[Footnote 445: See for a summary of them Winternitz, _Gesch. Ind. Lit._ I. pp. 450-483. For the dates see Pargiter Dynasties of the Kali age. He holds that the historical portions of the older Purânas were compiled in Prakrit about 250 A.D. and re-edited in Sanskrit about 350. See also Vincent Smith, _Early History_, p. 21 and, against Pargiter, Keith in _J.R.A.S._ 1914, p. 1021. Alberuni (who wrote in 1030) mentions eighteen Purânas and gives two lists of them. Bâṇa (c. 620 A.D.) mentions the recitation of the Vâyu Purâṇa. The commentary on the Śvetâśvatara Upan. ascribed to Śaṇkara quotes the Brahma P., Linga P. and Vishṇu P. as authorities as well as Puranic texts described as Vishṇudharma and Śivadharmottara. But the authorship of this commentary is doubtful. The Puranic literature as we know it probably began with the Gupta dynasty or a century before it, but the word Purâṇa in the sense of an ancient legend which ought to be learnt occurs as early as the Śatapatha Brâhmaṇa (XI. 5. 6. 8) and even in A.V. XI. 7. 24.] [Footnote 446: See Dinesh Chandra Sen, _Hist. Bengali Language and Lit._ pp. 220-225.] [Footnote 447: Pargiter, _l.c._ pp. xvii, xxviii. It does not belong to the latest class of Purâṇas for it seems to contemplate the performance of Smârta rites not temple ceremonial, but it is not quoted by Râmânuja (twelfth century) though he cites the Vishṇu Purâṇa. Probably he disapproved of it.] [Footnote 448: It was made as late as 1803 by Lallû Jî Lâl, but is a rendering into Hindi of a version in the Braj dialect, probably made in the sixteenth century.] [Footnote 449: Another Vishnuite work is cited indifferently as Padma-tantra or Padma-samhîtâ, and the Bhâgavata Purâṇa (I. 3. 8) speaks of the Sâttvatam Tantram, which is apparently the Sâttvata-saṃhitâ. The work edited by Schrader is described as the _Ahirbudhnya Saṃhitâ of the Pâncarâtra Âgama._] [Footnote 450: See for some notices of these works A. Avalon's various publications about Tantra. Srinivasa Iyengar, _Outlines of Indian Philosophy_, 118-191. Govïndacarya Svâmi on the Vaishnava Samhitâs, _J.R.A.S._ 1911, pp. 935 ff. Schomerus, _Çaiva-Siddhânta_, pp. 7 ff. and Schrader's _Introduction to the Pâncarâtra_. Whereas these works claim to be independent of the Veda, the Sectarian Upanishads (see vol. I. p. 76) are an attempt to connect post-Vedic sects with the Veda.] [Footnote 451: Jñâna, Yoga, Caryâ, Kriyâ. The same names are used of Buddhist Tantras, except that Anuttara replaces Jñâna.]