The names of 18 Puranas are hard to remember, but there is a trick with which you can do so easily. Puranas are Hindu texts that give information on many topics other than Hinduism also. There are 18 Maha (major) and 18 Upa (minor) Puranas. Hence, the total number of Puranas is 36. It is not known who wrote them, but the original draft of Puranas was compiled by Sage Vyasa.

Puranas are less authoritative than Vedas, but it does not mean that they are useless. They contain many interesting stories. Many of the Hindu customs have their roots in Puranas. Many TV serials are based on the stories in Puranas.

Names of 18 Puranas:

1. Agni Purana.

2. Bhagavata Purana.

3. Bhavishya Purana.

4. Brahmanda Purana.

5. Brahmavavarta Purana.

6. Garuda Purana.

7. Kurma Purana.

8. Linga Purana.

9. Markendya Purana.

10. Matsya Purana.

11. Naradiya or Narada Purana.

12. Padma Purana.

13. Shiva Purana.

14. Skanda Purana.

15. Vamana Purana.

16. Varaha Purana.

17. Vayu Purana.

18. Vishnu Purana.

A Trick to Remember the Names of 18 Puranas:

To remember all the names of Puranas, you just need to remember a Sanskrit shloka:

“ma-dwayam bha-dwayam chaiva bra-thrayam va-chathushtayam

anapalinga kooska-ni puranani prudhak prudhak”

Meaning:

Ma two times (Matsya and Markendeya)

Bha two times (Bhagavata and Bhavishya)

Bra three times (Brahma, Brahmanda, Brahma Vraivrata)

Va four times (Vayu, Vamana, Varaha, Vishnu)

A-na-pa-lin-ga (Agni, Narada, Padma, Linga, Garuda)

Koo-ska (Kurma, Skanda)

You don’t need to worry about the last three words.

The names of 18 Upa-Puranas:

1. Sanatkumara Purana.

2. Narasimha Purana.

3. Brihannaradiya Purana.

4. Sivarahasya Purana.

5. Durvasa Purana.

6. Kapila Purana.

7. Vamana Purana.

8. Bhargava Purana.

9. Varuna Purana.

10. Kalika Purana.

11. Samba Purana.

12. Nandi Purana.

13. Surya Purana.

14. Parasara Purana.

15. Vashishtha Purana.

16. Devi Bhagavatam.

17. Ganesha Purana.

18. Hamsa Purana.

Upa-puranas are not very popular and considered less authoritative than Maha-Puranas.

Image Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Padma_Purana,_Sanskrit,_Devanagari.jpg