Spirit_Warrior
Active Member
I have usually stayed away from the Puranas, because I have seen them as nothing more than sectarian books of myths, legends, stories mixed with history and misc stuff. I have also been uncomfortable about who has authored them, or they based on on actual stories going back into ancient times, perhaps to IVC or they are made up recently. For example does it not make you a bit uncomfortable that childhood stories about Krishna are absent in the Mahabharata, where Krishna is first described? The Krishna in the Srimad Bhagvata Purana is so different to the Krishna of the Mahabharata?
The other thing that makes me uncomfortable about Puranas is that they are open source, they have been continuously updated as far as up to the 16th century, and I wonder edited by who? Like you will see mention of temples in the Puranas that were not built until like the middles ages, which clearly shows the details were added later. What else was added latter? Were the stories that glorify different deities also added later?
The sectarianism is also a problem. It is clear from reading the Puranas there is some kind of conflict between the Vaishnava, Shaiva and Shakta sects. You see stories in the Vasihnava Puranas of how Vishnu is supreme over Shiva, or Shiva is his greatest devotee; and in Shiva Puranas you see stories of how Shiva is greater. This makes me think all the stories are just made up by the respective sect to glorify their deity. If that is made up, what else is made up?
You also see philosophical battles in the Puranas e.g. Buddha becomes the deceiver who has come to teach an atheist doctrine to the non believers, but is bringing them to Hinduism. He is also included as one of the Ten avatars. There are similar attacks on Samkhya, such as rejecting the original Kapila of the classical Samkhya philosophy by saying he was some imposter and the original Kapila taught a theistic Samkhya and devotion to Vishnu. Also the co-opting of classical Yoga and the justification of bhakti as highest yoga --- most of this is in the Srimad Bhagvatam. This tells me that there was some anxiety for the authors to assimilate the other philosophical schools.
I also have a problem with the hagiography, the claim that the Puranas were edited at the same time as the Vedas by Vyassa, when it is clear from scholarship they were composed all after CE as far as 10th century in different centuries.
The other thing that makes me uncomfortable about Puranas is that they are open source, they have been continuously updated as far as up to the 16th century, and I wonder edited by who? Like you will see mention of temples in the Puranas that were not built until like the middles ages, which clearly shows the details were added later. What else was added latter? Were the stories that glorify different deities also added later?
The sectarianism is also a problem. It is clear from reading the Puranas there is some kind of conflict between the Vaishnava, Shaiva and Shakta sects. You see stories in the Vasihnava Puranas of how Vishnu is supreme over Shiva, or Shiva is his greatest devotee; and in Shiva Puranas you see stories of how Shiva is greater. This makes me think all the stories are just made up by the respective sect to glorify their deity. If that is made up, what else is made up?
You also see philosophical battles in the Puranas e.g. Buddha becomes the deceiver who has come to teach an atheist doctrine to the non believers, but is bringing them to Hinduism. He is also included as one of the Ten avatars. There are similar attacks on Samkhya, such as rejecting the original Kapila of the classical Samkhya philosophy by saying he was some imposter and the original Kapila taught a theistic Samkhya and devotion to Vishnu. Also the co-opting of classical Yoga and the justification of bhakti as highest yoga --- most of this is in the Srimad Bhagvatam. This tells me that there was some anxiety for the authors to assimilate the other philosophical schools.
I also have a problem with the hagiography, the claim that the Puranas were edited at the same time as the Vedas by Vyassa, when it is clear from scholarship they were composed all after CE as far as 10th century in different centuries.
Last edited: