| Canto 12: The Age of Deterioration | Chapter 13: The Glories of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam |
Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 12.13.4-9
śrī-vaishnavam trayo-vimśac
daśāshtau śrī-bhāgavatam
brahmāndam dvādaśaiva tu
tatrāshtadaśa-sāhasram
SYNONYMS
brāhmam — the Brahmā Purāna; daśa — ten; sahasrāni — thousands; pādmam — the Padma Purāna; pańca-ūna-shashti — five less than sixty; ca — and; śrī-vaishnavam — the Vishnu Purāna; trayah-vimśat — twenty-three; catuh-vimśati — twenty-four; śaivakam — the Śiva Purāna; daśa-ashtau — eighteen; śrī-bhāgavatam — Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam; nāradam — the Nārada Purāna; pańca-vimśati — twenty-five; mārkandam — the Mārkandeya Purāna; nava — nine; vāhnam — the Agni Purāna; ca — and; daśa-pańca-catuh-śatam — fifteen thousand four hundred; catuh-daśa — fourteen; bhavishyam — the Bhavishya Purāna; syāt — consists of; tathā — plus; pańca-śatāni — five hundred (verses); ca — and; daśa-ashtau — eighteen; brahma-vaivartam — the Brahma-vaivarta Purāna; laińgam — the Lińga Purāna; ekādaśa — eleven; eva — indeed; tu — and; catuh-vimśati — twenty-four; vārāham — the Varāha Purāna; ekāśīti-sahasrakam — eighty-one thousand; skāndam — the Skanda Purāna; śatam — hundred; tathā — plus; ca — and; ekam — one; vāmanam — the Vāmana Purāna; daśa — ten; kīrtitam — is described; kaurmam — the Kūrma Purāna; sapta-daśa — seventeen; ākhyātam — is said; mātsyam — the Matsya Purāna; tat — that; tu — and; catuh-daśa — fourteen; eka-ūna-vimśat — nineteen; sauparnam — the Garuda Purāna; brahmāndam — the Brahmānda Purāna; dvādaśa — twelve; eva — indeed; tu — and; evam — in this way; Purāna — of the Purānas; sandohah — the sum; catuh-lakshah — four hundred thousand; udāhritah — is described; tatra — therein; ashta-daśa-sāhasram — eighteen thousand; śrī-bhāgavatam — Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam; ishyate — is said.
TRANSLATION
The Brahmā Purāna consists of ten thousand verses, the Padma Purāna of fifty-five thousand, Śrī Vishnu Purāna of twenty-three thousand, the Śiva Purāna of twenty-four thousand and Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam of eighteen thousand. The Nārada Purāna has twenty-five thousand verses, the Mārkandeya Purāna nine thousand, the Agni Purāna fifteen thousand four hundred, the Bhavishya Purāna fourteen thousand five hundred, the Brahma-vaivarta Purāna eighteen thousand and the Lińga Purāna eleven thousand. The Varāha Purāna contains twenty-four thousand verses, the Skanda Purāna eighty-one thousand one hundred, the Vāmana Purāna ten thousand, the Kūrma Purāna seventeen thousand, the Matsya Purāna fourteen thousand, the Garuda Purāna nineteen thousand and the Brahmānda Purāna twelve thousand. Thus the total number of verses in all the Purānas is four hundred thousand. Eighteen thousand of these, once again, belong to the beautiful Bhāgavatam.
PURPORT
Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī has quoted from the Matsya Purāna as follows:
bhāratākhyānam akhilam
vedārtha-paribrimhitam
rāmopakhyānam uttamam
brahmanābhihitam tac ca
āhritya nāradenaiva
lakshās teshu prakīrititāh
"After compiling the eighteen Purānas, Vyāsadeva, the son of Satyavatī, composed the entire Mahābhārata, which contains the essence of all the Purānas. It consists of over one hundred thousand verses and is filled with all the ideas of the Vedas. There is also the account of the pastimes of Lord Rāmacandra, spoken by Vālmīki — an account originally related by Lord Brahmā in one billion verses. That Rāmāyana was later summarized by Nārada and related to Vālmīki, who further presented it to mankind so that human beings could attain the goals of religiosity, sense gratification and economic development. The total number of verses in all the Purānas and itihāsas (histories) is thus known in human society to amount to 525,000."
Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Thākura points out that in the First Canto, Third Chapter, of this work, after Sūta Gosvāmī lists the incarnations of Godhead, he adds the special phrase krishnas tu bhagavān svayam: "But Krishna is the original Personality of Godhead." Similarly, after mentioning all of the Purānas, Śrī Suta Gosvāmī again mentions the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam to emphasize that it is the chief of all Purānic literatures.
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His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, Founder Ācārya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness
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