Brahma Purana

It is the 1st amongst 18 puranas. It is a major puran. It consists of 2 parts - Purva Bhag and Uttar Bhag. The Purv Bhag narrates the creation of cosmos, Krishna’s and Rama’s charithra, Goutami Mahatmya (glorification of River Godavari). In the 2nd part we have details of Purushottam Tirtha. According to Padma purana this is a Rajas Purana.

In the beginning of universe there was water everywhere and (Lord Vishnu) the divine essence slept on this water. Water is known as nara and ayana means bed. So Vishnu is known as Narayana. In the water there emerged a golden egg (i.e. Anda). Brahma was born inside this egg. Since he created himself, he is called swayambhu, born (Bhu) by himself (swayam). So Brahman is known as swayambhu. He then split egg into two and created heaven and the earth from the two parts of egg. Skies (air), direction, time, language, and senses were created in both heaven and earth.

This puran is about the God “Brahma”. It was told by Brahma himself and hence it got the name “Brahmam”. It contains 10000 shlokas, 243 chapters. Uttara khand contains 105 chapters. It contains “The Gautami mahatmya” which describes the holiness of Godavari.

The three actions in universe are Creation, Maintenance (Paripalan) and Destruction. Brahma is known as creator. Brahma Shrishti is explained in this purana. According to this purana he made it first as eggshaped with his power. It was then split into 2 parts. One above (swarga) and one below. It then formed into 14 Lokas.

This resulted in the creation of

1. Sapta rishis namely :- Marichi, Atri, Angirasa, Pulasthya, Pulaha, Kratu, and Vashishtha rishis
2. Ashta vasus namely :- Apa, Dhruva, Soma, Dhara, Salila, Anala, Pratyusha, Prabhasa
3. Eleven rudras namely :- Ajaikpad, Ahirbudhnya, Virupaksh, Raivat, Har, Bahuroop, Trayambak, Savitra, Jayant, Pinaki and Aparajit.
4. 12 Adithyas namely :- Amsha, Dhata, Bhaga, Tvashta, Mitra, Varuna, Aryama, Vivasvana, Savita, Pusha, Amshumana and Vishnu.

According to this puran, from Brahma’s right leg toe, Daksha prajapati appeared and created thousands of Manasputras. They did not follow his wish of participating in creation and went into Gyana marga. Then Dakshaparajapati created women and through them he created living beings. He created Devas, Rakshasas and Human beings. Through Kashyap he created Birds, serpents etc.

When Kashyap’s wife  was pregnant the god of wisdom (Dharma) came in the form of a Sage for bhiksha (alms). Kashyap’s wife came walking slowly to greet the sage as she did not want the fetus to get harmed. The sage got angry at this act of coming slowly and cursed fetus and it died. Kashyap saw all this through his divine vision (Dhyana Drishti) and he made the dead fetus come to live to be born as “Marthanda”. Marthanda created Vaivasvat manu, Yama, Yamuna, Savarni, Sani, Tapti, and Ashwin devatas.

The history of Sun (god), Surya Ashtottaram, Surya Upasana, is explained in this purana. It also contains the creation of 14 manus, the birth of “Samban” by Jhambavati, how Lord Shiva became a Linga, Kashi Mahima, details about Prayag, Meru, Jambhudwip, other Dweeps, mountains, plants etc. It also explains the Ekambara Purushottama Kshetra. It explains about the birth of Sage Akrura and shlokas written by him. It also gives the account of how Subhadra, who was a apsara, was reborn. It contains Shiva Sahasranaaam, life of Sage Kandu, who performed severe penance by which even Indra feared that sage may occupy his seat. It gives an account of Lord Krishna’s birth, history and death. It explains in details varna dharma, ashramas and practice of sadachar.

There is also detailed explanation of Ekasadi Vrat. It explains that if one fasts during Ekadasi while contemplating on the Lord and performs Dwadashi worship how one attains mukti. This is explained in the story.

Vishnu Purana

Vishnu Purana

This purana ranks 3rd in all the 18 puranas. It contains 23000 shlokas in Purva Bhag (1st Part). The last part i.e. Uttar Bhag contains 9033 chapters. This last part is also known as “Vishnu Dharmottaram”. In the 10th part of this puran, the life of Lord Krishna is depicted. The importance of this puran is also highlighted by Adi Shankaracharya. The 1st part is explained as 6 amsas and last part has 3 khandas. In Vishnu Dharmottaram Hansa Gita is explained in 115 chapters. This puran was given as upadesh to Maitreya by Parashar Rishi.

In the 1st amsa it is explained how Brahma appeared from the naval of Lord Vishnu and different avataras of Mahalaxmi and how she was born as the daughter of Bhrigu Rishi. Besides this it also states how Agni appeared from Brahma, story of Prahlad etc are explained .

In 2nd amsa - Bharatvardhan, Bharat, Bharat Dynasty, Swayambhu Manu, Sapta Dweep, Bharatkhanda, Varnashram dharma, about Punyatirthas, Sapta Pada, different kinds of hell, Sapta lokas, the Zodiac, the stars, and how long the union of Sun and Moon on Amavasya takes place are all explained. A very rare narration states that the Sun exists as Rigveda in the morning, as Yajurveda in the afternoon and as Samaveda in the evening. The 2nd amsa ends with the story of Jadabharat of Bharat dynasty.

In the 3rd amsa we come to know about the 14 manus. It is stated that they existed for 1000 yugas which is known as one kalpa. The mathematical calculation of this is also explained. We come to know that God (Lord Vishnu) spreads the “Gyan” as Kapila in Kritayuga, as Sri Rama in Tretayuga, as Vyasa in Dwaparyuga and as Kalki in Kaliyuga. 3rd amsa ends with the details of how four vedas were separated, the people who were given these vedas, about 18 arts and the importance of Namasmaran of Vishnu.

In the 4th amsa we come across the legends about Trishanku and Parikshit raja. At the end of this part it is narrated that at the end of Kaliyuga, Lord Vishnu will be born as Kalki.

In the 5th amsa Shri Krishna avatar is explained in full. In the 6th amsa Vyasa explains to the sages how one can attain great Bhagya by doing small Punya. He explains how you can attain large amount of punya by chanting Bhagwan Vishnu's nama without doing puja or Yagna or Dhyan. This part ends with the description of Kali's greatness.

In the purva bhag and in all places, rather than fables (stories) the explanation is about Devotion, Vairagya and Dnyan.

There are 3 types of Gita – namely

1. Bhagwad Gita
2. Sankara Gita (In this Lord Parameshwara initiates the secrets to Parashara)
3. Hamsa Gita (In this Lord explains all the Dharmas in the form of Swan)

We are able to learn about the secrets by which the paintings at Ajantha and Ellora are preserved.(i.e. Colors that were used etc). It also describes about certain plants, leaves etc which can keep you without hunger, how to have normal pregnancy etc. When we read this Vishnu Puran, we get a feeling whether this book is on Religion or Dhrama or Science.

This puran ends with details of dynasty and names of kings in Kali and how this Kali will end.

The translation of the puran is available on the net @

1) www.kamakoti.org

2) http://www.gita-society.com/scriptures/ALL18MAJORPURANAS.IGS.pdf