Professional Documents
Culture Documents
There are 18 Mukhya Puranas (Major Puranas) and 18 Purana manuscripts from 15th to 19th century
Upa Puranas (Minor Puranas), [8] with over 400,000
[2]
verses. The first versions of various Puranas were likely
to have been composed between 3rd and 10th century CE.[9] The Puranas do not enjoy the authority of a
scripture in Hinduism,[8] but are considered as Smritis.[10]
They have been influential in the Hindu culture, inspiring major national and regional annual festivals of
Hinduism.[11] Their role and value as sectarian religious texts and historical texts has been controversial
because all Puranas praise many gods and goddesses and "their sectarianism is far less clear cut" than
assumed, states Ludo Rocher.[12] The religious practices included in them are considered Vaidika
(congruent with Vedic literature), because they do not preach initiation into Tantra.[13] The Bhagavata
Purana has been among the most celebrated and popular texts in the Puranic genre, and is, in the opinion of
some, of non-dualistic tenor.[14][15] But, the dualistic school of Shriman Madhvacharya has a rich and
strong tradition of dualistic interpretation of the Bhagavata, starting from the Bhagavata Taatparya Nirnaya
of the Acharya himself and later, commentaries on the commentary. The Chaitanya school also rejects
outright any monistic interpretation of the purana. The Puranic literature wove with the Bhakti movement in
India, and both Dvaita and Advaita scholars have commented on the underlying Vedantic themes in the
Maha Puranas.[16]
Etymology
Douglas Harper states that the etymological origins of Puranas are from Sanskrit Puranah, literally
"ancient, former," from pura "formerly, before," cognate with Greek paros "before," pro "before," Avestan
paro "before," Old English fore, from Proto-Indo-European *pre-, from *per-."[17]
Origin
Vyasa, the narrator of the Mahabharata, is hagiographically credited as the compiler of the Puranas. The
ancient tradition suggests that originally there was but one Purana. Vishnu Purana (3.6.15) mentions that
Vyasa entrusted his Puranasamhita to his disciple Lomaharshana, who in turn imparted it to his
disciples,[note 1] three of whom compiled their own samhitas. These three, together with Lomaharshana's,
comprise the Mulasamhita, from which the later eighteen Puranas were derived.[18][19]
The term Purana appears in the Vedic texts. For example, Atharva Veda mentions Purana (in the singular)
in XI.7.24 and XV.6.10-11:[20]
"The rk and saman verses, the chandas, the Purana along with the Yajus formulae, all sprang from
the remainder of the sacrificial food, (as also) the demigods that resort to heaven. He changed his
place and went over to great direction, and Itihasa and Purana, gathas, verses in praise of heroes
followed in going over."
Similarly, the Shatapatha Brahmana (XI.5.6.8) mentions Itihasapuranam (as one compound word) and
recommends that on the 9th day of Pariplava, the hotr priest should narrate some Purana because "the
Purana is the Veda, this it is" (XIII.4.3.13). However, states P.V. Kane, it is not certain whether these texts
suggested several works or a single work with the term Purana.[22] The late Vedic text Taittiriya Aranyaka
(II.10) uses the term in the plural. Therefore, states Kane, that in the later Vedic period at least, the Puranas
referred to three or more texts, and that they were studied and recited.[22] In numerous passages the
Mahabharata mentions 'Purana' in both singular and plural forms. Moreover, it is not unlikely that, where
the singular 'Puranam' was employed in the texts, a class of works was meant.[22] Further, despite the
mention of the term Purana or Puranas in the Vedic texts, there is uncertainty about the contents of them
until the composition of the oldest Dharmashastra Apastamba Dharmasutra and Gautama Dharmasutra,
which mention Puranas that resemble the extant Puranas.[22]
