Purdnaa—The Puranas, if we regard the form, must be classed with the ancient epic. They are voluminous collections of legends and traditions, written to elucidate the origin and history of some par ticular hnly place or a certain sect, and to be read to the people for their instruction at the great festivals. They all begin with a cosmo gony, to which they add the genealogy of the gods and the development of the periods of the world, as well as unconnected historical traditions, so as to form a fabulous chronology; and thus they come down to the history of the sacred place to which they are especially dedicated; they then conclude with the miracles, and so forth, which have been per formed there. As they were intended to be read publicly, they are of course used as vehicles for conveying such instruction as the people might be presumed to require. They contain, therefore, not only recommendations to devotion and faith, and copious representations of the religious usages and customs, but also systems of the sciences which were known to the natives of India, as astronomy, mensuration, and jurisprudence, which are different in each Purtina, according as the priesthood of a temple belonged to this or that sect, or to this or that school of philosophy, astronomy, or law. In their present form, the Puranas are decidedly very late compositions, but the elements out of which they have been constructed belong to very different periods. They themselves refer to still older sources, and all the circumstances combined lead to the conclusion that there must have been another set of Puranas, which are now lost, and of which the present are an altered form or an imitation. Their great similarity, as \veil iu their general structure as to particular parts, shows that they must have been formed upon one type, and that one very ancieut, and that the differ ences which they present arise from tho difference of object, according as they emanated from this or that place, or this or that sect. The older authorities actually give definitions of the Puranas which do not apply to them as they exist at present, and which presume an older form. It may even be asserted that entire portions of them must originally have belonged to the Vedas. In their present shape, none of the Puranas can be referred to an earlier date than the Mli century A. o., and the greater part of them are much later, and closely connected with the formation of the more recent sects. Though they are metrical compositions, they have Ile pretensions to poetic merit, if we except the ' IlhagavatspurAna; which was probably written by Vopadeva. They are arranged according to a certain canon, and are eighteen in number, tinder the titles of Brahma, Padua, Bralimanda, Agni, Vishnu, Garuda, Bmhusavaivarta, Siva, Linga, Nitratilya, Skanda, MArkandeys, lihaviahya, Mateyo, Varnana, and Blitiga rata. Besides these, there are said to be eighteen rpapurdnas, or secondary l'uninsa, only a few of which, however, are known. There are many others, not included in this canon, which are called &hake. purdmas, or local Purifies, and are of little importance. Several of these have been described by ]'ref. Wilson, in the ' Catalogue of the Mackenzie Collection' (Cale., 1828). The Puranas have been chiefly made known to us by the analyses of Wilson, iii the ' Asiatic Journals' of Calcutta and Loudon; by his translation of the ' Vishimpuritna; London, 1840, 4to ; and by Burnout's edition of the '4111figavata; 3 vols., Paris, 1840.47, fol., as far as 11. is. complete editions have appeared in India, one at Calcutta, Isse, and the other at Bombay, 1839, both with the scholia of Scilluimewsmin. An edition of the ' Markandeyapurana ' was com menced at Calcutta in 1855.
Artificial Poetry.—Sanskrit poetry received a new character, and ono essentially different from that which we have been just considering, in consequence of the revolution which took place in Sanskrit literature about the first century before Christ. Instead of the popular and national character which appears in the two great epic poems, it now assumed an artificial form, and became the poetry of courts and princes. How this was effected cannot be historically shown, for the various steps of the transition are lost, and the new poetry appears at once in its perfect state. It is, however, quite obvious that the two great epic poems had long been completed and were in universal repute. The new poetry is poor in invention, and drew its materials
from the former. Its whole merit consists in what may be called style. Even tho epic versification is for the most part neglected, and lyric metres are substituted for it. This is not merely in difference in external form, but it is connected most intimately with tho mode in which things aro viewed by the Indians, who, being devoted to con templation, delight to work up their poetical materials not so much into a continuous action, as into a series of single situations. Each of these situations is exhibited in a single stanza or strophe, which forms an independent whole, and is not connected with the others either grammatically or metrically. This peculiarity is as obvious in the epic as in the lyric and dramatic poetry.
The new Epic poetry begins with Kalidasa, to whom two works of this class have been ascribed,' hiumftrasambhava ' and ' Raghuvansa.' [CALE DIsa, in Moo. Div.] They are written in a style worthy of imitation, and their whole character shows that they are older than the others, from whose superfluities these early works are free. The materials to the mythic cycle of the Ranaflyana.' The disposition to describe rather than to narrate is exhibited as well in single passages as iu the whole. Whenever an opportunity occurs, long descriptions are intro duced, such as pictures of natural objects, to which the old epic poetry was also inclined, but more sparingly, and only incidentally : here, however, they encumber the whole progress of the action. This is much more the case in the two following poems, in which the descrip tions appear to the poet to be so important that ho seems to have undertaken the works only for the purpose of introducing them. These works arc the ' Kiratarjuniya,' or " the battle of Arjuna with the Kiritta," by BhAravi, and ' Sisupftlabadha,' or " the death of Sisupala," by Magha, both founded on episodes of the Mahabliarata."Ihey are classical compositions, and elaborated with the utmost nicety; but the art of the poet degenerates into a mere play upon words. There are verses which may be read forwards and backwards, and upwards and downwards; others in which only one and the same consonant is used (as " Sis. 19, 114, (Wade duddaduddadl dada& dfidadidadoh dud dltdan dadade dudde dadadadadado ' dada," which indeed is not very clear, but still has a meaning), or two consonants or more are used. These poems were printed at Calcutta, 1814, 1815, and again 1848, with the commentary of Mallinatha. The ' Bhattikavya,' written in the 5th or 6th century, in Vallabhi, the chief town of Guzerat,narrates the history of Rama, but only for the purpose of elucidating the more rare grammatical forms, every canto being written in a certain tense, &e. (Published at Calcutta, 1828, with two grammatical commen taries.) The Nalodaya,' falsely ascribed to KaIidasa, gives the history of Nala out of the Mahabharata, but only to show the skill of the poet in an incessant play of words and rhymes. (Edited by F. Benary, with the commentary of Prajnakitra, a Latin translation and notes, Berlin, I830; and by W. Yates, with a metrical translation, grammatical analysis, &e., Cale., 1844.) The most artificial of all these poems is the 'Ilaglaavapaudavlya' of Kaviraja. (Published at Cale., 1854, with a commentary by Premachandra Tarkavaglsa,) It is written with such a purposed double meaning, that the same words give us the histories of Rama and also of the sons of Pandu, which is only possible in conse quence of most of the Sanskrit proper names having also a perfect appellative meaning, so that in the one history the proper names must be dropped, and in the other the appellative meanings. We shall mention in the last place the Naishadlya ' of Sriliarsha, king of Cash mere in the 12th century. It treats of the marriage of Nala, and nothing else, in twenty-two long cantos, written throughout in a very artificial manner, which however makes it a great favourite among the Indians. The descriptions in this poem exceed in length and num ber all reasonable bounds, and there can hardly be said to be any action at all. It was printed at Calcutta in two volumes, the first with the commentary of Premachandm, 1836, and the second with that of Narayana, 1855.