Brahma Purana Volume 1

Description

The eighteen Puranas are counted among the foundational texts of Hinduism. The holy trinity of Brahma as the creator, Vishnu as the preserver and Shiva as the destroyer play a central deities of the Puranas and feature in the narratives. The Puranas where creation themes feature prominently are identified with Brahma (Brahma, Brahmanda, Brahmavaivarta, Markandeya). Puranas where Vishnu features prominently are identified as Vaishnava Puranas (Bhagavata, Garuda, Kurma, Matysa, Narada, Padma, Vamana, Varaha, Vishnu). Puranas where Shiva features prominently are identified as Shaiva Puranas (Agni, Lings, Shiva, Skanda, Vayu). The Brahma Purana is so named because it was originally recounted by Brahma. It is described as Adi Purana in several Purana texts, underlining its importance. Odisha and the temples in that region are a key component of the text.

Bibek Debroy is Member, NITI Aayog. He is an economist and was educated in Ramakrishna Mission School, Narendrapur, Presidency College, Kolkata, Delhi School of Economics and Trinity College, Cambridge. He has worked in Presidency College, Kolkata (1979-83), Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics, Pune (1983-87), Indian Institute of Foreign Trade, Delhi (1987-93), as the Director of a Ministry of Finance/UNDP project on legal reforms (1993-98), Department of Economic Affairs (1994-95), National Council of Applied Economic Research (1995-96), Rajiv Gandhi Institute for Contemporary Studies (1997-2005), PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry (2005-06) and Centre for Policy Research (2007-15). He has authored/edited several books, papers and popular articles and has also been a Consulting/Contributing Editor with several newspapers.