The Puranas have no historical account since there is no archaeological or other evidence to prove the existence of the Ten Avataras or other stories in the Puranas. There is one school of thought that the Puranas were written to espouse Hindu religious values since at that time other religions such as Buddhism, Jainism and later Islam were trying to convert Hindus. To prevent this, the Bhakti Movement started and along with devotional songs, Puranas and bhashyas to Vedantic philosophies were written to bring new energy to Hindu concepts and prevent people from conversion and the influence of other religions. Is this understanding of the Puranic Age and its significance in protecting and preserving Hinduism correct?

Spiritual truths cannot be established through empirical attempts by exercising mundane logic. These cannot be substantiated by material archaeological evidence because these fall outside the purview of time and space due to their transcendental nature.

Under the circumstances, the testimony has to be obtained from the scriptures themselves. In this connection, the Brihadarnyaka Upanishad (2.4.10) reveals the fact as follows:

…evam va are asya mahato bhutasya nih-shvasitam etad yad rig veda yajur veda sama vedo atharvangirasa itihasa puranam…

“…in the same way, dear one, Rig Veda, Yajur Veda, Sama Veda, Atharvangirasa, Itihasas and Puranas have been breathed forth from that Great Being.”

Further, the Shiva Purana has this to say in this connection:

“The Lord Vyasa divided the Vedas into four sections and thus he is known as Veda Vyasa or one who divides the Vedas. He also condensed the Puranas into 400,000 verses from its original form of millions of verses found in the heavens.”

Thus, the Vedas, the Vedanta, the Eighteen Puranas which include the Shrimad Bhagavatam and the Itihasas are actually timeless classic literature of the Hindus of India. They were first put into writing about 5,000 years ago by Shrila Krishna Dwaipayana Vyasa who is the literary incarnation of God. Originally, these were presented through oral tradition and hence are popularly known as Shruti.

Shrila Vyasadeva wrote these transcendental literatures sitting in his ashrama (hermitage) in the Himalayan region known as Badarikashrama on the bank of the Sarasvati River. This fact is borne out by the following (1.4.15, 20 to 23) verses of the Shrimad Bhagavatam:

“Once upon a time he (Vyasadeva), as the sun rose, took his morning ablution in the waters of the Sarasvati and sat alone to concentrate.” (1.4.15)

“The four divisions of the original sources of knowledge (the Vedas) were made separately. But the historical facts and authentic stories mentioned in the Puranas are called the fifth Veda.” (1.4.20)

“After the Vedas were divided into four divisions, Paila Rishi became the professor of the Rig Veda, Jaimini, the professor of the Sama Veda, and Vaishampayana alone became glorified by the Yajur Veda.” (1.4.21)

“The Sumantu Muni Angira, who was very devotedly engaged, was entrusted with the Atharva Veda. And my father, Romaharshana, was entrusted with the Puranas and historical records.” (1.4.22)

“All these learned scholars, in their turn, rendered their entrusted Vedas unto their many disciples, grand-disciples and great grand-disciples, and thus the respective branches of the followers of the Vedas came into being.” (1.4.23)

The Shrimad Bhagavatam provides the details about the other Puranas in the following (12.13.4 to 9) verses:

“The Brahma Purana consists of ten thousand verses; the Padma Purana, of fifty-five thousand; Shri Vishnu Purana, of twenty-three thousand; the Shiva Purana, of twenty-four thousand and Shrimad Bhagavatam, of eighteen thousand. The Narada Purana has twentyfive thousand verses; the Markandeya Purana, nine thousand; the Agni Purana, fifteen thousand four hundred; the Bhavishya Purana, fourteen thousand five hundred; the Brahma-vaivarta Purana eighteen thousand and the Linga Purana, eleven thousand. The Varaha Purana contains twenty-four thousand verses; the Skanda Purana, eighty-one thousand one hundred; the Vamana Purana, ten thousand; the Kurma Purana, seventeen thousand; the Matsya Purana, fourteen thousand; the Garuda Purana, nineteen thousand, and the Brahmanda Purana, twelve thousand. Thus, the total number of verses in all the Puranas is four hundred thousand. Eighteen thousand of these, once again, belong to the beautiful Bhagavatam.”

