The Purāṇas
पुराण
Also written: puranas · 18 puranas · mahapurana · bhagavata purana · पुराण
Purāṇa means 'ancient'. These are the texts through which the tradition actually reached most people: cosmology, dynasty, the deeds of the deities, pilgrimage, vrata and devotion, told as narrative rather than as doctrine.
The five marks
| Lakṣaṇa | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Sarga | Primary creation — how the universe comes into being |
| Pratisarga | Secondary creation and dissolution — the recurring cycles |
| Vaṁśa | Genealogy of the gods, ṛṣis and dynasties |
| Manvantara | The ages of the fourteen Manus |
| Vaṁśānucarita | The deeds of the descendants — the histories of the royal lines |
The eighteen Mahāpurāṇas, grouped by guṇa
| Guṇa | Orientation | Purāṇas |
|---|---|---|
| Sāttvika | Viṣṇu | Viṣṇu, Bhāgavata, Nāradīya, Garuḍa, Padma, Varāha |
| Rājasa | Brahmā | Brahma, Brahmāṇḍa, Brahmavaivarta, Mārkaṇḍeya, Bhaviṣya, Vāmana |
| Tāmasa | Śiva | Śiva, Liṅga, Skanda, Agni, Matsya, Kūrma |
The great ones
- Bhāgavata Purāṇaश्रीमद्भागवत
- Twelve books, 18,000 verses. The tenth book — Kṛṣṇa's life in Vraja — is the fountainhead of the entire bhakti movement across India.
- Viṣṇu Purāṇa
- The most systematic of the Vaiṣṇava Purāṇas; the model against which the five lakṣaṇas were defined.
- Śiva Purāṇa and Liṅga Purāṇa
- The Śaiva corpus: the jyotirliṅgas, the Rudra tradition, and the philosophy of the liṅga as the formless mark.
- Devī Bhāgavata and Mārkaṇḍeya
- The Śākta core. The Devī Māhātmya — 700 verses inside the Mārkaṇḍeya — is recited entire during Navarātri.
- Skanda Purāṇa
- The longest, at over 81,000 verses; a vast repository of tīrtha (pilgrimage) literature.
- Garuḍa Purāṇa
- Known for its treatment of death, the after-death journey and the rites for the departed.
The Purāṇas openly describe themselves as the Veda made available to all — including those excluded from Vedic study. The Bhāgavata calls itself the fifth Veda for that reason. Where the Veda states a principle, the Purāṇa tells the story that carries it into a household.
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Ṛgveda
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Last revised 2026-08-16. Corrections are welcome — see how this site is written.