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Padma Purana : Padma Purana belongs to Vaisnava group. This Purana consists five Khandas: Srsti, Bhumi, Svarga, Patala and Uttara. The Bhumi Khanda contains the geography of the earth. The Patala Khanda contains three groups of chapters composed at different times, the first group belonging to the Ramaite sect, the second to the Vaisnavas and third to the Linga worshippers. And also deals with the description of the subterranean regions, the legends of the kings of solar dynasty. The Svarga Khanda contains accounts of the different regions, stories of kings and demons and has utilized the Abhijnana Shakuntala and the Raghuvamsa of Kalidasa. The Srsti Khanda can be divided into two parts it contains almost the chapters of Matsya and Visnu Purana. The date of this purana may be between 750 to 950 A.D. Garuda Purana : The Garuda Purana deals with the dynasties of Kosala, Kasi and Vaisali. This Purana mentions Brhadrathas who lived in pre-Bimbasara age. It deals with the genealogies of kings in the Acara Khanda. This Purana follows the Vayu tradition as regards the solar dynasty, from Vaivasvata Manu onwards and the common tradition regarding the other dynasties. It omits several historical dynasties which the other Puranas described. The Garuda Purana is ranked among the Vaisnava Puranas for it glorifies Visnu by his various names and in his various forms.

124 In this respect it follows the Pancaratra school of Vaisnava sampradaya which eulogizes Visnu frequently by his names Hari, Narayana. It deals with the Visnubhakti. In the chapters on grammar, it gives the references to Panini. The grammatical chapters of Katyayana in the Garuda Purana were most probably composed in the third century A.D subjectively, the Garuda Purana is of an encyclopedic nature. Naradiya Purana : The Naradiya Purana a Vaisnava Purana, consists of two parts of which, the first incorporates the entire Brhan-Naradiya Purana, which was composed by the Vaisnavas about the middle of the ninth century A.D. The remaining chapters of the first part are comparatively late additions, some of them contained detail information regarding the contents of the eighteen principal puranas. The second part though attached to the Naradiya Purana. It is really an independent work, differing in general character from the first forty one chapters of the first part and some times appearing in manuscripts as an independent text. The last forty-five chapters of this part bear signs of comparatively late date. An examination of the contents of the present Naradiya Purana shows that it was first compiled some time about the beginning of the tenth century A.D. Visnu Purana : The Visnu Purana is a work belonging to the Pancaratras, and purely Vaisnava from beginning to the end. It has retained considerable faithfulness of the character of the unsectarian puranas. It is divided

125 into six parts called Amsas, each of the them consists of many chapters. In the first three sections, it deals with creation, recreation, detailed geography of the earth, and the atmosphere, description of the solar dynasties, accounts of fourteen manvantaras, names of the twenty-eight Vyasa who lived in different ages and divided the Vedas, rise of the various Vedic schools, duties of the different castes and also contains valuable information regarding the dynasties of Kaliyuga. The Visnu Purana is an early work composed most probably in the last quarter of the third or the first quarter of the fourth century A.D. Bhagavata Purana : The Bhagavata Purana which is the most popular of the extant puranic works, derives special attention not only as a literacy production on account of its language style and metre, but also as a valuable record of the theological and philosophical doctrines of the Bhagavata Vaisnavas to whom it exclusively belongs. It consists of twelve skandhas, and each divided into many chapters. It consists of eighteen thousand verses in all. It contains description of the castes and four stages of life, the duties of man, karma yoga, jnana yoga, bhakti Yoga. It represents the highest teaching of Paramahamsa. It clearly states that the knowledge of all system of philosophy. The creation of the Brahma is then described and the division of time is explained. The sixth skandhas contains a variety of legends of miscellaneous description of Varaha incarnation. The seventh skandha is occupied with the legend of Prahlada. The eighth deals with the manvantaras. Ninth skandha narrates the dynastics of Vaivasvata Manvantara.

