Garuda Purana Garuda Purana (Devanagari: गरुड़ पुराण) is one of the Puranas which are part of the Hindubody of texts known as smriti. It is a Vaishnava Purana and its first part contains a dialog between Vishnu and Garuda, the King of Birds. The second half contains details of life after death, funeral rites and the metaphysics of reincarnation, thus it is recited as a partAntyesti (Antim Sanskar) or funeral rites (funeral liturgy) in Hinduism.[1] The Padma Purana categorizes Garuda Purana as a Sattva Purana (Purana which represents goodness and purity).[2] OVERVIEW Garuda Purana is one of the puranas which contains instructions by Vishnu to his carrier,Garuda, the King of Birds – a vahana of Vishnu. It deals with astronomy, medicine, grammar, and other subjects, such as gems. The Garuda Purana is considered the authoritative Vedic reference describing ancientIndian gemology. Chapters 68-80 give primitive gemological information describing 14 primary gems, viz., Ruby, Natural Pearl,[3]Yellow Sapphire, Hessonite, Emerald, Diamond, Cats eye, Blue Sapphire, Coral, Red Garnet, Jade, colorless Quartz, and Bloodstone. In Chapter 69 on pearls, the speaker, Suta Goswami, describes seven other types of pearls besides Oyster Pearl (Chandra-moti), viz., pearl from Conch shell (Shankh-moti), Wild Boar’s head (Varaha-moti), Elephant’s head (Gaja-moti), Cobra’s head (Naga-moti orNagamani),[4] Bamboo stems (Venu-moti), Fish head (Matsya-moti), and from the sky and clouds (Akash-moti or Megh-moti).[5] The Garuda Purana is a Vaishnava Purana. The others in this group are Vishnu Purana, Narada Purana, Bhagavata Purana, Padma Purana and Varaha Purana. The Garuda Purana has nineteen thousand shlokas (lines). It is a medium-sized Purana. The Skanda Purana, for example, has eighty-one thousand shlokas. And the Markandeya Purana only nine thousand. The thousand shlokas of the Garuda Purana are divided into two parts, a purva khanda (first part) and an uttara khanda (subsequent part). Each khanda has several chapters (adhyaya). The purva khanda is no longer, it has two hundred and thirty-four chapters. The Uttara khanda has only forty-five. The latter half of Garuda Purana deals with life after death. Hindus generally read this Purana while cremating their dead. THERE IS A BELIEF THAT GARUDA PURANA SHOULD NOT BE KEPT AT HOME AND READ. It is meant to be read only during the last rites, the funeral.
Posted on: Mon, 21 Oct 2013 03:44:46 +0000
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