RAJASIKA PURANAS THAT GLORIFY THE LORD BRAHMA-THE CREATOR

The Brahma, Brahmaanda, Brahmavaivarta, Bhavishyat, Markandeya and Vamana which extol Brahma are classified as rajaisakpuraNa s.

The Brahma Purana (Sanskrit: ब्रह्मपुराण or ब्राह्मपुराण; Brahma-Purana) is one of the eighteen major Puranas collections of Hindu texts in Sanskrit Language. It is listed as the first Maha-Purana in all the anthologies, and therefore also called Adi Purana.  Another title for this text is Saura Purana, because it includes many chapters related to Surya or the Sun God. The Brahma Purana is actually just a compilation of geographical Mahatmya (Travel Guides) and sections on diverse topics.

The text is notable for dedicating over 60% of its chapters on description of geography and holy sites of Godavari River Region, as well as places in and around modern Odisha, and tributaries of Chambal River in Rajasth-an, these travel guide-like sections are non-sectarian, and celebrates sites and temples related to Vishnu, Shiva, Devi and Surya. The coverage of Jagan-nath (Krishna, Vishnu-Related) temples, however, is larger than the other three, leading scholars to the hypothesis that the authors of extant manuscripts may have been authors belonging to Vaishnavism. Its presentation of the Konark Sun Temple is notable.

 

The Brahmanda Purana (Sanskrit: ब्रह्माण्ड पुराण, Brahmanda Purana) is a Sanskrit text and one of the eighteen major Puranas, a genre of Hindu texts. It is listed as the eighteenth Maha-Purana in almost all the anthologies. The text is also referred in medieval Indian literature as the Vayaviya Purana or Vayaviya Brahmanda, and it may have been same as the Vayu Purana before these texts developed into two overlapping compositions.

The text is named after one of the cosmological theories of Hinduism, namely the "Cosmic Egg" (Brahma-Anda). It is among the oldest Puranas, the earliest core of text maybe from 4 century CE, continuously edited thereafter over time and it exist in numerous versions. The Brahmanda Purana manuscripts are encyclopedic in their coverage, covering topics such as Cosmogony, Sanskara (Rite Of Passage), Genealogy, Chapters On Ethics And Duties (Dharma), Yoga, Geography, Rivers, Good Government, Administration, Diplomacy, Trade, Festivals, A Travel Guide To Places Such As Kashmir, Cuttack, And Kanchipuram, And Other Topics.

The Brahmanda Purana is notable for including the Lalita Sahasranamam (A Stotra Praising The Goddess Lalita As The Supreme Being In The Universe), and being one of the early Hindu texts found in Bali, Indonesia, also called the Javanese-Brahmanda. The text is also notable for the Adhyatma Ramayana, the most important embedded set of chapters in the text, which philosophically attempts to reconcile Rama-Bhakti with Advaita Vedanta over 65 chapters and 4,500 verses.

The text is encyclopedic, it is non-sectarian and reveres all gods and god-desses, including Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva, Ganesha, Surya and Shakti.  The text's philosophy is a blend of the Vedanta, Samkhya and Yoga schools of Hindu Philosophy, woven in with Bhakti and some tantra themes.

The second part, which comprises chapters 5–44 of the third section, the Uttarabhaga is the Lalitopakhyana (Narrative Of Lalita). It describes the Goddess Lalita (An Incarnation Of Adi Parashakti) and her worship as well a discussion of Tantra. This part is written as a dialogue between Hayagriva and sage Agastya on the Goddess Lalita's emergence out of fire after which the king of gods Indra worshipped Devi (The Goddess Representing The Supreme Reality). It includes her war with the Asura Bhanda and her final triumph.

 

The Brahmavaivarta Purana (Sanskrit: ब्रह्मवैवर्त पुराण; Brahmavaivarta Purāṇa) is a voluminous Sanskrit text and a major Purana (Maha-purana) of Hinduism.  It is an important Vaishnavism text. This Purana majorly centers around the Hindu deities Radha and Krishna. 

Although a version may have existed in late 1st millennium CE, its extant version was likely composed in the Bengal region of Indian subcontinent.  Later, it was likely revised somewhere in South India.  Numerous versions of this Purana exist and are claimed to be the part of manuscripts of the Brahmavaivarta Purana or the Brahmakaivarta Purana.

The text is notable for identifying Krishna as the supreme reality and asserting that all gods such as Vishnu, Shiva, Brahma, Ganesha are one and the same and in fact, all are the incarnations of Krishna. Goddesses like Radha, Durga, Lakshmi, Saraswati and Savitri are asserted to be equivalent and are mentioned as the incarnations of Prakruti in this text, with legends similar to those found in the Devi-Bhagavata Purana and the Devi Mahatmya. The text is also notable for glorifying the feminine aspect of god through Radha and its egalitarian views that all women are manifestations of the divine female, co-creators of the universe, and that any insult to a woman is an insult to goddess Radha.

The mythology and stories of Brahmavaivarta Purana, along with Bhagavata Purana, have been influential to the Krishna-related Hindu traditions, as well as to dance and performance arts such as the Rasa Lila.

