Content of Kurma Purana The Kurma deals with the description of the seven islands and seven oceans and the churning of Amrita. Bharata is situated in the centre of all these islands and ocean and is popularly known as Jambudvipa. The story goes that the Devas were defeated by the Asuras and needed to churn out the Amrita, the nectar of immortality from the ocean in order to attain immortality. As a result they tricked the Asuras into helping them in this task promising to give them a share of Amrita. Mount Mandara was used to stir the ocean while churning the Amrita. As the ocean was churned the mountain was making a hole in the earth. Witnessing the upcoming destruction, Lord Vishnu himself assumed the form of a giant tortoise, Kurma, and bore the mountain on his back so that the churning can be continued. At that very time the he recited the Kurma Purana, which became the form of text of this Purana. Later that Kurma or tortoise assumed the form of a beautiful maiden named Mohini to prevent the demons or Asuras from imbibing Amrita. It also describes the Lakshmi Kalpa. Initially, this Purana had four parts, namely, Brahma Samhita, Bhagavad Samhita, Gauri Samhita and Vaishnavi Samhita. Presently, however, none of these Samhitas is available except Brahma Samhita. The Kurma Purana consists of 18,000 verses. Thus like the other Puranas, the Kurma Purana also provides information on the omnipresence of God in all ages and it also provides an introduction to the different Yogas, which the individuals should perform as a mortal beings. |
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||