Abstract:

This paper investigates the extent and significance of a genealogical component within all the narratives dealing with the five famous characteristic topics (pañcalakṣaṇa) of the Purāṇas: creation, re-creation, lineage, periods of Manu, and the histories of dynasties. Whilst there is some evidence of a concern with genealogy in the narratives of creation and re-creation, lineage as both subject and framing device is far more in evidence in the other three, as these deal with a distinctive ‘social and political history’ of Jambudvīpa portrayed in a mythological mode. Two lineage narratives from the Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa are studied, and on the basis of these it is shown that there is a much greater concern with resolving breaks in the lineage and dealing with new infusions into a lineage than with giving a simple account of lineal succession. Such a concern may reflect a realistic assessment by the Purāṇic composers of the complex socio-political situation they actually confronted and the attempts they had to make in order to validate (and translate) this in terms of Brahmanical social theory. Finally, a similar example of lineage problems and class mobility is illustrated from a near contemporary Jātipurāṇa from Maharashtra.

Author: Greg Bailey