Does the Devi Bhagavatam say that Lakshmi and Saraswati are daughters of Parvati?

Question

While reading what ISKCON has to say over the authenticity of the Devi Bhagavatam, I found some people saying that the controversial Purana saying that Lakshmi and Saraswati to be the daughters of Maa Durga when other scriptures say that Saraswati is the daughter of Brahma and Lakshmi the daughter of Bhrigu and Khyati. So is this true that the Devi Bhagavatam says that Lakshmi and Saraswati of being the daughters of Parvati?

The link where I found this bizarre claim is here: http://www.iskcondesiretree.com/forum/topics/devi-bhagwatam-or-devi-purana-controversy

Answer 1

There is nothing bizarre or surprising in it.

Even the Brahmanda Purana says that Mother Lalita recreates the entire universe and recreates every deities including Lakshmi and Saraswati.

H. At the end of this great fire sacrifice, all of you (the performers of the Yaga) should jump in to the Homa Kunda (fire pit). While doing so, you must possess absolute devotion.

I. Then, Lalita Parameshwari will manifest.

J. She will be seated in a chariot called Chakra Raja Ratha.

K. She will create Parabrahma in the name of Kameshwara and will have Him as Her consort.

L. This couple will re-create the entire universe, which will turn out to be more beautiful than the previous creation.

M. Lalita Parameshwari will bring Manmatha back to life.

The Lalita Parameshwari so manifested, created a male form from within Herself. His name was Kameshwara. By her power of will, she created 4 different weapons.

A. From the left eye, which was of the nature of Soma (moon) came Brahmaand Lakshmi Devi.

B. From the right eye, which was of the nature of Soorya (sun) came Vishnu and Parvati.

C. From the third eye, which was of the nature of Agni (fire), came Rudra and Sarasvati.

Answer 2

Swami Vijnanananda in his Foreword to his translation to the Devi Bhagavatam says:

What the Srimad Bhagavat is to the Vaisnavas, the Devi Bhagavatam is to the Saktas. The question of the priority of the two Bhagavatas has been often discussed more in the spirit of partisians rather than that of sober scholars.

The subject of The coming in this world of Laksmi, Ganga, and Sarasvati is covered in the 9th book, Chapter 6. The birth of Laksmi is in the 9th book, Chapter 40. You might want to read the first part of book 9 to get a better feeling for the cited chapters.

You can find Swami Vijnanananda's translation here - http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/db/index.htm

I think you will find that there is some distortion in the website you cited.

Answer 3

Yes according to srimad devi bhagwatam every one is her children and there is nothing bad in that that's why she is called jagatmata which means the mother of the universe. Even during durga puja we bengalis depict maa laxmi and maa saraswati as the children of maa durga. It's just that in adi parashakti form i.e. maa lalita tripura sundari or maa bhuvaneshwari form she is the mother of every one even the gods and tridev and her husband is lord madan kameshwar triyabakam bhairava also called as lord bhuvaneshwar.

[The image showing maa bhuvaneshwari sitting on the lap of lord bhuvaneshwar and the chair is made of lord shiva as a sitting plank and lord maha brahma, Mahavishnu, mahadeva, and Rudra as the 4 stands of the chair.]

[Here you can see mata laxmi and mata saraswati fanning maa Tripura sundari and along with the tridevs lord skanda nd lord ganesha are also sitting down, which signifies that she as the mother of the universe and all gods and goddesses.]

[As You can see devi Lakshmi and Devi Saraswati are the daughters of Maa Durga. Whose husband is Lord Shiva.]

And as for the other topic about devi bhagwatam being controversial parana actually it's not and I don't like these iskonis people questioning the authenticity of devi bhagwatam because when your own house is made of glass don't throw stones on other people houses. Krishna bhagwatam being the upa purana which it is became the main and even mahapurana for some people due to the fake advertisement by these people. There is a saying in hindi na "jo dikhta hai wohi bikta hai" it's like that only. Because at earlier period they were at highest offical position and there were no social media etc to even debate which text is authentic and which is not.

Devi bhagwatam is the most authentic pura and is called mahapurana due to its greatness by vyasa himself.

