Overview

Puranas (/pʊˈrɑːnə/; Sanskrit: पुराण, purāṇa; literally meaning "ancient, old") are a vast genre of Hindu literature about a wide range of topics, particularly about legends and other traditional lore. The Puranas are known for the intricate layers of symbolism depicted within their stories. Composed originally in Sanskrit and in other Indian languages, several of these texts are named after major Hindu gods such as Vishnu, Shiva, Brahma, and Adi Shakti.

The Puranic literature is encyclopedic, and it includes diverse topics such as cosmogony, cosmology, genealogies of gods, goddesses, kings, heroes, sages, and demigods, folk tales, pilgrimages, temples, medicine, astronomy, grammar, mineralogy, humor, love stories, as well as theology and philosophy. The content is highly inconsistent across the Puranas, and each Purana has survived in numerous manuscripts which are themselves inconsistent. The Hindu Maha Puranas are traditionally attributed to "Vyasa", but many scholars considered them likely the work of many authors over the centuries; in contrast, most Jaina Puranas can be dated and their authors assigned.

There are 18 Mukhya Puranas (Major Puranas), 18 Upa-Puranas (Minor Puranas or Major Upa-Puranas), and Ati-Puranas (Minor Upa-Puranas). The Puranas do not enjoy the authority of a scripture in Hinduism, but are considered as Smritis.

The Puranas, according to Flood, have traditionally been classified according to three qualities (guna) which are inherent in existence, namely the quality of light or purity (sattva), passion (rajas), and darkness or inertia (tamas), with each quality having six puranas focused, but not exclusively, upon a single deity.

The Upapuranas (Sanskrit: Upapurāṇa) are a genre of Hindu religious texts consisting of many compilations differentiated from the Mahapuranas by styling them as secondary Puranas using the prefix Upa (secondary). Though only a few of these compilations originated earlier than most of the extant Mahapuranas, some of these texts are extensive and important.

In spite of the mention of a particular Upapurana in different lists under different names, these lists provide us the names of much more than eighteen texts as the Upapuranas. In fact, by examining all the Sanskrit texts which mention the names of these texts, the actual number of the Upapuranas are found to be near a hundred, including those mentioned in the different lists. But, it cannot be denied that many of these texts have been lost without leaving any trace.