Another early mention of the term 'Itihas-purana' is found in the Chandogya Upanishad (7.1.2), translated
by Patrick Olivelle as "the corpus of histories and ancient tales as the fifth Veda".[23][24][note 2] The
Brhadaranyaka Upanishad also refers to purana as the "fifth Veda".[26][27]
According to Thomas Coburn, Puranas and early extra-puranic texts attest to two traditions regarding their
origin, one proclaiming a divine origin as the breath of the Great Being, the other as a human named Vyasa
as the arranger of already existing material into eighteen Puranas. In the early references, states Coburn, the
term Purana occurs in singular unlike the later era which refers to a plural form presumably because they
had assumed their "multifarious form".[19]
According to the Indologists J. A. B. van Buitenen and Cornelia Dimmitt, the Puranas that have survived
into the modern era are ancient but represent "an amalgam of two somewhat different but never entirely
different separate oral literatures: the Brahmin tradition stemming from the reciters of the Vedas, and the
bardic poetry recited by Sutas that was handed down in Kshatriya circles".[28] The original Puranas comes
from the priestly roots while the later genealogies have the warrior and epic roots. These texts were
collected for the "second time between the fourth and sixth centuries CE under the rule of the Gupta kings",
a period of Hindu renaissance.[29] However, the editing and expansion of the Puranas did not stop after the
Gupta era, and the texts continued to "grow for another five hundred or a thousand years" and these were
preserved by priests who maintained Hindu pilgrimage sites and temples.[29] The core of Itihasa-Puranas,
states Klaus Klostermaier, may possibly go back to the seventh century BCE or even earlier.[30]
It is not possible to set a specific date for any Purana as a whole, states Ludo Rocher. He points out that
even for the better established and more coherent puranas such as Bhagavata and Vishnu, the dates
proposed by scholars continue to vary widely and endlessly.[18] The date of the production of the written
texts does not define the date of origin of the Puranas.[31] They existed in an oral form before being written
down.[31] In the 19th century, F. E. Pargiter believed the "original Purana" may date to the time of the final
redaction of the Vedas.[32] Wendy Doniger, based on her study of indologists, assigns approximate dates to
the various Puranas. She dates Markandeya Purana to c. 250 CE (with one portion dated to c. 550 CE),
Matsya Purana to c. 250–500 CE, Vayu Purana to c. 350 CE, Harivamsa and Vishnu Purana to c. 450 CE,
Brahmanda Purana to c. 350–950 CE, Vamana Purana to c. 450–900 CE, Kurma Purana to c. 550–850
CE, and Linga Purana to c. 600–1000 CE.[9]
Texts
Mahapuranas
Of the many texts designated 'Puranas' the most important are the Mahāpurāṇas or the major Puranas.[8]
These are said to be eighteen in number, divided into three groups of six, though they are not always
counted in the same way. The list of Mahapuranas is mentioned in the Vishnu Purana, part 3, chapter 6,
verses 21–24.[33] The number of verses in each Mahapurana is mentioned in the Bhagavata Purana, part
12, chapter 13, verses 4–9.[34]
Verses
S.No. Maha Purana Description
number
Sometimes also called Adi Purana, because many Mahapuranas lists put it
first of 18.[35] The text has 245 chapters, shares many passages with
10,000 Vishnu, Vayu, Markendeya Puranas, and with the Mahabharata. Includes
1 Brahma
verses mythology, theory of war, art work in temples, and other cultural topics.
Describes holy places in Odisha, and weaves themes of Vishnu and
Shiva, but hardly any mention of deity Brahma despite the title.[35]
4 Shiva
24,000 The Shiva Purana asserts that it once consisted of 100,000
verses
verses set out in twelve samhitas (books), however the
Purana adds that it was abridged by sage Vyasa before being
taught to Romaharshana.
