On the Similarity of Passages in the Vayu and Brahmanda Puranas

 

The translator of the Brahmanda Purana (MLBD) remarks in the footnotes that this Purana contains a number of verses and chapters common to the Vayu Purana which had led Kirfel (Purana Panca Laksana) to propose a theory of common origin of the Brahmanda Purana and the Vayu Purana. According to him, M. Ali, the writer of the Geography of the Puranas, had also been "misled" to believe that the geographical section of the Brahmanda Purana was a late copy of the Vayu Purana with slight alterations.

Brahmanda Purana

Vayu Purana

Brahmanda Purana

Vayu Purana

The translator of the Vayu Purana (MLBD) writes in the footnotes that the phrase “mahadadi visesanta” is popular with the Purana writers.

On the “Cosmic Egg” of the Puranas

 

The bronchial conduit is the cosmic egg of the Puranas 

Brahmanda Purana (1.1.1.43-44), while enumerating the topics, mentions the “golden cosmic egg” (andam hiranmayam) which had the “ocean” (vardhi) as its covering sheath (avarana). This egg is described as situated within the enclosure of the elements (bhutas) (45). Immediately after this (46), there is the mention of the “tree of Brahman” (brahma vrksa) and the birth of Brahma; this “tree” must be the “lotus” that grows forth from the navel of Visnu.

In the Vayu Purana, when Suta begins to relate the Purana, at the outset, he says that the ultimate cause is the Great Lord (mahesvara) and from him was born (1.44) the incomparable “golden cosmic egg” (andam hiranmayam); its covering sheath (avarana) was the “waters” (aḍbhi ?, āpas).

 

 It is not difficult to understand why the metaphor of the egg should be applied to the respiratory conduit. The bronchus has an exterior “shell” of (hyaline) cartilage which lends to it one of the properties or distinguishing characteristics of an egg. This cartilaginous layer provides patency to the bronchus and imparts to it hardness and a certain rigidity (or immoveable-ness," one of the defining features of a mountain); however, as one moves down the network of tubes, this layer is progressively lost and, ultimately, it disappears (at the level of the bronchioles).

And so, in this manner, there is a process of “unshelling,” “cracking” or “peeling” of this egg that goes on. The principal bronchus represents the original, undivided egg. As one moves down the bronchial tree, it is progressively “unpeeled.” At the level of the bronchioles, the egg is all “soft” and “light,” yolk-like as it were; as opposed to the upper portions of the tree which are “hard” and “heavy.”

The softer portions, especially the acinar zone, would be considered the "yolk" of this "cosmic egg."

Furthermore, we may have one other way of visualizing this cosmic egg. Instead of regarding the different levels of the bronchial tree as different states of the same egg, we may have a static conceptualization in which the entire respiratory tree is the egg. All the bronchi—the entities with “shell” (cartilage)—may collectively be referred to as the “shell;” while the remaining (non-cartilaginous) conduits may constitute the “yolk.”  

According to the Padma Purana, "Oceans with mountains and islands, the group of the worlds with the luminaries, all (this) along with gods, demons and human beings--was (present) in that egg."

The lungs were imagined by the ancient anatomists as containing the entire world, along with all its principal topographical entities. There was a translocation of the most extensive and exquisite kind. The pulmonary veins were imagined as oceans, the arteries as rivers and the (higher) bronchial conduits as mountains. The segments of the lungs were regarded as islands in view of their being bounded by the "oceans" (pulmonary veins). Like in the external world, this internal "earth" also is populated by "living beings." The neural entities are the "men" of the microcosm. 

According to the Kurma Purana, this "extensive cosmic egg" consists of fourteen parts. 

