Cup Of Divine

Puranas

The Puranas are the richest collection of mythology in the world. Most of them attained their final form around 500 A.D. but they were passed on as an oral tradition since the time of Krishna (c. 1500 B.C.).

There are eighteen major Puranas and a few minor ones. Each is a long book consisting of various stories of the Gods and Goddesses, hymns, an outline of ancient history, cosmology, rules of life, rituals, instructions on spiritual knowledge. Hence the Puranas are like encyclopedias of religion and culture and contain material of different levels and degrees of difficulty.

The most important Puranas are theVISHNU PURANA, SHIVA PURANA andMARKENDEYA PURANA (to the Goddess). The BHAGAVATA PURANA is important to the worshippers of Krishna. Other Puranas are the Vayu, Agni, Skanda, Kalki, Linga.

The Puranas are perhaps the most important or commonly used scriptural texts of the Hindus. They were guide books for the whole of life and society

18 Major Puranas:

Brahma Purana Padma Purana Vishnu Purana Shiva Purana Bhagwata Purana Narayana Purana Markandeya Purana Agni Purana Bhavishya Purana Brahma Vaivarta Purana Linga Purana Varaha Purana Skanda Purana Vamana Purana Kurma Purana Matsya Purana Brahmanda Purana Garuda Purana