10,000
14 Vamana Describes North India, particularly Himalayan foothills region.
verses
17,000 Contains a combination of Vishnu and Shiva related legends, mythology,
15 Kurma
verses Tirtha (pilgrimage) and theology
The Puranas, according to Flood, have traditionally been classified according to three qualities (guna)
which are inherent in existence, namely the quality of light or purity (sattva), passion (rajas), and darkness
or inertia (tamas), with each quality having six puranas focused, but not exclusively, upon a single deity.[57]
The Puranas have also been classified based on a specific deity, although the texts are mixed and revere all
gods and goddesses:
Deity Puranas
Agni[37] Agni[note 3]
Two puranas have "Bhagavata" in their names, the Bhagavata Purana and Devi Bhagavata Purana, which
Srivastava says both are called Mahapuranas in Sanskrit literature, where the Vayu Purana, Matsya Purana,
and Aditya Upa Purana admit the Devi Bhagavata Purana as a Mahapurana, whereas the Padma Purana,
Garuda Purana and Kurma Purana consider it an Upapurana.[62] There are discussions on whether the Devi
Bhagavata Purana is a Mahapurana.[63][64][65][66]
Upapurana
The difference between Upapuranas and Mahapuranas has been explained by Rajendra Hazra as, "a
Mahapurana is well known, and that what is less well known becomes an Upapurana".[67] Rocher states
that the distinction between Mahapurana and Upapurana is ahistorical, there is little corroborating evidence
that either were more or less known, and that "the term Mahapurana occurs rarely in Purana literature, and
is probably of late origin."[68]
The Upapuranas are eighteen in number, with disagreement as to which canonical titles belong in
that list of eighteen.
Skanda Purana
The Skanda Purana is the largest Purana with 81,000 verses,[73] named after deity Skanda, the son of Shiva
and Uma, and brother of deity Ganesha.[74] The mythological part of the text weaves the stories of Shiva
and Vishnu, along with Parvati, Rama, Krishna and other major gods in the Hindu pantheon.[73] In Chapter
1.8, it declares,
Vishnu is nobody but Shiva, and he who is called Shiva is but identical with Vishnu.
The Skanda Purana has received renewed scholarly interest ever since the late 20th-century discovery of a
Nepalese Skanda Purana manuscript dated to be from the early 9th century. This discovery established that
Skanda Purana existed by the 9th century. However, a comparison shows that the 9th-century document is
entirely different from versions of Skanda Purana that have been circulating in South Asia since the colonial
era.[77]
Content
Several Puranas, such as the Matsya Purana,[78] list "five characteristics" or "five signs" of a Purana.[2]
These are called the Pancha Lakshana ( pañcalakṣaṇa), and are topics covered by a Purana:[79][80][81]
The Puranas, states Flood, document the rise of the theistic traditions such as those based on Vishnu, Shiva
and the goddess Devi and include respective mythology, pilgrimage to holy places, rituals and
genealogies.[88] The bulk of these texts in Flood's view were established by 500 CE, in the Gupta era
though amendments were made later. Along with inconsistencies, common ideas are found throughout the
corpus but it is not possible to trace the lines of influence of one Purana upon another so the corpus is best
viewed as a synchronous whole.[89] An example of similar stories woven across the Puranas, but in
different versions, include the lingabhava – the "apparition of the linga". The story features Brahma,
Vishnu, and Shiva, the three major deities of Hinduism, who get together, debate, and after various versions
of the story, in the end the glory of Shiva is established by the apparition of linga. This story, state
Bonnefoy, and Doniger, appears in Vayu Purana 1.55, Brahmanda Purana 1.26, Shiva Purana's Rudra
Samhita Sristi Khanda 15, Skanda Purana's chapters 1.3, 1.16 and 3.1, and other Puranas.[90]
The texts are in Sanskrit as well as regional languages,[4][5] and almost entirely in narrative metric
couplets.[1]
The wife of Adharma (vice, wrong, evil) was Hinsá (violence), on whom he begot a son Anrita
(falsehood), and a daughter Nikriti (immorality): they intermarried, and had two sons, Bhaya
(fear) and Naraka (hell); and twins to them, two daughters, Máyá (deceit) and Vedaná (torture),
who became their wives. The son of Bhaya (fear) and Máyá (deceit) was the destroyer of living
creatures, or Mrityu (death); and Dukha (pain) was the offspring of Naraka (hell) and Vedaná
(torture). The children of Mrityu were Vyádhi (disease), Jará (decay), Soka (sorrow), Trishńa
(greediness), and Krodha (wrath). These are all called the inflictors of misery, and are
characterised as the progeny of Vice (Adharma). They are all without wives, without posterity,
without the faculty to procreate; they perpetually operate as causes of the destruction of this
world. On the contrary, Daksha and the other Rishis, the elders of mankind, tend perpetually to
influence its renovation: whilst the Manus and their sons, the heroes endowed with mighty power,
and treading in the path of truth, as constantly contribute to its preservation.
