[Advaita-l] Raslila

[Jaldhar H. Vyas]

On Fri, 16 Dec 2005, Ramesh Krishnamurthy wrote:

> Basically, I'm suggesting that the itihAsa-s are more "historical"
> than the purANa-s.
>

I don't think that argument is tenable.  According to kavyashastras, the 
definition of itihasa is

dharmArthakAmamokShANAmupadeshasamanvita.m |
pUrvavrtta.m kathAyuktamitihAsa.m prachakShate ||

Itihasa is defined as those stories of previous events which teach dharma, 
artha, kama, and moksha.

Whereas purana is defined as:

sargashcha pratisargashcha va.msho manvantarANi cha |
vaMshanucharita.m chaiva purANa.m pa.mchalakShaNa.m ||

Accounts of the creation and destruction of the universe, the lineages of 
the solar and lunar dynasties, manvantaras, and other royal dynasties are 
the five characteristics of a purana.

So as you can see they both contain material which can be called 
historical.


-- 
Jaldhar H. Vyas <jaldhar at braincells.com>