HINDU ENCYCLOPEDIA

सनातन धर्म भूमिका

Meaning of "Purana"

Word

Purana

Sanskrit

पुराण

IAST

purāṇa

In General

The Puranas are the Indian version of History texts that has guided them in every aspect of life. To the modern world they are a collection of mythological and genealogical texts that contain stories of gods, goddesses, sages, and historical events. They provide a rich tapestry of Hindu mythology, cosmology, and legends. The Puranas are a collection of mythological and genealogical texts that contain stories of gods, goddesses, sages, and historical events. They provide a rich tapestry of Hindu mythology, cosmology, and legends. Puranas are very vast literature of remote antiquity and the word means ancient record. They are almost like an encyclopaedia listing human achievements in our subcontinent and give a glimpse of our ancient heritage. The stories told in Puranas kept alive the Sanathana Dharma in masses for the last couple of millennia and enriched the value of life. The stories in Puranas have principles of truth, velour, moral character, and cultural values, and that have contributed a great deal of preserving these principles and values. The culture and tradition of this land were transferred from generation to generation by the moral stories told in Puranas and Itihasas. Puranas were taught in Gurukula along with Vedas as a part of the sacred lore of Sanathana Dharma.

Purana give importance to stories related to the triumph of Dharma by Trimurthi and other important Gods. It doesn’t miss to tell occasionally the detailed description of how a man should live in this world with a devotion to God and thus improve spiritual life. Puranas have a definite style of narration and recording the facts. There is invariably one speaker and one listener and their conversation reveals the importance of one particular Deity to whom that Purana is dedicated. The narrator of the story, in most Puranas, can also be believed as the co-author of the Purana. Veda Vyasa edited, vets, compiled, and partially authored these works with unbiased objectivity at the end of Dwapara Yuga. 18 Puranas authored by Vedavyasa are the famous Puranas. There are a few other Puranas also they were grouped as Upapuranas. Just like Vedas and all the Puranas is also a product of oral tradition. Veda Vyasa engaged Sage Saunaka and Sage Suta to spread Puranas and Itihasa among the masses, so in the introductory part of the Puranas, we can see them appear.

Apart from the description of the ancient kings and other important personalities as stories, the Puranas also gives a detailed description of all kind of subject like Geography, Dharmasastra, Astrology, Astronomy, Time division, Vegetation, Poetics, Rhetoric, Warfare, Medicine, Grammer, Lexicon, Ritual worship, Cosmology. The Lexicon of Sanskrit by Amara Sinha gives five characteristic topics, Pancha-lakshanam for Puranas. They are 1. Primary creation, or cosmogony; 2. Secondary creation, or the destruction and renovation of worlds, including chronology; 3. Genealogy of Gods and Prajapathi; 4. Reigns of the Manus, or periods called Manwantaras; and 5. History, or such particulars as have been preserved of the princes of prominent races, and their descendants to modern times. These rules have made Purana an interesting literature for all classes of people, the educated and the uneducated, Kings and the layman, ascetic and the householder.

Veda

The work assigned to Purana is to spread the dharmic ideas said in the Vedas

Purana

18 puranas are Traditionally considered as Mahapuranas. There are another set of 18 Upapuranas and numerous other puranas.

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Word Sanskrit IAST In General Veda Purana
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