Padma Purana

01The lotus Purana

At the start of this kalpa a lotus rose from the navel of Bhagwan Vishnu, and on it Brahma appeared and began creation. The Padma Purana takes its name from that lotus. Maharshi Vyasa's disciple Suta recites it to Shaunaka and the rishis, and inside it Maharshi Pulastya tells Bhishma how the world was made. At 55,000 shlokas by the Bhagavata's count it is second only to the Skanda in size. It stands second in the list of the eighteen, and Vaishnavas in particular open it often, for its Ekadashi kathas, its Kartika lore and its praise of the Gita and the Bhagavata.

02Five khandas, or six

The Narada Purana's table describes the Padma as five khandas, the way a body has five senses: Srishti, Bhumi, Svarga, Patala and Uttara. The printed Venkateshvara text of Bombay, which Gita Press follows, adds a Brahma Khanda to make six, and a seventh book, the Kriyayogasara, is often printed with it. The Anandashrama edition of Pune arranges its khandas in yet another order, opening with an Adi Khanda. Manuscripts from Bengal and from the west of India carry the same kathas in different places. The tradition receives every one of these as the Padma Purana.

03Pushkar and Brahma's yajna

In the Srishti Khanda Pulastya gives the five marks in order: sarga from the lotus, the Manus, the lineages of devas and kings, and the world remade after each pralaya. Then he comes to Pushkar. Brahma let a lotus fall to earth, and where it touched, three lakes appeared. There he held a great yajna. Savitri was late, the auspicious hour could not wait, and Gayatri sat beside him in her place. Savitri's anger, and her word that Brahma would be worshipped in few places, are told here. The Brahma temple at Pushkar and Savitri's shrine on the hill above stand on this katha.

04Parents as the first tirtha

The Bhumi Khanda is a book of kathas about the home. Shivasharma's sons are tested and found faithful to their father. Sukala, a vaishya's wife, keeps her dharma while her husband is away on pilgrimage, and the Purana says plainly that her faithfulness was worth more than his travels. Vena's wickedness and the birth of Prithu, Nahusha, Yayati, and Kunjala the parrot teaching his sons in the forest all appear here. Running through them is one teaching, the guru-tirtha: mother, father, guru and a faithful spouse are tirthas themselves, and serving them earns what a pilgrim seeks far away.

05Rama's horse and the Shiva Gita

The Svarga Khanda maps the tirthas, the Narmada from her source, Kurukshetra, the Yamuna, Kashi, Gaya and Prayag, and tells of the churning of the ocean. The Patala Khanda opens after Shri Rama's coronation. Agastya comes to Ayodhya, the Ashvamedha is begun, and the sacrificial horse wanders from kingdom to kingdom with Shatrughna behind it, meeting kings and devotees along the way. The same khanda praises Puri and Vrindavan and Krishna's eternal leela there, tells of Dadhichi and the glory of bhasma, and holds the Shiva Gita, Shiva's teaching to Shri Rama. Vishnu and Shiva are praised in one book, with equal reverence.

06Kartika, Magha and Ekadashi

Ask a household where the rules of Kartika snana come from, or the lamp offered to Tulsi, or the names of the Ekadashis, and the answer is usually the Padma Purana. Its Uttara Khanda gives the katha of each of the twenty-four Ekadashis of the year, the Kartika vrata as the month dearest to Vishnu, the merit of bathing at dawn in Magha, and Jalandhara's katha with Vrinda's devotion, from which Tulsi's place in every Vaishnava courtyard comes. Shiva himself tells much of this to Mata Parvati. Its Vishnu Sahasranama and the hundred names of Rama are here too.

07The Gita and the Bhagavata praised

Two mahatmyas from the Uttara Khanda have travelled further than the rest of the Purana. The Gita Mahatmya gives eighteen kathas, one for each chapter of the Bhagavad Gita, in each of which a soul is freed by hearing or reciting that chapter. The Bhagavata Mahatmya tells how Bhakti Devi, grown old with her two sons Jnana and Vairagya, was made young again at Vrindavan by the Bhagavata, and how Gokarna saved his brother Dhundhukari by reading it for seven days. Every Bhagavata Saptaha in Bharat begins with that katha, read before the first skandha.