S.No.	Maha Purana	Verses no.	Description
1	Brahma	10,000 verses	Sometimes also called Adi Purana, because many Mahapuranas lists put it first of 18. The text has 245 chapters, shares many passages with Vishnu, Vayu, Markendeya Puranas, and with the Mahabharata. Includes mythology, theory of war, art work in temples, and other cultural topics. Describes holy places in Odisha, and weaves themes of Vishnu and Shiva, but hardly any mention of deity Brahma despite the title.
2	Padma	55,000 verses	A large compilation of diverse topics, it describes cosmology, the world and nature of life from the perspective of Vishnu. It also discusses festivals, numerous legends, geography of rivers and regions from northwest India to Bengal to the kingdom of Tripura, major sages of India, various Avatars of Vishnu and his cooperation with Shiva, a story of Rama-Sita that is different from the Hindu epic Ramayana. The north Indian manuscripts of Padma Purana are very different from south Indian versions, and the various recensions in both groups in different languages (Devanagari and Bengali, for example) show major inconsistencies. Like the Skanda Purana, it is a detailed treatise on travel and pilgrimage centers in India.
3	Vishnu	23,000 verses	One of the most studied and circulated Puranas, it also contains genealogical details of various dynasties. Better preserved after the 17th century, but exists in inconsistent versions, more ancient pre-15th century versions are very different from modern versions, with some versions discussing Buddhism and Jainism. Some chapters likely composed in Kashmir and Punjab region of South Asia. A Vaishnavism text, focused on Vishnu.
4	Shiva	24,000 verses	The Shiva Purana is one of eighteen Purana genre of Sanskrit texts in Hinduism, and part of the Shaivism literature corpus. It primarily centers around the Hindu god Shiva and goddess Parvati, but references and reveres all gods. The Shiva Purana asserts that it once consisted of 100,000 verses set out in twelve samhitas (books), however the Purana adds that it was abridged by sage Vyasa before being taught to Romaharshana.
5	Bhagavata	18,000 verses	The most studied and popular of the Puranas, telling of Vishnu's Avatars, and of Vaishnavism. It contains genealogical details of various dynasties. Numerous inconsistent versions of this text and historical manuscripts exist, in many Indian languages. Influential and elaborated during Bhakti movement.
6	Narada	25,000 verses	Also called Naradiya Purana. Discusses the four Vedas and the six Vedangas. Dedicates one chapter each, from Chapters 92 to 109, to summarize the other 17 Maha Puranas and itself. Lists major rivers of India and places of pilgrimage, and a short tour guide for each. Includes discussion of various philosophies, soteriology, planets, astronomy, myths and characteristics of major deities including Vishnu, Shiva, Devi, Krishna, Rama, Lakshmi and others.
7	Markandeya	9,000 verses	Describes Vindhya Range and western India. Probably composed in the valleys of Narmada and Tapti rivers, in Maharashtra and Gujarat. Named after sage Markandeya, a student of Brahma. Contains chapters on dharma and on Hindu epic Mahabharata. The Purana includes Devi Mahatmyam of Shaktism.
8	Agni	15,400 verses	Contains encyclopedic information. Includes geography of Mithila (Bihar and neighboring states), cultural history, politics, education system, iconography, taxation theories, organization of army, theories on proper causes for war, diplomacy, local laws, building public projects, water distribution methods, trees and plants, medicine, Vastu Shastra (architecture), gemology, grammar, metrics, poetry, food, rituals and numerous other topics.
9	Bhavishya	14,500 verses	The Bhavishya Purana (Bhaviṣya Purāṇa, lit. "Future Purana") is one of the eighteen major works in the Purana genre of Hinduism, written in Sanskrit.The title Bhavishya means "future" and implies it is a work that contains prophecies regarding the future, however, the "prophecy" parts of the extant manuscripts are a modern era addition and hence not an integral part of the Bhavishya Purana.Those sections of the surviving manuscripts that are dated to be older, are partly borrowed from other Indian texts such as Brihat Samhita and Shamba Purana.
10	Brahmavaivarta	18,000 verses	It is related by Savarni to Narada, and centres around the greatness of Krishna and Radha. In this, the story of Brahma-varaha is repeatedly told. Notable for asserting that Krishna is the supreme reality and the gods Vishnu, Shiva, Brahma are incarnations of him. Mentions geography and rivers such as Ganga to Kaveri.
11	Linga	11,000 verses	Discusses Lingam, symbol of Shiva, and origin of the universe as per Shaivism. It also contains many stories of Lingam, one of which entails how Agni Lingam solved a dispute between Vishnu and Brahma.
12	Varaha	24,000 verses	Primarily Vishnu-related worship manual, with large Mahatmya sections or travel guide to Mathura and Nepal. Presentation focuses on Varaha as incarnation of Narayana, but rarely uses the terms Krishna or Vasudeva. Many illustrations also involve Shiva and Durga.
13	Skanda	81,100 verses	Describes the birth of Skanda (or Karthikeya), son of Shiva. The longest Purana, it is an extraordinarily meticulous pilgrimage guide, containing geographical locations of pilgrimage centers in India, with related legends, parables, hymns and stories. Many untraced quotes are attributed to this text.
14	Vamana	10,000 verses	Describes North India, particularly Himalayan foothills region.
15	Kurma	17,000 verses	Contains a combination of Vishnu and Shiva related legends, mythology, Tirtha (pilgrimage) and theology
16	Matsya	14,000 verses	An encyclopedia of diverse topics. Narrates the story of Matsya, the first of ten major Avatars of Vishnu. Likely composed in west India, by people aware of geographical details of the Narmada river. Includes legends about Brahma and Saraswati. It also contains a controversial genealogical details of various dynasties.
17	Garuda	19,000 verses	An encyclopedia of diverse topics. Primarily about Vishnu, but praises all gods. Describes how Vishnu, Shiva and Brahma collaborate. Many chapters are a dialogue between Vishnu and the bird-vehicle Garuda. Cosmology, Describes cosmology, relationship between gods. Discusses ethics, what are crimes, good versus evil, various schools of Hindu philosophies, the theory of Yoga, the theory of "heaven and hell" with "karma and rebirth", includes Upanishadic discussion of self-knowledge as a means of moksha. Includes chapters on rivers, geography of Bharat (India) and other nations on earth, types of minerals and stones, testing methods for stones for their quality, various diseases and their symptoms, various medicines, aphrodisiacs, prophylactics, Hindu calendar and its basis, astronomy, moon, planets, astrology, architecture, building home, essential features of a temple, rites of passage, virtues such as compassion, charity and gift making, economy, thrift, duties of a king, politics, state officials and their roles and how to appointment them, genre of literature, rules of grammar, and other topics. The final chapters discuss how to practice Yoga (Samkhya and Advaita types), personal development and the benefits of self-knowledge.
18	Brahmanda	12,000 verses	One of the earliest composed Puranas, it contains a controversial genealogical details of various dynasties. Includes Lalita Sahasranamam, law codes, system of governance, administration, diplomacy, trade, ethics. Old manuscripts of Brahmanda Purana have been found in the Hindu literature collections of Bali, Indonesia.
19	Vayu	24,000 verses	The Vayu Purana discusses its theories of cosmology, genealogy of gods and kings of solar and lunar dynasties, mythology, geography, manvantaras, the solar system and the movements of the celestial bodies. In addition to these,also discuss duties of the Varna (caste or class) and duties of a person during various ashrama, discusses penances for sannyasi (monks, yati), on dharma, on sanskaras (rites of passage), and on the theory of hell in after-life. Vayu and Vayaviya Puranas do share a very large overlap in their structure and contents, possibly because they once were the same, but with continuous revisions over the centuries, the original text became two different texts, and the Vayaviya text came also to be known as the Brahmanda Purana. The Vayu Purana, according to the tradition and verses in other Puranas, contains 24,000 verses (shlokas). However, the surviving manuscripts have about 12,000 verses.

