The Skanda Pur A

A bi-lingual Sanskrit/English classic rarely available.

The Puranas are not merely history books in the accepted sense of the term but they do give a mine of information about the ancient life or the time when our values were taking roots. Since they record not only history and geography, but also the essence of our jurisprudence and subjects of practical value and its relevance, it perhaps never wanes. In order to help the gen-next know and appreciate the span of our achievement, it is essential for it to have a comprehensive version of our Puranas. The language and style of narration have been kept as near to the modern parlance so as to help the reader get the crux of the text. This Skanda Purana is an important to me of the series as it contains varied descriptions of our ancient heritage. Curiously enough, the now widely popular story: the ‘Satyanarayan Katha’ owes its origin to this very Purana. It is hoped our discerning readers would accord a warm welcome to Skanda Purana as they did to the earlier Puranas of the present series. We would welcome any suggestion from our readers to make the present series more relevant and meaningful.

Skandapurāṇa IV presents a critical edition of Adhyāyas 70-95 from the Skandapurāṇa , with an introduction and annotated English synopsis. The text edited in this volume includes the myths of Viṣṇu’s manifestation as the Man-Lion (Narasiṃha), the birth of Skanda, the birth of Andhaka, and Hiraṇyākṣa’s battle with the gods culminating in his victory and capture of the Earth. Thanks to generous support of the J. Gonda Fund Foundation, the e-book version of this volume is available in Open Access.