Sahyadrikhanda
Sahyādri-khaṇḍa is a
The text glorifies the
History
The Sahyadri-khanda existed by the 13th century, as
German academic
The text characterizes the
Madhav's Sata-prashna-kalpa-lata (1577 CE), which is sympathetic to the Karhades, characterizes the Sahyadri-khanda as a fabricated Puranic text.[8] Raghoba Mahadevrao, a famous Chitpavan performer, recited stories from the Sahyadri-khanda, as recorded by Arthur Crawford, who served as an assistant magistrate in Konkan during 1859-1862. Raghoba dismissed the text's founding myth of Chitpavans as a "malicious invention" by Shenvi slanderers, and narrated another founding myth glorifying the Chitpavans.[9]
The debates over the text's authenticity continued after
Content
The Sahyadri-khanda narrates stories that are variations of legends from the
The original core of the text, comprising 30 chapters, contains stories about Brahmin village settlements that have suffered because their residents engaged in sexual misconduct, degrading work, or neglect of rituals.[7]
The second part, composed in the later centuries and narrated as a conversation between
Next, the text narrates the
- Parshurama brought Sarasvatas from
- Chita-pavana Brahmins were originally fishermen of Kaivartaki jāti. Parashurama met them at a cremation ground, and gave them Brahmin status by purifying (pavana) them on the funeral pyre (chita). He made them wise and fair-skinned with light-colored eyes, but gradually, they became arrogant. As a result Parashurama cursed them, condemning them to poverty, jealousy, servitude to kings, and disgrace for taking money for their daughters' marriages.[15]
- Karhades are fallen Brahmins from the polluted land of Karashtra, and made offerings to the wicked goddess Matrika. The text derives their name from the word Karashtra ("evil land"), as well as the words "donkey-bones" (khara-ashti), stating that they originated when some semen spilled on a heap of donkey bones.[16]
The text goes on to describe the smaller Brahmin communities of south-western India, including their customs and history. While the text attempts to express a cohesive Brahmin identity, such stories express the social tensions among the Brahmin communities.[17]
A
Critical edition
- A copy from Svami Bhuvanendra-tirtha, a Vaishnava leader from Cochin, containing 90 chapters
- A copy from Raghunatha Sharma of Junnar containing 100 chapters
- Manuscript zz-b-14 from the catalogue of the Bombaybranch; contains 120 chapters divided into two parts containing 88 and 32 chapters
- Another copy from the Royal Asiatic Society, Bombay branch; apparently written by a Gujarati Brahmin; it is an incomplete manuscript with one section
- A copy from Kote, Karnataka; contains 111 chapters, with several lacunae
- A copy from Siddapura, Karnataka; it contains one, undivided section
- A copy from Chempi, Karnataka; missing several chapters in the middle
- A copy from Goa, dated 1770 CE; contains 108 chapters, divided into two sections
- A copy from Varanasi containing 100 chapters
- Five manuscripts from several men of Bombay, one in Kannada script, the other four in Devanagari: these have few differences, but seem to be the result of repeated copying from a single source, with errors introduced in each version
Cunha notes that there are several differences between these copies, which are results of incorrect copying as well as deliberate interpolations.[21]
Chapters
Nagendra Rao notes that there are several variations of the text, and provides the following English-language names of the chapters, based on Cunha's edition:[22]
- The origin of Chitpāvana Brāhmaṇas
- The origin of Karhāḍa Brāhmaṇas
- The Glory of Gomañcalakṣetra
- The origin of different groups of Brāhmaṇas of Dakṣiṇa
- The consideration of Brāhmaṇas
- In the praise of land grants
- Demarcation of the villages
- The praise composed by Bhārgava
- Demarcation of inferior villages
- Title not given-related to thirty-two villages
- Story of fallen villages
- Three chapters related to demarcation of fallen villages
- Title not specified-related to the river Sitā
- The story of Mithunāhara Brāhmaṇas
- The story of fallen village
- The fallen village
- The glory of the Kṣetra
- The glory of Mahālingeśa
References
- ^ Nagendra Rao 1999, p. 88.
- ^ a b Alexander Henn 2014, p. 87.
- OCLC 7037412.
But it is very well known that the Sahyadri Khanda is of recent date and an interpolation and as such has little historical importance.
- ^ a b Rosalind O'Hanlon 2013, pp. 104–105.
- ^ a b Rosalind O'Hanlon 2013, pp. 106–109.
- ^ Rosalind O'Hanlon 2013, pp. 118–123.
- ^ a b c d Rosalind O'Hanlon 2013, p. 103.
- ^ Rosalind O'Hanlon 2013, p. 114.
- ^ Rosalind O'Hanlon 2013, pp. 118–119.
- ^ Rosalind O'Hanlon 2013, pp. 121–123.
- ^ Rosalind O'Hanlon 2013, pp. 123–124.
- ^ Rosalind O'Hanlon 2013, pp. 103–104.
- ^ Rosalind O'Hanlon 2013, p. 104.
- ^ Rosalind O'Hanlon 2013, pp. 104–106.
- ^ a b Rosalind O'Hanlon 2013, p. 105.
- ^ Rosalind O'Hanlon 2013, pp. 105–106.
- ^ Rosalind O'Hanlon 2013, p. 106.
- ^ Nagendra Rao 2005, p. 149.
- ^ Nagendra Rao 1999, p. 87.
- ^ J. Gerson da Cunha 1877, pp. 1–2.
- ^ J. Gerson da Cunha 1877, p. 2.
- ^ Nagendra Rao 2005, p. 152.
Bibliography
- Alexander Henn (2014). Hindu-Catholic Encounters in Goa. Indiana University Press. ISBN 978-0-253-01300-2.
- J. Gerson da Cunha (1877). Sahyadri-Khanda. Thacker, Viring & Co.
- Nagendra Rao (2005). "The Sahyādri Khaṇḍa". Brahmanas of South India. ISBN 8178353008.
- Nagendra Rao (1999). "Reconstructing the Social History of South Kanara: A Study of the Sahyadri Khanda". Indica. 36. Heras Institute of Indian History and Culture, St. Xavier's College.
- Rosalind O'Hanlon (2013). "Performance in a World of Paper: Puranic Histories and Social communication in Early Modern India". Past and Present. Oxford University Press / The Past and Present Society: 87–126. JSTOR 24543602.