In this Purāna, Radha (or Rādhikā), who is inseparable from Krishna, appears as the main goddess. She is the personification of the Mūlaprakriti, the "Root nature", that original seed from which all material forms evolved. In the company of the Purusha ("Man", "Spirit", "Universal soul") Krishna, she is said to inhabit the Goloka, which is a world of cows and cowherds far above the Vishnu's Vaikuntha. In this divine world, Krishna and Radha relate to one another in the way body relates to soul. (4.6.216).

 

The 'Bhavishya Purana' (Bhaviṣya Purāṇa) is one of the eighteen major works in the Purana genre of Hinduism, written in Sanskrit. The title Bhavishya means "future" and implies it is a work that contains prophecies regarding the future.

The Bhavishya Purana exists in many inconsistent versions, wherein the content as well as their subdivisions vary, and five major versions are known.  Some manuscripts have four Parvam (parts), some two, others don't have any parts. The text as it exists today is a composite of material ranging from medieval era to the modern era. Those sections of the surviving manuscripts that are dated to be older, are partly borrowed from other Indian texts such as Brihat Samhita and Shamba Purana. The veracity and authenticity of much of the Bhavishya Purana has been questioned by modern scholars and historians, and the text is considered an example of "constant revisions and living nature" of Puranic genre of Hindu literature.

The first 16 chapters of the first part of the Bhavisya Purana is called Brahmaparvam. It shows similarities to, and likely borrowed verses from some version of the Manusmriti.  However, some of the caste-related and women's rights related discussion in the Bhavishya Purana is egalitarian and challenge those found in the 19th-century published manuscripts of the Manusmriti.  The second part of the text, called Madhyamaparvan, is a Tantra-related work.  The "prophecy"-related third part Pratisarga-parvan includes sections on Christianity, Islam, Bhakti movement, Sikhism, Sultanate history, Mughal history, British rule, and others. This part is considered by scholars as a 18th– to 19th-century creation. The fourth part of the text called Uttaraparvam, is also known as Bhavishyottara Purana. This last part describes festivals related to various Hindu gods and goddesses and their Tithis (dates on lunar calendar), as well as mythology and a discussion of Dharma particularly vrata (vow) and dana (charity). The text also has many Mahatmya chapters on geography, travel guide and pilgrimage to holy sites such as Uthiramerur, and is one of the Tirtha-focussed Puranas.

The available versions of Bhavishya Purana are based on a printed text published during the British colonial era.

 

The Markandeya Purana (Sanskrit: मार्कण्डेय पुराण; IAST: Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa) is a Sanskrit text of Hinduism, and one of the eighteen major Puranas. The text's title Markandeya refers to a sage in Hindu History, who is the central character in two legends, one linked to Shiva and other to Vishnu. The Markandeya text is one of the Puranas that lacks a sectarian presentation of ideas in favor of any particular god, and it is rare to read any deity being invoked or deity prayers in the entire text.

The Markandeya Purana is probably one of the oldest in Purana genre of Hindu Literature, among the most interesting and important, states Ludo Rocher.  It is famous for including the Devi Mahatmya within it, the oldest known treatise on Devi (Goddess) as the Supreme Truth and Creator Of The Universe.  The text is considered as a central text of the Hindu Goddess-related Shaktism tradition, with an extraordinary expression of reverence for the feminine.  The Markandeya Purana's Devi Mahatmya is often ranked in some Hindu traditions to be as important as the Bhagavad Gita.

The extant manuscripts of this Purana have 137 chapters, of which chapters 81 through 93 is the Devi Mahatmya. Tradition and some medieval era texts assert that the Markandeya Purana has 9,000 verses, but surviving Manuscripts have about 6,900 verses.  2,100 verses were transferred to Devi Bhagavatam. The text presents a diverse range of topics, with socio-cultural information and symbolism for Vedic ideas and Metaphysical Thought.

 

The Vamana Purana (Sanskrit: वामन पुराण, IAST: Vāmana Purāṇa), is a medieval era Sanskrit text and one of the eighteen major Puranas of Hinduism.  The text is named after one of the incarnations of Vishnu and probably was a Vaishnava text in its origin.  However, the modern surviving manuscripts of Vamana Purana are more strongly centered on Shiva, while containing chapters that revere Vishnu and other Hindu gods and goddesses.  It is considered a Shaiva text.  Further, the text hardly has the character of a Purana, and is predominantly a collection of Mahatmyas (travel guides) to many Shiva-related places in India with legends and mythology woven in.

The extant manuscripts of Vamana Purana exist in various versions, likely very different from the original, and show signs of revision over time and regions.  It has been published by All India Kashiraj Trust in two rounds.  The first round had 95 chapters, while the critical edition (edited by Anand Swarup Gupta, and published by the All-India Kashiraj Trust, Varanasi) published in the second round has 69 chapters plus an attached Saro-mahatmya with 28 chapters dedicated to temples and sacred sites in and around modern Haryana.  Both these versions lack the Brhad-vamana with four samhitas, which is mentioned in the text, but is believed to have been lost to history.

The text is non-sectarian, and its first version was likely created by the 9th to 11th century CE.