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Kurma Purana - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Kurma Purana (Sanskrit: , Krma Pura} is one of the eighteen Mahapurana, a genre of Hindu religious texts. It is believed to have been directly narrated by the Lord Vishnuto the sage Narada, and it contains the details about the Kurma Avatar. Narada is believed to have stated the contents of this Puranas to Suta, who narrated this Purana to an assembly of great sages. The Padma Purana categorizes Kurma Purana as a Tamas Purana (Purana of darkness or ignorance).[1]

Contents

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The printed editions of this text are divided into two bhgas (parts), the Prvabhga and theUttarabhga. The Prvabhga has 53 chapters and the Uttarabhga has 46 chapters. According to the tradition, the Krma Puraoriginally consisted of four sahits (sections): the Brhm Sahit, the Bhgavat Sahit, the Saur Sahit and the Vaiav Sahit. The extant text would correspond to the Brhm Sahit. The Nrada Pura (I.106. 1-22) gives a brief overview of these four sections. According to this work, the Brhm Sahit consisted of 6,000 lokas (verses) and its contents agrees completely with the extant Krma Pura. The Bhgavat Sahit consisted of 4,000 lokas and was divided into five pdas (sub-sections). It was also known by the sobriquet thePacapad. This section had dealt with the duties of the Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas,Shudras and the mixed castes. The Saur Sahit had 2,000 lokas and was divided into sixpdas. This section had dealt with the six magic acts: nti, vakaraa, stambhana,vidveaa, uccana and Mraa. The Vaiav Sahit had 5,000 lokas and was divided into four pdas dealing with moka dharma.[2]

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurma_Purana

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