The Garuda Purana is one of Hinduism's 18 Mahpura scriptures. It is part of the Vaishnavism literature corpus, with a focus on the Hindu god Vishnu. It's written in Sanskrit, but it's also available in Gujarati and English.
It was written somewhere in the first millennium of the common era, according to Pintchman's calculations, although it was likely compiled and altered over a lengthy period of time. The original version of the text, according to Gietz et al., dates from the fourth to the eleventh centuries CE. Given that it includes chapters on Yoga and Tantra practises that emerged later, Leadbeater believes the book dates from around 900 CE. According to some historians, the text's oldest core dates from the early decades of the common period, with extra chapters added in the sixth century or later. According to Dalal, the form of Garuda Purana that has survived until the present period dates from 800 to 1000 CE, with parts added in the 2nd millennium. 850 to 1000 CE, according to Pintchman. On the other hand, Chaudhuri and Banerjee, as well as Hazra, believe it dates from the tenth or eleventh century CE. There are several variants of the text, each with a distinct number of chapters and material. Some Garuda Purana manuscripts have been referred to as Sauparna Purana (as described in Bhagavata Purana section 12.13), Tarksya Purana (as mentioned by the Persian scholar Al-Biruni who visited India), and Vainateya Purana (as mentioned in Vayu Purana sections 2.42 and 10). A book named Garudapuranasaroddhara was produced in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and Ernest Wood and SV Subrahmanyam translated it. According to Ludo Rocher, this caused a lot of misunderstanding since it was confused for Garuda Purana when it wasn't, a mistake uncovered by Albrecht Weber. Garuda-purana-saroddhara is Naunidhirama's original bhasya work, which quotes a part of the now-defunct Garuda Purana as well as other Indian scriptures. Manmatha Nath Dutt produced the first translation of one version of the Garuda Purana in the early twentieth century.
It's written in Sanskrit, but it's also available in Gujarati and English. The text's earliest form may have been written in the first millennium BCE, although it was most likely enlarged and altered throughout time. Many variants of the Garuda Purana text exist, and it comprises about 15000 verses.
The Garuda Purana is a book based on Lord Vishnu's (Shree Hari) discourse with his vahana Garuda. Garuda inquires of the Lord about the consequences of wicked actions committed by mankind on Earth. The Garuda Purana claims that the soul passes through hell or paradise before being reincarnated, among other things.
The Garuda Purana is a Vaishnava Purana with 19,000 shlokas,
according to legend (verses). However, around 8,000 poems have been preserved
in manuscripts that have survived into the contemporary age. There are two
sections: a Purva Khanda (early section) and an Uttara Khanda (late section)
(later section). The Purva Khanda includes around 229 chapters, however other
copies of the text have 240–243 chapters in this part. Between 34 and 49
chapters make up the Uttara Khanda. Pretakhanda or Pretakalpa are other names
for the Uttara Khanda.
The Agni Purana, the other great mediaeval India encyclopaedia that has survived, was most likely modelled after the Garuda Purana.The text's structure is unique in that it is a mixture rather than the theoretical framework expected in the Puranic genre of Indian literature. It is portrayed as information obtained from Vishnu by Garuda (Vishnu's man-bird chariot), which Garuda subsequently relayed to Sage Kashyapa, who then passed it on to Sage Vyasa through the fabled forest of Naimisha.
The Garuda Purana outlines 14 types of jewels, as well as how to determine their grade. Ruby, pearl, yellow sapphire, hessonite, emerald, diamond, cats eye, Blue Sapphire, coral, red garnet, jade, colourless quartz, and bloodstone are among the jewels addressed
Purva Khanda, which covers a wide range of
subjects related to life and living, takes up the majority of the book (90
percent). The last is Pretakhanda, which is largely concerned with death and
cremation rites.
The cosmos was formed by the marriage of
Vishnu and Lakshmi, according to the cosmology portrayed in the Garuda Purana.
Vishnu represents the unchanging truth of Brahman, whereas Lakshmi represents
the shifting reality of Maya. [19] The goddess is the universe's material
cause, whereas the god initiates the process.
Like other Puranas, the Garuda Purana
weaves the Samkhya theory of two realities, the Purusha (spirit) and Prakriti
(matter), the masculine and feminine depicted as interdependent, each playing a
separate but vital part in the creation of the observable cosmos. Goddess
Lakshmi is the wellspring of creation and the creative power of
Prakriti.Purusha's essence, the soul, and the constant is God Vishnu. According
to Pintchman, the Garuda Purana presents the masculine and feminine as
inseparable aspects of the same holy, metaphysical reality Brahman.
According to Madan, the Garuda Purana
elaborates the Hindu religious idea that the living body is a microcosm of the
cosmos, ruled by the same rules and composed of the same components. All of the
gods reside within the human body, and everything that exists outside of it
exists within it as well. In this topic, the body and the universe are equated,
according to Madan. The scripture portrays Vishnu as the ultimate soul within
the body.