The Tracheo-bronchial Tree: the Gita’s “Root-Up Branches-Down” Tree

 

ūrdhvamūlamadhaḥśākhamakṣvatthaṃ prāhuravyayam |

chandāṃsi yasya parṇāni yastaṃ veda sa vedavit || 15.1 ||

adhakṣcordhvaṃ prasṛtāstasya śākhā guṇapravṛddhā viṣayapravālāḥ |

adhakṣca mūlānyanusantatāni karmānubandhīni manuṣyaloke || 15.2 ||

 

In the fifteenth chapter of the Bhagavad Gita, Krsna, with a view to imbue Arjuna with the feeling of dispassion (vairajna), introduces the metaphor (rupaka) of “samsara vrksa,” the tree of material existence. The tree that Krsna speaks of is an inverted one; it is a Asvattha (ficus religiosa) whose root (mula) is above (urdhva) and whose branches (sakham) are below (adhah). This “inverted tree” is supposed to represent samsara, with its transitory yet uninterrupted-flow-like (pravaha) nature. The (sub) branches of this “inverted tree” extend both up and down.

This “inverted tree” is the tracheo-bronchial tree of the lungs.

In order to fully appreciate this great metaphor, found also in the Katha Upanisad and the Mahabharata, one must keep in mind that Krsna is the immanent lord (paramatma), speaking to Arjuna within the microcosm. Further, “material existence,” in the context of the Upanisads, has more to do with the body—the respiratory process in particular—than with the (external) world of the sense-objects.

The “root”of this (respiratory) “tree” is the trachea while its “branches” are the various bronchi which go on branching dichotomously. The “leaves” of this “tree” are said to be the metres of the Vedas. There is a greater likelihood of these being the respiratory bronchioles as these exist at the terminal end of the tracheo-bronchial tree; but they may also stand simply for the bronchioles.

The acinus is like the zone of the leaves because it is here that "food" production takes place; it's here that the carbon dioxide is absorbed and oxygen is released. The acinus marks a different functional component in the r. tree, like the leaves which are functionally different from the branches

According to Govinda Misra, the inverted tree is situated in the form of a body; obviously he is referring to the virat purusa ("deha rupe sthita").

The different regions of the bronchial tree are compared to the different parts of a tree. So there's the trunk, the larger branches (these two, the central axial region, must constitute the central region of jambudvipa), the smaller branches, the leaves, the shoots and the fruits and the flowers. The branch region probably ends with the "twigs," the terminal bronchioles.

On the Identity of Puskaradvipa

 Puskaradvipa appears to be that division of the tracheobronchial tree that is located (very) distally to the hilum, towards the periphery of the respiratory lotus. It, the Brahma Purana, says, contains neither mountain nor river; so this must mean that it does not contain those respiratory conduits considered to be “weighty” and “big”—the bronchi and the bigger bronchioles (the first five generations of them?) and the pulmonary arterial conduits corresponding to these, which are the “rivers.” The mountain Manasottara which is supposed to be located at the centre of Puskaradvipa, is the heart. Its perimeter does go like a ring across the five continents beginning with Plaksa (seen in this light, the five dvipas, Plaksa and the rest, and also Puskara, do seem to belong to the lower region of the lung; the Surya Siddhanta’s words). It divides Puskaradvipa (thoracic region) into two halves (the two lungs). These two halves of the left and the right lung have been given the names “Mahavita” and “Dhataki.” Brahma is worshiped in Puskara; and it is in this continent that a lotus having thousands of petals is situated. This lotus is the metaphorical representation of the trachea and the entire tracheobronchial tree. Brahma, the mind-organ (manas), is present as the neural controller of the lungs; he sits atop the “pericarp” (primary bronchi) of this wondrous lotus.

A Jaina Source on Jambudvipa

The Buddhist and the Jaina traditions too seem to share the same Puranic micro-cosmography. Some Jaina sources, for example, talk of several “horizontal bands” separating Jambudvipa into identical northern and southern hemispheres. This can only refer to the two “hemispheres” of the right and the left lung. These “bands” refer to groupings of the three entities of the bronchus, the pulmonary artery and the pulmonary vein. The following excerpt is precious as it supplements and buttresses our conclusions regarding the identity of the cosmographical entities found in the Puranas:

