Purana as hagiography: three lineages in the Pratisargaparvan of the Bhavishyapurana

Dokter, S.

doi:doi:10.58125/NIDAN.2026.1.29041

The Bhavishyapurana, as published by the Shri Venkateshvara Press, consists of four parvans or ‘books’. Although the first book has a clear focus on devotion to Surya, the Sun god, the other parvans are of a more general Hindu character, promoting the worship of and rituals for various gods in the Hindu pantheon. In this article, I will show that we can trace yet another religious affiliation in the third book, called the Pratisargaparvan. It concerns a section of 10 chapters (Bhavishyapurana Pratisargaparvan 4.11-20) in which three different guru-shishya (teacher-student) lineages are presented. The first set of stories narrates the lives of pupils of Shankaracharya, the second narrates the lives of pupils of Ramananda, and the third narrates the lives of pupils of Krishnachaitanya. The lineages are innovative because they include people that are usually not found in lineages described by other sources. After the description of Krishnachaitanya’s lineage, the text continues with...Show moreThe Bhavishyapurana, as published by the Shri Venkateshvara Press, consists of four parvans or ‘books’. Although the first book has a clear focus on devotion to Surya, the Sun god, the other parvans are of a more general Hindu character, promoting the worship of and rituals for various gods in the Hindu pantheon. In this article, I will show that we can trace yet another religious affiliation in the third book, called the Pratisargaparvan. It concerns a section of 10 chapters (Bhavishyapurana Pratisargaparvan 4.11-20) in which three different guru-shishya (teacher-student) lineages are presented. The first set of stories narrates the lives of pupils of Shankaracharya, the second narrates the lives of pupils of Ramananda, and the third narrates the lives of pupils of Krishnachaitanya. The lineages are innovative because they include people that are usually not found in lineages described by other sources. After the description of Krishnachaitanya’s lineage, the text continues with the story that Krishnachaitanya took all Vaishnavas, Shaivas and Shaktas (including
Shankaracharya and Ramananda with their respective students) to the city of Puri in Odisha to meet lord Jagannatha. After the elaborate narration of three guru-shishya lineages, the audience finally receives the core message of this section of the Pratisargaparvan that Krishnachaitanya’s Gaudiya Vaishnavism and the worship of Jagannatha in Puri are the most important. Given this clear religious orientation, what can we say about the religious affiliation of the composers themselves? And what message did they want to convey with this new lineage of Krishnachaitanya?
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Purana as hagiography: three lineages in the Pratisargaparvan of the Bhavishyapurana

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