The Indian Puranas are a group of imperative Hindu, Jain or Buddhist religious texts that originated since ancient times. The texts comprises of narrative history of the Universe and is a detailed account of the creation to destruction, genealogies of the kings, heroes, sages, and demigods, and descriptions of Hindu cosmology, philosophy, and geography. Several Puranic Texts were developed during that time and recounted about the Hindu deities with religious and philosophical concepts. These texts were developed in the form of stories related by one person to another.
Puranic Texts can be termed as a collection of mythology of the Universe. They are the oldest scriptures available in India with various stories about the Gods and the Goddesses, rights and rituals as well as hymns. The Puranas can be identified as the novels about religion and culture denoting the powers of the almighty. According to history, these scriptures have been passed from one generation to the other orally or through written scriptures. India introduces about eighteen major Puranas that have emerged with various ideas and beliefs.
The definite period of the production of the Puranic Texts are not properly known. It is acknowledged as an oral form or said to have been modified well through the ages. However, according to traditional beliefs, the Puranas were composed by Vyasa at the end of Dvapara Yuga and they were classified as the major Puranas as Mahapuranas (great) and the Upapuranas (lower,additional) and these Puranic texts describes five themes called pancalaksana or the "five distinguishing marks" such as: Sarga or the creation of the universe, Pratisarga or the Secondary creations, mostly re-creations after dissolution, Vamsa (Genealogy of gods and sages), Manvantara or the creation of the human race and the first human beings and the Vamsanucaritam or Dynastic histories.
Besides the two Puranic Texts, another Purana demonstrates the origins and traditions of particular temples or shrines called as the Sthala Puranas. The world consists of numerous religious places as mentioned in the Sthala Puranas. There is another Puranic literature presented in a lucid manner. Kula Puranas deal with the origin, myth, stories, and legends of different castes. . Some other major Puranas include: Shrimad Bhagawat Purana , Vishnu Purana , Devi Bhagawat Purana , Bhavishya Purana , Matshya Purana , Karma Purana and the Brahma Purana
Apart from these Hindu Puranic texts, the religions Buddhhism and Jainism also contributed to the growth of the civilisation. The Jainiam and Buddhhism deal with Jain and Buddhist myths, history and legends.
