mention a few rituals.
Krishna
The Vayu Purana is one of the eighteen major Puranas of Hinduism. It belongs to the Shaivism literature corpus and is mentioned in the manuscripts of the Mahabharata and other Hindu texts1 It is considered to be among the oldest in the Puranic genre.
The Vayu Purana contains various topics related to Hindu cosmology, mythology, geography, history, rituals and festivals. Some of the topics covered are:
- The creation and dissolution of the universe
- The genealogy and stories of various sages, kings and gods
- The description and worship of Shiva and his forms
- The description and worship of Vishnu and his avatars
- The description and worship of Devi and her forms
- The description and worship of Ganesha, Kartikeya, Surya and other deities
- The description and worship of sacred rivers, mountains, forests and places
- The description and worship of various holy sites such as Kashi, Prayaga, Kurukshetra, Mathura etc.
- The description and worship of various temples and shrines such as Kedarnath, Badrinath, Somnath etc.
- The description and significance of various festivals such as Shivaratri, Holi, Diwali etc.
- The description and significance of various rites of passage such as birth, initiation, marriage, death etc.
- The description and significance of various ethical duties such as Dharma, Artha, Kama and Moksha
- The description and significance of various types of Yoga such as Jnana, Bhakti, Karma and Raja
- The description and significance of various types of meditation such as Mantra, Yantra and Tantra
- The description and significance of various types of knowledge such as Vedas, Upanishads, Puranas etc.
The Vayu Purana exists in many versions, structured in different ways. For example:
- In the Anandashrama and Vangavasi editions, this text is divided into four padas (parts): Prakriya-pada (chapters 1–6), Anushanga-pada (chapters 7–64), Upodghata-pada (chapter 65–99) and Upasamhara-pada (chapters 100–112).
- In the Asiatic Society and Venkateshvara Press editions, this text is divided into two parts: Prathamakhanda comprising 61 chapters and Dvitiyakhanda comprising 50 chapters.
According to the tradition and verses in other Puranas, the Vayu Purana contains 24,000 verses (shlokas). However, the surviving manuscripts have about 12,000 verses. The text was continuously revised over the centuries, and its extant manuscripts are very different.
Krishna
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