The Purpose of the Puranas
The Puranas have the essence of the Vedas and written to popularize the thoughts contained in the Vedas. They were meant, not for the scholars, but for the ordinary people who could hardly fathom the high philosophy of the Vedas. The aim of the Puranas is to impress upon the minds of the masses the teachings of the Vedas and to generate in them devotion to God, through concrete examples, myths, stories, legends, lives of saints, kings and great men, allegories, and chronicles of great historical events.
These texts were written over a long period of time from about the fourth century BCE to the eleventh century and were ascribed to Vyasa, the Hindu sage who is also credited with writing the famous epic Mahabharata. The Puranas offer answers to the big life questions by detailing how the world was created and who created it.
The Purpose of the Puranas
The Puranas have the essence of the Vedas and written to popularize the thoughts contained in the Vedas. They were meant, not for the scholars, but for the ordinary people who could hardly fathom the high philosophy of the Vedas. The aim of the Puranas is to impress upon the minds of the masses the teachings of the Vedas and to generate in them devotion to God, through concrete examples, myths, stories, legends, lives of saints, kings and great men, allegories, and chronicles of great historical events.
These texts were written over a long period of time from about the fourth century BCE to the eleventh century and were ascribed to Vyasa, the Hindu sage who is also credited with writing the famous epic Mahabharata. The Puranas offer answers to the big life questions by detailing how the world was created and who created it.