Narada Purana

01The Kumaras at the Ganga

Sanaka, Sanandana, Sanatana and Sanatkumara, the four mind-born sons of Brahma, are on their way to Brahma's sabha on Meru when they stop to bathe in the Ganga. Devarshi Narada comes along the bank singing the names of Madhusudana, sees his elder brothers and bows. He asks, and they teach. That meeting, which Suta recounts to the rishis of Naimisharanya, is the frame of the Narada Purana, also called the Naradiya or Brihannaradiya. The Bhagavata counts it at 25,000 shlokas, and it is the sixth in the usual order of the eighteen.

02Four padas, two bhagas

The Purva Bhaga runs to 125 adhyayas in four padas, each led by one of the Kumaras. The first pada is dharma and bhakti: creation, the praise of Bharata, Markandeya's devotion, the Ganga, the vratas of the month of Margashirsha, sadachara, shraddha and prayashchitta. The second is the six Vedangas and moksha. The third is mantra shastra, the worship of each deva in turn. The fourth holds the table of all eighteen Puranas and the vratas of every tithi. The Uttara Bhaga changes speaker: Maharshi Vasishtha talks with King Mandhata about Ekadashi and the tirthas.

03The five marks, briefly

Of all the Mahapuranas the Narada spends the least breath on the classical five marks. Sarga is told quickly at the start, with the earth's dvipas and the praise of Bharata as the land of karma; manvantaras and the royal lines appear mostly in passing, inside kathas such as those of Sagara and Bhagiratha. The Purana's own weight lies elsewhere, in what a devotee should do and know. For the pancha-lakshana in full, the Kumaras point the listener to the other Puranas, and the fourth pada tells exactly where to find each one.

04Bhagiratha and the Ganga

Ten adhyayas of the first pada belong to the Ganga. Sanaka tells how the sixty thousand sons of Sagara were burnt to ash by the glance of Kapila Muni, and how their descendant Bhagiratha, taught by Dharmaraja himself, set out to bring the river down from heaven so that her water might touch their ashes. The katha of Bali and the devas is woven in, since Ganga first flowed from the foot of Vamana. Few Puranas give the river's glory at such length.

05The six limbs of the Veda

In the second pada Sanandana gives the Vedangas one by one: shiksha, the sounds of the Veda and how to say them; kalpa, the ritual; vyakarana, grammar; nirukta, the meaning of words; jyotisha, which here runs to planetary motion, muhurta and the casting of a birth chart; and chhandas, metre. Then the pada turns from learning to its end. Shuka is born to Vyasa and sent to King Janaka of Mithila to learn, and the chapters on moksha dharma follow. A student of jyotisha in a traditional pathashala may still meet these adhyayas before the larger texts.

06Every deva's mantra

Sanatkumara's pada is a manual of upasana, and it honours each form of the divine in its own chapter. Sandhya and daily puja come first. Then Ganesha's mantras, Nrisimha, Hayagriva, Shri Rama, Hanuman with his kavacha and the whole of his charita, Kartavirya, Shri Krishna, and a thousand names of Radha-Krishna. Then the five forms of Prakriti, Durga, the Lalita Sahasranama with its kavacha, the Nityas, and finally Mahesha. A Vaishnava, a Shakta and a Shaiva can each open this pada and find their own worship set down with care, side by side.

07A table of the Puranas

Eighteen adhyayas, one for each Mahapurana, make the fourth pada the most consulted part of the book. What Brahma once told Marichi is retold here: who first spoke each Purana and to whom, how many shlokas it holds, the contents of each part in order, and the merit of copying it and giving it, wrapped in cloth, to a learned brahmana on a fixed day. The list names the Vayu where other lists name the Shiva, a difference the tradition has always held in respect. The Narada closes the table with its own promise for those who hear all eighteen.

08Rukmangada and Mohini

The Uttara Bhaga opens with Dvadashi and Ekadashi, and then with a complaint. Yama goes to Brahma: since King Rukmangada of Vidisha made his whole kingdom keep the Ekadashi fast, no one comes to Yama's city any more. Brahma creates Mohini, the most beautiful of women. Rukmangada marries her and promises her any wish. On Ekadashi she asks him to eat, or else to cut off the head of his son Dharmangada. The prince bares his neck himself. The king raises the sword rather than eat, and Bhagwan Vishnu seizes his hand and takes him, with Queen Sandhyavali and the prince, into his own form.

09Heard on Ekadashi nights

The Rukmangada katha is told in Vaishnava homes on the night of Ekadashi, when families keep awake with kirtan. The rest of the Uttara Bhaga praises the tirthas, among them Gaya, Kashi, Prayag, Kurukshetra and Puri, and pilgrims hear these chapters at those places. Gaudiya Vaishnavas trace to this Purana the line Mahaprabhu's followers sing, harer nama harer nama harer namaiva kevalam. The Sanskrit was printed by the Venkateshwar Press of Bombay; Gita Press gives it in Hindi, and Motilal Banarsidass in English in five volumes.

What it contains

1. 1
   Purva Bhaga, first pada

   Sanaka teaches in 41 adhyayas: creation and the praise of Bharata, Markandeya, the long Ganga Mahatmya with Bhagiratha, the Margashirsha and Ekadashi vratas. It ends with sadachara, shraddha, prayashchitta, yoga and the glory of Hari's name.

2. 2
   Purva Bhaga, second pada

   Sanandana's teaching, opening with the dialogue of Bhrigu and Bharadvaja on creation. It sets out all six Vedangas, with a long treatment of jyotisha and birth charts, then Shuka's birth, his schooling with Janaka and the moksha dharma.

3. 3
   Purva Bhaga, third pada

   Sanatkumara's mantra shastra: sandhya, puja and the mantras of Ganesha, Nrisimha, Hayagriva, Rama, Hanuman, Krishna and Radha. It closes with the Devi mantras, the Lalita Sahasranama and the worship of Mahesha.

4. 4
   Purva Bhaga, fourth pada

   The anukramani of the eighteen Mahapuranas, one adhyaya each, as Brahma told it to Marichi. Then the vratas of every tithi through the twelve months, from Pratipada to Amavasya, and the glory of hearing the Puranas.

5. 5
   Uttara Bhaga

   Vasishtha tells Mandhata of Ekadashi and Dvadashi, Yama's complaint to Brahma, and the long katha of Rukmangada, Mohini and Dharmangada. The rest praises the great tirthas of Bharata.

Famous verses

नराणां विषयान्धानां ममताकुलचेतसाम्। एकमेव हरेर्नाम सर्वपापप्रणाशनम्॥

For people blinded by the objects of the senses, their minds troubled by attachment, the name of Hari alone destroys every sin.Narada Purana, Purva Bhaga 1.37.2 (GRETIL)

एकादशेन्द्रियैः पापं यत्कृतं भवति प्रभो। एकादश्युपवासेन तत्सर्वं विलयं व्रजेत्॥

Whatever sin has been done through the eleven senses, O lord, all of it melts away by the fast of Ekadashi.Narada Purana, Uttara Bhaga 1.14 (GRETIL)

अष्टादश पुराणानि यः शृणोति नरोत्तमः। कथयेद्वा विधानेन नेह भूयः स जायते॥

That best of men who hears the eighteen Puranas, or tells them in the proper way, is not born here again.Narada Purana, Purva Bhaga 1.109.39 (GRETIL)