Though i can't say if krishna bhagwatam is fake or not but it is definitely not the work of Veda vyasa. Because according to Mahabharata all the 18 Puranas are made before the creation of mahabharata. Krishna bhagvat Purana which is said to have written after Mahabharata will become puran number 19th which is impossible as there are only 18 authentic Puranas. Again it contradicts with the verses of mahabharata itself which as an author vyasa could not have done. Again as an author someone cannot write 2 books with same name that's insane and also the fact suta died even before the birth of Bhishma himself so reciting krishna bhagwatam was just impossible for him and even according to Mahabharata, king parikshit locked himself inside a specially made palace to save himself from takshaka so he didn't even met anyone at that time. It is said that srimad bhagwatam suppose to have 18000 verses but krishna bhagwatam only has around 14000 rest 4000 are not there where as devi bhagwatam has 18000 verses and it doesn't contradicts mahabharata and also describes the death of suta before the birth of Bheeshma. Even in every Purana devi bhagwatam is described as the 5th Purana to be made so it only means one thing that krishna bhagwatam is a upa Purana written by some one totally different person.

According to skanda Purana.:

“aṣṭādaśapurāṇānāṃ madhye sarvottamaṃ paraṃ । devībhāgavataṃ nāma dharmakāmārthamokṣadaṃ ॥” (Skanda Purana : Devi Bhagawata Mahatmayam : Ch1: verse 23)

“Among the list of eighteen Puranas there exists a supreme Purana, the greatest one by the name of ‘Devi Bhagavatam’ which confers all the four pursuits viz. dharma, artha, kama, moksha”.

According to Shiva maha purana, see the serialisation.:

“brāhmaṃ pādmaṃ vaiṣṇavaṃ śaivaṃ bhāgavataṃ tathā । bhaviṣyaṃ nāradīyaṃ ca mārkaṇḍeyamataḥ paraṃ ॥120 āgneyaṃ brahmavaivartaṃ laiṅgaṃ varāhamevaca । vāmanākhyaṃ tataḥ kaurmaṃ matsyaṃ garuḍameva ca ॥121 skāndaṃ tathaiva brahmāṇḍākhyaṃ purāṇaṃ ca kīrtitaṃ । yaśasyaṃ puṇyadam nṛṇāṃ śrotṛṇām śānkaraṃ yaśaḥ ॥” (Shiva Purana:V:44:120-122)

“Brahma, Padma, vaishnava, Shaiva, Bhagavata, Bhavishya, Narada, Markandeya, Agneya, Brahmavaivarta, Linga, Varaha, Vamana, Kurma, Matsya, Garuda, Skanda, and Brahmanda. These were the eighteen Puranas, which bestow glory and merit to the devotees of Shiva”.

According to vishnu Purana(not quoted full verse).:

“asṭādaśa purāṇāni purāṇajñāḥ pracakṣate । brāhma pāhma vaiṣṇavañca śaivaṃ bhāgavataṃ tathā ।।” (Vishnu Purana 3:06:20)

“Those who are acquainted with the Puráńas enumerate eighteen, or the Bráhma, Pádma, Vaishńava, Śaiva, Bhágavata, and…”.

According to skanda Purana.:

“śrīsūta । brāhmaṃ purāṇaṃ prathamaṃ dvitīyaṃ pādmamucyate । tṛtīyaṃ vaiṣṇavaṃ proktaṃ caturthaṃ śaivamucyate ॥ 7 tato bhāgavato proktaṃ bhaviṣyākhyaṃ tataḥ paraṃ ।” (Skanda Purana: Suta Samhita 01:7-8a)

“First is the Brahma Purana, second comes the Padma, third is the Vishnu, fourth is Shiva, after that comes Bhagavatam (5th) thereafter comes Bhavishyat Purana”.

According to brahmanda Purana.:

“pañcamī pañcabhūteśī pañcasaṃkhyopacāriṇī ||” (Brahmanda Purana: Lalita Sahasranama: verse 226),

“She is the fifth, the lordess of the five elements, and worshiped with methods comprising five”.

So all these Puranas says that bhagwatam is the 5th Purana that was made not the last one

And then again...

According to srimad Devi byagwatam mahapurana.:

“vāruṇaṃ kālikākhyaṃ ca sāmbaṃ nandikṛtaṃ śubham । sauraṃ pārāśaraproktamādityaṃ cātivistaram ॥ 15 māheśvaraṃ bhāgavataṃ vāsiṣṭhaṃ ca savistaram । etānyupapurāṇāni kathitāni mahātmabhiḥ ॥” (Devi Bhagawatam 1:03:15-16)

“Varuna Purâna. Kalika Purâna, Samva Purâna, Nandi Kes’wara Purâna, Saura Purâna, Purâna spoken by Parâs’ara, Âditya Purâna, Mahesvara Purâna, Bhâgavatam and Vasistha Purâna. These Upa Purânas are described by the Mahatmas.”.

