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TheSkanda Purana (IAST: Skanda Purāṇa) is the largestMukhyapurāṇa, a genre of eighteenHindu religious texts.[1] The text contains over 81,000 verses, and is ofShaivite literature,[2] titled afterSkanda, a son ofShiva andParvati (who is also known asMurugan in Tamil literature).[3] While the text is named after Skanda, he does not feature either more or less prominently in this text than in other Shiva-related Puranas.[3] The text has been an important historical record and influence on the Hindu traditions and rituals related to the war-god Skanda.[3][4]
The earliest text titledSkanda Purana likely existed by the 8th century CE,[5][6] but theSkanda Purana that has survived into the modern era exists in many versions.[7] It is considered as a living text, which has been widely edited, over many centuries, creating numerous variants.[8] The common elements in the variant editions encyclopedically covercosmogony,mythology,genealogy,dharma, festivals, gemology, temples, geography, discussion of virtues and evil, of theology and of the nature and qualities ofShiva as the Absolute and the source of true knowledge.[9]
The editions of Skandapurana text also provide an encyclopedic travel handbook with meticulousTirtha Mahatmya (pilgrimage tourist guides),[10] containing geographical locations of pilgrimage centers in India, Nepal and Tibet, with related legends, parables, hymns and stories.[11][12][13]
ThisMahāpurāṇa, like others, is attributed to the sageVyasa.
Haraprasad Shastri andCecil Bendall, in about 1898, discovered an oldpalm-leaf manuscript of Skanda Purana in aKathmandu library inNepal, written inGupta script.[14][15][16] They dated the manuscript to 8th century CE, onpaleographic grounds. This suggests that the original text existed before this time.[17] R. Adriaensen, H.Bakker, and H. Isaacson dated the oldest surviving palm-leaf manuscript of Skanda Purana to 810 CE, but Richard Mann adds that earlier versions of the text likely existed in the 8th century CE.[5][18][19] Hans Bakker states that the text specifies holy places and details about the 4th and 5th-century Citraratha ofAndhra Pradesh, and thus may have an earlier origin.[20] The oldest versions of the Skandapurana texts have been discovered in Nepal in theHimalayas, andAssam innortheastern India.[21] Thecritical editions of the text, for scholarly studies, rely on the Nepalese manuscripts.[21]
Additional texts style themselves askhandas (sections) of Skandapurana, but these came into existence after the 12th century.[21] It is unclear if their root texts did belong to the Skandapurana, and in some cases replaced the corresponding chapters of the original.[21] The version of the earliest known recension was later expanded in two later versions namely theRevakhanda andAmbikakhanda recensions. The only surviving manuscript of the Revakhanda recension is from 1682. The four surviving manuscripts of the Ambikakhhnda recension are of a later period and contains much more alterations. Judit Törzsök says a similar recension to these two recensions seems to have been known to Laskhmidhara, thus it existed before 12th century.[19]Ballala Sena quotes content found only in these two recensions, thus the version known at that time was similar to the ancient version of these two recensions.[22]
There are a number of texts and manuscripts that bear the titleSkanda Purana.[5] Some of these texts, except for the title, have little in common with the well-known Skandapurana traced to the 1st millennium CE.[21] The original text has accrued several additions, resulting in several different versions. It is, therefore, very difficult to establish an exact date of composition for the Skanda Purana.[23][7]
Stylistically, theSkanda Purana is related to theMahabharata, and it appears that its composers borrowed from theMahabharata. The two texts employ similar stock phrases and compounds that are not found in theRamayana.[5] Some of the mythology mentioned in the present version of theSkanda Purana is undoubtedly post-Gupta period, consistent with that of medievalSouth India. This indicates that several additions were made to the original text over the centuries.[17] The Kashi Khanda, for example, acquired its present form around the mid-13th century CE.[24] The latest part of the text might have been composed in as late as the 15th century CE.[23]
Tirtha: Holy Pilgrimage
The whole corpus of texts which are considered as part of theSkanda Purana is grouped in two ways. According to one tradition, these are grouped in sixsaṁhitās, each of which consists of severalkhaṇḍas. According to another tradition, these are grouped in sevenkhaṇḍas, each named after a major pilgrimage region or site. The chapters areMahatmyas, or travel guides for pilgrimage tourists.[10]
TheMaheśvara Khaṇḍa consists of 3 sections:[26][27]
TheViṣṇu Khaṇḍa orVaiṣṇava Khaṇḍa consists of nine sections:[26][27]
