present Puranas; and the sutas still retained the right to recite it for their livelihood. But, as stated above, Romaharsana taught it to his six disciples, at least five of whom were brahmans. It thus passed into the hands of the brahmans, and their appropriation and development of it increased in the course of time, as the Purana grew into many Puranas, as Sanskrit learning became peculiarly the province of the brahmans, and as new and frankly sectarian Puranas were composed.’ Pargiter cited reasons for his belief that 3

Ancient Indian Historical Tradition, F. E. Pargiter, Oxford University Press, London, 1922. 4 Sutas were bards, minstrels, raconteurs.

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the Mahabharata was composed before the original Purana, though that runs contrary to the popular perception about the Mahabharata having been composed before the Puranas. That popular and linear perception is too simplistic, since texts evolved in parallel, not necessarily sequentially. In popular perception, Krishna Dvaipayana Vedavyasa composed the Mahabharata. He then composed the Puranas. Alternatively, he composed an original core Purana text, which has been lost, and others embellished it through additions. The adjective ‘Purana’, meaning old account or old text, became a proper noun, signifying a specific text. To be classified as a Purana, it has to possess five attributes—pancha lakshmana. That is, five topics must be discussed—sarga, pratisarga, vamsha, manvantara and vamshanucharita. The clearest statement of this is in the Matsya Purana. Unlike the Ramayana and the Mahabharata, there is no Critical Edition of the Puranas.5 Therefore, citing chapter and verse from a Purana text is somewhat more difficult, since verse, if not chapter, may vary from text to text. With that caveat, the relevant shloka (verse) should be in the fifty-third chapter of the Matysa Purana. Sarga means the original or primary creation. The converse of sarga is universal destruction, or pralaya. That period of sarga lasts for one of Brahma’s days, known as kalpa. When Brahma sleeps, during his night, there is universal destruction. In measuring time, there is the notion of a yuga (era) and there are four yuga—satya yuga (also known as krita yuga), treta yuga, dvapara yuga and kali yuga. Satya yuga lasts for 4,000 years, treta yuga for 3,000 years, dvapara yuga for 2,000 years and kali yuga for 1,000 years. However, all these are not human years. The gods have a different timescale and these are the years of the gods. As one progressively moves from satya yuga to kali yuga, virtue (dharma) declines. But at the end of kali yuga, the cycle begins afresh, with satya yuga. An entire cycle, from satya yuga to kali yuga, is known 5 The Critical Edition of the Valmiki Ramayana was brought out by the Baroda Oriental Institute, now part of the Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda. The Critical Edition of the Mahabharata was brought out by the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, Pune.

A GLORIOUS RENDITION OF ONE O F T H E O L D E S T P U R A NA S B Y A M A S T E R T R A N S L ATO R The Brahma Purana is the first of a series of eighteen texts known collectively as the Puranas. These are counted amongst the foundational texts of Hinduism. The holy trinity of Brahma as the creator, Vishnu as the preserver and Shiva as the destroyer constitutes the central deities of this series and features in its narratives. Sometimes referred to as Adi Purana, Brahma Purana oscillates between being a work of geography with a focus on the holy sites of the River Godavari, and being an encyclopaedic work of cosmology, genealogy and mythology. Reading almost like a travel guide, it celebrates temples and sites related to Vishnu, Shiva and Devi as it focuses on places like modern-day Odisha and Rajasthan. Brimming with insight and told with clarity, this luminous text is a celebration of a complex mythological universe populated with gods and mortals, providing readers with an opportunity to truly understand Indian philosophy.

‘Overwhelmingly impressive . . . Bibek is a truly eclectic scholar’ The Hindu BusinessLine

Mythology

Cover illustration by Shamanthi Rajasingham Cover design by Ahlawat Gunjan

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