Eighteen major Puranas, traditionally compiled by Ved Vyasa, weaving cosmology, mythology, genealogy, and devotion into the stories most Hindus actually grow up hearing.
पौराणिक काल · Puranic era
Each Purana traditionally covers five subjects, sarga (creation), pratisarga (dissolution and re-creation), vamsha (genealogies of gods and sages), manvantara (cosmic ages), and vamshanucharita (dynastic histories), though in practice each also develops its own devotional focus: the Bhagavata Purana on Krishna, the Shiva Purana on Shiva, the Devi Bhagavata and Markandeya Puranas on the Goddess.
For most practicing Hindus, the Puranas rather than the Vedas are the direct source of the stories and figures covered throughout this site, Ganesha's elephant head, Durga's battle with Mahishasura, the churning of the ocean, nearly all traced to one Purana or another rather than to Vedic hymns themselves.