Purāṇa / The eighteen

The eighteen Mahāpurāṇas

This page is the sāra-saṃgraha (सारसंग्रह). It profiles each book, and it leaves the verse-by-verse reading to the shelves that sit a line.

The tradition marks a purāṇa by five topics: sarga (सर्ग), creation; pratisarga (प्रतिसर्ग), the dissolution and the creation after it; vaṃśa (वंश), the lineages; manvantara (मन्वन्तर), the ages of the Manus; and vaṃśānucarita (वंशानुचरित), the deeds along those lines. The lists of eighteen do not always name the same eighteen. This shelf follows one received list, the one a reader is most likely to have been told.

The verse counts below are the traditional round numbers. They are not a census of a manuscript. The guṇa column is the Padma Purāṇa's sorting, a Vaiṣṇava devotion ranking the library. It is not this shelf's judgment of a book's worth. A book it calls tamas may be a Śaiva book it wants ranked lower. Read the label as a label.

How the Padma list groups them

In that list, sattva names Viṣṇu, Bhāgavata, Nārada, Garuḍa, Padma, and Varāha. Rajas names Brahma, Brahmāṇḍa, Brahma-vaivarta, Mārkaṇḍeya, Bhaviṣya, and Vāmana. Tamas names Śiva, Liṅga, Skanda, Agni, Matsya, and Kūrma.

नेपालीमा

अठार महापुराणको यो सूची एउटा प्रचलित सूची हो। श्लोकको अङ्क परम्पराको गोलो अङ्क हो, पाण्डुलिपिको गणना होइन। गुण पद्मपुराणको वैष्णव छनोट हो। पुस्तकको मूल्यबारे यो तहको आफ्नै ठहर यो होइन। तमस् भनिएको पुस्तक शैव भएर तल पारिएको हुन सक्छ। प्रत्येक पृष्ठमा कथा, शिक्षा, र के सम्झने भन्ने कुरा छ। श्लोक त्यहीँ मात्र समावेश गरिएको छ जहाँ पाठ जाँचिएको छ। देवीको एउटा पङ्क्ति मार्कण्डेयमा छ। भागवतका समावेश गरिएका पङ्क्ति आफ्नै पृष्ठमा छन्।

The eighteen

1. Brahma Purāṇa (ब्रह्मपुराण) holds about 10,000 verses in the lists. The Padma sorting calls it rajas.
2. Padma Purāṇa (पद्मपुराण) holds about 55,000 verses in the lists. The Padma sorting calls it sattva.
3. Viṣṇu Purāṇa (विष्णुपुराण) holds about 23,000 verses in the lists. The Padma sorting calls it sattva.
4. Śiva Purāṇa (शिवपुराण) holds about 24,000 verses in the lists. The Padma sorting calls it tamas.
5. Bhāgavata Purāṇa (भागवतपुराण) holds about 18,000 verses in the lists. The Padma sorting calls it sattva.
6. Nārada Purāṇa (नारदपुराण) holds about 25,000 verses in the lists. The Padma sorting calls it sattva.
7. Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa (मार्कण्डेयपुराण) holds about 9,000 verses in the lists. The Padma sorting calls it rajas.
8. Agni Purāṇa (अग्निपुराण) holds about 15,400 verses in the lists. The Padma sorting calls it tamas.
9. Bhaviṣya Purāṇa (भविष्यपुराण) holds about 14,500 verses in the lists. The Padma sorting calls it rajas.
10. Brahma-vaivarta Purāṇa (ब्रह्मवैवर्तपुराण) holds about 18,000 verses in the lists. The Padma sorting calls it rajas.
11. Liṅga Purāṇa (लिङ्गपुराण) holds about 11,000 verses in the lists. The Padma sorting calls it tamas.
12. Varāha Purāṇa (वराहपुराण) holds about 24,000 verses in the lists. The Padma sorting calls it sattva.
13. Skanda Purāṇa (स्कन्दपुराण) holds about 81,100 verses in the lists. The Padma sorting calls it tamas.
14. Vāmana Purāṇa (वामनपुराण) holds about 10,000 verses in the lists. The Padma sorting calls it rajas.
15. Kūrma Purāṇa (कूर्मपुराण) holds about 17,000 verses in the lists. The Padma sorting calls it tamas.
16. Matsya Purāṇa (मत्स्यपुराण) holds about 14,000 verses in the lists. The Padma sorting calls it tamas.
17. Garuḍa Purāṇa (गरुडपुराण) holds about 19,000 verses in the lists. The Padma sorting calls it sattva.
18. Brahmāṇḍa Purāṇa (ब्रह्माण्डपुराण) holds about 12,000 verses in the lists. The Padma sorting calls it rajas.

Where it sits

The way back is the Purāṇa pillar. The three structural portals, Bhāgavata, Viṣṇu, and Śiva, remain the books this library has opened past a profile. Household stories stay outside this pillar.