126 The tenth skanda explains the characteristics of Purana and eleventh describes the destruction of the Yadavas, death of Krsna. And twelfth skandha continues the lines of the kings of the Kali age. The Bhagavata Purana can be assigned to the 7 th century A.D. Vamana Maha Purana : The Vamana Maha Purana occupies the fourteenth place in the list of the puranas. It is named after Vamana (The dwarf) incarnation of lord Visnu. It is the only Purana, that gives the detailed and comprehensive account of the Avatara, where from it obtains its designation along with large number of topics characteristic to the puranas. It contains ten thousand verses, consisted of four samhitas, Mahesvari, Bhagavathi, Gauri and Ganesavari, containing one thousand verses each. The legends stories and episodes in the Vamana Purana are generally of the same type and nature, as are met with in other puranas. In the descriptions of the places of pilgrimage, it gives specially a detailed and exhaustive account of the tirthas rivers and forests of Kuruksetra. As regards the date of the Vamana Purana, Fifth Century A.D., can be accepted as the upper limit. Because its author has a full impact of Kalidasa and especially his poem the Kumara Sambhava. Brahmavaivarta Purana : The Brahmavaivarta Purana is divided into four parts. It gives a detailed description of Sri Krsna and Radha whose supreme abode

127 is the Gokula. The first part-Brahma Khanda presents an account of Narayana and Siva emerging from the right and left sides of Krsna and Brahma from his navel. The second part, Prakrti-khanda describes the evolution of prakrti according to the samkhya school of thought, but affirms that it is under the control of Isvara and his sakti. The third part, Ganesa-khanda is devoted to the birth and exploits of Ganesa. The last part Sri Krsna-janma-khanda deals with the life of Krsna. The meeting of Krsna and Radha and their union is the theme of a most remarkable and picturesque poetic description in this part. Brahmanda Purana : The Brahmanda Purana so called because it is dealing with the cosmic egg. (Brahmanda), and is virtually the same as the present Vayu Purana which has been assigned the eighteenth place in almost all the lists of eighteen puranas. So it is called 'Vayaviya Brahmanda', that it is also like the Vaya Purana. The Brahmanda Purana consists of two parts. First is divided into four parts Prakriya, Anusanga, Upodghata and Upasamhara and the second part deals with the Lalitopakhyana (the story of Lalitha), is dedicated to the goddess Lalitha, a form of Durga and teaches her worship by Tantric rites. Most probably it is not earlier than 400 A.D. Brahma Purana The Brahma Purana is entirely a new work and consists mainly of chapters taken from the Mahabharata, Harivamsa, Visnu Purana,

128 Markandeya Purana and the Vayu Purana. Those chapters of this work which have not been traced anywhere else, deal chiefly with the praise of the shrines and holy places in Purusottama-ksetra, Konarka, Ekamra ksetra and Viraj ksetra which lie in Orissa and belong respectively to the Vaisnavas, Sauras, Saivas and the Saktas. It is probable that the Brahmanda Purana owed its origin to those Vaisnavas of Orissa who wanted to popularize Purusottama ksetra as a great Vaisnava holy place. Markandeya Purana : Ranking seventh in the list of the Mahapuranas, the Markandeya Purana is one of the most important, interesting and probably one of the oldest works. It was named after the sage Markandeya, who acquired his knowledge from Brahma, the creator of the universe. It seems to come from an early date and to have been non-sectarian in its origin. This purana consists of nine thousand verses, spread over one hundred and thirty seven chapters. There are three stages in the development of this purana. First stage is represented by the chapters from 43-81 and 93-136. These chapters continue the purana in its original shape. In the second stage, 1-42 chapters were composed. In these chapters, Jaimini is referred by Markandeya to the wise birds and, in the third stage long episodically and independent narrative of the actions of the goddesses are described. On the other hand it dealt with the earlier metrical smrti works and contains a few interesting legends of which special mention may be made of those of king Harischandra, whom Visvamitra made to

129 suffer endless sorrow and humiliation of queen Madalasa who gave instructions on self knowledge to her sons, etc. Bhavisya Purana : The Bhavisya Purana is given an important of place among the major puranas. The Matsya Purana says, "The Purana in which Brahman described the greatness of the sun, and the existence of the Aghora-Kalpa" that is called the Bhavisya Manu. The stories being for the most part the events of a future period.' Bhavisya Purana consists of four parvas. Brahma, Madhyama, Pratisarga, Uttara. The Brahma Parvan contains 215 chapters. It calls itself a Dharmasastra in which Srauta and Smarta Dharmas have been described. The chapters 1-2 treat of the duties of castes and Asramas and the creation of the world. The Madhyamaparvan deals with the Mandaloddhara, the construction of the mandalas like Kraunca etc., the gift making, the making of kalasa, dates and time of the rituals pertaining to gods and manes etc. Pratisarga Parvan contains thirty one chapters. It gives an account of birth of the Kauravas, the Yadavas, Pandavas, etc. It also includes the account of Salivahana, and Bhoja's reign. The fourth khanda, pratisarga parvan contains twenty-six chapters dealing with the kings of Agni, Vikrama, Paramara Tamara etc. The uttara parvan consists 208 chapters. It is equally with the proceeding a sort of manual of religious offices, the greater portion being appropriated to vrtas and remainder to the forms and circumstances in gifts are to be presented.

