Bhavisya Purana

[Paolo Magnone]

In reply to Vishal Agarwal's message of 10 Jun 99, 16:21


Thank you for the detailed explanation. The correspondences VikaTAvaTI =
Victoria and KalikAtA = Calcutta were already clear to me, but not so the
meaning of GuruNDa. However, in the VeGkatezvara edition I have not come
across the mention of "Hulbert" as VikaTAvatI's spouse, but of PulomArci,
which is rather more difficult to connect with Albert.

Many other late characters are mentioned in the printed BhSP in corrupted
form, including  BAbur (BAbara), HumAyUn (HomAyus), Akbar (Akabara),
AurangzEb (NavaraGga), etc. As for Jesus the Messiah, the rather singular
story of Iza MasIha / Izaputra is  found in BhSP III, 3, 2, 21 ff.




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> 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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----------------------------
Paolo Magnone
Catholic University of Milan
pmagnone at mi.unicatt.it
Jambudvipa - Indology and Sanskrit Studies
http://www.agora.stm.it/P.Magnone/jambu.htm