The Patala Khanda is framed, unusually among this Purana's books, as Shiva's own telling of the Ramacharita to Parvati in the depths of Patala. It picks up near the end of Rama's exile and carries the story forward — the return to Ayodhya, Bharata's long vigil at Nandigrama, and Rama's coronation — before widening into an extensive devotional and dharma-shastra sequence covering vratas, tirtha-mahatmyas, and the proper conduct of ritual life. Its final movement turns reflexive and encyclopedic: Jambavan offers Rama himself a condensed, alternate retelling of the entire Ramayana cycle (the Purakalpiya account, covering Dasharatha's Sadhya campaign, the brothers' birth, Sita's svayamvara, the exile, Vali, the war in Lanka, and the return), followed by a discourse classifying all eighteen Maha- and Upa-puranas, and closing with the elaborate shraddha rite performed for Kausalya — a devotional-ritual capstone that ends the khanda.
Chapters
1Beholding Bharata's Dwelling at Nandigrama42 v2Beholding Rama's Capital40 v3Entering the City34 v4Rama's Royal Coronation54 v5Meeting with Agastya50 v6The Birth of Ravana43 v7The Gods' Plea and Vishnu's Vow38 v8Agastya's Counsel to Raghunatha37 v9Teaching of All Dharmas63 v10Rama's Instructions to Shatrughna74 v11Releasing the Horse and Pushkala's Wife83 v12The Tale of Kamakshi86 v13Shatrughna's Entry into Ahicchatra67 v14The Tale of Chyavana65 v15Chyavana's Reward of Austerity54 v16Journey to the Horse at Chyavana's Hermitage54 v17The Mountain of Purushottama82 v18Teaching of the Brahmin30 v19Ratnagriva's Pilgrimage60 v20Glory of the Gandaki93 v21Vision of the Sannyasi48 v22Description of Nilagiri's Glory63 v23Tale of the Princes' Battle88 v24Pushkala's Victory60 v25Meeting of Subahu's Army35 v26The Mace Battle69 v27The Slaying of Chitranga48 v28Defeat of Subahu75 v29Shatrughna and Subahu Set Forth53 v30Janaka Frees the Souls in Hell77 v31The Vow of the Cow57 v32The Meeting with Satyavan26 v33The Heroes' Vows63 v34The Defeat of Vidyunmali81 v35The Dialogue of Lomasha and Aranyaka71 v36Lomasha Tells the Story of Rama93 v37Aranyaka's Journey to Vishnu's Abode67 v38Recovering the Horse from the Yogini's Realm63 v39Rukmangada Seizes the Horse56 v40The Decision to Battle Viramani57 v41The Defeat of Rukmangada, Victory of Pushkala33 v42The Rout of Viramani78 v43The Defeat of Pushkala and Shatrughna62 v44The Defeat of the Gods at Mount Drona80 v45The Meeting with Shri Rama60 v46The Setting Forth of the Horse38 v47The Telling of the Curse55 v48The Release of the Horse76 v49King Suratha's Seizure of the Horse69 v50The Dialogue Between Suratha and the Messenger57 v51The Release of Pushkala71 v52The Victory of Suratha69 v53The Meeting with Raghunatha37 v54The Binding of the Horse by Lava37 v55The Spies' Observation79 v56Bharata's Speech64 v57The Telling of the Washerman's Previous Birth67 v58Janaki's Vision of the Ganga78 v59The Tale of the Birth of Kusha and Lava86 v60The Army's Defeat and the Death of General Kalajit67 v61The Fall of Hanuman62 v62Lava's Swoon47 v63Shatrughna's Swoon and Kusha's Victory79 v64The Revival of the Army80 v65Sumati's Report80 v66The Singing of the Ramayana182 v67The Beginning of the Sacrifice87 v68The Merit of Hearing This Tale38 v69The Glory of Vrindavana118 v70The Divine Retinue of Vrindavana65 v71Narada's Vision of Radha103 v72The Sages Reborn as Gopis154 v73The Glory of Mathura56 v74Arjuni's Entreaty204 v75Narada's Own Transformation55 v76Krishna's Return to Vraja and Dvaraka9 v77Description of Shri Krishna's Form65 v78The Determination of Shaligrama Stones46 v79The Rules of Tilaka and Related Observances68 v80The Yearly Rites of Devotion69 v81The Mantra-Chintamani66 v82The Rite of Initiation and Shiva's Secret91 v83Hari's Eightfold Daily Pastime117 v84Description of Meditation upon the Lord109 v85Types of Devotion and the Glory of Vaishakha77 v86The Rule of the Vaishakha Vow47 v87The Subtlety of Dharma and the Tale of Devasharma80 v88The Five Kinds of Sons30 v89Devasharma's Past Life69 v90How Devasharma Attained Brahminhood58 v91The Fruits of Devasharma's Vow14 v92The Tale of Chitra123 v93The Fruit of the Vaishakha Vow: Divyadevi's Story Concluded15 v94The Tale of the Pretas: The Hymn of Sin's Cessation (Papa-Prashamana Stotra)159 v95The Rite of Madhava Worship and King Ambarisha's Former Birth150 v96Varaha and Prithvi; the Brahmin and Yama: The Roads to Hell and Heaven142 v97Yama Reveals the Supreme Secret: The Fivefold Giving and the Glory of Madhava107 v98Tulasi, the Ashvattha Tree, and the Three Pretas: Dhanasharma's Deliverance of His Father127 v99King Mahiratha and the Priest Kashyapa: The Conquest of Desire93 v100The King's Vaishakha Vow, and Desire's Return39 v101The King's Death: The Vision of Hell and the Power of Three Vaishakhas57 v102The King Gives Away His Own Merit: The Hell-Dwellers Freed32 v103The Brahmin's Return to Life, and the Meditation on Krishna in Vrindavana57 v104Shiva Visits Rama: The Rite of Consulting the Purana as an Oracle100 v105Rama's Journey to Narayana's Abode; the Glory of Sacred Ash (Bhasma Mahatmya)239 v106The Brahmin, the Widow, and the Dog: Sin, Sati, and the Grace of Ash112 v107Virabhadra's Battle with the Five-Headed Rakshasa: Ash Revives the Gods95 v108The Origin of Sacred Ash: Sadashiva's Three Sons and the Rite of Preparing Bhasma79 v109Ikshvaku's Redemption: The Vision of Mount Mandara and the Rite of Shiva-Linga Worship112 v110The Hunter's Self-Offering and the King Who Became Jvalamukha98 v111King Vidhrita's Dying Word: The Power of Even an Accidental Fragment of Shiva's Name53 v112Kala and Shona: The Rakshasa's Deception and the Soma-Vrata147 v113The Brahmins in the Celestial Cars: The Etiquette of Hearing the Purana56 v114Hanuman's Vision and the Rite of Shiva-Linga Worship: Gautama's Atonement Through the Purana492 v115The Vasishtha-Rakshasa Story and the Rules of Purana-Hearing97 v116The Ramayana of the Former Kalpa: Jambavan's Ancient Tale305 v117Akatha's Devotion and the Final Test at Kausalya's Shraddha: The Patala Khanda Concludes242 v
Why it matters today
Jambavan's Purakalpiya retelling of the Ramayana within this khanda is a distinctive instance of a Purana embedding a full alternate summary of another epic inside itself, addressed directly to that epic's own protagonist — a self-referential narrative device relatively rare even among the Puranas.