[Advaita-l] reg puranas

[Jaldhar H. Vyas]

On Thu, 24 Feb 2011, Venkata sriram P wrote:

> Namaste Sriram,   As per the some of the scholars and also the by Shri 
> Sacchidananda Tirtha (author of celebrated "purANa mImAMsa"), the purana 
> works of Bhagavan Badarayana are 3 in number. They are Devi Bhagavata, 
> Markandeya Purana and Bhagavata Purana.   Rest of the purANAs fall into 
> the category of "Confusion of Authorship" though Agni Purana (from its 
> style of composition) seems to be quite ancient.  Sri Sacchidananda 
> Tirtha says that Bhagavan Badarayana’s style of writing is quite 
> distinct and the above 3 mentioned are of one category and rest is 
> another.   Careful study of saMhitAs of Siva Purana (or Siva Dharmottara 
> Purana?????) indicates that those have been written by different authors 
> at different times.


There is a lot of controversy in this subject and many historians both 
Eastern and Western would disagree with the above assessment.  As far as 
tradition is concerned, all 18 mahapuranas (but which 18!) and the 
Mahabharata were authored by Vedavyasa and internally several puranas also 
fix their number as 18.


> Even the count of dwAdasa jyOtirlingAs is 
> controversial.  As per halAyudha kavi, a great aghora sivOpAsaka (author 
> of halAyudha stavaH), there are only 3 jyotirlingAs ie. Vishwanath of 
> Kasi, Omkareshwar Linga and Mallikarjuna of Srisaila.   Rest are all 
> incorporations by different authors at different times.     

It takes more than one mans opinion to make a controversy.  What is his 
justification for asserting this?

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