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Questions tagged [puranas]

Puranas (Sanskrit: पुराण) are ancient Hindu texts eulogizing various deities, primarily the divine Trimurti God in Hinduism through divine stories. Questions pertaining to the 18 mahapuranas can use this tag.

Purana (Sanskrit: पुराण, Purāṇa) literally means "very old or ancient", so these are ancient Theistic Vedic texts compiled by the Sage Krishna Dwaipayana Vyasdeva.

The Puranas deal with myriad of different topics helping the jiva or soul to evolve in his journey towards the supreme destination. It answers the questions important to human-beings like Who am I? Purpose of Life? What is my Relationship with other human beings and God? How to lead a happy life? etc etc and also giving case histories from ancient past of persons who were successful or who failed miserably.

The case histories are not limited to just the earth planet nor are limited to current yuga time-scale.

Technically a text is called a Purāṇa if it has some of the following characteristics:

  1. The creation of this universe
  2. The subsequent creation of worlds and beings
  3. The maintenance of all living beings
  4. The sustenance of universe, worlds and the beings
  5. The rule of various Manus
  6. The dynasties of great kings
  7. The activities of such kings
  8. Annihilation of the Universe
  9. Motivation
  10. The Supreme shelter

More Learning

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Is there any mention of a fountain of youth in the Purans?

The concept of the fountain of youth is common in many other religions. Are there any similar mentions in Hindu purans? (I searched quite a lot, but I did not find any. Perhaps it is known by a different name?) Immortality and Eternal Youth go hand…
Bhargav Rao
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Resurrection stories in Hindu scriptures?

Christians claim the resurrection story to be very unique. Is there any story in Puranas , where anyone died and resurrected after dying. And also is there is any parallel story of someone raising people from the dead.
Pythagorean Mystic
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Is the order of creation of Puranas given in Puranas?

While reading the article "Kamakshi Mahatyam" (on Kamakotimandali) I found the claim that Brahmanda Purana is the last among the Puranas. The limitless glory of Sri Kamakshi has been described in Sruti, Smrti, Purana, Itihasa, Agama and Tantras.…
Rickross
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In which Purana the story of Madhyandina Maharshi appears?

In which purana the story of Madhyandina Maharshi appears ? Whether both Madhyandina Maharshi and Vyaghrapada are same ?
Satyanarayan Mujumdar
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What should be the sequence of reading(happening) Puranas?

There being numerous Puranas, what should be the sequence of reading adheard, to make the history more understandable to human mind. I will also like the sequence on basis of time, for example, Ramayan was of time before Mahabharat, so its likely to…
Mr. K
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Which Puranas or scriptures contain the sloka purāṇaṃ sarva śāstrāṇāṃ

Which Puranas or scriptures contain the śloka पुराणं सर्व शास्त्राणां प्रथमं ब्रह्मणा स्मृतम् । अनन्तरं च वक्त्रेभ्यो वेदास्तस्य विनिर्गताः ॥ purāṇaṃ sarva śāstrāṇāṃ prathamaṃ brahmaṇā smṛtam । anantaraṃ ca vaktrebhyo vedāstasya vinirgatāḥ ॥ The…
Student
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Religious text or verse that can ease mental stress and faulty thinking

I like to know if there is any religious text or verse that we can chant or say (does not matter if its's being chanted/ said during day or night) when one has a lot of mental stress or feeling restless mentally.
Kishore
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Did Kamsa have any children?

Did Kamsa have any children. What I know is that Jarasandha’s daughters were married to him. But I have not come across any reference to his children. Can anyone throw some light on this?
Jagadish Shri
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Are there any Puranas that are no more extant but known well?

Currently, there are 18 mahapuranas and 18 upapuranas. Is there any Purana, other than those above, whose name is well known and is no more extant? Or the total count is exactly 36?
hanugm
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What is the story of Madalasa?

Who was Madalasa? What is the story of Ritudhwaj and Madalasa? Is it true that she's known as a great mother in Hinduism?
Venki
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Which is the Purana Brihat Samhita depicted in?

In which Purana, Brihat Samhita finds a place? What does this depict?
Parthasarathy Raghavan
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Who narrated each of the major 18 Puranas?

NOTE: This question is NOT a duplicate of this question. I am not asking who composed the Puranas, but rather who narrated them. Many of the Puranas were narrated by Suta Goswami to a group of Rishis headed by Saunaka. The Srimad Bhagavata Purana…
Ikshvaku
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Why is human life limited according to Hinduism?

Why is the human life limited? Why is it not infinite like gods . This would help the humans to correct our mistakes and to lead a peaceful life without any greed or fear of losing any one. Why god gave us limited life?
Amruth A
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Naimisharanya in Puranas

We all know that the narration of Mahabharata, Puranas has been done in Naimisharanya. My question's are Which all Puranas describe the 1) origin and 2) Mahatmya of Naimisharanyam, 3)Gomati River and 4) different places 5) and teerthas in and…
Student
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Reasons for attaining preta janma and how to get relieved

What are the reasons for attaining for preta janma [various are there] and how to get relieved from that? viz what are the prayaschittas to be done for that?
Parthasarathy Raghavan
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