महापुराण

A vast literature available in the form of Puranans, stands next to the Vedas, in importance and popularity. It envisages to popularize the precepts, morals and values, propounded in the Vedas, the Upanishads, the Epics, and the Dharmasutras. It not only succeeded in its mission, but also in completely revitalising and revolutionising, and moderninsing the Vedic religion. Later and modern Hindu religion is an offshoot of Puranic religion. The path of devotion and worship propounded in Vedic literature as against the path of ritualistic excercises was followed more vigorously in the Puranas. Thus, the Puranas freed Hinduism from the clutches of chosen few and spilled it over to masses who were unable to understand the complexities of the Vedic doctrines. The simple and lucid language of thses works made more easier of the attainment of the desired objective of instruction to the masses in moral & mental education.

The value of Puranas can not be minimized by calling them mythological or religious. Their vowed theme is the presentation of history of the kings upto the end of the 5th century AD. There is no doubt that Puranas embody the earliest traditional history and that much of their material is old and valuable. Altekar has correctly stressed the importance of the Puranas as a source of valuable information for the archaic period of Indian History. Taken collectively they may be described as a popular encyclopaedia of ancient and medival Hinduism, religion, philosophy, history, politics, ethics etc.