The transcendental pastimes (leelas) of the God’s incarnations, except for the Buddha and the future descent by Kalki, had taken place millions of years ago in Satya and Treta Yugas (cosmic time cycles). Naturally, therefore, one should hardly expect any archaeological evidence to support this claim. As for the descent of the Supreme Lord Krishna in Dvapara Yuga, approximately 5000 years ago, evidences were found in the recent past in the form of some stone structures of the fort of the original Dvaraka under the sea in the state of Gujarat.

To claim that the Puranas were written to espouse Hindu religious values at a later date than that stated above in order to thwart or counteract the perceived perilous influence of the other religions is absolutely fallacious, to say the least.

The underlying bedrock of core values and ethos of Hinduism is strong and unshakable even if the concept and the pursuit of the final goal by the respective adherents of its different sects is gone about differently. That is precisely why Hinduism not only survived but also thrives and flourishes despite the past prolonged onslaught of corrupting influence by the Moghul rule and British governance as well as other impactful invasions by other foreigners. Even great Acharyas, the exalted Vedic authorities, like Adi Shankara (700 AD), Ramanuja (1100AD) and Madhva (1300AD), and other experts in spiritual science of ancient India, like Nimbarka (996AD) and Vishnuswami (3rd Century BC), as well as Lord Shri Chaitanya (1450AD), never questioned about the authenticity or the contents of these Vedic literatures. On the contrary, their commentaries on the Brahma Sutras or the Vedanta, written during their respective time periods, are still available in the market. What is more, a well renowned German philosopher by the name Mr. Schopenhauer says, “The religion of India has extended for more than 4000 years. Such a religion cannot be an arbitrarily inherited superstition but must have its foundation in the

very nature of man.”

I take this opportunity to place on record that there is nothing like “Hinduism” mentioned anywhere in the Vedic scriptures. It is actually a misnomer. The fact is that the people practising Sanatana Dharma – the eternal Vedic religion, settled around the river ‘Sindhu’, were referred to as ‘Sindhus’ by the Iranian merchants who traded with them by the sea-route for their convenience. Over the period, a distorted version ‘Hindu’ got stuck even to this day.

Generally speaking, anything perceived as antique is always subject to doubt and suspicion of its very existence, leave alone its periodicity. As more the human society degrades and dangerously succumbs to the atheistic tendencies caused and abetted by the exaggerated claim of scientific achievements in various fields of innovation, more and more cynics and skeptics, who habitually have contemptuous disbelief in everything, will be provoked to question the authenticity and the veracity of the Vedic literature as well as their authors.

Nobody questions a physicist when he talks about an electron and the benefits of its usefulness in many inventions. We don’t say, “Show me an electron, only then we will believe in it.” It is a known fact that the electron is sometimes considered as particle and treated as a wave at other times. Similarly, we occasionally come across in the print media that sometimes the archaeologists announce a particular piece of rock or a skeleton to be a million years old, found during their excavation. Nobody demands any evidence. Even if they try to explain the basis for their claim, a common man cannot comprehend and hence must accept it blindly. The following Western philosophers, scientists and other world famous personalities have expressed their admiration and adulation towards our Vedic literature and especially the Bhagavat Gita:

Albert Einstein, Nuclear Physicist and Nobel Laureate, (1879 -1955)
J. Robert Oppenheimer, American Nuclear Physicist (1904-1967)
Ralph Waldo Emerson, American Philosopher (1803-1882)
Arthur Schopenhauer, German Philosopher (1788-1860)
Henry David Thoreau, American Philosopher (1817-1862)
Aldous Huxley, English Author (1894-1963)
Mahatma Gandhi, Father of the Indian Nation (1869-1948)
Jawaharlal Nehru, India’s First Prime Minister (1889 -1964)
Herman Hesse, German Author(1877-1962)
Dr Albert Schweitzer, German Author, Musician, Medical Doctor, Nobel Laureate (1875-1965)
Shri Aurobindo, Poet, Philosopher, Writer, Indian Spiritual Master (1872 – 1950)
Carl Jung, Swiss Psychiatrist (1875-1961)

You must know that Albert Einstein and J. Robert Oppenheimer are nuclear physicists of universal distinction. None of the above world-recognised personalities ever questioned about the bonafides or contents of the Vedic literatures. Nor did they express any suspicion regarding the time periods in which these were written.