Purana

[poo-rah-nuh]

noun

1. any of 18 collections of Hindu legends and religious instructions.

Purana

/ pʊˈrɑːnə /

noun

1. any of a class of Sanskrit writings not included in the Vedas, characteristically recounting the birth and deeds of Hindu gods and the creation, destruction, or recreation of the universe

Other Word Forms

• Puranic adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of Purana¹

1690–1700; < Sanskrit: of old

Word History and Origins

Origin of Purana¹

C17: from Sanskrit: ancient, from purā formerly

Example Sentences

Gandhi, center, visiting a camp for Muslim refugees at the Purana Qila in New Delhi.

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I could not say I lived on a doorstep off the Purana Bazaar.

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Her writing here is similar in texture to stories from the Indian epics and Puranas, a great body of classical literature mainly in Sanskrit, which have at times been invoked to narrow political ends.

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India is no stranger to prominent figures citing ancient Hindu texts like the Puranas and Vedas as ironclad evidence of the country’s technological prowess.

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I’m sure this is not what the yogis and yoginis of the classical sanskrit of the Puranas intended all those years ago.

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