brÄhmaá¹ daÅ›a sahasrÄṇi
pÄdmaá¹ pañcona-á¹£aá¹£á¹i ca
śrī-vaiṣṇavaṠtrayo-vimśac
catur-vimśati śaivakam
daÅ›Äá¹£á¹au Å›rÄ«-bhÄgavataá¹
nÄradaá¹ pañca-vimÅ›ati
mÄrkaṇá¸aá¹ nava vÄhnaá¹ ca
daśa-pañca catuḥ-śatam
catur-daÅ›a bhaviá¹£yaá¹ syÄt
tathÄ pañca-Å›atÄni ca
daÅ›Äá¹£á¹au brahma-vaivartaá¹
laiá¹…gam ekÄdaÅ›aiva tu
catur-vimÅ›ati vÄrÄham
ekÄśīti-sahasrakam
skÄndaá¹ Å›ataá¹ tathÄ caikaá¹
vÄmanaá¹ daÅ›a kÄ«rtitam
kaurmaá¹ sapta-daÅ›ÄkhyÄtaá¹
mÄtsyaá¹ tat tu catur-daÅ›a
ekona-vimÅ›at sauparṇaá¹
brahmÄṇá¸aá¹ dvÄdaÅ›aiva tu
evaá¹ purÄṇa-sandohaÅ›
catur-laká¹£a udÄhá¹›taḥ
tatrÄá¹£á¹adaÅ›a-sÄhasraá¹
Å›rÄ«-bhÄgavataá¹ iá¹£yate
brÄhmam - the BrahmÄ PurÄṇa; daÅ›a - ten; sahasrÄṇi - thousands; pÄdmam - the Padma PurÄṇa; pañca-Å«na-á¹£aá¹£á¹i - five less than sixty; ca - and; Å›rÄ«-vaiṣṇavam - the Viṣṇu PurÄṇa; trayaḥ-vimÅ›at - twenty-three; catuḥ-vimÅ›ati - twenty-four; Å›aivakam - the Åšiva PurÄṇa; daÅ›a-aá¹£á¹au - eighteen; Å›rÄ«-bhÄgavatam - ÅšrÄ«mad-BhÄgavatam; nÄradam - the NÄrada PurÄṇa; pañca-vimÅ›ati - twenty-five; mÄrkaṇá¸am - the MÄrkaṇá¸eya PurÄṇa; nava - nine; vÄhnam - the Agni PurÄṇa; ca - and; daÅ›a-pañca-catuḥ-Å›atam - fifteen thousand four hundred; catuḥ-daÅ›a - fourteen; bhaviá¹£yam - the Bhaviá¹£ya PurÄṇa; syÄt - consists of; tathÄ - plus; pañca-Å›atÄni - five hundred (verses); ca - and; daÅ›a-aá¹£á¹au - eighteen; brahma-vaivartam - the Brahma-vaivarta PurÄṇa; laiá¹…gam - the Liá¹…ga PurÄṇa; ekÄdaÅ›a - eleven; eva - indeed; tu - and; catuḥ-vimÅ›ati - twenty-four; vÄrÄham - the VarÄha PurÄṇa; ekÄśīti-sahasrakam - eighty-one thousand; skÄndam - the Skanda PurÄṇa; Å›atam - hundred; tathÄ - plus; ca - and; ekam - one; vÄmanam - the VÄmana PurÄṇa; daÅ›a - ten; kÄ«rtitam - is described; kaurmam - the KÅ«rma PurÄṇa; sapta-daÅ›a - seventeen; ÄkhyÄtam - is said; mÄtsyam - the Matsya PurÄṇa; tat - that; tu - and; catuḥ-daÅ›a - fourteen; eka-Å«na-vimÅ›at - nineteen; sauparṇam - the Garuá¸a PurÄṇa; brahmÄṇá¸am - the BrahmÄṇá¸a PurÄṇa; dvÄdaÅ›a - twelve; eva - indeed; tu - and; evam - in this way; PurÄṇa - of the PurÄṇas; sandohaḥ - the sum; catuḥ-laká¹£aḥ - four hundred thousand; udÄhá¹›taḥ - is described; tatra - therein; aá¹£á¹a-daÅ›a-sÄhasram - eighteen thousand; Å›rÄ«-bhÄgavatam - ÅšrÄ«mad-BhÄgavatam; iá¹£yate - is said.