TheBrahma Khaṇḍa has three sections (four in some manuscripts):[26][27]
TheKāśī Khaṇḍa (100 chapters,Varanasi andVindhya Tirtha region[30]) is divided into two parts:[26][27]
TheĀvantya Khaṇḍa consists of:[26]
TheNāgara Khaṇḍa (279 chapters) consists ofTirtha-māhātmya (Hāṭakeśvara-kṣetra orVadnagar region).[26][27][33]
ThePrabhāsa Khaṇḍa (491 chapters) consists of four sections:[26][27]
The second type of division of theSkanda Purana is found in some texts likeHālasyamāhātmya of theAgastya Saṁhitā or theŚaṁkarī Saṁhitā,Sambhava Kāṇḍa of theŚaṁkarī Saṁhitā,Śivamāhātmya Khaṇḍa of theSūta Saṁhitā andKālikā Khaṇḍa of theSanatkumāra Saṁhitā. According to these texts, theSkanda Purana consists of sixsaṁhitās (sections):
The manuscripts of theSanatkumāra Saṁhitā, theŚaṁkarī Saṁhitā, theSūta Saṁhitā and theSaura Saṁhitā are extant. A manuscript of a commentary on theSūta Saṁhitā byMadhavācārya is also available.[26] These texts discuss cosmogony, theology, philosophical questions on virtues and vice, questions such as what is evil, the origin of evil, how to deal with and cure evil.[35]
The manuscripts of several other texts which claim to be part of theSkanda Purāṇa are found partially or wholly. Some of the notable regional texts amongst these are:Himavat Khaṇḍa which containsNepālamāhātmya (30 chapters,Nepal Tirtha region),Kanakādri Khaṇḍa,Bhīma Khaṇḍa,Śivarahasya Khaṇḍa,Sahyādri Khaṇḍa,Ayodhyā Khaṇḍa,Mathurā Khaṇḍa andPātāla Khaṇḍa.[26]
Kaverimahatmya presents stories and a pilgrim guide for theKaveri river (Karnataka) and Coorg Tirtha region.[14] Vivsamitrimahatmya presents mythology and a guide for theVadodara Tirtha region.[14]
The oldest known 1st-millennium palm-leaf manuscripts of this text mention many major Hindu pilgrimage sites, but do not describeKailash-Manasarovar.[16] The later versions do, particularly inManasakhanda.[16]
TheSkanda Purana, like many Puranas, include the legends of theDaksha's sacrifice, Shiva's sorrow, churning of the ocean (Samudra manthan) and the emergence ofAmrita, the story of the demonTarakasura, the birth of Goddess Parvati, her pursuit of Shiva, and her marriage to Lord Shiva, among others.
The central aim of the Skandapurana text, states Hans Bakker, is to sanctify the geography and landscape of South Asia, and legitimize the regional Shaiva communities across the land, as it existed at the time the edition was produced.[36] The text reflects the political uncertainties, the competition with Vaishnavism, and the cultural developments with thePashupata Hindus during the periods it was composed.[37]
TheSkanda Purana manuscripts have been found in Nepal, Tamil Nadu (Tamil: கந்த புராணம்) and other parts of India.[5] TheSkanda Purana is among of the oldest dated manuscripts discovered in Nepal. Apalm-leaf manuscript of the text is preserved at the National Archives of Nepal (NAK 2–229), and its digital version has been archived by Nepal-German Manuscript Preservation Project (NGMCP B 11–4). It is likely that the manuscript was copied by the scribe on Monday, March 10 811 CE, though there is some uncertainty with this date because thesamvat of this manuscript is unclear.[38]Michael Witzel dates this Nepalese manuscript to about 810 CE.[38][39] This manuscript was discovered as one in a group of seven different texts bound together. The group included fourteen manuscripts mostly Buddhist, six of which are very oldSaddharma Pundarika Sutra manuscripts, one ofUpalisutra, one Chinese Buddhist text, and oneBhattikavya Buddhist yamaka text. TheSkanda Purana found in this manuscripts collection is written in transitional Gupta script, Sanskrit.[38]
The 1910 edition included sevenkhaṇḍas (parts):Maheśvara,Viṣṇu orVaiṣṇava, Brahma,Kāśī,Āvantya,Nāgara andPrabhāsa.[26] In 1999–2003, an English translation of this text was published by theMotilal Banarsidass, New Delhi in 23 volumes. This translation is also based on a text divided into sevenkhaṇḍas.
The Skandapurāṇa, vol. I, adhyāyas 1-25, edited by Rob Adriaensen,Hans T. Bakker, and Harunaga Isaacson, 1998; vol. IIa, adhyāyas 26-31.14, ed. by Hans T. Bakker and Harunaga Isaacson, 2005; vol. IIb, adhyāyas 31-52, ed. by Hans T. Bakker, Peter C. Bisschop, and Yuko Yokochi, 2014; vol. III, adhyāyas 34.1-61, 53-69, ed. by Yuko Yokochi, 2013. Supplement to theGroningen Oriental Studies, Groningen: Egbert Forsten, and Leiden: Brill.
Certainly, different parts of Skanda Puran were added at different periods and different traditions, composed in increments over several centuries, were brought together in the present redactions. The text often betrays its chequered past, despite its contant attempts to integrate each new view. But this is its strength not weakness. The Skanda Purana is, in a real sense, a living purana, one of the few Puranas extant still extant in Sanskrit and certainly, one of the most popular.
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