Worship of Vishnu, Lakshmi, Shiva, Surya,
Ganesha, Durga and others
Vishnu, Vaishnava festivals, and Puja
(worship) are described in the literature, as well as Mahatmya, a pilgrimage
tour guide to Vishnu-related sacred sites. The Panchayatana puja of Vishnu,
Shiva, Durga, Surya (Sun), and Ganesha is one of the most important portions of
the Garuda Purana, which honours Shaiva, Shakti, and Smarta traditions.
A temple's characteristics
In Purvakhanda chapter 47, the Garuda
Purana presents an 8x8 (64) grid Hindu Temple Floor Plan.
Chapters about temple construction and
design may be found in the Garuda Purana. It suggests dividing a parcel of land
into 64 squares, with the four innermost squares creating the Chatuskon
(adytum). According to the scripture, the temple's centre should be accessible
by 12 gates, and the temple's walls should be elevated to touch 48 of the
squares. The temple plinth's height should be determined by the platform's
length, and the vault in the inner sanctuary should be coextensive with the
adytum's length, with indents set at a third and fifth ratio of the inner vault's
chord.The arc should be half the height of the pinnacle, and the text lists
different ratios for the temple's outside to the adytum, those within the
adytum, and finally the floor plan to the Vimana (spire). The Garuda Purana's
second design detail is for a 16 square grid with four inner squares (pada) for
the adytum. Following that, the book discusses the different temple design
ratios. The book recommends that the carvings and pictures on the walls,
edifices, pillars, and murti have specific harmonious proportions of the layout
(pada length), the adytum, and the spire.
The book claims that temples exist in a
variety of thematic forms. The Bairaja (rectangle themed), Puspakaksa
(quadrilateral themed), Kailasha (circular themed), Malikahvaya (spherical segments
themed), and the Tripistapam are among them (octagon themed). According to
Garuda Purana, these five motifs have resulted in 45 various temple designs,
ranging from Meru to Shrivatsa. Each theme of temple building allows for nine
different temple styles, and the Purana mentions all 45 of them. In these many
kinds of temples, the interior building of a temple is finest in five shapes,
and the structure can be triangular, lotus-shaped, crescent, rectangular, and
octagonal, states the text.The Mandapa and GarbhaGriha design criteria are then
described in the book.
According to Jonathan Parry, the temple
design is based on the Hindu belief that the universe and body are in harmonic
correspondence with one another, and the temple serves as a model and reminder
of this cosmic homology.
The Garuda Purana outlines 14 types of
jewels, as well as how to determine their grade. Ruby, pearl, yellow sapphire,
hessonite, emerald, diamond, cats eye, Blue Sapphire, coral, red garnet, jade,
colourless quartz, and bloodstone are among the jewels addressed. The text's
scientific examination of jewels is intertwined with beliefs about each gem's
mythological genesis, astrological significance, and talisman advantages.
The text goes through the qualities of the
gems, how to clean them, and how to manufacture jewellery out of them, as well
as the need of consulting a gem specialist before purchasing them. It explains
cleaning and softening pearls using Jamvera fruit juice (which includes lime)
combined with cooked rice starch, then piercing them to form holes for
jewellery. According to the book, the best results are obtained by using a
sequential Vitanapatti technique of washing, in which the pearls are washed
with hot water, wine, and milk. The inscription claims that a pearl should be
inspected using the friction test it provides. For emerald, jade, diamonds, and
all 14 stones included in the text, similar processes and testing are
explained.
The sage Yajnavalkya's philosophy on laws
of virtue is presented in Chapter 93 of the Garuda Purvakhanda. The text claims
that knowledge is condensed in the Vedas, texts from various schools of
philosophy such as Nyaya and Mimamsa, the Shastras on Dharma, making money, and
temporal sciences written by 14 holy sages, and the Shastras on Dharma, making
money, and temporal sciences written by 14 holy sages. The book then offers its
laws of virtue through Yajnavalkya. The first is charity (Dna), which it
describes as follows: A gift, given at the appropriate time and place to a
deserving person in a real attitude of compassionate sympathy, bears the merit
of all kinds of pious actions.
— Garuda Purana, Chapter 93
Right behaviour, damah (self-restraint),
ahimsa (non-killing, non-violence in acts, words, and ideas), learning the
Vedas, and completing rites of passage are all discussed in the book. The book
provides a variety of dietary and rites of passage regulations based on a
person's varna (social status). For example, a Brahmin is urged to abstain from
slaughtering animals and consuming meat, as well as to perform Upanayana (holy
thread ritual) at a young age. Shudra has no dietary restrictions, and the
thread ceremony is not mentioned.Right behaviour, damah (self-restraint),
ahimsa (non-killing, non-violence in acts, words, and ideas), learning the
Vedas, and completing rites of passage are all discussed in the book. The book
provides a variety of dietary and rites of passage regulations based on a
person's varna (social status). For example, a Brahmin is urged to abstain from
slaughtering animals and consuming meat, as well as to perform Upanayana (holy
thread ritual) at a young age. Shudra has no dietary restrictions, and the
thread ceremony is not mentioned.