Here you can see there is another bhagvatam Purana is there which is actually an upa Purana described by other Mahatma but not by vedavyasa.

So it concludes that this upa Purana is krishna bhagwatam which is composed by some other author not by Vedavyasa himself.

I know some people will say that krishna bhagwatam is mentioned in other Puranas also. I don't think Veda vyasa himself will go and rewrite his Puranas after completing his “last Purana"(according to other people). The most interesting example is the verses in skanda Puranas which is glorifying krishna bhagwatam as a mahapurana in vishnu khanda thus contradicting itself only as in above verses it has said the same thing about devi bhagwatam. So it's a clear case of interpolation. If some people can create a upa Purana and sell it as a main mahapurana than they can also interpolate other Puranas by inserting some fake verses. I haven't seen Ramanujam the originator of Vaishnavas have ever talked about krishna bhagwatam which made srimad krishna bhagwatam clear as a upa Purana.

For more and detailed information go to this site than all of your doubts will get clear like a crystal.

Edit.: Let me give some more proof to support my claims.

Chapter 53 of Matsya Purana mentions Kalpas of all Puranas except Brahma and Markandeya Puranas.

*Padma Purana - Padma Kalpa (hence the name)

Vishnu Purana - Varaha Kalpa (current Kalpa)

Vayu Purana (includes Shiva Purana) - Sveta Kalpa

Bhagavata Purana - Sarsvata Kalpa

Naradiya Purana - Brhat Kalpa

Agni Purana - Isana Kalpa

Bhavishya Purana - Aghora Kalpa

Brahma Vaivarata Purana - Rathantara Kalpa

Linga Purana - Agneya Kalpa

Varaha Purana - Manava Kalpa

Skanda Purana - Satpurusha Kalpa

Vamana Purana - Kurma Kalpa

Kurma Purana - Lakshmi Kalpa

Matsya Purana - Vaivastara Manvantara of Varaha Kalpa

Brahmanda Purana - Future Kalpas (No specific name mentioned)*

So, here only ,one bhagwatam purana is mentioned which was from sarsvata kalpa.

The Srimad Krishna Bhagavatam states it was written in the present Kalpa:

“parimāṇaṁ ca kālasya kalpa-lakṣaṇa-vigraham | yathā purastād vyākhyāsye pādmaṃ kalpamatho śṛṇu ||” (SB 2:10:47)

Translation: O King, I shall in due course explain the measurement of time in its gross and subtle features with the specific symptoms of each, but for the present let me explain unto you the Pādma-kalpa (i.e. the Svetavaraha Kalpa).

Here you can notice two things 1st it is written in Padma kalpa and it is even saying that Baraha kalpa and Padma kalpa are both same.

As per Chapter 46 of Markandeya Purana,

42. For a hundred of his (Brahma's) years is denominated a Para; and a Parardha or half a Para is well-known to be composed of fifty years.

43. So then a Parardha of his life has elapsed, O brahman; at the close of which occurred the Maha-kalpa, which is famed as the Padma.

44.Of the second Parardha which is now passing, O brahman, the first kalpa (or cycle) ordained is this one called the Varaha.

Lord Brahma's life-span is mentioned hundred (100) years (in which day is known as Kalpa). Lord Brahma's 100 years are known as Para which is his life span.

And Parardha or half a Para is of fifty (50) such years. In another words, Lord Brahma's life-span is of 2 Parardhas.

And at the end of Padma Kalpa (previous Kalpa), first Parardha got over i.e. half life span of Lord Brahma got completed and Lord Brahma is in his second half of life which is Baraha Kalpa.

So from all these above verse we have concluded that theoriginal Bhagwatam of devi was created in sarsvata kalpa where as the upa bhagwatam puran of krishna was created in varaha kalpa or Padma kalpa (as according to them both are same) but we also saw that **Padma purana was created in Padma kalpa"" and vishnu puran was created in baraha kalpa by vyasa.

Again we saw that Baraha and Padma are not the same kalpa both according to markandeya Purana and matsya purana so it is contradicting every other Puranas of vyasa. How is that even possible. Its only possible because it was written by someone else some one totally different person. Its like Hrithik Roshan from lakshya movie singing main aisa qu hu and then saying main jaisa bhi hu waisa hi hu. So pun apart it's now crystal clear which one is original and which one is substitute.

So I rest my case here.