Bhavisya Purana

[Vishal Agarwal]

----Original Message Follows----
From: Paolo Magnone <p.magnone at AGORA.STM.IT>
Subject: The "PurANa of the Future",              Noah and Queen Victoria
(was: Historicity of the Flood)
Date: Mon, 7 Jun 1999 18:51:32 +0100

Dr. Magnone wrote:
As for queen Victoria, the passage in question must be BhSP III, 4,
22, 72 ff., which is, however, quite unclear. It is about the monkey-
faced (!) GuruNDas, the progeny of VikaTa (an ape ally of RAma),
come for the purpose of trade, followers of the BauddhamArga and
adherents of the creed of Izaputra (i. e. Jesus). Entrusted by Hari
with the charge of the people, they settled in KalikAtA.VikaTAvatI,
the queen (tatpanI = tat-patnI ?) of the western island of VikaTa,
set up a royal counsel by way of the 8 Kauzala, and its king
(tatpati) PulomArci went to KalikAtA...
Any historians on the list who can offer a detailed explanation of
the references?

VA responds: The passage is clear. VikaTa is a corruption of Britain and
Vikatavati/.Vikatapatni is a corruption of Victoria. This is clear from the
context where 'Hulbert' (=Albert) is said to ber her spouse, which is
historically correct. Such delibrate corruptions are common in the Purana.
Other examples (all quotations are from memory)
1. Eve = Havyavati (from Persian Havva)
2. Aurangzeb = Naurangeb
3. Muhammad = MahAmad
and so on.

KaliKata is of course the name of the village/locality around which the city
Calcutta evolved.

Gurunda means 'white bodied' and I have encountered the word used in this
sense even in 18-19th Cent. Marathi and Hindi literature. Cannot recall
references off-hand.

'Monkey faced' was a popular description of Europeans till a few decades
back. For instance, reference the following lines from Satyartha Prakasa
Chap XI of Dayanand Sarasvati (paraphrase)
"In ancient times, Europe was called 'Harivarsha. This is because the
Europeans have white faces, red lips and brown hair like moneys." (One of
the meanings of 'Hari' is monkey).

Of course, the Purana also records a visit of North West India by Jesus
where Emperor Salivahana is said to have honored him. As per the Indian
Tradition, Salivahana was a junior contemproary of Emperor Vikramaditya (who
is placed by popular Indian tradition in the 1st Cent. B.C.E.). You would be
familiar with the context I am referring to, therefore I am not enclosing a
summary here.

A more detailed consideration of the passages would require direct
consultation of the Purana (which I have not seen in 10 years now)  by me.

To my knowledge, no critical edition of the Purana has been published by the
All India Kashiraj Trust or by anyone else. If any manuscript, say older
than 1830 C.E. excludes the passages on Victoria, then we can say that the
printed versions are quite inflated with interpolations. The original
Bhavisya Purana, however, was quite ancient. It is counted as an
authoritative Purana by Al-Beruni and a verse from the 'Bhavasiya Purana' is
cited even in the Apastamba Dharma Sutra. (Although I could not locate this
verse in the printed editions of the Purana).

Best regards

Vishal



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