The Brahma PurÄṇa consists of ten thousand verses, the Padma PurÄṇa of fifty-five thousand, ÅšrÄ« Viṣṇu PurÄṇa of twenty-three thousand, the Åšiva PurÄṇa of twenty-four thousand and ÅšrÄ«mad-BhÄgavatam of eighteen thousand. The NÄrada PurÄṇa has twenty-five thousand verses, the MÄrkaṇá¸eya PurÄṇa nine thousand, the Agni PurÄṇa fifteen thousand four hundred, the Bhaviá¹£ya PurÄṇa fourteen thousand five hundred, the Brahma-vaivarta PurÄṇa eighteen thousand and the Liá¹…ga PurÄṇa eleven thousand. The VarÄha PurÄṇa contains twenty-four thousand verses, the Skanda PurÄṇa eighty-one thousand one hundred, the VÄmana PurÄṇa ten thousand, the KÅ«rma PurÄṇa seventeen thousand, the Matsya PurÄṇa fourteen thousand, the Garuá¸a PurÄṇa nineteen thousand and the BrahmÄṇá¸a PurÄṇa twelve thousand. Thus the total number of verses in all the PurÄṇas is four hundred thousand. Eighteen thousand of these, once again, belong to the beautiful BhÄgavatam.
ÅšrÄ«la JÄ«va GosvÄmÄ« has quoted from the Matsya PurÄṇa as follows:
aá¹£á¹ÄdaÅ›a purÄṇÄni
ká¹›tvÄ satyavatÄ«-sutaḥ
bhÄratÄkhyÄnam akhilaá¹
cakre tad-upabá¹›á¹hitam
laká¹£aṇaikena tat proktaá¹
vedÄrtha-paribá¹›á¹hitam
vÄlmÄ«kinÄpi yat proktaá¹
rÄmopakhyÄnam uttamam
brahmaṇÄbhihitaá¹ tac ca
Å›ata-koá¹i-pravistarÄt
Ähá¹›tya nÄradenaiva
vÄlmÄ«kÄya punaḥ punaḥ
vÄlmÄ«kinÄ ca lokeá¹£u
dharma-kÄmÄrtha-sÄdhanam
evaá¹ sa-pÄdÄḥ pañcaite
laká¹£Äs teá¹£u prakÄ«á¹›titÄḥ
“After compiling the eighteen PurÄṇas, VyÄsadeva, the son of SatyavatÄ«, composed the entire MahÄbhÄrata, which contains the essence of all the PurÄṇas. 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 RÄmacandra, spoken by VÄlmÄ«ki — an account originally related by Lord BrahmÄ in one billion verses. That RÄmÄyaṇa was later summarized by NÄrada and related to VÄlmÄ«ki, 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 PurÄṇas and itihÄsas (histories) is thus known in human society to amount to 525,000.â€
ÅšrÄ«la ViÅ›vanÄtha CakravartÄ« ṬhÄkura points out that in the First Canto, Third Chapter, of this work, after SÅ«ta GosvÄmÄ« lists the incarnations of Godhead, he adds the special phrase kṛṣṇas tu bhagavÄn svayam: “But Kṛṣṇa is the original Personality of Godhead.†Similarly, after mentioning all of the PurÄṇas, ÅšrÄ« Suta GosvÄmÄ« again mentions the ÅšrÄ«mad-BhÄgavatam to emphasize that it is the chief of all PurÄṇic literatures.
