A Classical Dictionary of Hindu Mythology and Religion, Geography, History, and Literature c5.1418.2

c5.1418.2

and the Purānas, although they belong especially to that stage of the Hindu religion in which faith in some one divinity was the prevailing principle, are also a valuable record of the form of Hindu belief which came next in order to that of the Vedas, which grafted hero-worship upon the simpler ritual of the latter, and which had been adopted, and was extensively, perhaps universally, established in India at the time of the Greek invasion.” According to the same authority, Pantheism “is one of their invariable characteristics,” and underlies their whole teaching, “although the particular divinity who is all things, from whom all things proceed, and to whom all things return, is diversified according to their individual sectarian bias.” The Purānas are all written in verse, and their invariable form is that of a dialogue between an exponent and an inquirer, interspersed with the dialogues and observations of other individuals. Thus Pulastya received the Vishnu Purāna from Brahmā; he made it known to Parāsara, and Parāsara narrated it to his disciple Maitreya. The Purānas are eighteen in number, and in addition to these there are eighteen Upa Purānas or subordinate works. The Purānas are classified in three categories, according to the prevalence in them of the qualities of purity, gloom, and passion. Those in which the quality of Sattwa or purity prevail are—(1.) Vishnu, (2.) Nāradīya, (3.) Bhāgavata, (4.) Garuda, (5.) Padma, (6.) Varāha.