Sahyādrikhaṇḍa or Sahyadri Khand, written in Sanskrit

Sanskrit

Sanskrit , is a historical Indo-Aryan language and the primary liturgical language of Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism.Buddhism: besides Pali, see Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Today, it is listed as one of the 22 scheduled languages of India and is an official language of the state of Uttarakhand...

, is claimed as a part of Skandapurāṇa

Skanda Purana

The Skanda Purana is the largest Mahapurana, a genre of eighteen Hindu religious texts. The text is devoted mainly to the lilas of Kartikeya , a son of Shiva and Parvati. It also contains a number of legends about Shiva, and the holy places associated with him...

. From the old records it can be seen that Sahyādrikhaṇḍa is a later inclusion in the original Skandapurāṇa. It contains the legend of the origin of the Chitpavans

Chitpavan

The Chitpavan or Chitpawan, also known as Konkanastha Brahmins , are a Smarta Brahmin community of Konkan, the coastal region of western Maharashtra in India....

 and has been carefully suppressed or destroyed by the Peshwas.

Description

There is an elaborate description about the creation of Paraśurāma kṣetra

Konkan

The Konkan also called the Konkan Coast or Karavali is a rugged section of the western coastline of India from Raigad to Mangalore...

. In one place the land is stated to have been created by Paraśurāma

Parashurama

Parashurama , is the sixth avatar of Vishnu and belongs to the treta yuga, and is the son of a Brahmin father Jamadagni and mother Renuka. He is considered one of the seven immortal human. He received an axe after undertaking a terrible penance to please Shiva, from whom he learned the methods of...

 by shooting an arrow, while in another place the land is created by throwing an axe. The Kannaḍa

Kannada language

Kannada or , is a language spoken in India predominantly in the state of Karnataka. Kannada, whose native speakers are called Kannadigas and number roughly 50 million, is one of the 30 most spoken languages in the world...

 version contains a brief chapter called as Grāmapaddhati which describes Brāmaṇa

Brahmin

Brahmin Brahman, Brahma and Brahmin.Brahman, Brahmin and Brahma have different meanings. Brahman refers to the Supreme Self...

 family names and villages, contradicting the original text that describes narrations and stories of different types of fallen Brāmaṇas. According to Y.C.Bhānumati the Kannaḍa version has no similarities with Sanskrit Sahyādrikhaṇḍa. Many other versions are found in Marāṭhī

Marathi language

Marathi is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Marathi people of western and central India. It is the official language of the state of Maharashtra. There are over 68 million fluent speakers worldwide. Marathi has the fourth largest number of native speakers in India and is the fifteenth most...

, Hindi

Hindi

Standard Hindi, or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi, also known as Manak Hindi , High Hindi, Nagari Hindi, and Literary Hindi, is a standardized and sanskritized register of the Hindustani language derived from the Khariboli dialect of Delhi...

 and English.

Chapters

Sanskrit Sahyādrikhaṇḍa contains following chapters, most of the which vary from version to version as it is not a part of original Skandapurāṇa.

In this article the original Sanskrit names of the chapters have been omitted.

The chapters are as follows:

• The origin of Chitpāvana brāmaṇas
  Chitpavan
  The Chitpavan or Chitpawan, also known as Konkanastha Brahmins , are a Smarta Brahmin community of Konkan, the coastal region of western Maharashtra in India....
  
   (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 brāmaṇas (not a part of the Sanskrit version)
• The Glory of Gomañcalakṣetra
• The origin of different groups of brāmaṇas
• The consideration of brāmaṇas
• 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 brāmaṇas
• The story of fallen village
• The fallen village
• The glory of the Kṣetra
• The glory of Mahālingeśa

External links

• Original Sanskrit Skandapurāṇa