2016, Vol. 2, Issue 1, Part A

The purāṇas are the most important religious literature of India next only to the Vedas and the Itihasas.Though they are essentially religious in character, their contents are so wide as to embrace many branches of knowledge such as philosophy, history, geography, poetics, dramaturgy and so on. Thus the purāṇas can rightly be called the encyclopedia of ancient Indian thought. The importance of Purāṇas is recognized by our ancient thinkers also. It is said that the purāṇas enable us to know the true importance of the Vedas.