Sahyādrikhaṇḍa or Sahyadri Khand, written in
Sanskrit
Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...
, and is considered as part of
Skandapurāṇa.
[Shastri, P. (1995) ''Introduction to the Puranas'', New Delhi: Rashtriya Sanskrit Sansthan, pp.118-20] One of its interpolated versions from 1700CE contains the legend of the origin of the Brahmin identities like
Chitpavan Brahmin
The Chitpavan Brahmin or Konkanastha Brahmin is a Hindu Maharashtrian Brahmin community inhabiting Konkan, the coastal region of the state of Maharashtra. Initially working as messengers and spies in the late seventeenth century, the community ...
s and
Saraswat Brahmins
The Saraswat Brahmins are Hindu Brahmins, who are spread over widely separated regions spanning from Kashmir in North India to Konkan in West India to Kanara (coastal region of Karnataka) and Kerala in South India. The word ''Saraswat'' is deriv ...
while deliberately slandering authentic Brahmin communities like Karhade Brahmins.
The ''Sahyadri-khanda'' includes disparate texts that date from 5th to 13th centuries, and have been organized as part of a single text relatively recently.
Description
There is an elaborate description about the creation of
Paraśurāma kṣetra. In one place the land is stated to have been created by
Paraśurāma by shooting an arrow,
while in another place the land is created by throwing an axe. Experts in the field of Archaeology feel that the place where Parashurama's arrow landed is believed to be the present day Goa.
The
Kannaḍa version contains a brief chapter called as ''Grāmapaddhati'' which describes
Brāhmaṇa
The Brahmanas (; Sanskrit: , ''Brāhmaṇam'') are Vedic śruti works attached to the Samhitas (hymns and mantras) of the Rig, Sama, Yajur, and Atharva Vedas. They are a secondary layer or classification of Sanskrit texts embedded within each ...
family names and villages, contradicting the original text that describes narrations and stories of different types of fallen Brāhmaṇas.
According to ''Y.C.Bhānumati'' the Kannaḍa version has no similarities with Sanskrit Sahyādrikhaṇḍa.
Many other versions are found in
Marāṭhī,
Hindi
Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been de ...
and English.
Chapters
Sanskrit Sahyādrikhaṇḍa contains following chapters, most of the which vary from version to version as it is a part of Skandapurāṇa.
In this article the original Sanskrit names of the chapters have been omitted.
The chapters are as follows:
*The origin of
Chitpāvana Brāhmaṇas (Sanskrit Version of Sahyādrikhaṇḍa and in copies of same Khaṇḍa found in South India, do not have any reference about Chitpāvanas)
*The origin of
Karhāḍa Brāhmaṇas (not a part of the Sanskrit version)
*The Glory of Gomañcalakṣetra
*The origin of different groups of Brāhmaṇas of Dakṣiṇa
*The consideration of Brāhmaṇas
*In the praise of land grants
*Demarcation of the villages
*The praise composed by Bhārgava
*Demarcation of inferior villages
*Title not given-related to thirty-two villages
*Story of fallen villages
*Three chapters related to demarcation of fallen villages
*Title not specified-related to the river Sitā
*The story of Mithunāhara Brāhmaṇas
*The story of fallen village
*The fallen village
*The glory of the Kṣetra
*The glory of Mahālingeśa
References
Further reading
Reflections on the Sahyādrikhaṇḍa's Uttarārdha
Puranas
{{Hinduism-stub
kn:ಸ್ಕಾಂದ ಪುರಾಣ
mr:स्कंद पुराण