This page has not been fully proofread.

Y OF CULTURE
 
JA
 
Hom
 
GOVERNMENT OF
 
ਹੈ ਉਸ ਸ਼ਕਤ
 
THE BHAGAVATA
 
BY
 
DR. V. RAGHAVAN, M.A., Ph.D.
 
S47
 
The Purana is a reinforcement
(Upabrihmana) of the teachings of the
Vedas, with arguments for God and
Dharma in the form of accounts of the
creation, the sages, and the lives of the
kings of the past. This is the real mean-
ing of the traditional definition of the
Purana as 'Panchalakshana. The supre-
macy of the Lord and Dharma is made
the more explicit purpose of the Purana
in the amplified Dasalakshana' (ten
characteristics) given by the Bhagavata
(II. 10. 1-7). The Lord, as Asraya, is
 
given as the chief of these ten features of
the Purana and along with this are
introduced as definite subjects the stories
of the incarnations which the Lord took
for the re-establishment of His Kingdom
and for the renaissance of Dharma on
earth, and Salvation (Mukti). The first
nine subjects only qualify the tenth, the
Asraya, and are intended to strengthen it.
(Dasamasya visuddhyartham navanamiha
lakshanam. II. 10. 2). In this, the Bhagavata
shifts the emphasis from Principle to