Which is the Shaiva Itihasa that Linga Purana is talking about?

Question

By Itihasa we usually only mean the epics Ramayana and Mahabharata. But have a look at the following passage/verses from Linga Purana (Tr-J.LShastry-Part1, Ch-26):

For the propitiation of the eighteen Puranas beginning with Brahma, for the propitiation of the eighteen Upa-Puranas beginning with Saura, and for the propitiation of holy Itihasas starting with Saiva he shall touch his ears and cardiac region.

Here, actually the process of Achamana (the ritualistic sipping of water) and the allied rites are being described.

Now coming to the passage, I know that we have 18 Puranas and the 1st one among them being the Brahma Purana. Similarly, I am also aware of Saura Purana, an Up-Purana.

• But which is the Shaiva Itihasa being talked about here?

Answer 1

This Shaiva Itihaas is indeed the Shivarahasya itihaas. Not to be confused with the Shiva Rahasya Kanda of Shankara Samhita under the Skanda Purana. They are different.

The Shivarahasya itihaas contains alone 100,000 slokas, translated into Kannada in 30 volumes. The Skanda Purana contains 81,000 slokas and is comparatively smaller.

Hope it helps