Discussion about Missing chapters of Brahmand Puran and/or Lalitopakhyana

[Guest guest]

It would be really great if the learned members of the group can

throw some light on these.

 

Thanks.

 

Raja Akella:

Still I have some queries regarding the same Upakhyana. I heard that

the Lalitha Sahasranama is a part of this Uttara Khanda. But the

Brahmanda purana I got has the Lalitopakhyana as outlined by you as

the end. So where are the other khandas like the Nyasa khanda, puja

khanda, etc with the Sahasranamas of Syamala and Dandanaatha, Lalitha

and Trisati located. Also where are the chapters describing the

torture of asuras bhanda, etc and Devi Sati's saga. Are these in

Brahmanda purana or somewhere else...

 

Harsha Ramamurthy:

 

I myself have been having great curiosity regarding the Khandas that

you have mentioned. Though I have seen about ten different versions

of Lalitopakhyana and Brahmanda Purana, none of them have these

Khandas. So, this generates a doubt whether these Khandas existed and

if they did, are they lost? I have thought of a few points to support

both these claims:

 

1. Hayagriva mentions these in the Sahasranama Purva Pithika.

 

2. Trishati is accepted to be a part of Brahmanda Purana by Adi

Shankara.

 

3. One of the Chapters mentions Diksha Vidhi in the currently

available version of Lalitopakhyana. Probably, this indeed is the

Diksha Khanda and the rest of the chapters have been lost now! Nyasa

details are also mentioned in this chapter.

 

4. There are two beautiful Lalita Ashtottarashatanama Stotras

available currently, which are said to be from Stotra Khanda of

Brahmandapurana. One starts with the name Bhurupasakalaadhaara and

the other has all names starting with the word 'Shiva'. So, there

probably is indeed a Stotra Khanda in Lalitopakhyana.

 

Also, there are some points that may be cited to prove otherwise:

 

1. No other authority has ever quoted Dandini and Mantrini

Sahasranamas in other works, at least not the ones said to be from

Brahmanda Purana. Many use Matangi Sahasranamas from different

Tantras but this not appropriately Mantrini Sahasranama. Saubhagya

Lakshmi Kalpa has the Shyamala/Mantrini Sahasranama. It may also be

noted that the famous Stotra Sri Lalita Panchashati is also a part of

this Mantra Shastra Grantha. Varahi Sahasranama is found in

Rudrayamala.

 

2. Commenting on the Shloka 'Stotrakhande bahu vidhAH stutayaH

parikiirtitAH', Sri Bhaskararaya mentions that there are many stotras

like Panchami Stavaraja etc. It may be noted that this Stotra is a

part of Rudrayamala and not Brahmanda Purana. So, Hayagriva Bhagavan

may be referring to Stotras from various scriptures in a generic way

as belonging to Stotra Khanda, meaning 'Srividya Stotra Khanda'.

There may not really be any Stotra Khanda in Brahmanda Purana

exclusively.

 

Raja Akella:

 

One more thing I would like to mention is in the Brahmand puran

versions I have seen the divisions are in the form of Bhags--- Purv,

madhyam and uttar bhags. And We are talking about "Uttar Khand" I am

not sure whether both are same. But I remeber Hayagriva saying in one

of the last chapters of Lalitopakhyan ( one of --Mudra Virachna, Devi

Diksha or Devi Darshan) that he mentions the part of Nyasas in

another Khanda. ( Khandantarena keertitam.....).

 

So my guess is that there is another khanda that might be missing

which has Nyasa khanda, pooja khanda, homa khanda, rahasya khanda and

stotra khandas. There are some Nyasa, pooja descriptions in

Lalitopakhyana in the last chapters of Mantra raja sadhana prakarah,

mudra virachna, devi diksha and devi darshan. I am also not sure

whether these are the same. I would have to read them again to find

out if they have Antaryaga, Bahiryaga and Mahayaga kramas. Japa

Lakshanas which Hayagriva mentions as Purascharana Khanda.

 

Also I have a question - Is there any thing called the Lalitha Tantra

like Durga Tantra and Bala Tantra. This might give us a clue. 'coz I

remember reading somewhere about this whole episode as the Tantra of

Lalitha.

 

So if we are missing all these how only the Sahasranama and the

Trisati have survived. Are they kept secret or missing?

 

The claim that this whole part is missing can be supported by:

 

1. Sloka "khandantarena keertitam ..." from the last chapters of

Lalitopakhyana. (I will give the sloka later)

 

2. Contents of nyasa khanda, pooja khanda, homa khanda, rahasya

khanda, stotra khanda missing and also there is no clear mention of

these in LAlitopakhyana.

 

3. We read Lalita Sahasranama as " Brahmanda purane Uttara khande Sri

Hayagriva Agastya samvade Lalita Rahasya nama Sahasra Stotra kathanam

nama Dvitiyodhyahah" The first being the purva pithika and the third,

uttar pithika. So this means that this is an entirely new khanda or

chapter in Brahmand puran.

 

4. The talk by Suta muni is in purva pithika as one sloka : "Suta

uvacha". The whole Lalitopakhyana is a dialogue between Hayagriva and

Agastya. Suta narrated this dialogue to Naimisharanya rishis.

 

I am yet to read the Chapters of Brahmand puran which describe its

contents. Also I am yet to read the vyakhyas of Bhaskaracharya and

Kalyana Srikala to find out if there is any mention.

 

My search is still in progress. I will post you with any more

findings. Please pardon me and correct me if I make any errors due to

my limited knowledge of sanskrit and if I repeat things already

quoted by you.

 

I have a strong feeling that elderly gurus will definitely have a

clue in this regard. The source from where the Lalitha Sahasranam is

extracted.

 

Harsha Ramamurthy:

 

I have a copy of Lalita Tantra, one of the Ashwakranta list of 64

Tantras. This does have lots of mantras, nyasas and Diksha details,

like in any other Kadi mata tantra, but does not have any Stotra

Khanda.