130 Matsya Purana : The Matsya Purana is one of the older puranas, dealing with a variety of subjects. It consists of 290 chapters comprising about 10,000 verses in a simple and lucid language. It has been named after the first incarnation of lord Visnu and deals, in detail with the story of that incarnation. Thus, it may be designated as Vaisnava Purana though it abounds in Saivite and Sakta contents also. There are certain chapters in the Matsya Purana specially dealing with the future dynasties of the Kali age. In some other chapters the genealogies of sages are also narrated and practically treat with the gotras and Pravaras. It also deals with the genealogies of kings of the Solar and Lunar dynasties. It deals with the stories of Yadavas and the descendants of Turvasu, Anu and Puru. The Kurma Purana : It was narrated by Lord Visnu in his incarnation as the tortoise at the time of the churning of the milk ocean by Devas and Asuras, who were in quest of the immortalizing nectar. It starts with discourse on the concept of Maya as a potent tool in the hands of the supreme beings to work out his scheme of creation. This purana is divided into two parts, Purva and Uttara khanda each of which contains good number of chapters on Hindu customs and also it contains several topics, daily duties, establishes and non-establishes, funeral ceremony, impurity due to births and deaths, gifts, holy places, yuga dharma and with nature of Kali age, we have also a detailed description of the vedic traditions. The second part of the

131 Purana contains metaphysical speculations and the main theme of Advaita. In short this Purana has all that is conventionally expected to be found in a Purana and motive throughout the text is the fundamental unity of Siva and Visnu. Agni Purana : Agni or Agneya Maha Purana is accorded eighth place in the list of the Maha Puranas. It is so named because it originated as a composition in praise of Agni, a form of Visnu. Its authorship is attributed to Vyasa. It is narrated as usual by his disciple Suta, and was received by him from the sage Vasistha, to whom it was communicated by Agni. It contains fourteen thousand verses. But Bhagavata and Matsya Puranas speak of Agni Purana consisting fifteen thousand and sixteen thousand verses respectively. The Purana is divided into three hundred and eighty three chapters treating a variety of subjects. The Agni Purana claims to be an epitome of all branches of Knowledge, classified into Para and Apara Vidyas. The fifty topics are discussed in the last chapter of this Purana, viz. ten incarnations of Visnu, summary of the Ramayana and Mahabharata, Harivamsa, Vaisnavagama, worship, initiation, consecration of images, the Saivagama, iconography, architecture description of the sacred places, astrology Ayurveda, Music, Rajasastra, Grammar, Vedanta Philosophy, lexicography etc. The Agni Purana is a present essence of all branches of knowledge and is an encyclopedia of all that existed; Agneya hi Puranesmin Sarvah Vidyah Pradarsitah.

132 Skanda Purana : The Skanda Purana is voluminous work consisting of a very large number of parts. Though like the other Puranas, the Skanda Purana also was subjected to additions and alterations more than once. The Skanda Purana does not contain dynastic list, yet it is an important source of Ancient Indian History and Chronology. It refers to some important remarkable personalities as well as few famous epochs of Indian History. This Purana throws an interesting as well as important light on the history of the south, extending beyond the Vindhyas upto Simhala as is evidenced by the graphic account of southern Indian. It supplies valuable information on the science of Government, variously styled Dandaniti, Rajadharma, Rajaniti, Nitisastra, Mantra sastra etc. The Skanda Purana is divided into six Samhitas and fifty khandas. The division and sub-divisions of this Purana show that the Purana grew up into a huge bulk with addition of parts which could never come from the same hand or belong to the same age. During the epic and Puranic periods, the Skanda Purana was highly popular and favourite. And Skanda was very favourite deity whom puranic poets regarded not only as a god of war but also a god of wisdom. The fact that a voluminous and important Purana came to be named after him indirectly testifies to his immense popularity. In size, Skanda Purana is second only to the Mahabharata.

