The Garuda Purana is one of 18 Mahāpurāṇa texts in Hinduism. It is a part of the Vaishnavism literature corpus, primarily centering around the Hindu god Vishnu. It was composed in Sanskrit and is today also available in various languages like Gujarati and English. The earliest version of the text may have been composed in the first millennium CE, but it was likely expanded and changed over a long period of time.
A page from a Garuda Purana manuscript (Sanskrit, Devanagari)
The text of the Garuda Purana revolves around the god Vishnu, as recited by Garuda. Above: Vishnu and Lakshmi on Garuda (Delhi National Museum).
Puranas are a vast genre of Hindu literature about a wide range of topics, particularly about legends and other traditional lore. The Puranas are known for the intricate layers of symbolism depicted within their stories. Composed originally in Sanskrit and in other Indian languages, several of these texts are named after major Hindu gods such as Vishnu, Shiva, Brahma, and Adi Shakti. The Puranic genre of literature is found in both Hinduism and Jainism.
The Goddess Durga Leading the Eight Matrikas in Battle Against the Demon Raktabija, Folio from Devi Mahatmyam, Markandeya Purana.
The Puranas include cosmos creation myths such as the Samudra Manthan (churning of the ocean). It is represented in the Angkor Wat temple complex of Cambodia, and at Bangkok airport, Thailand (above).
The mythology in the Puranas has inspired many reliefs and sculptures found in Hindu temples. The legend behind the Krishna and Gopis relief above is described in the Bhagavata Purana.
An 11th-century Nepalese palm-leaf manuscript in Sanskrit of Devimahatmya (Markandeya Purana).
