CHAPTER 6
The Pura ̄n.as
Freda Matchett
At the end of her introduction to Pura ̄n.a PerennisWendy Doniger, as editor,
invites her readers “to sally forth into the living jungle of texts known as
Pura ̄n.as” (Doniger 1993: xii). There is a hint of danger in the metaphor, and a
suggestion that selection is necessary here if one is to find the path through the
jungle. Even without such a metaphor, however, there are several features of the
Pura ̄n.as which would instill caution into anyone proposing to study them. It is
not only that they are vast in extent and miscellaneous in content. They offer
information about themselves which is strangely at odds with their perceived
actuality. First of all, their best-known examples announce that the Pura ̄n.as
are 18 in number, but in reality there are far more: Ludo Rocher’s standard
work on them lists 82 by name without making any claim that this number is
exhaustive. Moreover, the Pura ̄n.as are not the homogeneous group of texts
which a number as small as 18 might lead one to expect. They are not simply a
Hindu genre: there are Jaina Pura ̄n.as also. They are not simply a Sanskrit phe-
nomenon either: there are Pura ̄n.as in many Indian vernaculars, some of them
translated from Sanskrit originals and others composed from the start in the
vernacular.
Secondly, the Pura ̄n.as define themselves as pañcalaks.an.a, having five charac-
teristic topics, yet an eminent Indian scholar has estimated that these topics
“occupy less than three percent of the extant Maha ̄pura ̄n.as” (Kane 1977: 841).
Thirdly, there is a discrepancy between the way in which the Pura ̄n.as classify
themselves and their actual contents. A fourth problem arises, not from the
Pura ̄n.as’ statements about themselves, but from their present existence in
printed and bound editions. In this form they give the impression of being books,
intended for reading, commentary, and annotation, but originally they would
have been more accurately described as performances, intended to be seen,
heard, and enjoyed. Unless some appreciation of this is present, today’s reader
of the Pura ̄n.as fails to understand them.