Purāṇa / The purāṇas

Purāṇa (पुराण)

A purāṇa is old lore told as cosmology, lineage, and devotion. The tradition marks one by five topics: sarga (सर्ग), the creation; pratisarga (प्रतिसर्ग), the dissolution and the creation after it; vaṃśa (वंश), the lineages of gods and kings; manvantara (मन्वन्तर), the ages presided over by the Manus; and vaṃśānucarita (वंशानुचरित), the deeds along those lines. The lists of eighteen Mahāpurāṇas do not always name the same eighteen. This pillar follows one received list, and the compendium profiles all eighteen. The verse counts there are the traditional round numbers, and they are a received tally rather than a manuscript census. The guṇa column is the Padma Purāṇa's own sorting. Three portals, and the two summits inside the first, remain the books opened past a profile. The gītās listed with them are maps of dialogues inside those books, and of dialogues that travel with other purāṇas.

• The eighteen. The page profiles each Mahāpurāṇa: the stories, the teaching, and the line only where a line has been checked.
• The Bhāgavata holds twelve skandhas. It is the purāṇa of bhakti, and of Kṛṣṇa's life.
• The Catuḥślokī gives the four seed verses of that purāṇa. These four are sat in full.
• The Kapila Gītā is Kapila teaching Devahūti, in the third skandha. A map.
• The Veṇu Gītā is Bhāgavata 10.21. The verses that are sat live on the music shelf.
• The Gopī Gītā is Bhāgavata 10.31, the song after Kṛṣṇa leaves the rāsa.
• The Uddhava Gītā is Kṛṣṇa's last talk, in the eleventh skandha.
• The Haṃsa Gītā and the Bhikṣu Gītā are two doors inside that talk, the swan and the brāhmaṇa of Avanti.
• The Viṣṇu Purāṇa holds six aṃśas, and it keeps the five topics in a short compass.
• The Śiva Purāṇa is the printed text of seven saṃhitās.
• The Devī Māhātmya sits inside the Mārkaṇḍeya, often printed as chapters 81–93. One refrain is sat. The seven hundred verses remain the profile.
• The Devī Gītā is the Goddess teaching Himālaya, in the Devī Bhāgavata. A different book from the Māhātmya.
• The Guru Gītā is Śiva teaching Pārvatī about the teacher, under the name of the Skanda.
• The Īśvara Gītā opens the Uparibhāga of the Kūrma. Śiva teaches the sages.
• The Śiva Gītā travels with the Padma. Śiva teaches Rāma.
• The Gaṇeśa Gītā is Gaṇeśa teaching King Vareṇya, in an upapurāṇa outside the eighteen.

नेपालीमा

पुराण सृष्टि, वंश, र भक्तिको पुरानो कथा हो। परम्पराले पुराणलाई पाँच विषयबाट चिन्छ: सर्ग, प्रतिसर्ग, वंश, मन्वन्तर, र वंशानुचरित। अठार महापुराणको सूची सधैँ एउटै अठार होइन। यो स्तम्भले एउटा प्रचलित सूची पछ्याउँछ, र सारसंग्रहले अठारैको परिचय दिन्छ। श्लोकको अङ्क परम्परागत गोलो अङ्क हो। गुण पद्मपुराणको आफ्नै छनोट हो। तीन द्वार, र पहिलोभित्र दुई शिखर, परिचयभन्दा पर खोलिएका पुस्तक हुन्। भागवतमा बाह्र स्कन्ध छन्। चतुःश्लोकीका ती चार बीज श्लोक पूरा प्रस्तुत गरिएका छन्। कपिलगीता, वेणुगीता र गोपीगीता त्यही पुस्तकका नक्सा हुन्। उद्धवगीता एघारौँ स्कन्धमा भएको कृष्णको अन्तिम कुराकानी हो, र हंसगीता तथा भिक्षुगीता त्यसभित्रका ढोका हुन्। विष्णुपुराणमा छ अंश छन्। शिवपुराण सात संहिताको छापिएको पाठ हो। देवीगीता देवीमाहात्म्यभन्दा अर्कै पुस्तक हो। गुरुगीता, ईश्वरगीता, शिवगीता र गणेशगीता आ-आफ्ना पुराणका संवाद हुन्। श्लोक त्यहीँ मात्र बसाइएको छ जहाँ पहिले नै बसाइएको छ।

Where it sits

The darśana shelves are the systematic books. The epics are the two poems. A purāṇa retells what the epics tell, on a cosmic clock. Nepal's household stories are a fourth thing, outside this pillar: the Swasthānī, the year, and the valley.