पुराण
सृष्टि, वंश और देवताओं की अनंत कथाएँ — मूल संस्कृत, लिप्यंतरण एवं अनुवाद सहित।
अभी पढ़ें
भागवत पुराण
14,091 shlokas
शिव पुराण
24,302 shlokas
विष्णु पुराण
5,984 shlokas
देवी भागवतम्
18,431 shlokas
मार्कण्डेय पुराण
6,174 shlokas
गरुड पुराण
11,999 shlokas
पद्म पुराण
49,207 shlokas
पुराण ब्रह्माण्ड-रचना, देवताओं के वंश, तथा राजवंशों के इतिहास की प्राचीन विश्वकोशीय कथाएँ हैं — व्यास द्वारा संकलित तथा पीढ़ी-दर-पीढ़ी ऋषियों से सुनाई गईं। यहाँ आठों पूर्ण पुराण उनके मूल संस्कृत में, IAST लिप्यंतरण तथा हिंदी-अंग्रेज़ी अर्थ सहित उपलब्ध हैं।
What is a Purana?
पुराण (purāṇa) means “of ancient times.” Each Purana is traditionally said to touch five subjects — creation, dissolution, the genealogies of gods and sages, the cosmic ages, and the histories of royal dynasties — most opening the same way: the sage Suta Goswami reciting these ancient stories to the assembled rishis at Naimisharanya. Hindu tradition preserves 18 Mahapuranas, grouped into three families of six by the deity each holds supreme.
The Three Families · तीन कुल
Vaishnava · Sattvika
Vishnu · Bhagavata · Naradiya · Garuda · Padma · Varaha
4 / 6 live
Brahma · Rajasika
Brahma · Brahmanda · Brahmavaivarta · Markandeya · Bhavishya · Vamana
1 / 6 live
Shaiva · Tamasika
Matsya · Kurma · Linga · Shiva · Skanda · Agni
2 / 6 live
Classification follows the Puranas' own account of themselves (e.g. Padma Purana, Uttara Khanda). The Devi Bhagavatam sits outside this classical eighteen — some Shakta traditions count it in place of the Bhagavata Purana.
Frequently Asked · अक्सर पूछे जाने वाले प्रश्न
Tradition reckons 18 Mahapuranas ("great" Puranas) and a further 18 Upapuranas ("minor" Puranas), totalling roughly 400,000 verses across the corpus. The Mahapuranas are themselves classically grouped into three sets of six — Vaishnava, Brahma, and Shaiva — according to which deity each holds as supreme.
पुराण (purāṇa) means "of ancient times" — old lore. A Purana is traditionally said to touch five subjects, the pañca-lakṣaṇa: sarga (the universe’s first creation), pratisarga (its periodic dissolution and re-creation), vaṃśa (the genealogies of gods and sages), manvantara (the cosmic ages, each ruled by a Manu), and vaṃśānucaritam (the dynastic histories of the solar and lunar royal lines). Most open with the same frame: the sage Suta Goswami reciting these ancient stories to a gathering of sages in the forest of Naimisharanya.
The Skanda Purana is by far the largest of all eighteen Mahapuranas — and the largest single text in the entire Puranic corpus. This edition runs to 102,621 verses across 1,918 chapters, organised into eight khandas (books), each centred on a major tirtha or sacred region: Kashi, Prabhasa, Avanti (Ujjain), Dvaraka, and more.
The Bhagavata Purana (Srimad Bhagavatam) is widely regarded as the crown of the Puranic literature, devoted above all to Krishna — its tenth of twelve skandhas narrates his life in full, from birth at Mathura through his years in Vraja to the establishment of Dvaraka. Many traditions consider it the natural conclusion of Vedic study.
No — the Puranas belong to smriti ("what is remembered"), composed and transmitted by sages, rather than shruti ("what is heard"), the directly revealed Vedas. They are traditionally attributed to Vyasa and function as the accessible counterpart to Vedic ritual literature: the same cosmology, genealogy, and dharma carried in story form for everyone, not only those initiated into Vedic study.