133 Siva Purana : The Siva Maha Purana is a highly adored Puranna and a master peace of encyclopedic interest. It contains stories about the birth of Parvati, Ganesa, Skanda and their marriages. It has been amplified from time to time, and most probably it was consolidated in its present form in the eighth century. This Purana is a voluminous work dealing with the Saiva Philosophy myths and rituals, and contains many of the principal characteristics of a Maha Purana. It contains seven samhitas and it is divided into many chapters. The Introductory chapters give the importance of the Siva Purana. Also it contains cosmogony and cosmology of the world according to the Shiva mythology. And story of Narada, his victory, his arrogance on his achievements, his desire to marry a princess etc. are narrated. It deals mainly with the accounts of the battle fought by Siva against the various asuras. Incarnations of Siva are described and the installation and importance of twelve Jyotirlingas are described. Various Narakas have been described and philosophical aspects of Saivism are also narrated. The Upa-Puranas : The long standing tradition, current in all provinces of India, limits the number of the Mahapuranas to eighteen, but the Purana literature certainly extends beyond this traditional number. The class of works designated as Upapurana consists of a large number. As to the origin of the Upa-Puranas, the Kurma Purana (i.1.16), the Skanda Purana (Suta Samhita), etc. record a tradition that the

134 sages proclaimed the Upa-puranas after listening to the eighteen Puranas from Vyasa. The Upapuranas are also eighteen in number. They may be broadly divided into following groups in accordance with the religious views. They are Vaisnava Upapuranas, Sakta Upapuranas, Saiva Upapuranas, Saura Upapuranas, Ganapatya Upapuranas and Non-Sectarian. The Vaisnava Upapuranas : The most important among the Vaisnava Upapuranas are the Visnudharma, Visnudharmottara, Narasimha, Brhamaradiya and Kriya-yoga Sara of which the first four are Pancaratras works, and the last belongs to the Bhagavatas. The Visnudharama and the Visnudharmottara were originally known as Sastras and it was much later than they came to be recognized as Upapuranas because of their puranic characters. The Visnudharma Upapurana which has been mentioned as a Sastra in the Bhavisya Purana is a voluminous work dealing mainly with Vaisnava Philosophy and rituals. It contains few chapters on political administration, some on the duties of women and good number of myths and legends. The Visnudharmottora Upapurana which is the most important and interesting in the whole range of the Upapurana literature, is an extensive and encyclopedic work, not only containing stories, myths and legends but also dealing with the cosmology, cosmogony,

135 astrology, astronomy, division of time, specification of unfavourable planets and stars, manners, customs rules about devotional vows and funeral ceremonies, law, politics, anatomy, pathology, treatment of diseases of human beings, image making, sculpture painting, architecture and so on. It also contains some of the contents of early works like the Mahabharata the Bhagvadgita the Upanisads, Smrti works. It gives us valuable information regarding the various types of works which enriched Sanskrit literature before the time of its composition. It is a matter of great regret that many of the works utilized and referred to in the Visnudharmottara have been lost for ever. The Narasimha Purana is a work of the Pancaratras with Bhagavata inclination and is one of the oldest of the extant Upapuranas. It glorifies Nrsimha, a form of Visnu and takes him to be identical with Narayana. It deals with five characteristic topics and has a few chapters on manners, customs, methods and praise of Narasimha worship. It is familiar with the Ramayana and Mahabharata, mentions the Visnu Purana and the Varaha Purana, and utilizes the Vayu Purana in its story of the birth of twin god, Asvins. The Brahnnaradiya Upapurana which is included only in the lists of Upapuranas given in two Puranas, the Ekamra and the Brhaddharma. It also is a work of Pancaratras and describes the Vaisnava festivals and ceremonies illustrated by various legends. Some chapters of it are devoted to the glorification of the Ganges, the duties of the castes and orders, funeral sacrifices and expiation. It is pre-eminently a work on devotion to Visnu.

136 The Kriya-Yoga-Sara which is inclined in the list of Upapuranas given in Brahddharma Purana, conceives of Mahavisnu as identical with Parmatman, and recommends the study of the Bhagavata Purana. It advocates Bhakti, lays special stress on Dasya Bhakti, and describes Kriya-Yoga, which consists of worship of Ganga, Visnu, donation, devotion to Brahmanas etc. It records valuable information on the state of religion, Buddhism and other non-vedic and anti-vedic religious systems etc. Besides the Vaisnava Upapuranas mentioned above, there are few others such as Bhargava Purana, Dharma Purana, Purusottama Purana, Adi Purana and Kalki Purana. Sakta Upa-puranas : Among the Upa-puranas dealing with Sakti worship the following have come down to us: Devi Purana, Kalika Purana, Maha Bhagavata Purana, Devi Bhagavata Purana, Bhagavati Purana, Candi Purana and Sati Purana, of these the first four are most important. The Devipurana was one of the most important of Sakta Upapuranas and deals mainly with the exploits and worship of Devi, though being the primordial and pre-eminent energy. It contains various interesting stories and records important information about the incarnations of Devi, Saivism Vaisnavism, Brahmanism etc. The Kalika Purana which is regarded as one of the most authoritative work deals with the exploits and worship of Kali, who is primarily Yoga Nidra and Maya of Visnu and narrates many interesting stories. It contains valuable materials for the study of the social, religious and political history. The Mahabhagavata which is

