Details

Standardized Title:

Puranas. Brahmavaivartapurāṇa. Pañcakrośīmāhātmya.

Other Title:

Payaḥ snānam.

Subjects:

Bathing customs.
India.
Siva (Hindu deity).
Hindu pilgrims and pilgrimages -- India.
Hindu pilgrims and pilgrimages.
Hindu mythology.
Rites and ceremonies -- India.
Rites and ceremonies.
Bathing customs -- India.
Vārānasi (Uttar Pradesh, India).

Form/Genre:

Poems.
Prayers.
Hymns.
Dialogues.
Manuscripts, Sanskrit.
Manuscripts.

Language:

In Sanskrit (Devanāgarī)

Summary:

Text celebrating the greatness (māhātmya) of the city of Varāṇasī (also Kāśī) by its name of Pañcakrośī, a reference to the city's traditional size given at five krośa or approximately 10 miles, a distance and circuit of temple sites that pilgrims are thought to be able to complete in five days. Discusses the creation of the worlds and the centrality of this place to it and praises the god Śiva throughout. The discourse of the legendary sages Agasti and Jaigīṣṭa figure prominently throughout. Secondary text (Payaḥ snānam) on ritual bathing completes the manuscript (f. 19v).

Notes:

Title from title page (f. 1r); second tile Payaḥ snānam from incipt of that work (f. 19r).
Written in 9 lines per leaf.
20 leaves foliated 1-14, 14-19, upper left and lower right verso.
Colophon: iti śrībrahmavaivarte tṛtīyavibhāge paṃcakrośīmāhātmye paṃcamodhyāyaḥ // 5 // paṃcakrosīmāhātmasamāptaṃ // śrīkāsīviśveśvarārpaṇam astu // cha // cha // cha // cha // cha // (f. 19r).
Mistakes covered over in yellow or blacked out; some corrections and additions in margins; significant syllables, words, or phrases highlighted in red throughout.
Non-Latin script record.

Cited in:

Listed in H. I. Poleman, Census of Indic Manuscripts in the United States and Canada (New Haven, Conn.: American Oriental Society, 1938), Poleman 1152 (UP 2401).

Cited as:

UPenn Ms. Coll. 390, Item 2401

OCLC:

794178880