Property
If there are no witnesses to a contracted debt but the king feels that the debt was indeed contracted, the king must arrange for the debt to be repaid within a period of sixty-four days. In cases of a dispute, the person who brings a false suit will be punished by the king. And a false witness will be given twice the punishment that is meted out to the one who brings a false suit. A brahmana who bears false witness will be banished from the kingdom. A person who agrees to be a witness, but later withdraws, will be punished eight times as much as the bringer of the false suit. A brahmana who does this will be banished from the kingdom.
It is better that the details of a debt contracted be written down, with the names of the two parties and the witnesses clearly indicated. If the debtor pays in instalments, the details of all such payments must be recorded on the written document. Debts made in the presence of witnesses . If a witness has to take an oath, the oath should be administered after cotton, fire, water or poison has been placed on the head of the witness.
Fire or water can be used to find out if a person is lying or not. If fire is used, seven banyan leaves are placed on the accused’s hand. A red hot lump of iron is then placed on the hand and the accused has to go around a fire seven times. If it is found that the hand has not been burnt, the person has been telling the truth. And if the hand has been burnt, he has been lying. Similarly, an accused person can be immersed in the water and if he does not drown, he has been telling the truth. Aternatively,the accused can be made to drink poison. If the poison does him no harm, he is truthful.
If the father makes a will, the property will be divided amongst the sons in accordance with the provisions of the will. But if all the sons get an equal share of the property, the wife should also be given an equal share. Otherwise, the father can leave all his property to the eldest son. The sons and the father obtain equal shares to any property or debt that has been left by the grandfather. But the sons are not necessarily entitled to any property that has not been left by the grandfather, but been earned by father. If a son is born after the property has been divided, he too will be entitled to an equal share of any property left by the grandfather. Daughters are not entitled to property. But sons who have married will use one-fourth of their inherited property to get their sisters married.
Donating the Puranas
The Agni Purana now describes the benefits of giving alms along with the Puranas. The Puranas are to be donated together with cows. And in talking of the mahapurans, the Agni Purana also mentions most of their lengths, in terms of the number of sholokas (couplets) that each has. This is worth stating.
The Brahma Purana¾ twenty-five thousand
The Padma Purana¾ twelve thousand
The Vishnu Purana¾ thirteen thousand
The Vayu Purana¾ fourteen thousand
The Bhagavata Purana¾ eighteen thousand
The Narada Purana¾ twenty-five thousand
The Markandeya Purana¾ nine thousand
The Agni Purana¾ twelve thousand
The Brahmavaivarta Purana¾ eighteen thousand
The Linga Purana¾ eleven thousand
The Varaha Purana¾ fourteen thousand
The Skanda Purana¾ eighty-four thousand
The Vamana Purana¾ ten thousand
The Kurma Purana¾ eight thousand
The Matsya Purana¾ thirteen thousand
The Garuda Purana¾ eight thousand
The Brahmanda Purana¾ twelve thousand
The only mahapurana which is missing from the above list is the Bhavishya Purana. You now have a pretty good idea of how long the Puranas are. The Skanda Purana is the longest and the Kurma and Garuda Puranas the shortest. But unfortunately, the numbers in the Agni Purana are not terribly accurate. The Padma Purana has fifty-five thousands couplets and not twelve thousand as stated. The Varaha Purana has twenty-four thousand couplets and not fourteen thousand. The Agni Purana itself has slightly over fifteen thousand couplets and not twelve thousand. But at least you have some approximate idea about the lengths of the various Puranas.
The Brahma Purana is to be given in the month of Vaishakha. The Padma Purana is to be donated in the month of Jyaishtha. The Vishnu Purana is to be donated in the month of Ashada and the Vayu Purana in the month of Shravana. The Bhagavata Purana is to be given in the month of Bhadra, the Narada Purana in the month of Ashvina, the Markandeya Purana in the month of Kartika, the Agni Purana in the month of Margashirsha and the Bhavishya Purana in the month of Pousha. The Brahmavaivarta Purana is for the month of Magha, the Linga Purana for the month of Falguna and the Varaha Purana for the month of Chaitra.
The Skanda Purna is to be given to brahmans. The Vamana Purana is to be given in the autumn. The Kurma Purana is to be given together with a golden urn. The Matsya Purana is to be donated together with a golden swan. The Brahmanada Purana is to be given to brahmanas.
Great benefits are also to be derived from hearing the Puranas recited. The reciter has to be given alms and the brahmanas must be given cows, rice and land at the time of the recitation. If one arranges for a recitation of the Puranas, one lives long, stays healthy and attains heaven.
Dynasties
Brahma was born from Vishnu’s navel. Brahma’s son was Marichi, Marichi’s son Kashyapa and Kashyapa’s son Vivasvana. From this line was descended Pururava and Pururava’s descendants were the kings of the surya (solar) dynasty.
Brahma also had a son named Atri and Atri had a son named Soma. Soma performed a rajasuya yajna (royal sacrifice). Having performed the sacrifice, Soma became the ruler of all the worlds. This made him very arrogant and he abducted the sage Brihaspati’s wife Tara. This led to a terrible war between devas and the asuras. Tara was eventually to restored to Brihaspati, but Soma and Tara had a son named Budha. From Budha were descended the kings of the chandra (lunar) dynasty.
There were twelve major wars between the devas and the asuras. The first of these was known as the Narasimha War. This took place when Hiranyakashipu was the king of the asuras. Vishnu adopted the form of Narashimha and killed Hiranyakashipu. He then made Prahlada the king of the demons. The second war was the Vamana War and it took place when Vali was the king of the demons. Vishnu adopted the form of a dwarf (vamana) to subjugate the demons. The third war was the Varaha War and this took place when Hiranyaksha was the king of the demons. Vishnu adopted the form of a wild boar (varaha) and killed Hiranyaksha. The fourth war was the Amritamanthana War and this took place over the manthana (churning ) of the ocean for amrita (nectar).
The fifth war between the devas and the asuras took place over the abduction of Tara and this came to be known as the Tarakamaya War. The sixth war was known as the Ajivaka War. The seventh war took place when Tripura led the asuras and this was known as the Tripuraghatana War. It was Shiva who killed the demon Tripura in this war. The eighth war, the Andhaka War, took place when Andhaka led the asuras. It was Vishnu who engineered that Andhaka be killed when Andhaka expressed a desire to abduct Shiva’s wife.
The ninth war was known as Vritrasambhara and took place when Vritra led the demons. The tenth war was simply known as Jita. In this war, Vishnu killed Shalva and the other demons, and Parashurama killed the evil kshatriyas. The eleventh war was known as Halahala. An asura named Halahala (poison) had invaded Shiva’s body and flooded it with poison. But Vishnu managed to destroy the demon. In the twelfth war, known as Kolahala, Vishnu destroyed an asura named Kolahala (tumult).
Medicine
Dhanvantari was the physician of the gods and he taught Sushruta the art of ayurveda (medicine). The Agni Purana now describes what the sage Sushruta had learnt, that is, the treatment for various diseases. This does not simply mean the treatment of human illnesses. There is a section known as viksha ayurveda, which describes what tree are to be planted where. It describes how a garden is to be constructed and maintained.
The chapters on medicine also describe the treatment of elephants, horses and cattle. The mantras (incantations) which are the remedy for snake poison are also related.
