19) The Solar Dynasty

The sun-god, Vivasvana, was the son of Kashyapa and Aditi. He had four wives, Samjna, Rajni, Prabha and Chhaya.   Samjna’s son was Vaivasvata Manu. Rajni’s children were Yama, yamuna and Revanta. Savarni, Shani, Tapati and Vishti were Chhaya’s children and Prabha’s son was Prabhata.   (The names do not…

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16) BRAHMA PURANA – Markandeya

Many years ago, a great destruction (Pralaya) took place. The earth was shrouded in darkness and nothing could be seen. There was neither sun nor moon. Lightning and thunder crushed mountains and trees. There were showers of meteors. Lakes and rivers dried up. The entire earth burnt with fire and…

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THE BENEFITS OF READING MARKANDEYA PURANA

The birds said- ‘O Jaimini! This was the way, sage Markandeya had narrated the divine tales to Kraustuki.   A   person   who   either   studies   this   Purana   or   listens   to   it   achieves   great accomplishment. All his desires are fulfilled and he enjoys a long life. He becomes free from all his sins….

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MARKANDEYA PURANA

Once Jaimini, a disciple of sage Veda Vyasa expressed his curiosity before Markandeya- ‘O Lord! In the great epic Mahabharata, which was created by Veda Vyasa, description of Dharma, Arth, Kama and Moksha appears to be intertwined at times and at other times, it appears to be separate from one…

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MARKANDEYA – A sage in the Bhagavata Purana

Markandeya had a miraculous birth and would never grow older than sixteen years old. His father was the sage Mrikandu, whose worship pleased Siva. Appearing with a boon, Siiva asked Mrikandu whether he wanted a son who Markandeya was destined to die at sixteen but Siva saved his devotee from…

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17) THE PURANAS

Lomaharshana now gave the sages a list of the eighteen mahapuranas. In the beginning, there was only one Purana. The sage Vedavyasa divided this original Purana into eighteen mahapuranas. The mahapuranas have four lakh shlokas all together and their names are as follows. (i) The Brahma Purana: This was originally…

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DESCRIPTION OF PURANAS AND UP-PURANAS

Once, while describing the origin of Puranas, Sutji told the sages who had assembled at Naimisharanya–‘Lord  Shiva had  first  revealed  the contents  of Skanda  Purana to  Parvati  at Kailash Mountain. Lord Brahma and few other deities were also present there at the time when Shiva was narrating the tale. Subsequently,…

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6) CHAPTER SIX BRANCHES OF SAMAVEDA AND EIGHTEEN PURANAS

 Sage Jaimini, a disciple of Veda Vyasa, effected branches of Samaveda. Sage Jaimini had a son, Sumantu. Sumantu in turn had a son, Sukarma. Both of them studied a branch of Samaveda each. Sukarma divided his branch of Samaveda into sub-branches and taught them to his two disciples- Kaushalya Hiranyanabh…

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