Our Present Agni-Purana

This paper analyses the present version of the Agni Purana and argues that it differs significantly from the Agni Purana described in the Matsya and Skanda Puranas. The earlier Puranas state that the work narrated incidents of the Idina Kalpa and was spoken by Agni to Vasistha, but in the current text Agni speaks to Vasistha without any mention of the Idina Kalpa; instead, the Varaha Kalpa is discussed. The author notes that verses quoted in Smriti treatises identify Vasistha and King Ambarisa as interlocutors and that several passages in the present text contain vocative forms like ‘rajan’ and ‘nrpa’, indicating that a king was originally addressed. These differences suggest that the extant Agni Purana is not the same as the original. The paper provides further evidence by comparing passages cited in the Tirtha‑cintamani and other Nibandhas with chapters of the present Agni Purana, finding that many verses are retained but the narrative framework has been altered to remove the interlocution between Vasistha and King Ambarisa. The author argues that the current text is a later recast which retained fragments of the older Purana and incorporated interpolated chapters. He identifies chapters 21‑108, 263‑272 and 317‑328 as probable later additions. The paper also discusses the classification of knowledge in chapter 1 of the Agni Purana, which divides vidya into para and apara branches but omits the Pancharatra Samhitas, an omission explained by the text’s later compilation. Overall, the study concludes that scholars should treat the present Agni Purana as an apocryphal work that underwent significant redaction.

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