08How it is heard today

Few people read the Padma from end to end; nearly every Hindu home hears some of it. Women who bathe before dawn through Kartika and light lamps at the Tulsi read its Kartika Mahatmya chapter by chapter. Ekadashi vrata books are drawn from its Uttara Khanda. Many families read the matching katha from the Gita Mahatmya before a chapter of the Gita, and the Bhagavata Saptaha opens with its Bhagavata Mahatmya. At Pushkar the great mela falls on Kartika Purnima, the last day of the Kartika vow, and the Srishti Khanda's katha of Brahma's yajna is the reason pilgrims bathe in that lake above all others.

09Editions and readers

The Venkateshvara Press of Bombay printed the full Sanskrit, and the Anandashrama press of Pune its own edition. Gita Press gives the Padma in Hindi, and Motilal Banarsidass in English in its Ancient Indian Tradition series. Acharyas of the Gaudiya and Sri sampradayas cite it constantly: the Gaudiya Vaishnava manuals of practice draw their Ekadashi and Kartika rules from it. Popular editions of the Gita and the Bhagavata, Gita Press among them, print its Gita Mahatmya and Bhagavata Mahatmya alongside the text, so that many who have never seen the Padma itself have read these chapters.

What it contains

1. 1
   Srishti Khanda सृष्टिखण्ड

   Pulastya tells Bhishma of creation from the lotus, the lineages and the five marks of a Purana. Pushkar's glory and Brahma's yajna there, Parvati's marriage and the slaying of Taraka, the glory of the cow and the worship of the grahas.

2. 2
   Bhumi Khanda भूमिखण्ड

   Kathas of the home and of dharma: Shivasharma and his sons, Sukala, Vena and Prithu, Nahusha and Yayati. The teaching of the guru-tirtha runs through them, and Kunjala the parrot instructs his sons.

3. 3
   Svarga Khanda स्वर्गखण्ड

   The birth of the brahmanda, the lokas, and the tirthas of Bharata from the Narmada to Prayag. Varnashrama, the churning of the ocean and the Kartika vow of Urja Panchaka.

4. 4
   Brahma Khanda ब्रह्मखण्ड

   Found as a separate khanda in the Venkateshvara text and in Gita Press. It gives vratas and the worship of Vishnu, and is read for its rules of devotion in the home.

5. 5
   Patala Khanda पातालखण्ड

   Shri Rama's Ashvamedha and the wanderings of the horse with Shatrughna. The glory of Puri and of Vrindavan, Dadhichi, the glory of bhasma, and the Shiva Gita.

6. 6
   Uttara Khanda उत्तरखण्ड

   Shiva speaks to Parvati of Jalandhara and Vrinda, the twenty-four Ekadashis, the Kartika and Magha vows and the Vishnu Sahasranama. It also holds the Gita Mahatmya, the Bhagavata Mahatmya, the kathas of the avatars and the hundred names of Rama.

7. 7
   Kriyayogasara

   A further book printed with the Padma in many editions and counted as its last khanda on sa.wikisource. Vyasa teaches Jaimini the daily practice of Vishnu bhakti and the vows that go with it.

Famous verses

तीर्थं तु पुष्करं नाम यत्तु श्रेष्ठतमं स्मृतम्। सर्वेषां द्विजमुख्यानां मनोरथमिव स्थितम्॥

The tirtha called Pushkar is remembered as the very best, standing like the heart's wish of all the foremost of the twice-born.Padma Purana, Srishti Khanda 11.2 (sa.wikisource text)

कार्तिकः प्रवरो मासो वैष्णवानां सदा प्रियः। समुद्रगा नदी पुण्या दुर्लभा स्नानशालिनाम्॥

Kartika is the foremost month, ever dear to Vaishnavas; and a holy river flowing to the sea is a rare gift for those who keep the vow of bathing.Padma Purana, Uttara Khanda 118.27 (sa.wikisource text)

रामरामेति रामेति रमे रामे मनोरमे। सहस्रनामतत्तुल्यं रामनाम वरानने॥

Shiva to Parvati: I delight in Rama, the delight of the mind, saying 'Rama, Rama, Rama'. O lovely one, the name of Rama is equal to the thousand names.Padma Purana, Uttara Khanda 254.20 (sa.wikisource text)