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noun
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PURĀNA , s. (Sacred and mythological poem, derived from the same religious system as the Rāmāyana and Mahābhā- rata. or from the mytho-heroic style of Hindu belief: being a departure from the purer system of the Vedas They are eignteen in number, and each one is supposed to treat of five topies, viz. 1. the creation, 2. the destruc- tion and renovation of worlds, 3. the genealogy of gods and heroes, 4. the reign of the Manus, 5. the transac- tions of their descendants. From this five-fold division, and from the antiquity of the stories narrated, come the general names
पुराणं, पञ्चलक्षणं. The specific titles are as follows: 1. ब्रह्मपुराणं or ब्राह्मपुराणं, 2. पद्नपुराणं, 3. विष्णुपु-राणं, 4. शिवपुराणं, 5. भागवतपुराणं or भगवत्पुराणं, 6. नारदपुराणं,7. मार्कण्डपुराणं, मार्कण्डेयपुराणं, 8. अग्निपुराणं, 9. भविष्यपुराणं, 10. ब्रह्म-वैवर्त्तपुराणं, 11. लिङ्गपुराणं, 12. वराहपुराणं, 13. स्कन्दपुराणं, 14. बाम-नपुराणं, 15. कूर्म्मपुराणं, 16, मत्स्यपुराणं, 17. गारुडपुराणं, 18. ब्रह्मा-ण्डपुराणं. Sometimes a Purāna called the वायुपुराणं or वायवीयपुराणं is substituted for the शिवपुराणं, and another called the नरसिंहपुराणं for the ब्रह्माण्डपुराणं. These eighteen mythological works are the repository of the modern and popular religious creed of the Hindūs. They are amplifications of the two great heroic and historical poems or Itihāsa, called Rāmāyana and Mahābhārata, giving a more connected and definite explanation of the mythical fictions and historical traditions contained in those works. They are consequently remarkable for attributing paramount importance to the two divinities, Śiva and Vishnu, who, under one form or other, are almost the sole objects that are made to claim homage. Each separate Purāna cannot, therefore, be taken as a guide to Hindū belief as a whole, but rather to some separate branch of it, in which the worship of either one of these deities in particular incarnations is en- couraged in preference to that of the other. The most celebrated of them all is the fifth in the above list, or Bhāgavata Purāna, designed for the glorification of Bha- gavat or Vishnu, in the form of Krishna. This exer- cises a more direct and powerful influence on the opinions of the natives of India than any other. The third, or Vishnu Purāna, translated by Professor Wilson, is also a work of great celebrity, and conforms most closely to the definition of Panchalakshanam, i. e. treat- ing of five specified topics. There are also eighteen Upapuranas, or similar poems of inferior sanctity and different appellations, viz.: 1. सनत्कुमारं, 2. नारसिंहं, 3. नार-दीयं, 4. शिवं, 5. दुर्वाससं, 6. कापिलं, 7. मानवं, 8. औशानसं, 9. वरुणं,10. कालिका, 11. शम्भं, 12. नन्दिकेश्वरं, 13. सौरं, 14. पाराशरं,15. आदित्यं, 16. माहेश्वरं, 17. भागवतं, 18. वशिष्ठं. The collector and arranger of the Purānas, as well as of the more ancient Vedas, was a sage named Krishna कृष्णः, or Dwai- pāyana द्वैपायनः, or Kṛṣnadvaipāyana कृष्णद्वैपायनः. The surname of Vyāsa व्यासः or
‘Arranger’ (from the root अस् with वि, meaning to
‘dispose’ or
‘set in order’), was given to him, and is now used to denote any ex- pounder of the Vedas or Purānas. His seat is called व्यासासनं, व्यासपीठं.
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