( Summary of Contents - Verse 2

( Summary of Contents ) Obeisance to Sri GaneSa One should read or recite any Purana or Itihasa text1 after having paid obeisance to Narayana2 and Nara,3 the most ex- cellent of men, as well as to goddess Sarasvati. Purana-writers as well, for example, Bh. P. I. 2. 4; and the word ‘Jaya? therein is interpreted by the commentators Vira Raghava and Sukadeva as another name of the Bh. P. Thus the word c Jaya* became a generic term used both for Itihasa (Mbh.) and Purana texts (Bh. P., Va. P.) , Hence c Jayay is interpreted as ‘any Purana or Itihasa* here. Bhavisya Purana states : Tathaiva vismdharmaica iwadharma&a $a$vatah\ Jayeti nama tesam ca pravadanti manisinahll Compare KP 1. 53. 33; II. 46. Narayana : The god who lay on cosmic waters of the deluge before creation. This aspect of this deity is recorded in the etymology of his name in Manu 1. 10, Mbh. Santi 328. 25 : Apo nara iti proktd, dpo vai narasunavah/ Ta yadasydyanam purvam tena ndrayaria smrtah[l In early Visnuism, Visnu and Narayana were not identical; the amalgamation of Visnu of Vedic Brahmanism and Narayana of the Pancaratras was a later development (vide J. Gonda, Aspects of Early Visnuism ; also G. V. Tagare, Bhdgavata Purapa (AITM), Part I, Introduction, pp. xlii-xlv).