Page:Sacred Books of the East - Volume 2.djvu/33

xxx Purâna in general are not unfrequent in other Sûtras on the sacred law, and even in older Vedic works. But Âpastamba, as far as I know, is the only Sûtrakâra who specifies the title of a particular Purâna, and names one which is nearly or quite identical with that of a work existing in the present day, and he is the only one, whose quotations can be shown to be, at least in part, genuine Paurânic utterances.

Among the so-called Upa-purânas we find one of considerable extent which bears the title Bhavishya-purâna or also Bhavishyat-purâna. It is true that the passage quoted in the Dharma-sûtra from the Bhavishyat-purâna is not to be found in the copy of the Bhavishya-purâna which I have seen. It is, therefore, not possible to assert positively that Âpastamba knew the present homonymous work. Still, considering the close resemblance of the two titles, and taking into account the generally admitted fact that most if not all Purânas have been remodelled and recast, it seems to me not unlikely that Âpastamba's