The Jambu-Dvipa is divided into identical northern and southern hemispheres by horizontal bands of different widths formed by six main parallel mountain ranges running from the east to the west. The central band, containing Mt. Meru, is larger than the others, and is known as the region of Maha-Videha. On one side of Mt. Meru, excluding the regions at its base known as Dev-kuru and Uttara-kuru, is the land of eastern Videha and on the other side is the land of western Videha. (Indian Painting: Essays in Honour of Karl J. Khandalavala. P. 134) 

The "Central Band" contains the principal bronchus (Mt Meru)

 In the quote above, the six main mountain ranges that run from the east to the west (medially to peripherally?) seem to be the principal bronchus and the primary branches of the pulmonary artery and vein, three on either side. This triad may be said to constitute a “band” and as this triad courses through the lung, its width also changes as a result of the change in the width of the individual conduits. 

The region of Videha is the region of Meru, the principal bronchus. The regions at the base of Meru are said to have the names of “Dev-kuru” and “Uttara-kuru.” Now, we already know from our Puranic sources that the base of Meru is the Ilavrta region, containing the four “support” or “feet” mountains of Meru—Mandara and the rest. It is in fact four regions with four mountains (the secondary or lobar bronchi). On comparing these two descriptions one may conclude that “Dev-kuru,” which must be Bharata and “Uttara-kuru” refer to two of the four regions of Ilavrta. Therefore, if our assumptions are correct and if the Puranic cosmographer agrees perfectly with his Jaina counterpart, the varsa of Bharata in the Purana should refer to one of the lobar regions.

On the Strategy of Reuse Employed in the Puranic Texts

There appears to be extreme fluidity in the Puranic texts in defining entities. The same anatomical entities may be referred to by different names and described differently based on the different characteristics present in them. For example, the pulmonary vein may be depicted sometimes as an "ocean" due to it being a store-house of "water" (oxygenated blood), sometimes as a "fruit-tree" due to its nourishing nature and sometimes as the ray of the “moon” (left atrium). In this manner one is represented as many. It is this reuse and recycling that gives rise to the almost blinding variety of entities and characters in the Puranic stories.

The Five Great Elements in the Microcosmic Setting

Just as in the gross elemental theory there are the five great elements (maha bhuta) and their respective properties (guna) referred to as “tanmatra,” so also in the microcosmic account of the Bhagavata and the other Puranas, we have the “gross elements” and the “tanmatras.” These are the various conduits of the human cardio-respiratory system and their respective flows and components. 

The elemental account of evolution and involution of the external universe is thus imaginatively applied to the human body by considering the components of the cardio-respiratory apparatus as the (poetic) analogs of the (external) great elements. In this manner is this account of evolution and involution, which forms so important a part of the Samkhya theory of creation and destruction of the world, translocated into the anatomical and physiological setting.

There are two sides to prakrti–the gruesome, destructive aspect and the beneficial, beatific aspect. 

The pulmonary flow represents nature. It is divided up into two parts, located on either side of the alveolar zone: the destructive flow containing the deoxygenated blood is imagined on the left and the life-promoting oxygenated one is on the right of the bronchial tree. The maha bhutas are the arterial and the venous conduits containing these flows. Now, the akasa element is held to be perhaps that portion of the pulmonary artery that is lying outside the hilum of the lung (in the mediastinum). It is the primary portion. Although in this matter it is quite apparent that there is no clear delineation and akasa may well extend into the region of the earth; the boundaries of the maha bhutas are quite shifty in nature. The great elements therefore act as the transport for prakrti. On the left (destructive) side are the gross elements of wind and fire; and on the right (constructive / nutritive) side are water and earth. Each of these elements appear as the polar opposite of its counterpart on the other side: earth provides support and food while wind can destroy and destabilize; the diametrically opposite nature of fire and water needs no elaboration. The fire of deoxygenated blood is immediately transformed into the water of the oxygenated flow by the operation of the alveolar mechanism.

deoxy. blood) also has the character of fire. The deadly halahala resembles fire; fire comes out of Ananta's mouth and burns the worlds at the time of the destruction of the world. This "burning " takes place at the level of the acinus.