acquainted with the Puráńas enumerate eighteen, or the Bráhma, Pádma, Vaishńava, Śaiva, Bhágavata, Náradíya, Márkańd́eya, Ágneya, Bhavishyat, Brahma Vaivartta, Lainga, Váráha, Skánda, Vámana, Kaurmma, Mátsya, Gárura, Brahmáńd́a. The creation of the world, and its successive reproductions, the genealogies of the patriarchs and kings, the periods of the Manus, and the transactions of the royal dynasties, are narrated in all these Puráńas. This Puráńa which I have repeated to you, Maitreya, is called the Vaishńava, and is next in the series to the Padma; and in every part of it, in its narratives of primary and subsidiary creation, of families, and of periods, the mighty Vishńu is declared in this Puráńa 7.

The four Vedas, the six Angas (or subsidiary portions of the Vedas, viz. Śikshá, rules of reciting the prayers, the accents and tones to be observed; Kalpa, ritual; Vyákarańa, grammar; Nirukta, glossarial comment; Chhandas, metre; and Jyotish, (astronomy), with Mímánsá (theology), Nyáya (logic), Dharma (the institutes of law), and the Puráńas, constitute the fourteen principal branches of knowledge: or they are considered as eighteen, with the addition of these four; the Áyur-veda, medical science (as taught by Dhanwantari); Dhanur-veda, the science of archery or arms, taught by Bhrigu; Gándharba-veda, or the drama, and the arts of music, dancing, &c., of which the Muni Bharata was the author; and the Artha śástram, or science of government, as laid down first by Vrihaspati.

There are three kinds of Rishis, or inspired sages; royal Rishis, or princes who have adopted a life of devotion, as Viswamitra; divine Rishis, or sages who are demigods also, as Nárada; and Brahman Rishis, or sages who are the sons of Brahmá, or Brahmans, as Vaśisht́ha and others 8.

I have thus described to you the branches of the Vedas, and their subdivisions; the persons by whom they were made; and the reason why they were made (or the limited capacities of mankind). The same branches are instituted in the different Manwantaras. The primitive Veda, that of the progenitor of all things, is eternal: these branches are but its modifications (or Vikalpas).

I have thus related to you, Maitreya, the circumstances relating to the Vedas, which you desired to hear. Of what else do you wish to be informed 9?

Footnotes

282:1 The Váyu makes Sukarman the grandson of Sumantu, his son being called Sunwat.

282:2 Some copies read Paushpinji. The Váyu agrees with our text, but alludes to a legend of Sukarman having first taught a thousand disciples, but they were all killed by Indra, for reading on an unlawful day, or one when sacred study is prohibited.