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TheKurma Purana (IAST: Kūrma Purāṇa) is one of the eighteenMahapurana, and a medieval era text ofHinduism. The text is named after thetortoise avatar ofVishnu.^[1][2]

The manuscripts ofKurma Purana have survived into the modern era in many versions.^[3][4][5] The number of chapters vary with regional manuscripts, and thecritical edition (edited by Anand Swarup Gupta, and published by the All-India Kashiraj Trust, Varanasi) of theKurma Purana has 95 chapters.^[6] Tradition believes that theKurma Purana text had 17,000 verses, the extant manuscripts have about 6,000 verses.^[7]

The text, statesLudo Rocher, is the most interesting of all thePuranas in its discussion of religious ideas, because while it is a Vaishnavism text, Vishnu does not dominate the text.^[8] Instead, the text covers and expresses reverence forVishnu,Shiva andShakti with equal enthusiasm.^[8][9] TheKurma Purana, like other Puranas, includes legends, mythology, geography,Tirtha (pilgrimage), theology and a philosophical Gita. The notable aspect of its Gita, also called theIshvaragita, is that it is Shiva who presents ideas similar to those found in theBhagavad Gita.^[8][10]

The original core of the text may have been composed about the start of the 8th-century CE, and revised thereafter over the centuries.^[11]

TheKurma Purana, like all Puranas, has a complicated chronology. Dimmitt and van Buitenen state that each of the Puranas is encyclopedic in style, and it is difficult to ascertain when, where, why and by whom these were written:^[12]

As they exist today, the Puranas are a stratified literature. Each titled work consists of material that has grown by numerous accretions in successive historical eras. Thus no Purana has a single date of composition. [...] It is as if they were libraries to which new volumes have been continuously added, not necessarily at the end of the shelf, but randomly.

TheKurma Purana exists in many versions, but all of them consist of two parts—thePurva-vibhaga (older part) andUpari-vibhaga (upper part).^[6] The number of chapters vary with the manuscripts.^[6] Thecritical edition of the different manuscripts contains fifty one chapters inPurva-vibhaga and forty four inUpari-vibhaga.^[6]

Kurma is, states Rocher, the most interesting religion-themed Purana, because even though it is named after one of theVishnu avatar, it contains a combination of Vishnu and Shiva related legends, mythology, Tirtha (pilgrimage) and theology.^[8] The stories are similar to those found in the other Puranas, but neither Vishnu nor Shiva dominate the text.^[8] The text presents a tour guide to medievalVaranasi (also known as the holy city of Banaras or Kashi), but mostly about theShaiva sites, while elsewherePancharatra stories present Vishnu prominently but with Sri as the Supreme Shakti who is energy and power of all gods including Vishnu, Shiva,Brahma.^[8]

The Kurma Purana, like other Puranas, includes a philosophical Gita.^[8] It is titled Ishvaragita, and its eleven chapters are an adaptation ofBhagavad Gita in a Shiva-as-spokesman format.^[8] These eleven chapters are in theUttaravibhāga.^[10]

TheIshvara-gita borrows and refers to the Upanishads such as theKatha Upanishad andShvetashvatara Upanishad.^[8] It presentsyoga and vrata like the Bhagavad Gita, but as a discourse from Shiva. The discourse begins after Vishnu and Shiva embrace each other, according to the text, and then Vishnu invites Shiva to explain the nature of the world, life and self. Shiva explainsAtman (soul, self),Brahman-Purusha,Prakriti,Maya, Yoga andMoksha.^[11] The philosophical theme, states Rocher is built onAdvaita Vedanta ideas, that is emphasizing the identity of the Atman (individual soul) and the Ultimate Reality concept of Brahman.^[11] The text is notable for asserting that anyone from anyvarna can achieve liberation through Bhakti yoga.^[11]

TheNārada Purāṇa (I.106. 1-22) gives a brief overview of the sections of theKurma Purana, along with summaries of other Puranas.^[13]

• Bryant, Edwin Francis (2007).Krishna: A Sourcebook. Oxford University Press.ISBN 978-0-19-803400-1.
• Dimmitt, Cornelia; van Buitenen, J. A. B. (2012).Classical Hindu Mythology: A Reader in the Sanskrit Puranas. Temple University Press (1st Edition: 1977).ISBN 978-1-4399-0464-0.
• Dalal, Rosen (2014).Hinduism: An Alphabetical Guide. Penguin.ISBN 978-8184752779.
• K P Gietz; et al. (1992).Epic and Puranic Bibliography (Up to 1985) Annoted and with Indexes: Part I: A - R, Part II: S - Z, Indexes. Otto Harrassowitz Verlag.ISBN 978-3-447-03028-1.
• Rocher, Ludo (1986).The Puranas. Otto Harrassowitz Verlag.ISBN 978-3447025225.
• Wilson, H. H. (1864).The Vishnu Purana: A System of Hindu Mythology and Tradition (Volume 1: Introduction, Book I). Read Country Books (reprinted in 2006).ISBN 1-84664-664-2.{{cite book}}:ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)

• Mani, Vettam.Puranic Encyclopedia. 1st English ed. New Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1975.

• GRETIL etext

• Puranas

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