The Skanda Purana (IAST: Skanda Purāṇa) is the largest Mukhyapurana, a genre of eighteen Hindu religious texts.[1] The text contains over 81,000 verses, and is of Shaivite literature,[2] titled after Skanda, a son of Shiva and Parvati (who is also known as Murugan in Southern India and Dravidian Literature).[3] While the text is named after Skanda, he does not feature either more or less prominently in this text than in other Shiva-related Puranas.[3] The text has been an important historical record and influence on the Hindu traditions and rituals related to the war-god Skanda.[3][4]
The earliest text titled Skanda Purana likely existed by the 8th century CE,[5][6] but the Skanda Purana that has survived into the modern era exists in many versions.[7] It is considered as a living text, which has been widely edited, over many centuries, creating numerous variants.[8] The common elements in the variant editions encyclopedically cover cosmogony, mythology, genealogy, dharma, festivals, gemology, temples, geography, discussion of virtues and evil, of theology and of the nature and qualities of Shiva as the Absolute and the source of true knowledge.[9]
The editions of Skandapurana text also provide an encyclopedic travel handbook with meticulous Tirtha Mahatmya (pilgrimage tourist guides),[10] containing geographical locations of pilgrimage centers in India, Nepal and Tibet, with related legends, parables, hymns and stories.[11][12][13]
This Mahāpurāṇa, like others, is attributed to the sage Vyasa.
^Ganesh Vasudeo Tagare (1996). Studies in Skanda Purāṇa. Published by Motilal Banarsidass, ISBN 81-208-1260-3
^Bakker 2014, pp. 4–6.
^ abcRocher 1986, pp. 114, 229–238.
^KK Kurukkal (1961), A Study of the Karttikeya Cult as reflected in the Epics and the Puranas, University of Ceylon Review, Vol. 19, pages 131-138
^Cite error: The named reference RDM_2011 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^Bakker 2014, pp. 1–3.
^Doniger 1993, pp. 59–83.
^Wendy Doniger. On Hinduism. Oxford University Press. p. 234. Certainly, different parts of Skanda Puran were added at different periods and different traditions, composed in increments over several centuries, were brought together in the present redactions. The text often betrays its chequered past, despite its contant attempts to integrate each new view. But this is its strength not weakness. The Skanda Purana is, in a real sense, a living purana, one of the few Puranas extant still extant in Sanskrit and certainly, one of the most popular.
^Rocher 1986, pp. 234–238.
^Glucklich 2008, p. 146, Quote: The earliest promotional works aimed at tourists from that era were called mahatmyas.
^Jean Holm; John Bowker (1998). Sacred Place. Bloomsbury Academic. p. 68. ISBN 978-0-8264-5303-7.
^Krishan Sharma; Anil Kishore Sinha; Bijon Gopal Banerjee (2009). Anthropological Dimensions of Pilgrimage. Northern Book Centre. pp. 3–5. ISBN 978-81-89091-09-5.
^Vijay Nath (2007), Puranic Tirthas: A study of their indigenous origins and the transformation (based mainly on the Skanda Purana), Indian Historical Review, Vol. 34, Issue 1, pages 1-46
The SkandaPurana (IAST: SkandaPurāṇa) is the largest Mukhyapurana, a genre of eighteen Hindu religious texts. The text contains over 81,000 verses, and...
held in popular tradition to have signalled its beginning and end The SkandaPurana features two origin legends for the conch. The Panchajanya is mentioned...
other Puranas (like the Brahma Purana, the Bhagavata Purana, the Matsya Purana, the Padma Purana, the Venkatacala Mahatmya of the SkandaPurana, the Vishnudharmottara...
Look up Skanda in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. Skanda may refer to: Kartikeya, or Skanda, the Hindu god of war SkandaPurana, a Hindu Purana (Scripture)...
loan with interest at the end of the Kali Yuga.[citation needed] The SkandaPurana extols the significance of worshipping this deity: If people wish for...
artha, and moksha. The Lakshmi Sahasranama of the SkandaPurana, Lakshmi Tantra, Markandeya Purana, Devi Mahatmya, and Vedic scriptures describe Lakshmi...
Sections of certain Puranas believed to have been written by Agastya are called Agastya Samhita as well. A section embedded in SkandaPurana is known as Agastya...
period of the Puranas.[citation needed] Vivid descriptions of this festival are found in Brahma Purana, Padma Purana and SkandaPurana. Kapila Samhita...
crest-jewel of all the maidens in the world. — Shiva Purana, Chapter 12 In the Kashi Khanda of the SkandaPurana, Vishalakshi appears with Vishvanatha for grant...
Sri Lanka. According to the Kanda Puranam, the Tamil iteration of the SkandaPurana, Sundaravalli and Amritavalli, the daughters of Vishnu, fell in love...
texts such as the Agastya Gita found in Varaha Purana, Agastya Samhita found embedded in SkandaPurana, and the Dvaidha-Nirnaya Tantra text. He is also...
Vayu Purana (Sanskrit: वायुपुराण, Vāyu-purāṇa) is a Sanskrit text and one of the eighteen major Puranas of Hinduism.[citation needed] Vayu Purana is mentioned...
reference to this section in other Puranas such as the Narada Purana. Bhagavata Purana Ganesha PuranaSkandaPurana Leadbeater 1927, p. xi. Dutt 1908....
and around the island of Rameswaram, Tamil Nadu, India. According to SkāndaPurāṇa, twenty-four of them are important. Bathing in these Tīrthas is a major...
east-northeast far from Mumbai. Grushneshwar is mentioned in Shiva Purana, SkandaPurana, the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. The word Ghrneshwara means "lord...
who are extolled in the Vedas, and other Hindu literature such as the SkandaPurana. The Vedic Samhitas never enumerate these rishis by name, although later...
the devas (gods), and his wife Shachi. In the Tamil iteration of the SkandaPurana, she is portrayed as the daughter of the god Vishnu, who is later adopted...
epic Mahabharata. Other versions exist in the Padma Purana, the SkandaPurana, and the Garuda Purana. There is also a Sikh version of the Vishnu Sahasranama...
Puranas and many other historic texts. Vyasa recited it to Suta, who then recited to the rishis in Naimisharanya. The SkandaPurana and Matsya Purana...