Brahma Mahapurana

Kannada translation

Click on the links below to browse/download the Kannada translation of Brahma Mahapurana, published in 1946 under the Jayachamarajendra Grantharatnamala Series. This Purana was digitized through Sriranga Digital Technologies by Shri Yogananda, Professor of Mathematics, at Shri Jayachamarajendra College of Engineering, Mysore.

Hindi Audio

Brahma Puran Hindi audio book on Pocket FM (Thanks to Navya Sree N)

Introduction and Summary

The Brahma Purana (Sanskrit: ब्रह्म पुराण, Brahma Purāņa) is one of the eighteen Maha Puranas in Sanskrit language. It is listed as the first Maha-Purana in all the anthologies, and therefore is also called Adi Purana, although there is another Sanskrit text which is named Adi Purana classified as one of the Upa Puranas. Another title used for this text is Saura Purana, because it includes many chapters related to Surya or the Sun God. However, there is another Sanskrit text called Saura Purana, classified as one of the Upa Puranas. The name Brahma Purana is misleading and apocryphal because the extant manuscripts of this text have nothing to do with the Hindu god Brahma, and are actually a compilation of Sthala Mahatmyas (greatness of pilgrimage sites) and sections on diverse topics.

The extant text is likely not the ancient Brahma Purana, but one that was completely changed between the 13th and 16th-century BCE, or may be after. The surviving manuscripts comprise 245 chapters. It is divided into two parts: the Purva Bhaga (the former part) and the Uttara Bhaga (the latter part). The text exists in numerous versions, with significant differences, and the text seemed to have been revised continually over time. Further, the Brahma Purana likely borrowed numerous passages from other Sanskrit Itihasa texts such as the Mahabharata and the Puranas such as the Vishnu, Vayu, Samba, and Markandeya.

The text is notable for dedicating over 60% of its chapters on description of geography and holy sites of Godavari river region, as well as places in and around modern Odisha, and tributaries of Chambal river in Rajasthan. This Sthala Purana section celebrates sites and temples related to Vishnu, Shiva, Devi and Surya. The coverage of Jagannatha (Krishna, Vishnu-related) temples, however, is larger than the other three, leading scholars to the hypothesis that the authors of extant manuscripts may have been authors belonging to Vaishnavism. Its presentation of the Konark Sun Temple is notable.

Out of 245 chapters, 18 chapters of the Brahma Purana cover the cosmology, mythology, genealogy, manvantara (cosmic time cycles) and topics that are required to make a text belong to the Puranic genre of literature. Other chapters cover Sanskara (rite of passage), summary of Dharmasastra, its theories on the geography of earth, summary of Samkhya and Yoga theories, and other topics. While many chapters of the Brahma Purana praise temples and pilgrimage, chapters 38-40 of the text, a part of embedded Saura Purana, present arguments that are highly critical of the theistic theories and devotional worship proposals of 13th-century Madhvacharya and Dvaita Vedanta sub-school of Hindu philosophies.

The Padma Purana categorizes Brahma Purana as a Rajas Purana, implying the text is related to Brahma, but extant manuscripts have nothing to do with Brahma. Some scholars consider the Sattva-Rajas-Tamas classification as "entirely fanciful" and there is nothing in this text that actually justifies this classification.

The manuscripts of Sthala Mahatme related to Godavari-river region from this Purana is found as a separate text, and is called Gautami-mahatmya or Godavari-mahatmya, while the one corresponding to Rajasthan region is called Brahmottara Purana.

The tradition and other Puranas assert the Brahma Purana had 10,000 verses, but the surviving manuscripts contain between 7,000 and 8,000 verses exclusive of the Brahmottara Purana supplement which adds between 2,000 and 3,000 verses depending on different versions of the same text.

There was a Kannada translation of Brahma Purana, published in 1946 under the Jayachamarajendra Grantharatnamala Series.

Sohnen and Schreiner published a summary of the Brahma Purana in 1989.

Brahma Mahapurana