Talk:Purāṇa:Upa-Purāṇas and Other Related Texts
By Sri Chandrasekharendra Saraswati Swami
Apart from the 18 major Purāṇas, there are an equal number of Upa-Purāṇas. Among them are the Vināyaka Purāṇa and the Kalki Purāṇa. These texts, while not part of the major canon, are highly revered and offer elaborate accounts on specific deities, incarnations, or religious observances.
In addition to these, there exist a number of **minor Purāṇas** and devotional compilations. Some texts focus on the significance of particular months and are known as Māsa-Māhātmya or month-glorifying Purāṇas. These include:
- Tula Purāṇa
- Māgha Purāṇa
- Vaiśākha Purāṇa
These are often considered as parts of either the major 18 Purāṇas or the Upa-Purāṇas. For instance, the Tula Purāṇa centers around the sacredness of the Kāverī river, especially emphasizing the auspiciousness of bathing in it during the month of Tula (October–November).
There are also what are known as Sthala Purāṇas, or local Purāṇas associated with particular pilgrimage places. Some Sthala Purāṇas are incorporated into larger Purāṇas, while others exist independently. The glories of rivers like the Kāverī and the Gaṅgā are similarly found both as standalone narratives and as chapters within larger texts.
Purāṇas on Devotees
If many Purāṇas are devoted to the divine — to Śiva, Viṣṇu, or Śakti — there are others that focus on the lives and spiritual journeys of **devotees**.
- The Tamil Periyapurāṇam tells the life stories of the 63 Śaiva saints known as the Nāyaṉmārs. These saints, through their unwavering devotion, became pillars of the Bhakti tradition in Tamil Śaivism.
- The same narrative of devotee-glory exists in Sanskrit as Upamanyu Bhaktavilāsa, a compendium focused on devotion in practice.
- The Marathi text Bhakta-Vijaya presents the divine lives of poet-saints like Tukārām, Nāmadeva, and others who were deeply devoted to Pāṇḍuraṅga of Paṇḍharpur. Their stories are central to the Vārkarī tradition of Maharashtra.
These narratives, while not part of the canonical 18 Purāṇas, serve the same spiritual purpose: to inspire devotion (bhakti), cultivate inner purity, and preserve the continuity of dharma through moving stories of divine-human connection.