Markandeya Purana

The Markandeya Purana, one of the earliest of the eighteen Mahapuranas, is best known as the text that carries the Devi Mahatmya — but it is also the classic of the sage Markandeya’s visions of worlds past and to come.

Content

In 137 chapters, the Purana gives creation and the ages (yugas), the moral instruction of the sage to the king (the dharma-discourses on the four ashramas and the terrible fates of the unrighteous), the legends of the bird Jaimini’s questions, the stories of Dattatreya’s teaching to Yadu and of King Suratha’s and the merchant Samadhi’s consolation (the Devi Mahatmya’s frame), and the great deluge narrative in which Markandeya enters Vishnu’s body and sees the worlds.

Significance

Its early date makes it a benchmark for Purana studies; its Devi Mahatmya section (chapters 81–93) made it the seed-text of Shakta religion; its deluge vision is among the most retold cosmological scenes in Sanskrit.

Verification notes

• Dating to c. 250–500 CE follows scholarly consensus for the core text.
• Audited against Wikipedia (September 2026).