What are Puranas in Hinduism?

The Puranas are ancient Hindu texts that praise various deities of the Hindu pantheon through divine stories. The multiple scriptures known by the name of Purana can be classified in the same class as the 'Itihasas' or Stories - the Ramayana and the Mahabharata, and are believed to have been derived from the same religious system of these epics that were the best products of the mythical stage -heroic of Hindu belief.

The origin of the puranas
Although the Puranas share some of the traits of the great epics, they belong to a later period and provide a "more defined and connected representation of mythological fictions and historical traditions". Horace Hayman Wilson, who translated some Puranas into English in 1840, also states that "they offer peculiar characteristics of a more modern description, in the fundamental importance they assign to individual deities, in the variety ... of the rites and observances addressed to them and in the invention of new legends that illustrate the power and grace of those deities ... "

The 5 characteristics of the Puranas
According to Swami Sivananda, the Puranas can be identified by "Pancha Lakshana" or five characteristics they possess: history; cosmology, often with various symbolic illustrations of philosophical principles; secondary creation; genealogy of kings; and of "Manvantara" or the period of Manu domination consisting of 71 heavenly Yugas or 306,72 million years. All Puranas belong to the class of "Suhrit-Samhitas", or friendly treaties, which differ significantly in authority from the Vedas, which are called "Prabhu-Samhitas" or the dominant treaties.

Puranas' purpose
The Puranas have the essence of the Vedas and written to spread the thoughts contained in the Vedas. They were not meant for scholars, but for ordinary people who could hardly understand the high philosophy of the Vedas. The purpose of the Puranas is to impress the teachings of the Vedas on the minds of the masses and to generate in them devotion to God, through concrete examples, myths, stories, legends, lives of saints, kings and great men, allegories and chronicles of great historical events . The ancient sages used these images to illustrate the eternal principles of the belief system which became known as Hinduism. The Puranas helped the priests to give religious speeches in temples and on the banks of sacred rivers, and people loved to listen to these stories. These texts are not only full of information of all kinds, but are also very interesting to read. In this sense,

The form and the author of the Puranas
Puranas are written primarily in the form of a dialogue in which one narrator relates one story in response to another's questions. The main narrator of the Puranas is Romaharshana, a disciple of Vyasa, whose main task is to communicate what he has learned from his tutor, as he had heard it from other sages. Vyasa here is not to be confused with the famous essay Veda Vyasa, but a generic compiler title, which in most Puranas is Krishna Dwaipayana, son of the great sage Parasara and teacher of the Vedas.

The main 18 puranas
There are 18 main Puranas and an equal number of subsidiary Puranas or Upa-Puranas and many regional 'sthala' or Puranas. Of the 18 main texts, six are Sattvic Purana who glorifies Vishnu; six are Rajasic and glorify Brahma; and six are tamasic and glorify Shiva. They are classified in series in the following Puranas list:

Vishnu Purana
Naradya Purana
Bhagavat Purana
Garuda Purana
Padma Purana
Brahma Purana
Varaha Purana
Brahmanda Purana
Brahma Vaivarta Purana
Markandeya Purana
Bhavishya Purana
Vamana Purana
Matsya Purana
Kurma Purana
Linga Purana
Shiva Purana
Skanda Purana
Agni Puranas
The most popular Puranas
The first of many Puranas are Srimad Bhagavata Purana and Vishnu Purana. In popularity, they follow the same order. A part of the Markandeya Purana is well known to all Hindus such as Chandi or Devimahatmya. The cult of God as Divine Mother is its theme. Chandi is widely read by the Hindus in the sacred days and in the days of Navaratri (Durga Puja).

Information about Shiva Purana and Vishnu Purana
In Shiva Purana, predictably, Shiva is praised by Vishnu, who is sometimes shown in low light. In Vishnu Purana, the obvious happens: Vishnu is highly glorified about Shiva, who is often denigrated. Despite the apparent disparity represented in these Puranas, Shiva and Vishnu are believed to be one and are part of the Trinity of Hindu theogony. As Wilson points out: “Shiva and Vishnu, in one form or another, are almost the only objects that claim the homage of the Hindus in the Puranas; they deviate from the domestic and elemental ritual of the Vedas and show a sectarian fervor and exclusivity ... They are no longer authorities for the Hindu belief as a whole: they are special guides for separate and sometimes conflicting branches of it, compiled for the obvious purpose of promoting the preferential, or in some cases the only one,

Based on the teachings of Sri Swami Sivananda