256 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES
materials, some lost their early materials, some gained new materials and some became totally new works.
The determination of the date of the composition of the Puranas is a problem which has hardly been tackled.All history written by the Brahmins is history without dates and the Puranas are no exception. The date of the Puranas has to be determined by circumstantial evidence corelated with events the dates of which are well settled. The dates of the composition of the different Puranas have not been examined as closely as those of the other parts of the Brahminic literature. Indeed scholars have paid no attention to the Puranas at all certainly nothing like what they have done in the matter of the Vedic literature. Mr, Hazara’s is the only work I know of in which an attempt is made in the matter of determining the date of the composition of the Puranas. I give below the dates of the Puranas as found by him.
Puranas Date of Composition
1. Markendeya .. .. Between 200 and 600 A. D.
2. Vayu .. .. Between 200 and 500 A. D.
3. Bramhanda .. .. Between 200 and 500 A. D.
4. Vishnu .. .. Between 100 and 350 A. D.
5. Matsya .. .. Part about 325 A. D. Part about 1100 A. D.
6. Bhagwat .. .. Between 500 and 600 A. D.
7. Kurma .. .. Between 550 and 1000 A. D.
8. Vamana .. .. Between 700 and 1000 A. D.
9. Linga .. .. Between 600 and 1000 A. D.
10. Varaha .. .. Between 800 and 1500 A. D.
11. Padma .. .. Between 600 and 950 A. D.
12. Brahanaradiya .. .. Between 875 and 1000 A. D.
13. Agni .. .. Between 800 and 900 A. D.
14. Garuda .. .. Between 850 and 1000 A. D.
15. Bramha .. .. Between 900 and 1000 A. D.
16. Skanda .. .. After 700 A. D.
17. Bramha Vaivrata .. .. After 700 A. D.
18. Bhavishya .. .. After 500 A. D.
No more precise date can be fixed for the Puranas at any rate for the present. New research in the field may narrow the higher and lower limits of their composition. The difference will only be a difference of degree. It will not be one of subversion of Eras.