The Garuda Purana

PREFACE.

urging the man to state the whole truth, and the pride of conquest impelling him to set up a schism against truth. The author of the Garuda Puranam an ancient Hindu scripture, whoever he might be, must have been sufficiently familiar with the works of Nagarjuna A pivotal Buddhist philosopher and medical authority. and other Buddhistic Medical Acharyas teachers or masters so as to be fully convinced of the truth of their state?ment, and attempted to make the Vedic relating to the oldest Hindu scriptures number of skeletal bones as near to the truth as possible. This fact serves to throw a new light upon the date of the composition of the Garuda Puranam. It unmistakably points to a period of history when the victorious Brahmanism the early social and religious system of the Brahmins once more attempted to restore the teachings of the Vedas in their pristine glory, and the truths of the Buddhistic science or metaphysics were still too potent a factor to be ignored or lightly dismissed—a fact which supports our contention and lends a plausible colour to the view we have adopted as regards the probable date of the composition of the Garuda.

The second question, that confronts us, is the purity of the text, i. e., whether the Garuda Puranam, as we now possess it, is what it was originally written by its author; or whether its bulk has been considerably increased by subsequent additions? In the first Chapter we learn that, the Puranam consists of eight thousand and eight hundred verses, and the subjects dealt with therein are creation of the universe, Pujas ritual worship, Holy pools and shrines, Cosmogony and Geography, Ages of Manus progenitors of humanity, Duties of different social orders, Gift-making, Duties of kings, etc., Laws, Vratas religious vows, Royal dynasties, Therapeutics with Ætiology the study of the causes of diseases, Vedangas limbs of the Veda; auxiliary disciplines, Pralaya cosmic dissolution, Laws of Virtue, desire, and money, and Knowledge (of Brahma the ultimate reality and external things). These then were the main themes that were o?riginally dealt with in the Garuda Puranam, and we may say that this was so in the light of the principle of Adhyaya Sampravibhága the systematic classification of chapters, which forms one of the cardinal rules in forming the plan of a Sanskrit work. We regret to say that, many things, having no legitimate connection with the main themes of this Puranam, nor having a direct bearing thereon,