According to Suta, all the Puranas are nothing but the mediums through which Sri Hari manifests himself—Brahma Purana is said to be the forhead of Sri Hari, Padma Purana is said to be the ‘heart’ of Sri Hari, Vishnu Purana is said to be the ‘right arm’ of Sri Hari. Shiva…
Having revealed the contents of all the Puranas to his son Ugrashrava, Sage Lomaharshan instructed him to go to ‘Naimisharanya’ and spread it among the sages doing penance over there. There is an interesting tale how this sacrosanct forest of Naimish derived its name — Once, the sages sought Lord…
Brahma returned to his seat on the lotus flower. Suddenly, two demons named Madhu and Kaitabha appeared. They were exceedingly strong and threatened to destroy everything that Brahma would create. Brahma therefore requested Vishnu to kill these two demons. Vishnu created two beings from his own body and these…
Third of the ten incarnations of Vishnu, as Varaha, the wild boar In the Padma Purana the world order had again been disrupted. The fierce asura (demon) Hiranyaksha had gained a boon (vara) of invincibility. With his provisional immortality, he stormed around the three regions of the universe wanting to…
Tilottama was an example of robotics, according to the modern Hindu idea that every form of knowledge, including modern science, can be found in the Vedas and Puranas. Tilottama had to be made from all the elements of beauty, animate and inanimate, to make a woman who would enchant two…
Purana means “ancient” and thus this body of literature claimed to be authoritative, especially for the kali yuga (the present age). Scholars date their composition in three periods (300-500; 500-1000; 1000-1800). Puranas deal with both philosophical and existential issues, mostly presented through a poetic narrative. The five topics covered in…
There is scholarly agreement that there was worship of the male generative organ in the Indus Valley civilization. Both archaeological remains and explicit references to “worshippers of the phallus” in the Rigveda support such an interpretation. However one interprets Siva’s origin—as from the Indus Valley, from tribal religion, within the…
In the Padma Purana Lilavati (charming) was a prostitute in the krita yuga (first age, also called satya yuga). She went to another town looking for better clients. She noticed devotees celebrating a festival at the temple. When she inquired, Lilavati learned that it was the celebration of the birthday…
Kalindi was the daughter of Surya, the sun god. She was blessed to become a sacred river, also known as the Yamuna. It flowed from the Kalinda mountain and entered the Ganga at Prayaga, a very sacred confluence. At the birth of Krishna, his father Vasudeva had to switch the…
Janaka’s father, Nimi, king of Mithila, was childless and asked the venerable brahmin Vasishtha to preside over a ritual (yajna) for a son. Vasishtha was preoccupied with another ritual and asked the king to wait. King Nimi left without making any commitment and then found another priest named Gautama…
In the Padma Purana Harimitra had an asrama (hermitage) on the banks of the river Yamuna. A sinner named Vikundala became associated with Harimitra and followed his practice of a ritual bath in the Yamuna. It just happened that he took a bath twice in the Yamuna during the Hindu…
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…
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,…
Narrating about the life of Sage Veda Vyasa, Suta said to the sages- “Once while sage Parashar was on his pilgrimage, he arrived at the bank of Yamuna. Satyavati, who emitted the smell of fish, helped him cross the river. Sage Parashar was very pleased with her. He transformed the…
Brihaspati was the teacher of the devas (gods). He was born of Angiras and Vasudha (or SSraddha). Angiras was the son of Brahma, the creator, who had lost his seed in the sacrificial fire at the sight of a celestial maiden. Sage Brihaspati was also identified with a celestial star…
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…