It need not however be supposed that the Skp or the Mbh underestimates the importance of moral purity. The Skp is thus a mine of social cultural political historical geographical religious and philosophical information. those who bathe here go to heaven and those who die here are not born again and in connection with the conviction in religious suicide and worship of the deceased and into the significance of holy places local variants of myths and legends and so on. This genre of literature is not only very useful for deepening out knowledge of the cultural and religious history of india in general but also most valuable for those who want to reconstruct the development of regional history and local cults or to gain a deeper insight into various religious institutions for instance the recommendation of pilgrimage to poor people as a substitute for expensive sacrifice into beliefs and practices e.g. Jan Gonda has succinctly emphasized the importance of these sthala puranas in his Medieval religious literature in Sanskrit as follows. Hence its importance for researches in different disciplines. The Skanda Purana is not one book but a library of such Sthaal Puranas or Tirtha Mahatmyas. Hence it was natural that Puranas and digests on Tirthas vied with one another in glorifying their respective Tirthas. The Mahabharata regards pilgrimage to Tirthas more meritorious than sacrifices. Large rivers mountains and forests have always been venerated as the abodes of gods.Īncient Sutras and old Smrtis like Manu and Yajnavalkya do not attach importance to Tirthas but the later literature on this branch of Dharmasastra is very extensive. IntroductionĪll religions be it islam Christianity or Hinduism lay great emphasis on the sanctity of certain places and enjoin pilgrimage to them. The publication of the puranas in English translation is a step towards that goal. Our goal to universalize knowledge through the most popular international medium of expression.
PURANA IN ENGLISH SERIES
We have started the series of Ancient indian tradition and mythology in English translation. We have therefore planned to help him acquire knowledge by an easier course. Man has to learn that language before he discovers that truth.īut he has neither the means nor the leisure to embark on that course. Similarly truth lies concealed in the language which with the passage of time has become obsolete. One has to dive into the ocean or delve into the rocks to find them out.
The purest gems lie hidden in the bottom of the ocean or in the depth of rocks.
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