137 distinct from the Bhagavata Mahapurana advocates Saktism with a Saiva tendency. The Devibhagavata claims to be the real Bhagavata Purana and includes the Vaisnavabhagavata, among the Upaapuranas. It lays special stress on Bhakti as a means of realizing Devi and takes Snana to be the same as Bhakti in its highest status. It holds the Vedas in high esteem and decries the Tantras whenever they go against the Vedas. Saiva Upapuranas : The Upapuranas that belong to the Siva worshippers are - Siva Purana Saura Purana, Sivadharma Purana, Siva Dharmottara, Sivarahasya, Ekamra Purana, Parasara Upapurana, Vasistha Upapurana and Vikhyada Purana. The Siva Purana is a voluminous work dealing with Saiva Philosophy, myth and rituals and contains very little of the principal characteristics of a Maha Purana. According to the Bengal tradition as known from the Bengal manuscripts, the Siva Purana consists of two parts, the first having the same text as that of the Sanat Kumara Samhita and the second consisting of thirty six chapters. The present Saura Purana is a work of the Pasupatas. It glorifies Siva and Parvati and shows how the Pasupatas tried hard to retain their own position as well as their numerical strength against the spread of Buddhism, Jainism and other heretical systems and especially of Vaisnavism. In three of its chapters, it contains amusing stories denouncing the system of Madhvacarya which was gaining ground to the great disadvantage of the Siva worshippers.

138 The Sivadharma Purana, which is a Sastra according to itself as well as to the Bhavisya Purana, came to be recognized as an Upapurana and was included in all the lists of eighteen Upapuranas. It is a short treatise of twelve chapters, in which Nandikesvara reports to Sanatkumara what Siva said to Parvati, and Kartikeya on the following topics, origin and worship of the phallic emblem of Siva, construction of temples, making gifts for his pleasure, etc. It decries the Vedic rites as being highly expensive and tiresome and extols various acts of service to Siva. The Sivadharmottara Purana also belongs to pro-Vedic Pasupatas. It consists twelve chapters, in which Skanda speaks to Agasti on the following topics; various duties of Siva worshippers, imparting of knowledge, making donations to worthy recipients, sins and the suffering of sinners, rebirths, attainment of knowledge of Siva etc. The Ekamra Purana, which is a fairly big work on the praise of Ekarma Ksetra, in Orissa, calls itself a samhita of six thousand verses and has Sanat Kumara as the speaker. It belongs to the Agamic Pasupatas, refers to a Siva Samhita, the Agamas and the Siva Tantras etc. The Saura Upapuranas : The Samba Purana is a Saura Purana which deals with the reformed cult of the sun by way of narrating the interesting story of Sambha's establishing an image of the sum at Sambhpura in Mitravana. It contains number of subsidiary stories of interest and

139 dealing with creation details of the Solar System, eclipses, geography of the earth etc. The Ganapatya Upapuranas : The comparatively late origin of the Ganapatya sect must have been responsible for the fact that there is no early Puranic work dealing exclusively with the praise and worship of Ganapati. The only two Upapuranas belong to this sect, they are - Mudgala Purana and Ganesa Purana. The Madgala Purana deals with the nine incarnations of Ganesa; Vakra tunda, Eka-danta, Mahodara, Gajanana, Lambodara etc. It speaks about the thirty two forms of Ganapati. The Ganesa Purana narrates interesting stories for the glorification of Ganesa and contains important materials for the study of the sect as well as its deity. The non-sectarian Upapuranas : The Puranic works of this type are the Bhavisyottara and the Brhaddharma Purana. The Bhavisya Purana is really a distinct work and independent Upapurana. It deals with five characteristics of Purana festivals donations, sociological and religious ideas. The Brhaddharma Purana is an interesting work. It names the thirty six castes with their respective professions, accounts their origin; it describes many popular rites and festivals and contains valuable materials for the reconstruction of the social and religious history of Bengal.