Read Brahmanda Purana Part 1 of 1 – Brahmanda Purana in English

Brahmanda Purana is considered to be the eighteenth Purana out of 18 Puranas, which are also called Mahapuranas.

Read Brahmanda Purana Part 1 of 1

There are 156 chapters in the entire Brahmanda Purana. The published manuscript of the Brahmanda Purana has three Bhaga (Parts).

The first part is subdivided into two Pada (Sub-Parts), while the other two have just one Pada each.

The first Bhaga has 38 Adhyaya (Chapters), the second is structured into 74 chapters, while the third and last Bhaga has 44 chapters. This published text has a cumulative total of 156 chapters.

What are the other names of Brahmanda Purana?

The Brahmanda Purana is also known as the Vayaviya Purana or Vayu Purana in medieval Indian literature. The text is named after the “Cosmic Egg” (Brahma-Anda), a cosmological theory of Hinduism.

The Brahmanda Purana is one of the eighteen major Purana collections of Hindu texts in Sanskrit. It is said to consist of 12,000 verses, but the most important manuscript contains over 14,000 shlokas.

The text is encyclopedic. It is non-sectarian and reveres all gods and goddesses, including Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva, Ganesha, Surya and Shakti.

The text is notable for its sections denouncing all animal sacrifices. The text’s philosophy is a blend of the Vedanta, Samkhya and Yoga schools of Hindu philosophy, woven in with Bhakti and some Tantra themes.

Bramhanda Purana is considered one of the oldest puranas: dating to at least the 4th-century CE.

The present volume consists of two Sections viz. Prakriya and Anusanga.

1. Section 1 Prakriya consists of five chapters which deal with the creation of the universe in the light of the Vedic metaphysics which it expounds in detail in the Purãnic manner. This section describes the original state of equilibrium of Gunas (qualities), the laying of the Golden Egg, and the emergence of the creator lord Brahma from it.
2. The second section Anusanga, which this volume includes, contains 33 chapters (6-38). It is a connected continuation of the theme of Prakriya pada since it recounts the account of the birth as well as the genealogies of Brahmarsis (Brahmanical sages), Devaris (Celestial sages) and Rajanis (Royal sages).

The two sections which complete this volume illustrate the two characteristics of a Mukhyasarga (मुख्यसर्ग) viz., Sarga (Creation) and Vathia (genealogy), although the latter trait is resumed in the third section, namely the Upodghata of the next volume.

Traditionally, the Brahmandapurana is said to consist of 12,000 metrical Sanskrit verses, however, the more important manuscript contains over 14,000 shlokas. These shlokas cover the following:

Cosmology

The Brahmanda Purana describes the cosmic egg, which contains the seven worlds, the earth, the continents, the oceans, mountains, and rivers.

Puranic elements

The Purana includes cosmogony, genealogy, ethics, geography, and yoga.

Adhyatma Ramayana

The Purana includes a copy of the Adhyatma Ramayana, as well as the Lalita Sahasranama.

Travel guide

The Purana includes a travel guide to places like Kashmir, Cuttack, and Kanchipuram.

It also covers topics like Yoga, Duties, Passage rites, Ethics, Diplomacy, Trade, Festivals, Rivers, Good government, and Administration.

The Hindu Maha Puranas are traditionally attributed to “Vyasa”, but many scholars consider them to be the work of many authors over the centuries. 

The sage Veda Vyasa is widely revered and credited for compiling much of Hinduism’s most prominent and influential spiritual texts, including the Vedas, the 18 Puranas, and the world’s largest epic poem.

The Brahmanda Purana is one of the oldest Puranas, but estimates for the composition of its earliest core vary widely.

The early 20th-century Indian scholar Dikshitar, known for his arguments in favour of more ancient dating of the Puranas, dated the Brahmanda to 4th-century BCE.

Most later scholarship places this text to be from centuries later, in the 4th- to 6th-century of the common era.

Wendy Doniger dates the Brahmanda Purana to have been composed between the 4th to 10th century CE, but she adds that this is approximate and any attempt to firmly date Puranic texts is a flawed “chimerical pursuit”.