Some scholars such as Govinda Das suggest that the Puranas claim a link to the Vedas but in name only, not
in substance. The link is purely a mechanical one.[96] Scholars such as Viman Chandra Bhattacharya and
PV Kane state that the Puranas are a continuation and development of the Vedas.[97] Sudhakar Malaviya
and VG Rahurkar state the connection is closer in that the Puranas are companion texts to help understand
and interpret the Vedas.[97][98] K.S. Ramaswami Sastri and Manilal N. Dvivedi reflect the third view which
states that Puranas enable us to know the "true import of the ethos, philosophy, and religion of the
Vedas".[99]
Barbara Holdrege questions the fifth Veda status of Itihasas (the Hindu epics) and Puranas.[100][note 8] The
Puranas, states V.S. Agrawala, intend to "explicate, interpret, adapt" the metaphysical truths in the
Vedas.[19] In the general opinion, states Rocher, "the Puranas cannot be divorced from the Vedas" though
scholars provide different interpretations of the link between the
two.[97] Scholars have given the Bhagavata Purana as an example
of the links and continuity of the Vedic content such as providing an
interpretation of the Gayatri mantra.[97]
Puranas as encyclopedias
The Puranas, states Kees Bolle, are best seen as "vast, often
encyclopedic" works from ancient and medieval India.[102] Some
of them, such as the Agni Purana and Matsya Purana, cover all sorts
of subjects, dealing with – states Rocher – "anything and
everything", from fiction to facts, from practical recipes to abstract
philosophy, from geographic Mahatmyas (travel guides)[103] to
cosmetics, from festivals to astronomy.[4][104] Like encyclopedias,
they were updated to remain current with their times, by a process The mythology in the Puranas has
called Upabrimhana.[105] However, some of the 36 major and inspired many reliefs and sculptures
minor Puranas are more focused handbooks, such as the Skanda found in Hindu temples.[93] The
legend behind the Krishna and Gopis
Purana, Padma Purana and Bhavishya Purana which deal primarily
relief above is described in the
with Tirtha Mahatmyas (pilgrimage travel guides),[103] while Vayu
Bhagavata Purana.[94]
Purana and Brahmanda Purana focus more on history, mythology
and legends.[53]
Modern scholarship doubts this 19th-century premise.[108] Ludo Rocher, for example, states,
I want to stress the fact that it would be irresponsible and highly misleading to speak of or pretend
to describe the religion of the Puranas.
The study of Puranas as a religious text remains a controversial subject.[109] Some Indologists, in colonial
tradition of scholarship, treat the Puranic texts as scriptures or useful source of religious contents.[110] Other
scholars, such as Ronald Inden, consider this approach "essentialist and antihistorical" because the Purana
texts changed often over time and over distance, and the underlying presumption of they being religious
texts is that those changes are "Hinduism expressed by a religious leader or philosopher", or
"expressiveness of Hindu mind", or "society at large", when the texts and passages are literary works and
"individual geniuses of their authors".[111]
Jainism
The Jaina Puranas are like Hindu Puranas encyclopedic epics in style, and are considered as anuyogas
(expositions), but they are not considered Jain Agamas and do not have scripture or quasi-canonical status
in Jainism tradition.[5] They are best described, states John Cort, as post-scripture literary corpus based upon
themes found in Jain scriptures.[5]
[The Puranic text] merely affirm that the other deity is to be considered a derivative manifestation
of their respective deity, or in the case of Devi, the Shakti, or power of the male divinity. The term
monotheism, if applied to the Puranic tradition, needs to be understood in the context of a
supreme being, whether understood as Vishnu, Shiva or Devi, who can manifest himself or
herself as other supreme beings.
