Harivamsa, though a purana in itself considering its
matter and length, is known as a supplement of Mahabharatam. It contains more
than 16000 verses and does not appear like a single work, but like a loose
jumble of several legends, myths and hymns. Its professed purpose is to glorify
Vishnu. The only connection that this book has to the Mahabharatam consists in
the fact that Vaisampayana the narrator of Mahabharatam, himself narrates this
to the same Janamejaya when the latter requests him to give an account of the
race to which he belongs.
The book is
divided into three parts. The first book is called ‘hirvaMSa pva- ’. It gives an account of the
creation of the world, of the kings of the solar and lunar dynasty and several
other legends like those of ‘Qa`uva:’ ‘vaona:’ ‘ivaSvaaima~:’ etc. It also gives an account of the ancestors and the birth of
The second book
called ‘ivaYNau pva-’ deals at length with
the sports of the childhood and the later adventures of
The third book
is called ‘BaivaYya pva-’. The name is
applicable only to the first canto of it wherein there are prophecies about the
future ages. The rest of the third book gives us several unconnected details
including two different accounts of creation and the stories of the incarnation
of Vishnu as Narasimha. The book narrates some other stories of
No comments:
Post a Comment