Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 12.13.4-9

brāhmaḿ daśa sahasrāṇi

pādmaḿ pañcona-ṣaṣṭi ca

śrī-vaiṣṇavaḿ trayo-viḿśac

catur-viḿśati śaivakam

daśāṣṭau śrī-bhāgavataḿ

nāradaḿ pañca-viḿśati

mārkaṇḍaḿ nava vāhnaḿ ca

daśa-pañca catuḥ-śatam

catur-daśa bhaviṣyaḿ syāt

tathā pañca-śatāni ca

daśāṣṭau brahma-vaivartaḿ

laińgam ekādaśaiva tu

catur-viḿśati vārāham

ekāśīti-sahasrakam

skāndaḿ śataḿ tathā caikaḿ

vāmanaḿ daśa kīrtitam

kaurmaḿ sapta-daśākhyātaḿ

mātsyaḿ tat tu catur-daśa

ekona-viḿśat sauparṇaḿ

brahmāṇḍaḿ dvādaśaiva tu

evaḿ purāṇa-sandohaś

catur-lakṣa udāhṛtaḥ

tatrāṣṭadaśa-sāhasraḿ

śrī-bhāgavataḿ iṣyate

SYNONYMS

brāhmam — the Brahmā Purāṇa; daśa — ten; sahasrāṇi — thousands; pādmam — the Padma Purāṇa; pañca-ūna-ṣaṣṭi — five less than sixty; ca — and; śrī-vaiṣṇavam — the Viṣṇu Purāṇa; trayaḥ-viḿśat — twenty-three; catuḥ-viḿśati — twenty-four; śaivakam — the Śiva Purāṇa; daśa-aṣṭau — eighteen; śrī-bhāgavatam — Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam; nāradam — the Nārada Purāṇa; pañca-viḿśati — twenty-five; mārkaṇḍam — the Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa; nava — nine; vāhnam — the Agni Purāṇa; ca — and; daśa-pañca-catuḥ-śatam — fifteen thousand four hundred; catuḥ-daśa — fourteen; bhaviṣyam — the Bhaviṣya Purāṇa; syāt — consists of; tathā — plus; pañca-śatāni — five hundred (verses); ca — and; daśa-aṣṭau — eighteen; brahma-vaivartam — the Brahma-vaivarta Purāṇa; laińgam — the Lińga Purāṇa; ekādaśa — eleven; eva — indeed; tu — and; catuḥ-viḿśati — twenty-four; vārāham — the Varāha Purāṇa; ekāśīti-sahasrakam — eighty-one thousand; skāndam — the Skanda Purāṇa; śatam — hundred; tathā — plus; ca — and; ekam — one; vāmanam — the Vāmana Purāṇa; daśa — ten; kīrtitam — is described; kaurmam — the Kūrma Purāṇa; sapta-daśa — seventeen; ākhyātam — is said; mātsyam — the Matsya Purāṇa; tat — that; tu — and; catuḥ-daśa — fourteen; eka-ūna-viḿśat — nineteen; sauparṇam — the Garuḍa Purāṇa; brahmāṇḍam — the Brahmāṇḍa Purāṇa; dvādaśa — twelve; eva — indeed; tu — and; evam — in this way; Purāṇa — of the Purāṇas; sandohaḥ — the sum; catuḥ-lakṣaḥ — four hundred thousand; udāhṛtaḥ — is described; tatra — therein; aṣṭa-daśa-sāhasram — eighteen thousand; śrī-bhāgavatam — Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam; iṣyate — is said.

TRANSLATION

The Brahmā Purāṇa consists of ten thousand verses, the Padma Purāṇa of fifty-five thousand, Śrī Viṣṇu Purāṇa of twenty-three thousand, the Śiva Purāṇa of twenty-four thousand and Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam of eighteen thousand. The Nārada Purāṇa has twenty-five thousand verses, the Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa nine thousand, the Agni Purāṇa fifteen thousand four hundred, the Bhaviṣya Purāṇa fourteen thousand five hundred, the Brahma-vaivarta Purāṇa eighteen thousand and the Lińga Purāṇa eleven thousand. The Varāha Purāṇa contains twenty-four thousand verses, the Skanda Purāṇa eighty-one thousand one hundred, the Vāmana Purāṇa ten thousand, the Kūrma Purāṇa seventeen thousand, the Matsya Purāṇa fourteen thousand, the Garuḍa Purāṇa nineteen thousand and the Brahmāṇḍa Purāṇa twelve thousand. Thus the total number of verses in all the Purāṇas is four hundred thousand. Eighteen thousand of these, once again, belong to the beautiful Bhāgavatam.

PURPORT

Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī has quoted from the Matsya Purāṇa as follows:

aṣṭādaśa purāṇāni

kṛtvā satyavatī-sutaḥ

bhāratākhyānam akhilaḿ

cakre tad-upabṛḿhitam

lakṣaṇaikena tat proktaḿ

vedārtha-paribṛḿhitam

vālmīkināpi yat proktaḿ

rāmopakhyānam uttamam

brahmaṇābhihitaḿ tac ca

śata-koṭi-pravistarāt

āhṛtya nāradenaiva

vālmīkāya punaḥ punaḥ

vālmīkinā ca lokeṣu

dharma-kāmārtha-sādhanam

evaḿ sa-pādāḥ pañcaite

lakṣās teṣu prakīṛtitāḥ

"After compiling the eighteen Purāṇas, Vyāsadeva, the son of Satyavatī, composed the entire Mahābhārata, which contains the essence of all the Purāṇas. It consists of over one hundred thousand verses and is filled with all the ideas of the Vedas. There is also the account of the pastimes of Lord Rāmacandra, spoken by Vālmīki — an account originally related by Lord Brahmā in one billion verses. That Rāmāyaṇa was later summarized by Nārada and related to Vālmīki, who further presented it to mankind so that human beings could attain the goals of religiosity, sense gratification and economic development. The total number of verses in all the Purāṇas and itihāsas (histories) is thus known in human society to amount to 525,000."

Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura points out that in the First Canto, Third Chapter, of this work, after Sūta Gosvāmī lists the incarnations of Godhead, he adds the special phrase kṛṣṇas tu bhagavān svayam: "But Kṛṣṇa is the original Personality of Godhead." Similarly, after mentioning all of the Purāṇas, Śrī Suta Gosvāmī again mentions the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam to emphasize that it is the chief of all Purāṇic literatures.

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His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, Founder Ācārya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness
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