The History of Puranas (3 vols) set
by Bibek Debroy and Dipavali Debroy

The Puranas are texts sacred to Hinduism. We must have heard of the two great epics the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. The Mahabharata states that there are eighteen Puranas and also names three of them the Markandeya Purana the Vayu Purana and the Matsya Purana. Although the Ramayana does not mention any puranas by name the word Puranas is mentioned several times. This means that the composers of the Ramayana and the Mahabharata were familiar with the Puranas. The Brahma Purana is not only the first in the list of mahapuranas it is also believed to be the first to have been composed. Unfortunately the original text of the Brahma Purana is not longer available. It has references to that worship of Shiva and Vishnu in the state of Orissa. The Padma Purana is the second longest Purana and is devided into five sections.