Vamana Purana, translated by Bibek Debroy

Vamana Purana, translated by Bibek Debroy

This is my eighteenth Purana review. This is my second – last rajsik Purana too. The Vamana Purana comes fourteenth in the list of Mahapuranas. It only has ten thousand shlokas. These shlokas are divided into a purva bhaga and an uttara bhaga. There are ninety-five chapters in the Purana. This Purana was first recited by Sage Pulastya to the rishi Narada.

This Purana talks more about the wars between the gods and the demons. It mentions the asura Andhaka a lot. It also focuses more on the formation of the goddess Durga except they call her Katyayani. The defeat of Mahishasura, Chanda, Munda and Raktajiva are described in great detail. The formation of Koushiki and Chamunda are talked about too.

In all these stories I found a very unique one. It talks about another vamana avatar of Vishnu. This story is given below.

Varaha Purana, translated by Bibek Debroy

Varaha Purana, translated by Bibek Debroy

This is my sixteenth Purana review. It is a satvik Purana, so it concentrates more on Vishnu and glorifies him in his Varaha avatar. The Varaha Purana comes twelfth in the list of Mahapuranas. It has twenty-four thousand shlokas so it is medium sized in length. These shlokas are divided into two parts – the purva bhaga and the uttara bhaga. This purana is named so because it was narrated by Vishnu in his varaha avatar to the earth (prithvi). Prithvi had many questions and was also curious to know the powers of Vishnu and who he really was. In answer to these questions Vishnu narrated this Purana.

This Purana talks about rituals, sacrifices, fasts and major tirthas in detail. It also talks about the 35 ways in which varaha or a boar is connected to sacrifices and the Vedas.

Now let us move on to my favourite stories.

Agni Purana, translated by Bibek Debroy

Agni Purana, (abridged) translation by Bibek Debroy

This is my fifteenth Purana review. It is also my last tamasik Purana review. The Agni Purana is an interesting Purana. It is eighth in the list of Mahapuranas. It is not too long, it has fifteen and a half thousand shlokas. These shlokas are further divided into three hundred and eighty-three chapters. The Agni Purana is named thus as it was narrated by the fire – god Agni. Vashishta narrated this Purana to Vedavyasa. Vedavyasa narrated it to Suta who narrated it to some sages in the Namisharanya forest. This Purana has lots of information on rituals, omens, social norms, duties of a king, etc. There are very few stories and even those are in a summarized form. Apart from this, it also narrates the ten avatars of Vishnu along with a short version of the Mahabharata. The duties of a king are described as well.

Now let me narrate my favourite story.

Brahmavaivarta Purana, translated by Bibek Debroy

Brahmavaivarta Purana, translated by Bibek Debroy

This is my nineteenth and last Purana review. It is my last rajsik Purana. The Brahmavaivarta Purana comes eighth in the list of Mahapuranas. It has a total of eighteen thousand shlokas and is medium in length. These shlokas are divide into four khandas. They are the Brahma khanda, the Prakriti khanda, the Ganesha khanda and the Srikrishnajanma khanda.

Although this Purana is a rajsik purana it glorifies Krishna more. Krishna is said to be the creator. He is identified with the brahman and is said to have created Shiva, Brahma and Narayana from his own body. This is slightly confusing as it describes Krishna’s type of creation and Brahma’s creation at the same time. This is one of the few Puranas that talk about Krishna in great detail.

In Krishna’s creation, all the gods and goddesses emerged from different parts of his body like his chest, mouth, mind, etc.

In Brahma’s creation, the world was formed from a golden egg.

Like most Puranas this one also starts in the Naimisharanya forest. The narrator is Souti or Suta who is the son of Lomaharshana. On the request of some sages Souti narrates the Brahmavaivarta Purana.

This was a very interesting Purana. It had so much new information. Most of it was in the form of stories. I learnt lots of stuff. Out of this information I picked out the most interesting bits and have given it below.

Have you wondered why Narada was named Narada? What is the meaning of the name? The answers to this are given below.