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The Brahma Purana (also spelt as Brahmapurana) is invariably placed at the head of the list of the major puranas. It is sometimes called the Adipurana or the Adibrahmapurana. It gets its name mainly due to the fact that Brahma narrates it, even though Vyasa is the narrator in the later part. The Brahma Purana, as available in print now, has 13,783 verses, spread over 245 chapters.
The contents, which deal with various aspects of Hindu religion may be presented briefly as follows: creation of the world and the living beings, histories of various kings, description of the earth with its seven islands, hells of various types, Daksa's sacrifice and its destruction by Siva, detailed descriptions of various places of pilgrimage like Ekamra, Avanti and Purushottama Kshetra (Puri), origin of the river Ganga, story of Ravana, story of the king Hariscandra, story of Sri Krsna in detail, various avatars or incarnations of Vishnu, performance of sraddhas or obsequial rites, spiritual wisdom contained in Samkhya and Yoga darsanas, and a eulogy of listening to the whole purana.
Its treatment of the places of pilgrimage is fairly exhaustive and its verses on this subject have been extensively quoted by the writers on the dharmasastras.
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