S.No.	Upa-Purana	Chapters no.	Status	Comments
01	Sanat-kumara Purāṇa	Nineteen	Published	It is narrated by Sanatkumāra.
02	Nārasimha Purāṇa	Sixty-eight	Published	It discusses Vishnu's Narasimha incarnation.
03	Nānda Purāṇa	Fifty-two	Unpublished, manuscript available	It is narrated by Nandi.
04	Śivadharma Purāṇa	Twenty-four	Published	It talks about Śaivaism and Śaktism.
05	Samba Purana	Eighty -four	Manuscript unavailable	It is narrated by Durvāsā.
06	Nāradīya Purāṇa	Thirty-eight	Published	It is narrated by Nārada.
07	Kāpila Purāṇa	Twenty-one	Published	It discusses Kapila's Samkhya Philosophy.
08	Mānava Purāṇa		Manuscript unavailable	It is narrated by Manu.
09	Auśanasa Purāṇa		Unpublished, Manuscript unavailable	It is narrated by Uśanā.
10	Mudgala Purana		Manuscript unavailable	It discusses about Ganesha.
11	Vāruṇa Purāṇa	Twelve	Published	It is narrated by Varuṇa.
12	Kālikā Purāṇa	Ninety-eight	Published	It discusses about Pārvatī.
13	Māheśvara Purāṇa	Twelve	Unpublished, manuscript available	It discusses Shiva and Parvati's family and all deities.
14	Ganesha Purana	Eighty-four	Published	It narrates about Ganesha.
15	Saura Purāṇa	Sixty-nine	Published	It discusses Shiva and Parvati's family and all deities.
16	Parāshara Purāṇa	Eighteen	Published	It is narrated by Parashara.
17	Vishnudharmottara Purana	Fifteen	Published	It is narrated by Brahma.
18	Bhārgava Purāṇa	Forty	Published	Its narrated by Vaśiṣṭha.