With the epics, with which they are closely linked in origin, the Puranas became the scriptures of the common people. Unlike the Vedas, which were restricted to initiated men of the three higher orders, the Puranas were available to everybody, including women and members of the lowest order of society (Shudras). The origin of much of their contents may be non-Brahmanic, but they were accepted and adapted by the Brahmans, who thus brought new elements into their orthodox religion.
At first sight the discontinuity between Vedic and Puranic mythology appears to be so sharp that they might be considered two distinct traditions. Little is learned in the Vedas of goddesses, yet they rose steadily in Puranic mythology. It soon becomes clear, however, that the two bodies of texts are in part continuous and that what appears to be discrepancy is merely a difference between the liturgical emphasis of the Vedas and the more eclectic genres of the epics and Puranas. For example, the great god of the Rigveda is Indra, the god of war and monsoon, prototype of the warrior; but, for the population as a whole, he was more important as the rain god than the war god, and it is as such that he survives in early Puranic mythology.
While some traditionally important Vedic gods have only minor roles in the Puranas, some previously less-important figures are quite prominent. This is true, for example, of the two principal gods of Puranic Hinduism, Vishnu and Rudra-Shiva. In the Vedas, Vishnu, with his three strides, established the three worlds (heaven, atmosphere, and earth); Rudra-Shiva is a mysterious god who must be propitiated.
Puranic literature documents the rise of the two gods as they attract to themselves the identities of other popular gods and heroes. Brahma, creator of the world and teacher of the gods, appears in the Puranas primarily to appease over-powerful sages and demons by granting them boons.
In the Puranic literature of 500 to 1000 ce, sectarianism creeps into mythology, and individual Puranas extol one god (usually Shiva, Vishnu, or Devi, the Goddess) over all others. Cosmology, cosmogony, generations of kings of the lunar and solar dynasties, myths of the great ascetics (who in some respects eclipse the old gods), and myths of sacred places—usually rivers and fords—whose powers to reward the pilgrim are often cited and related to local legends, are all important themes in these texts. Cosmogony
Puranic cosmogony greatly expands upon the complex cosmogonies of the Brahmanas, Upanishads, and epics. According to one of many versions of the story of the origin of the universe, in the beginning the god Narayana (identified with Vishnu) floated on the snake Ananta (“Endless”) on the primeval waters. From Narayana’s navel grew a lotus, in which the god Brahma was born reciting the four Vedas with his four mouths and creating the “Egg of Brahma,” which contains all the worlds. Other accounts refer to other demiurges, or creators, like Manu (the primordial ancestor of humankind).
The Vedas do not seem to conceive of an end to the world, but Puranic cosmogony accounts for the periodic destruction of the world at the close of an eon, when the Fire of Time will put an end to the universe. Elsewhere the destruction is specifically attributed to the god Shiva, who dances the tandava dance of doomsday and destroys the world. Yet this is not an absolute end but a temporary suspension (pralaya), after which creation begins again in the same fashion. Cosmology
The Puranas present an elaborate mythical cosmography. The old tripartite universe persists, but it is modified. There are three levels—heaven, earth, and the netherworld—but the first and last are further subdivided into vertical layers. Earth consists of seven circular continents, the central one surrounded by the salty ocean and each of the other concentric continents by oceans of other liquids. In the centre of the central mainland stands the cosmic mountain Meru; the southernmost portion of this mainland is Bharatavarsa, the old name for India. Above earth there are seven layers in heaven, at the summit of which is the world of brahman (brahma-loka); there are also seven layers below earth, the location of hells inhabited by serpents and demons. Myths of time and eternity
The oldest texts speak little of time and eternity. It is taken for granted that the gods, though born, are immortal; they are called “Sons of Immortality.” In the Atharvaveda, Time appears personified as creator and ruler of everything. In the Brahmanas and later Vedic texts there are repeated esoteric speculations concerning the year, which is the unit of creation and is thus identified with the creative and regenerative sacrifice and with Prajapati (“Lord of Creatures”), the god of the sacrifice. Time is an endless repetition of the year and thus of creation; this is the starting point of later notions of repeated creations.
Puranic myths developed around the notion of yuga (world age), of which there are four. These four yugas, Krita, Treta, Dvapara, and Kali—they are named after the four throws, from best to worst, in a dice game—constitute a mahayuga (large yuga) and, like the comparable ages of the world depicted by the Greek poet Hesiod, are periods of increasing deterioration. Time itself also deteriorates, for the ages are successively shorter. Each yuga is preceded by an intermediate “dawn” and “dusk.” The Krita Yuga lasts 4,000 years, with a dawn and dusk of 400 years each, for a total of 4,800 years; Treta a total of 3,600 years; Dvapara 2,400 years; and Kali (the current one), 1,200 years. A mahayuga thus lasts 12,000 years and observes the usual coefficient of 12, derived from the 12-month year, the unit of creation. These years are “years of the gods,” each lasting 360 human years, 360 being the days in a year. One thousand mahayugas form one kalpa (eon), which is itself but one day in the life of Brahma, whose life lasts 100 years; the present is the midpoint of his life. Each kalpa is followed by an equally long period of abeyance (pralaya), in which the universe is asleep. Seemingly, the universe will come to an end at the end of Brahma’s life, but Brahmas too are innumerable, and a new universe is reborn with each new Brahma.
Another myth emphasizes the destructive aspect of time. Everything dies in time: “Time ripens the creatures, Time rots them” (Mahabharata 1.1.188). “Time” (kala) is thus another name for Yama, the god of death. The name is associated with Shiva in his destructive aspect as Mahakala and is extended to his consort, the goddess Kali, or Mahakali. The speculations on time reflect the doctrine of the eternal return in the philosophy of transmigration. The universe returns, just as a soul returns after death to be born again. In the oldest description of the process (Chandogya Upanishad 5.3.1.–5.3.10), the account is still mythic but displays naturalistic tendencies. The soul on departing may go either of two ways: the “Way of the Gods,” which brings it through days, bright fortnights, the half-year of the northern course of the sun, to the full year and eventually to brahman; or the “Way of the Ancestors,” through nights, dark fortnights, the half-year of the southern course of the sun, and, failing to reach the full year, eventually back to earth clinging to raindrops. If the soul happens to light on a plant that is subsequently eaten by a man, the man may impregnate a woman and thus the soul may be reborn. Once more the significance of the year as a symbol of complete time is clear. Stories of the gods
According to the epic Mahabharata (1.1.39), there are 33,333 Hindu deities. In other sources that number is multiplied a thousandfold. Usually, however, the gods are referred to as “the Thirty-Three.”