— Edwin Bryant, Krishna: The Beautiful Legend of God: Srimad Bhagavata Purana[112]
Ludo Rocher, in his review of Puranas as sectarian texts, states, "even though the Puranas contain sectarian
materials, their sectarianism should not be interpreted as exclusivism in favor of one god to the detriment of
all others".[115]
Manuscripts
The study of Puranas manuscripts has been
challenging because they are highly
inconsistent. [118][119] This is true for all Mahapuranas
and Upapuranas. [118] Most editions of Puranas, in use
particularly by Western scholars, are "based on one
manuscript or on a few manuscripts selected at An 11th-century Nepalese palm-leaf manuscript in
random", even though divergent manuscripts with the Sanskrit of Devimahatmya (Markandeya Purana).
same title exist. Scholars have long acknowledged the
existence of Purana manuscripts that "seem to differ
much from the printed edition", and it is unclear which one is accurate, and whether conclusions drawn
from the randomly or cherrypicked printed version were universal over geography or time.[118] This
problem is most severe with Purana manuscripts of the same title, but in regional languages such as Tamil,
Telugu, Bengali, and others which have largely been ignored.[118]
Modern scholarship noticed all these facts. It recognized that the extent of the genuine Agni
Purana was not the same at all times and in all places and that it varied with the difference in time
and locality. (...) This shows that the text of the Devi Purana was not the same everywhere but
differed considerably in different provinces. Yet, one failed to draw the logical conclusion:
besides the version or versions of Puranas that appear in our [surviving] manuscripts, and fewer
still in our [printed] editions, there have been numerous other versions, under the same titles, but
which either have remained unnoticed or have been irreparably lost.
Chronology
Newly discovered Puranas manuscripts from the medieval centuries have attracted scholarly attention and
the conclusion that the Puranic literature has gone through slow redaction and text corruption over time, as
well as sudden deletion of numerous chapters and its replacement with new content to an extent that the
currently circulating Puranas are entirely different from those that existed before 11th century, or 16th
century.[121]
For example, a newly discovered palm-leaf manuscript of Skanda Purana in Nepal has been dated to be
from 810 CE but is entirely different from versions of Skanda Purana that have been circulating in South
Asia since the colonial era.[77][121] Further discoveries of four more manuscripts, each different, suggest
that document has gone through major redactions twice, first likely before the 12th century, and the second
very large change sometime in the 15th-16th century for unknown reasons.[122] The different versions of
manuscripts of Skanda Purana suggest that "minor" redactions, interpolations, and corruption of the ideas in
the text over time.[122]
Rocher states that the date of the composition of each Purana remains a contested issue.[123][124] Dimmitt
and van Buitenen state that each of the Puranas manuscripts is encyclopedic in style, and it is difficult to
ascertain when, where, why and by whom these were written:[125]
As they exist today, the Puranas are stratified literature. Each titled work consists of material that
has grown by numerous accretions in successive historical eras. Thus no Purana has a single date
of composition. (...) It is as if they were libraries to which new volumes have been continuously
added, not necessarily at the end of the shelf, but randomly.
— Cornelia Dimmitt and J.A.B. van Buitenen, Classical Hindu Mythology: A Reader in the
Sanskrit Puranas[125]
Forgeries
Many of the extant manuscripts were written on palm leaf or copied during the British India colonial era,
some in the 19th century.[126][127] The scholarship on various Puranas, has suffered from frequent
forgeries, states Ludo Rocher, where liberties in the transmission of Puranas were normal and those who
copied older manuscripts replaced words or added new content to fit the theory that the colonial scholars
were keen on publishing.[126][127]
Translations
Horace Hayman Wilson published one of the earliest English translations of one version of the Vishnu
Purana in 1840.[128] The same manuscript, and Wilson's translation, was reinterpreted by Manmatha Nath
Dutt and published in 1896.[129] The All India Kashiraj Trust has published editions of the Puranas.[130]
Marinas Poullé (Mariyadas Pillai) published a French translation from a Tamil version of the Bhagavata
Purana in 1788, and this was widely distributed in Europe becoming an introduction to the 18th-century
Hindu culture and Hinduism to many Europeans during the colonial era. Poullé republished a different
translation of the same text as Le Bhagavata in 1795, from Pondicherry.[131] A copy of Poullé translation is
preserved in Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris.
