Purana Quotes
More Purana Quotes
Hells are also described in various Puranas and other scriptures. Garuda Purana gives a detailed account of Hell, its features, and enlists amount of punishment for most of the crimes like modern day penal code.
— p.89 (The Big Picture Making Sense Out of Life and Religion)
The Puranas are post- Vedic texts which typically contain a complete narrative of the history of the Universe from creation to destruction, genealogies of the kings, heroes and demigods, and descriptions of Hindu cosmology and geography. There are 18 canonical Puranas, divided into three categories, each named after a deity: Brahma , Vishnu and Shiva . There are also many other works termed Purana, known as 'Upapuranas.
— Sacred Texts, in Hinduism
The Vasihnva Puranas are Vishnu Purana, Naradiya Purana, Vamana Purana, Matsya Purana, Garuda Purana, and Shrimat Bhagavata Purana.
— Shantha N. Nair, in "Echoes of Ancient Indian Wisdom: The Universal Hindu Vision and Its Edifice (1 January 2008)", p.266
The Brahma Puranas that glorify Brahma are Brahma Purana, Bhavishya Purana, Agni Purana, Brahmavaivarta Purana, Brahmanda Purana, and Padma Purana.
— Shantha N. Nair, in "Echoes of Ancient Indian Wisdom: The Universal Hindu Vision and Its Edifice (1 January 2008)", p.266
The Shiva Puranas are Shiva Purana, Linga Purana, Kurma Purana, Markandeya Purana, Skanda Purana, and Varaha Purana.
— Shantha N. Nair, in "Echoes of Ancient Indian Wisdom: The Universal Hindu Vision and Its Edifice (1 January 2008)", p.266
According to Puranas, there are five characteristic features or subjects dealt with in each Maha Purana and these are: Sarga – the process of creation of Universe ; Pratisarga – the periodical process of destruction and creation ; Manvantara – the various eras ; Vamsa – the histories of the solar and lunar dynasties; and Vamsanucharita – the royal lineage.
— Shantha N. Nair, in "Echoes of Ancient Indian Wisdom: The Universal Hindu Vision and Its Edifice (1 January 2008)", p.266
If the Purana written by Vyasa were still existing, then it would be honoured as a “Sruti”. In the absence of this Purana and the one written by Lomaharshana, the eighteen Puranas that still exist cannot all be given the same place of honour; among them, the Vishnu and the Bhagwata Purana composed by accomplished yogis are definitely more precious and we must recognise that the Markandeya Purana written by a sage devoted to spiritual pursuits is more profound in Knowledge than either the Shiva or the Agni Purana.
— Sri Aurobindo, in "Sri Aurobindo Writings in Bengali Translated into English".
Vishnu Puarana is one of the eighteen traditional puranas, which were an important genre of smriti text, and the repository of much of traditional Indian mythology... Most of the puranas are highly sectarian as is the Vishnu Purana which is focused on the worship of Vishnu . It gives an exhaustive account of Vishnu’s mystic deeds – many of which have become the common mythic currency for many traditional Hindus – as well as instructions for how, where, and when Vishnu is to be worshipped.
— James G. Lochtefeld, in Illustrated Encyclopedia of Hinduism: N-Z (2002), p.760
The Narada or Naradiya Purana is where Narada has described the duties which were observed in Vrihat Kalpa , that is called Naradiya, having twenty five thousand stanzas....It is communicated by Narada to the rishis in Naimisharanya, on the Gomati River.
— H.H.Wilson, in Oriental Translation Fund, Volume 52 (Google eBook), Volume 52 (1840), pp. 31-32
Bhavishya Purana is the Purana in which Brahma , having described the greatness of the sun , explained to Manu the existence of the world , and the characters of all created things, in the course of the Aghora Kalpa , the stories being for the most part of the events of a future period. It contains fourteen thousand five hundred stanzas. This Purana, as the name implies should be a book of prophesies , foretelling what will be ( bhavishyat ), as the Matsya Purana intimates.
