Among other things that we have in mind as the most ambitious project in the Purana researches for last few decades should be the critical edition on the Skandapurana by Groningen team. From the testimonies that the medieval writers gave the reference...
Among other things that we have in mind as the most ambitious project in the Purana researches for last few decades should be the critical edition on the Skandapurana by Groningen team. From the testimonies that the medieval writers gave the reference on the Skandapurana as a whole but not as separate khandas, out of which other ``khanda-style Skandapurana`` issued as we have in printed editions. Thus, Groningen team completed to prove that this new critically edited text on the Nepalese palm-leaves is the ``original Skandapurana``, and continue to publish the serial volumes of the text. Nothing to say, it is surely good news to all Indologist who specially have interest in Purana textual research and Indian mythological studies. When it comes to the mythological studies, specially with Skanda (birth) myth that have several versions in Purana texts, the original Skandapurana also have a version of Skanda (birth) myth as it has the title by that name. On the supposition that Skandapurana is the whole fairly homogeneous text, we can also anticipate that the version of Skanda myth of the original Skandapurana seems to be the one of the old cycle of Skanda myth. The Skanda (birth) myth is compose of the several concrete motifs that are mostly derived from post-vedic texts and epics with some minor variations, thus we can trace back to the old motifs in the versions of the Puranic texts. It will be highly probable that the version of Skanda myth composed with the older motifs and with common motifs of which most of Skanda myths used. Comparing the Skanda myth of original Skandapurana with the other versions from Brahmapurana, Vayupurana, Vamanapurana and others, however, we meet with unexpected result that the Skanda myth of the original Skandapurana is destitute of what we regards as old motifs. This result does not always mean to say that the two different approaches toward Hindu myths, the text-historical and the motif-centered(or structural) researches encounter against each other, but mean to say that two positions should be complementary.