The Brahmananda Purana is an important scripture in Hinduism. It is divided into 3 sections, which are “purva” or initial, “madhyam” or middle and “uttara” or final.
The Brahmananda Purana begins with the sacrifice at Kurukshetra. At the sacrifice the assembled sages ask Lomaharshana to narrate the Brahmananda Purana. Lomaharshana, the disciple of Veda Vyasa, was a “suta”, that is he was born to a Kshatriya father and a Brahmin mother. Sutas were professional storytellers. Lomaharshana told the assembled sages that the Brahmananda Purana has its genesis in the earlier famous yagna at Naimisharanya. At that yagna, Vayu Deva, the Wind demi-God addressed the sages and his words of wisdom were recorded as the Brahmananda Purana. Lomaharshana then told the sages the story of King Pururava.
Pururava
The above-mentioned yagna at Naimisharanya was a grand affair. The base of the ceremonial structure was fashioned in gold by Viswakarma, the architect of the Devas. Since Pururava was the then ruling monarch, he was invited to the yagna. He saw the golden ceremonial structure and wanted to take it away by force. The sages intervened and a scuffle ensued. The sages slew Pururava with a club. Immediately they anointed his son Ayu as king and carried on with the sacrifice.
This is a short narrative but it is important for the reason that it differs from the commonly known version of the story of Pururava. In the contemporary version Pururava had a long life with the apsara Urvashi as his wife. This was popularized by Kalidas. Kalidas was a court poet and it was inconceivable that he portrayed a king in poor light. This version also does not tally with the narrative recounted in the Mahabharata and the Bhagavata Purana, in which though Pururava is not a valiant king, he is not killed. He performs some rituals and becomes a Gandharva so that he can be with Urvashi. However this version is consistent with some of the earlier texts of the Vedic age.
Bharatvarsha
The Brahmananda Purana provides a graphic description of Bharatvarsha, the region in which Hinduism flourished. King Priyavrata had divided the earth into seven islands of which Jambudvipa was one. Jambudvipa was divided into nine regions of which Bharatvarsha was one. Bharatvarsha was bounded on the north by the Himalayan mountain ranges and on the other three sides by the oceans.
The Brahmananda Purana names many geographical features, which we today know by other names. The Mahendra mountain range is the modern Eastern Ghats, the Malay hills are the Sahyadri of today and Paripatra are the present Aravali hills. The names of some of the rivers mentioned in the Brahmananda Purana bear resemblance to their present names, such as four of the rivers of Punjab – Satadru (Sutlej), Chandrabhag (Chenab), Iravati (Ravi) and Vipasa (Beas).
The ancient kingdoms that find reference in the Brahmananda Puranas will be familiar to readers of the epics and also to those having basic knowledge of Indian History. From the Mahabharata there is Panchala in present Uttar Pradesh, which was the home of Draupadi’s father and Madra between the rivers Jhelum and Ravi was the home of Madri’s father. The areas mentioned in the Ramayana include Kaikeya lying between Beas and Sutlej, which was the home of Kaikeyi’s father and Videha in present day Bihar, which was the kingdom of Sita’s father. Some areas of historical importance are Magadha in Bihar, which was the center of the Mauryan Empire and the neighboring Kalinga, now known as Orissa, which was ravaged by the Mauryan King Ashok.
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