Are Puranas recent as compared to the Vedas?

by Chaitanya CharanOctober 3, 2014

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Chaitanya Charan
4 Comments
  • krishna dasa
    October 7, 2014 at 2:28 pm

    rcah samani chandamsi puranam yajusa saha
    ucchistaj-jajnire sarve divi deva divi-sritah

    “The Rg, Sama, Yajur and Atharva became manifest from the Lord, along with the Puranas and all the Devas residing in the heavens.” (Atharva Veda 11.7.24)

    sa brhatim disam anu vyacalat tam itihasas ca puranam ca gathas ca itihasasya ca sa vai puranasya ca gathanam ca narasamsinam ca priyam dhama bhavati ya evam veda

    “He approached the brhati meter, and thus the Itihasas, Puranas, Gathas and Narasamsis became favorable to him. One who knows this verily becomes the beloved abode of the Itihasas, Puranas, Gathas and Narasamsis.” (Atharva Veda 15.6.10–12)

    evam ime sarva veda nirmitah sa-kalpah sa-rahasyah sa-brahmanah sopanisatkah setihasah sanvakhyatah sa-puranan

    “In this way, all the Vedas were manifested along with the Kalpas, Rahasyas, Brahmanas, Upanisads, Itihasas, Anvakhyatas and the Puranas.” (Gopatha Brahmana, purva 2.10)

    nama va rg-vedo yajur-vedah sama-veda atharvanas caturtha itihasa-puranah pancamo vedanam vedah

    “Indeed, Rg, Yajur, Sama and Atharva are the names of the four Vedas. The Itihasas and Puranas are the fifth Veda.” (Kauthumiya Chandogya Upanisad 7.1.4)

    asya mahato bhutasya nihsvasitam etad yad rg-vedo yajur-vedah sama
    vedo’tharvangirasa itihasah puranam ityadina

    “O Maitreya, the Rg, Yajur, Sama and Atharva Vedas as well as the Itihasas and the Puranas all manifest from the breathing of the Lord.” (Madhyandina-sruti, Brhad-aranyaka Upanisad 2.4.10)

    Taittiriya Aranyaka (2.9) states yad brahmananitihasa-puranani: “The Itihasas and Puranas are Vedas.”

    From these above sruti statements it is clear that the puranas are part of the Vedas and originate from the same source as the Vedas, namely the Supreme Lord Himself .

    In his treatise Visnu Tattva Vinirnaya, Sri Madhva, quoting Brahmanda Purana explains thus:

    puranani tadarthani sarge sarge’nythaiva tu
    kriyante’tastvanityani tadarthah purva-sargavat
    vedanam srsthivakyani bhaveyurvyaktyapeksaya
    avantarabhimananam devanam va vyapeksaya
    nanityatvat kutastesamanityatvam sthiratmanam

    In other words, the Puranas are supposed to explain the meaning of the Vedas and are only different by the changes in words, chanda (metre), rsi, sequence etc. at the beginning of each creation. In this way they are considered to be non-eternal, but their meaning will be the same as in the previous creation.

    Therefore Madhva categorizes the Puranas as ‘nitya-anitya’ because they originally emanate from the Supreme Lord, but they are sometimes unmanifest.

    Thus if we accept the sruti sastras like four vedas and upanishads ,then we should also accept the authenticity of puranas ,as they are mentioned in sruti statements also . In oral tradition ,puranas were there even before veda vyasa compiled it in written format 5000 years ago .but sometimes it becomes unmanifest .And often at the end of every dvapara yuga , veda vyasa divides and writes in written form for the people of kali yuga . Thus puranas are not recent than vedas

  • abhinav
    November 3, 2014 at 7:17 pm

    hare krishna pr
    excellent answer by krishna pr that s how we can refute all the nonsense who denies authority of puranas
    thank you very much

    your servent
    abhinav

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