Skanda Purana

Skanda Purana is the largest Mahapuran. It can be considered to be the collection of 18 hindu religious texts. They mainly pertain to Lord Karthikeya (Skanda), the son of Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvati. This purana was recited by Sage Vyasa. This also narrates a lot of legends of Shiva and holy places associated with him. This describes “Hemakuta” regions near Vijayanagar. In Kashi Khanda we come across Shaiva tradition around Varanasi. This purana is considered as Tamas purana. In uttarakhanda there is complete “Purushottam Mahatreya”. This purana has seven Khandas

1. Maheshwara Khanda (138 chapters)
1. Kedar Khanda (35 chapters)
2. Kaumarika Khanda (66 chapters)
3. Arunachala Mahima
1. Purvardha (13 chapters)
2. Uttarardha (24 chapters)
2. Vishnu Khanda (Vaishanava Khanda) (221 chapters)
1. Venkatachala Mahatmya (40 chapters)
2. Purushottam Kshetra Mahatmya (49 chapters)
3. Badrikaashram Mahatmya (8 chapters)
4. Kartikmasa Mahtamya (36 chapters)
5. Margashirshamasa Mahtamya (17 chapters)
6. Bhagwat Mahatmya (4 chapters)
7. Vaishakhamasa Mahatmya (25 chapters)
8. Ayodhya Mahima (10 chapters)
9. Vasudeva Mahima (32 chapters)
3. Brahma Khanda (114 chapters)
1. Setu mahatmya (52 chapters)
2. Dharmaranya Khanda (40 chapters)
3. Uttara Khanda or Bramhottara Khanda (22 chapters)
4. Kasi Khanda (100 chapters)
1. Purvardha (50 chapters)
2. Uttarardha (50 chapters)
5. Avantya Khanda (387 chapters)
1. Avantikshetra Mahatmya (71 chapters)
2. Chaturashitilinga Mahatmya (84 chapters)
3. Reva Khanda (232 Chapters)
6. Nagara Khanda (279 chapters)
1. Tirtha mahatmya
7. Prabhasa Khanda (491 chapters)
1. Prabhasakshetra Mahatmya (365 chapters)
2. Vastrapathakshetra Mahatmya (19 chapters)
3. Arvuda Khanda (63 chapters)
4. Dvaraka Mahatmya (44 chapters)

In another form of this purana the division is by Samhitas. According to this division there are six samhitas.

1. Sanatkumar Samhita
2. Suta Samhita
3. Shankari Samhita
4. Vaishnavi Samhita
5. Brahmi Samhita
6. Saura Samhita

Some highlights of this puran are:

1. Churning of ocean and emergence of amrit
2. Pradosha vrat details
3. Demon Tarakasura vadha by Karthikeya
4. Ashtottara namavali and phalasruti of Karthikeya
5. Explanation of “Daan” and its benefits
6. “Shatarudra” details
7. Procedure of “Shiva puja”
8. How “Mahisagara Sangam Kshetra” became “Gupt Kshetra”
9. Eight folded approach to Venkateshwara
10. Details of Setu Teertha
11. Chaaturmas Mahatmya and “Shodashopachar”
12. Details about Shiva Mantra, Shiva Ratri, Shiva Pradosh Vrat and Shiva Kavach
13. Description of celestial worlds
14. Narmada’s origin and Narmada Mahatmya
15. Details about significant Shiva Kshetras
16. Kedar Kshetra and its importance
17. Birth of Vishwamitra and his curse to Saraswati

It will be impossible to summarize all the details into one article. To understand importance of Skanda Purana one has to read himself or herself. Skanda Purana can be found online at following locations

1. www.kamakoti.org
2. www.astrojyoti.com > Scriptures > The puranas
3. www.gita-society.com > Scriptures > All 18 major puranas

In all these sites most of the puranas are available.

Shiva Purana

This puran was told by Lord Shiva himself and it explains the “Shiva Mahima” and hence it is known as Shiv Purana or Shaiva Purana. This puran was told by Lord Shiva in 1 lakh shlokas and 12 samhitas. Sage Vyasa converted it into 24000 shlokas and 7 samhitas. This puran is categorized as tamas puran. Several versions of this puran exist with variation in number of samhitas. The most recent and popular versions are published by venkateshwara press and Pandita Pustakalaya.

They contain 7 samhitas (section)

Samhita (section)	Chapters
1. Vidyeshwara Samhita	25
2. Rudra Samhita This is divided into 5 khandas Sristi khanda, Sati khanda, Parvati khanda Kumar khanda Yudha Khanda	197
3. Satarudra Samhita	42
4. Kotirudra Samhita	43
5. Uma Samhita	51
6. Kailasha samhita	23
7. Vajaviya Samhita This is divided into Purva bhaga (35) and Uttara Bhaga (41)	76

Besides these there are other samhitas too - Isana Samhita, Ishvara Samhita, Surya Samhita, Tirthakshetra Samhita and Manav Samhita are also ascribed to this Purana.

It is said that those who worship Lord Shiva by Panchakshari Mantra get all benefits. This puran explains the method of worshipping Parthiv Linga and benefits derived from this worship. This also contains the details of Parvati’s marriage to Lord Shiva. In this puran Lord Shiva also gives an account of importance of Navagraha Pooja.

In Kumara Khanda, we come across story of how Lord Ganesha got elephant head.  It also gives the interesting narrations about Lord Kartikeya. This contains a lot of narration pertaining to stories, we heard in our young days, with proper reference and explanations. After Purva Bhag we come across the Uttara Bhag. This explains incarnations of Lord Shiva, Lord Nandi and their importance (mahima). The importance of Lord Shiva lies in Shiva Linga. Those Lingas which appeared on their own are known as Swyambhu linga. Besides these when Lord Shiva is appears in the form of flame (Jyoti) those are known as Jyotirlinga. There are 12 Jyotirlingas (Somnath in Sourashtra, Mallikarjun at Shri Shail, Mahakaleshwar at Ujjain, Omkareshwar at Amaleshwar, Vaijnath at Parali, Bhimashankar in Sahyadri, Rameshwar in Tamilnadu, Nageshwar at Dwaraka, Kashi Vishweshwar at Varanasi, Tryambakeshwar near Nashik, Kedareshwar in Himalayas, Ghrushneshwar near Daulatabad)

The details of these Jyotirlingas are found in this puran, This puran explains number of details that are followed in day to day worship as well as in the spiritual path.

We will not be able to do justice in explaining any of these purans unless and until we we read and find out the details. This is a feeble attempt to give a short summary so that people may get interested in reading this purana.