The Bhavishya Purana: Forecast, History, and Significance

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Bhavishya Purana

The Bhavishya Purana is one of the eighteen Puranas of Hinduism. Bhavishya means future. So, the Bhavishya Purana contains prophecies regarding the future. The text, as it exists today, is a composite of materials ranging from the medieval era to the modern era. The most important point of the Bhavishya Purana is that it mentions the coming of the British into India.

The first sixteen chapters of the first part of the Bhavishya Purana are called Brahma Parvam. The second part is called Madhyama Parvam. The third part is called Pratisarga Parvam, and it contains sections on Christianity, Islam, the Bhakti movement, Sikhism, Sultanate history, Mughal history, British rule, and others. The fourth and last part describes festivals related to Hindu Gods and Goddesses. It narrates details about Tithis, Mythology, Dharma, Vrata, and Dana etc. The text also has many Mahatmya chapters on geography, travel guides, and pilgrimage to holy sites. According to the land grants of the fifth century, verses are quoted from the Padma Purana, Bhavishya Purana, and Brahma Purana. So, these Puranas are dated to the early centuries of the Christian era.

This Purana mentions the Prophet Muhammad in the Pratisarga Parva (Parva-3, Khanda-3, Adhya 3). Muhammad said to Raja Bhoja, “O King, your religion is, of course, known as the best religion among all. Still, I am going to establish a new religion by the order of the Lord. They will perform a purificatory act with the Musala or a pestle, as you purify your things with Kusha. Therefore, they will be known as Musalman or Muslim.

The Bhavishya Purana takes ideas from Semitic, Mesopotamian, Persian, Christian, and other sources. Evidence includes the use of words like Falgun (February), Shasthi (Sixty), and others.

The Brahma Parva of the Bhavishya Purana mentions festival dates and methods for worshipping Gods and Goddesses. A big section deals with sun worship. Sakadvipa was well known for sun worship. These chapters are the most comprehensive and important sources of the sun worship tradition in India.

Many historians and ideologists have doubted the veracity of the text of the Bhavishya Purana, but they are not correct. There might have been interpolations, but the original material cannot be questioned or altered. For example, the coming of the British into India. They came to India in the year 1600 AD. But the Bhavishya Purana, which mentions the coming of the British into India, was written in the early centuries of the Christian era. That means the Bhavishya Purana was written much before the arrival of the English. So, there should not be any doubt regarding the prophecy of the Bhavishya Purana.

India is a land of seers and saints. Many have spiritual powers to know the future. Anthropologists have also said that there are two worlds: one is material, and the other is spiritual. And through this spiritual side, the future can be known. So, the Bhavishya Purana is authentic. No doubt about it.

(The views expressed are the writer’s own.)

Radhakanta Seth is a Former Income tax officer in Sambalpur.  He is a Freelance writer and his articles have been published in some Oriya dailies like Sambad, Samaj, Dharitri and English dailies like The Telegraph and in a sociological journal ‘Folklore’ published from Kolkata.

(Photo has collected from net )