Generally placed at the head of the Great Purāṇas, and therefore often called the Ādipurāṇa.

The work has been published in the Ānandāśrama Series (1895).

Cf. Aufrecht, Cat. Bodl., nos. 62, 63; Rāj. Mitra, Not., iii., p. 149; Bik., pp.187-189. For an account of the work, by H.H. Wilson, see J. Roy. As. Soc., v., pp. 65-72 (reprinted in Works, vol. iii., pp. 8-21)

The chapters are not numbered in these Mss. Colebrooke counts 118 in the margin, but his numbering is imperfect; whilst Rāj. Mitra makes those of the pūrvakhaṇḍa (corresponding to the work as contained in these Mss.) to be 123, and those of the uttarakhaṇḍa 37 (also Oxf. Ms., no. 63). The edited text (which, as here, has no uttarakhaṇḍa), on the other hand, counts 245 adhyāyas. This includes the Gautamīmāhātmya, which is inserted there between adhy. 69 and 176, thus making the Purāṇa proper to consist of 139 adhyāyas. This practically corresponds to the text of these Mss., except that there are numerous discrepancies, both as regards the division into chapters and the readings of the text (sometimes evidently due to omissions). Thus: for ed., adhy. 47, v. 78-49, 7 the Ms. (fol. 98v, 1. 12-99r, 1.5) has only 8 quite fifferent ślokas; and on fol. 40v, between lines 4 and 5, there is wanting adhy. 18, vv. 6v-55a of the edition. The end of the 1st adhy. (of the ed.) is not marked by a colophon in these Mss. The end of adhy. 69 (after which the māhātmya commences in the ed.) occurs at fol. 131r, last line of the Ms.; Rāj. M's Ms. (adhys. 123) terminates with adhy. 232 of the edition.

The Kaṇḍūpākhyānam- or rather Kaṇḍor upākhyānam - of the (Svayambhvṛṣisaṃvāda of the) Brahmapurāṇa, printed in Lassen's Anthologia Sanscritica (2nd ed., pp. 48-58), occurs on foll. 134r-138v of the present Ms.; forming adhy. 178 of the ed. (adhy. 70, R. M.). In the colophon of the text as printed in the anthology, the episode is erroneously ascribed to the Gautamīmāhātmya (see no.3408) of the Brahmapurāṇa.

The numbering of the leaves is discontinued after fol. 97.