Garuda Purana's views on Nityaachaar (,
ethics and ethical behaviour) towards others are presented in chapter 108 and
subsequent chapters.
— Garuda Purana, Chapter 109: "Leave
the place where you can find neither companions nor pleasures, nor where there
is any wisdom to be acquired."
Save money for emergencies, but be
prepared to give up all to save your wife, says Garuda Purana. It is wise to
give one's life to save a family, and it is wise to give one's life to rescue a
town. If you have to choose between saving a country and saving a hamlet,
rescue the country. In the verses that follow, however, it is said that a man
should abandon that country whose citizens promote bigotry.The passage warns
against using knowledge that is tethered to cruelty, pursuing physical beauty
without ennobling the intellect, and making friends with individuals who
forsake their loved ones in times of difficulty. The pursuit of one's own
self-interest is in the essence of all living organisms. However, do not amass
money by deception or by bending down to your adversaries.
Men of distinction live within their
means, are faithful to their wives, engage in intellectual activities, and are
welcoming to newcomers. When one marries one's knowledge with noble character,
the rewards are eternal, and the relationship engendered by soul connection is
profound. Ethics is discussed in a few different chapters.
The NeetiShaastra portion of the Garuda
Purana deals with governance, and this section impacted later Indian literature
on politics and economics.
From chapter 111 onwards, the Purvakhanda
outlines the qualities of a good monarch and excellent administration. The
monarch should be guided by Dharma, the government should be founded on truth
and fairness, and he must defend the kingdom against foreign invaders. Taxation
should be reasonable, never putting merchants or taxpayers out of business, and
modelled after the florist's method of harvesting a few flowers without
uprooting the plants and preserving future crops. A good government promotes
peace and prosperity for everyone.A stable monarch is one who has a wealthy
kingdom, a large treasury, and never punishes his ministers or employees.
According to Chapter 113, he obtains services from the competent, honest, and
virtuous, while rejecting the incapable, evil, and malevolent. A good
government collects taxes in the same way as a bee collects honey from all the
flowers when it's ripe, without depleting any of them.
The Dhanvantari Samhita, the Garuda
Purana's book on medicine, is presented in chapters 146 to 218 of the
Purvakhanda of the Garuda Purana. The first lines declare that the text will
now discuss pathology, pathogeny, and symptoms of all diseases investigated by
ancient sages, including their origins, incubative stage, complete
manifestation, amelioration, location, diagnosis, and therapy.
According to Ludo Rocher, parts of Garuda
Purana's pathology and medicine-related chapters are comparable to Nidanasthana
of Vagbhata'sAstangahridaya, and the two manuscript recensions might represent
distinct manuscript recensions of the same underlying but now lost
book.According to Susmita Pande, some chapters in Garuda Purana, such as those
on nutrition and illness prevention, are comparable to those found in the more
ancient Hindu book Sushruta Samhita.
Various lists of illnesses, agricultural
products, plants, formulations with claims to therapeutic efficacy, and other
information are included in the book. Sanskrit names of approximately 450
plants and herbs are mentioned with claims of nutritional or therapeutic
benefit in chapters 202 and 227 of the Purvakhanda, for example.
Veterinary illnesses of horses and their
treatment are discussed in Chapter 226 of the book. The verses include a
variety of ulcers and skin diseases in horses, as well as 42 herbal
preparations for veterinary therapy.
Yoga, Brahma Gita
The Brahma Gita refers to the last 10 chapters of the Purvakhanda,
which are dedicated to Yoga. The Hindu god Dattatreya is mentioned as the Guru
of Ashtang (eight-limbed) Yoga in this section.
The book goes on to explain a number of Asanas (postures), but
emphasises that the postures are only a means to an end. Meditation, samadhi,
and self-knowledge are the goals of yoga.
According to Ian Whicher, the Garuda Purana suggests employing saguna Vishnu (with the shape of a murti) in the early stages of Yoga meditation to aid focus and pull in one's attention with the help of the object's coarse form.With the aid of a guru, the meditation should transcend from saguna to nirguna, to the subtle, abstract formless Vishnu inside, according to the scripture (teacher). The Garuda Purana's teachings were significant, and other writings acknowledged them, such as stanza 3.3 of the 17th-century Arthabodhini.
Puja Prakashan
228 pages
GITA PRESS, GORAKHPUR2016
PAGES: 618
The Garuda Purana describes a 8x8 (64) grid Hindu Temple Floor Plan in chapter 47 of Purvakhanda.
Width. 4 mm. Height. 229 mm. Length. 152 mm. Weight. 122 gr
Hindi, Sanskrit
Garuda Purana, authored by B. K. Chaturvedi, is a book that details many unknown and uncommon concepts of the Garuda Purana. Garuda Purana is a Vaishnava Purana and is one of the 18 puranas of the texts called Smriti.
Puja Prakashan
GITA PRESS, GORAKHPUR2016
Composed in Sanskrit and also available
in various languages like Gujarati and English. The earliest version of the
text may have been composed in the first millennium BCE, but
it was likely expanded and changed over a long period of time. The Garuda
Purana text is known in many versions, contains 15000+ verses.