The text is generally assumed, states Ludo Rocher, to have achieved its current structure about 1000 CE.

The text underwent continuous revisions after the 10th century, and new sections probably replaced older ones.

The 13th-century Yadava dynasty scholar Hemadri quoted large parts of the then existing Brahmanda Purana, but these parts are not found in currently surviving versions of the same text, suggesting that the 13th-century version of this Purana was different in many respects than extant manuscripts.

A Javanese Brahmanda palm-leaf manuscript was discovered in Indonesia in the mid-19th century by colonial-era Dutch scholars, along with other Puranas.

The Sanskrit originals of these are either lost or yet to be discovered. The Javanese Brahmanda was translated by the Dutch Sanskrit scholar Jan Gonda and compared to Sanskrit texts found in India.

The Translation of Brahmanda Purana in English was first published in two parts by Motilal Banarsidass Publishers Private Limited, Delhi in 1958.

The English translation of the Brahmanda Purana, one of the eighteen major Puranas and one of the oldest: dating to at least the 4th century CE.

It’s one of the medieval Indian alliterations, and it is expected to be the same as the Vayu Purana Before these texts developed into two overlapping compositions of scripts.

The Brahmanda Purana has received his name from one of the cosmological theories, namely the cosmic egg. The scripture is one of the oldest Puranas and is said to be written during the 4th century CE.

There are multiple editions of the same texts, with numerous changes added to them.

The topics included in Brahmanda Purana are yoga, duties, cosmology, passage rites, ethics, diplomacy, trade, festivals, and travel guides to places such as Kashmir, Cuttack, Kanchipuram, etc.

Lalita Sahasranamam, the scripture that praises the goddess as the supreme entity of the universe, is notably present in the Brahmanda Purana.

Lalita Sahasranamam (a stotra praising the Goddess Lalita as the supreme being in the universe), is one of the early Hindu texts found in Bali, Indonesia, also called the Javanese-Brahmanda.

This part is written as a dialogue between Hayagriva (the horse-faced avatar of the Lord Vishnu) and sage Agastya on Lalita’s emergence out of fire after which the king of gods Indra worshipped Devi (the goddess representing the Supreme Reality).

The text is also notable of Adhyatma Ramayan. It enhances its focus on reconciling Bhakti in God Rama and Shaktism with Advaita Vedanta.

The Adhyatma Ramayana, the most important embedded set of chapters in the extant versions of the Purana, is considered to have been composed centuries later, possibly in the 15th century.

It is attributed to Ramananda – the Advaita scholar and the founder of the Ramanandi Sampradaya, the largest monastic group in Hinduism and in Asia in modern times.

The published manuscript of the Brahmanda Purana is divided into three parts. The first part is divided into two subparts or Two Padas, the other two parts having one pada each. These published texts have 156 chapters in total.

The traditional Purana has around 12,000 verses, but the published version consists of 14,286 verses, This suggests that the older version of the Indian scriptures may have been smaller in length.

The present volume contains the Brahmanda Purana, Part I (Chapters 1-38) completing the first two sections (Prakriya and Anusanga) of the text in English Translation.

Section 1 Prakriya consists of five chapters that deal with the creation of the universe in the light of the Vedic metaphysics which it expounds in detail in the Purãnic manner.

This section describes the original state of equilibrium of gunas (qualities), the laying of the Golden Egg, and the emergence of the creator lord Brahma from it.

The second section Anusanga, which this volume includes, contains 33 chapters (6-38). It is a connected continuation of the theme of Prakriya pada since it recounts the account of the birth as well as the genealogies of Brahmarsis (Brahmanical sages), Devaris (Celestial sages) and Rajanis (Royal sages).

The two sections which complete this volume illustrate the two characteristics of a Mukhyasarga (मुख्यसर्ग) viz., Sarga (Creation) and Vathia (genealogy), although the latter trait is resumed in the third section, namely the Upodghata of the next volume.