 A Living Portrait of India |
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| Puranas |
| Purana means `ancient'. There are 18 major Puranas - Brahma, Padma, Vishnu, Bhagavata, Narada, Markandeya, Agni, Bhavishya, Brahmavaivarta, Linga, Varaha, Skanda, Vamana, Kurma, Matsya, Garuda, Brahmanda and Vayu. They have been written over a long span of time and their contents as well as their style reflect the changing times. The Puranas are not religious texts, though they do have religious, even ritualistic, elements. They are poetry with a religious theme. They contain accounts of the creation and dissolution of the world, of the dynasties of kings, of geography, law, politics, history, philosophy and so on. They have fascinating stories about brave warriors, beautiful women, and hotheaded sages. Written mostly as poetry in the metres of the Itihasas, the Puranas are a lively mixture of realism and romanticism. Several minor Puranas also exist, known as the Upa-puranas. | . | |
An easy way to remember all the names of these Puranas, is to read this sloka. This sloka is made up of the first letters of all the names of the Puranas. |
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"Ma"dwayam "Bha"dwayam Chaiwa "Bra"trayam "Va"chatushtayam "ANaPaLinGaKuSka"ni puranani pruthak pruthak. |
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Meaning of the above sloka: The names of the Puranas start as, Two Puranas starts with "Ma" (Matsya, Markandeya) Two Puranas name starts with "Bha" (Bhagawatha, Bhavishya) Three Puranas name starts with "Bra" (Brahma, Brahmanda, Brahmavaivartha) Four Puranas name starts with "Va" (Vayu, Vamana, Vishnu, Varaha) and the rest of the seven Puranas names start with "A" - Agni "Na" - Narada "Pa" - Padma "Lin" - Linga "Ga" - Garuda "Ku" - Kurma "Ska" - Skanda All the above Puranas are different from each other. |
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