Vishnupurana 3.6.p4

3.6.p4

Brāhma is the first of all the Purānas. Those who are conversant with the knowledge of Purānas enumerate them as eighteen—Brāhma, Padma, Vaishnava, Saiva, Bhāgvata, Nāradya, Mārkandeya, Ageney, Bhavishyat, Brahmā Vaivartta, Lainga, Varāha, Skanda, Vāmana, Kaurmma, Matsya, Gārura, Brahmānda, The creation of the universe and its successive generations, the genealogies of patriarchs and kings, the Manwantaras, and the royal dynasties are described in the Purānas. The Purāna, which I have described to you, O Maitreya, is Vaishnava and is next to Padma. And in every part, in the creation of universe and the successive generations, in the description of the genealogies of the patriarchs it has declared the glory of the great Vishnu. There are fourteen principal kinds of knowledge—namely, the four Vedas, the six Angas, the Mimānsa (theology,) Nyāya (logic,) Dharma (the institutes of law) and the Purānas. And they are enumerated as eighteen with the addition of these four—Aur-Veda, medical science taught by Dhunwantari; Dhanur-veda, the science of archery, taught by Bhrigu; Ghāndharba-Veda, the art of music, dancing &c. of which the Muni Bharata was the author; and the Artha Sastram or the science of Government, taught by Vrihaspati.