1.7: Importance of the Purāṇas

The Purāṇas are considered as the magnifying glass of the Vedas.^[1] All the Purāṇas deal with the family ancestry of different reigning houses. The Purāṇas give accounts of dynasties descended from the Candravaṃśa and the Sūryavaṃśa and contain lists of successive rulers of various kingdoms.^[2] Embodying all branches of knowledge these Purāṇas attain a higher position than the old scriptures. It is stated earlier that one should strengthen the Vedas with Itihāsa and Purāṇa. The Purāṇas illustrate much of the religious life of the Hindus. The Vaiṣṇava purāṇas are mainly seen to be utilised in the mediaeval period. These Purāṇas benefited some of the Vaiṣṇava saints of India. In the modern days also some scholars give more attention to the Purāṇas. In view of its importance, numerous critical works have been come out in respect of the Purāṇas. The Purāṇas provide much material to the modern Indian literature, languages, civilization etc.

In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the Purāṇas were not considered as an important literature. But some scholars like, H.H.Wilson, F.E. Pargiter has changed the concept about Purāṇa and attracted men towards the Purāṇas. Hence, they change the background towards the studies of the Purāṇas. Now the Purāṇas are accepted as one of the most important sources of traditional history and civilization of ancient India. At present the modern historians used Purāṇic material in their works. Thus the Purāṇas are being critically discussed in order to extract historical data. For the comprehensive history of Indian civilisation and culture, the Purāṇas play an important role. These also deal with other subjects like polity, sociology, administration, architecture, fine arts etc. Besides, the Purāṇas contain some mythological material, legendary and fictitious elements. These should be extracted by the modern historian.

In the 134th chapter of the Mārkaṇḍeyapurāṇa the importance of uttering or learning of all the Purāṇas are described. It has been stated there that a person who listens all the Purāṇas and reads it at meetings, he can ruin all the sins and get the liberation.^[3] Person who reads all the eighteen Purāṇas in the three sandhyas, the can get the outcome of a horse sacrifice.^[4] At the completion of the study of all the Purāṇas one gets the results superior to studying all the Vedas.^[5]