Linga Purana

Puranas are almost like an encyclopaedia listing the human achievements in this part of the world till the time they were edited or compiled. In every cycle of time the master editor called Vedavyas emerges to edit, vet and compile these records. Their significance is enormous even in the present, as they give a peep into the distant past of Hindus when the world was evolving and the psyche of the race was being formed. These Puranas record the arguments that make us to decide as to what is holy and what is vile; what is good and what is bad. By going through them we can compare our present day jurisprudence vis-à-vis the ancient norms. Apart from that, they are a huge store-house of information conceiving every subject under the sun. It is with the view of unearthing these gems that the present series of the puranas has been planned. In the list of the eighteen Mahapuranas, the Linga Purana is invariably listed as number eleven. But it does not mean that the Linga Purana was eleventh in the order of composition. There are many rituals in the text and these tend to indicate that the Linga Purana was composed much earlier because it contains many legends and stories that date back to much hoary a period. Even though the Linga Purana doesn’t conform strictly to the conditions laid down for a Purana to be a Mahapurana. It gives the details of Shiva-pooja and Yoga etc in a most elaborate manner, not found even in the Shiva Purana. It is considered to be a Tamasika Purana. It is divided into two parts-the first part is said to be Poorva Bhaga and the other, Uttara Bhaga. There are one hundred and eighty chapters (Adhyaya) in the first part and fifty five in the subsequent part.