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The words Purana refers to stories of ancient times. The name of Purāṇa is applied to them to show that they are very old. In vedic literature the word Itihasa and Akhyāna have been used alongwith the word Purāṇa. According to the definition given in Hindu Purāņas, there must be five1 topics in every Purāņa i.e..
(1) creation of universe
(11) its destruction
(i) the genealogies of Gods and Ṛsis
(iv) the ages of manus, and
PURANA LITERATURE
(1) Brahmanda
(3) Märkandeya
(5) Bhavisya
(7) Brahma
(9) Varaha
(11) Vayu or Siva
(13) Nárada
(v) the history of solar and lunar races.
There are 18 main Puranas in Samskrit language. All of them were written by Non-Jaina authors. The names of these are as follows:
(15) Linga (17) Kürma
Jaina Grantha Bhandars in Rajasthan,
and
(2) Matsya
(4) Bhāgavata
(6) Brahma Vaivarta
(8) Vimana
(10) Visnu
(12) Agni
(14) Padma
(16) Garuḍa
(18) Skanda.
Except these 18 main puranas there are sub-puranas also which have been described in Garuda Puri na.
The Jaina Acaryas and scholars also showed their great interest in writing the Purana literature, though the aim of writing this kind of literature was not the same as that of Vedic scholars. The aim of Jain Purāņas is to describe the lives of 63 great personalities and as such the Puranas are called either after rhe name of particular Tirthankara or named as Padma Purana, Harivansa Purā ņa, Pandava
1. सर्गश्व प्रतिसगंश्च वशो मन्वन्तराणि च । वंशानुचरितचं व पुराणं पञ्चलक्षणम् ।