— H.H.Wilson, in "Oriental Translation Fund, Volume 52 (Google eBook), Volume 52 (1840)}, P.xxxix
The knowers of ancient things call this Purana Brahma Vaivarta because in it Brahman (I Khanda) and the Universe (II Khanda) are unfolded by Krishna. The actual structure of the Brahma and the Prakriti khandas, is a further corroboration that in the word ‘Brahma-Vivarta’ what is meant is Brahman and not Brahma. It is the Purana of manifested Brahmin, which seems to be comprehensive of all topics of the Purana.
Swami Parmeshwaranand— Swami Parmeshwaranand, in Encyclopaedic Dictionary of Puranas, Volume 1, p.223
Most of the puranas are highly sectarian as is the Shiva Purana, which is one of the longer and larger puranas. It gives an exhaustive account Shiva’s mythic deeds – many of which have become the common mythic currency for many traditional Hindus – as well as instructions for how, where, and when Shiva is to be worshipped.
— James G. Lochtefeld, in "Illustrated Encyclopedia of Hinduism: N-Z (2002)", p.637
Linga Purana is where Maheshwara, present in the Agni Linga , explained {the objects of life ) virtue , wealth , pleasure , and final liberation at the end of the Agni Kalpa, and this Purana, consists of eleven thousand stanzas. It is said to have been originally composed by Brahma and the primitive Linga is a pillar of radiance , in which Maheswara is present.
— Horace H. Wilson, in Works:¬Vol. ¬6 : ¬The Vish?u Pur?a: a system of Hindu mythology ..., Volume 6 (1864), p.LXVii-LXViii
The Bhagavata Purana teaches nine primary forms of bhakti, as explained by [[w:Prahlada|Prahlada as:(1) ?rava?a ("listening" to the scriptural stories of K???a and his companions), (2) k?rtana ("praising," usually refers to ecstatic group singing), (3) smara?a ("remembering" or fixing the mind on Vi??u), (4) p?da-sevana (rendering service), (5) arcana (worshiping an image), (6) vandana (paying homage ), (7) d?sya ( servitude ), (8) s?khya ( friendship ), and (9) ?tma-nivedana (complete surrender of the self ).
— Bhagavata Purana (from Bhagavata Purana, 7.5.23-24) quoted in Acting as a Way of Salvation: A Study of R?g?nug? Bhakti S?dhana, p.133
The 18 Mahapuranas (great Puranas), as the origins of the Puranas, may have overlapped to some extent with the Vedas , but their composition stretched forward into the 4th-5th centuries,... the earliest parts of the Puranic genealogies are either entirely or partly w:Mythicalmythical. The oldest of the Puranas are the Matsya, Vayu and the Brahmanda and for our purposes, the Vishnu Purana, somewhat later than the first three ... the Vedic link also goes back to the earlier statement that the itihasa-Purana was the fifth Veda.
— Upinder Singh, in A History of Ancient and Early Medieval India: From the Stone Age to the ..., p.22
Brahmananda Purana, has declared in twelve thousand two hundred verses, the magnificence of the egg of Brahma , and in which an account of the future Kalpa is contained, as was revealed by Brahma. It is usually considered to be in much the same predicament as Skanda, no longer procurable in a collective body, but represented by a variety of Khandas and Mahatmyas, professing to be derived from it.
— H.H.Wilson, in "Oriental Translation Fund, Volume 52 (Google eBook), Volume 52 (1840)},p.liv
Markandeya Purana is that in which, commencing with the story of birds that were acquainted with right and wrong, everything is narrated fully by Markandeya, as it was explained by holy sages, in reply to the question of the Muni . It contains nine thousand verses, This is called from its being, in the first instance, narrated by Markendaya Muni, and, in the second instance place by certain fabulous birds.
— Horace H. Wilson, in "Works:¬Vol. ¬6 : ¬The Vish?u Pur?a: a system of Hindu mythology ..., Volume 6 (1864)}, p. Liii
Post-Independence, the Government of Karnataka too has adopted Dasara as a naada habba or a State festival. But apart from the Palace festivities, true to the edict of the Bhavishya Purana, Dasara has always been a people’s festival, one that resonates with their aspirations and beliefs.
Vikram Sampath— "When all of Mysore is aglow"