Influence
The most significant influence of the Puranas genre of Indian literature has been stated scholars and
particularly Indian scholars,[133] in "culture synthesis", in weaving and integrating the diverse beliefs from
ritualistic rites of passage to Vedantic philosophy, from fictional legends to factual history, from individual
introspective yoga to social celebratory festivals, from temples to pilgrimage, from one god to another, from
goddesses to tantra, from the old to the new.[134] These have been dynamic open texts, composed socially,
over time. This, states Greg Bailey, may have allowed the Hindu culture to "preserve the old while
constantly coming to terms with the new", and "if they are anything, they are records of cultural adaptation
and transformation" over the last 2,000 years.[133]
The Puranic literature, suggests Khanna, influenced "acculturation
and accommodation" of a diversity of people, with different
languages and from different economic classes, across different
kingdoms and traditions, catalyzing the syncretic "cultural mosaic
of Hinduism".[135] They helped influence cultural pluralism in
India and are a literary record thereof.[135]
Indian Arts
The cultural influence of the Puranas extended to Indian classical arts, such as songs, dance culture such as
Bharata Natyam in south India[132] and Rasa Lila in northeast India,[137] plays and recitations.[138]
Festivals
The myths, lunar calendar schedule, rituals, and celebrations of major Hindu cultural festivities such as
Holi, Diwali and Durga Puja are in the Puranic literature.[139][140]
Notes
1. Six disciples: Sumati, Agnivarchaha, Mitrayu, Shamshapyana, Akritaverna and Savarni
2. The early Buddhist text (Sutta Nipata 3.7 describes the meeting between the Buddha and
Sela. It has been translated by Mills and Sujato as, "(...) the brahmin Sela was visiting
Āpaṇa. He was an expert in the three Vedas, with the etymologies, the rituals, the phonology
and word analysis, and fifthly the legendary histories".[25]
3. Like all Puranas, this text underwent extensive revisions and rewrite in its history; the extant
manuscripts are predominantly an encyclopedia, and so secular in its discussions of gods
and goddesses that scholars have classified as Smartism, Shaktism, Vaishnavism and
Shaivism Purana.[58]
4. This text underwent a near complete rewrite in or after 15th/16th century CE, and almost all
extant manuscripts are Vaishnava (Krishna) bhakti oriented.[59]
5. Hazra includes this in Vaishnava category.[50]
6. This text is named after a Vishnu avatar, but extant manuscripts praise all gods and
goddesses equally with some versions focusing more on Shiva.[60]
7. This text includes the famous Devi-Mahatmya, one of the most important Goddess-related
text of the Shaktism tradition in Hinduism.[61]
8. There are only four Vedas in Hinduism. Several texts have been claimed to have the status
of the Fifth Veda in the Hindu tradition. For example, the Natya Shastra, a Sanskrit text on
the performing arts, is also so claimed.[101]
References
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Further reading
Mackenzie, C. Brown (1990). The Triumph of the Goddess – The Canonical Models and
Theological Visions of the DevI-BhAgavata PuraNa. State University of New York Press.
ISBN 0-7914-0363-7.
Singh, Nagendra Kumar (1997). Encyclopaedia of Hinduism. ISBN 81-7488-168-9.
External links
GRETIL (http://www.sub.uni-goettingen.de/ebene_1/fiindolo/gretil.htm#Pur) (uni-
goettingen.de)
Translations
Agni Purana (in English) (http://hdl.handle.net/2027/uc1.b4023049), Volume 2, MN Dutt
(Translator), Hathi Trust Archives
Vishnu Purana (http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/vp/index.htm) H.H. Wilson
Vishnu Purana (https://archive.org/stream/Vishnupurana-English-MnDutt#page/n15/mode/2u
p), MN Dutt
Brahmanda Purana (https://archive.org/stream/BrahmandaPurana/BrahmandaPuI#page/n1/
mode/2up), GV Tagare