[Hindi] Padma Purana - A Concise Guide

The book recounts the journey of Vivek ji and numerous others during the years 2022-23 along the revered banks of the Narmada river. The book is not just a travelogue of the author’s journey along the banks of the river, but also a documentation of the numerous ancient teerthas that are scattered along the holy banks of Narmada, which have been mostly forgotten by everyone. The teerthas are the starting point of the Narmada Parikrama, playing a crucial role in shaping this tradition. Vivek ji’s Narmada parikrama was a journey undertaken with the purpose of immersing oneself in the spiritual landscapes of the sacred Narmada river. However, it was the parikrama that ultimately uncovered and drew attention to the Teerthas.

Vishnu Puran is believed to be one of the most important Puranas, if not the most valuable ancient record of the faith called Sanatan Dharma. Its stories reveal about the various exploits of Vishnu incarnations. In rendering this holy text into English, the attention has been paid to put only those details that have certain fundamental truths of life. Hence, in this work those details have been deliberately omitted which may appear rather confusing or uninteresting to the reader not having the initiation in the sacred love. The main thrust of this attempt has been to show a clear glimpse of our ancient hermitage.

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 Veda Vyas 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-a-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.

At times the description of the story of Lord Kalki's marriage with the princess of Srihala Dweep, padma, throws the images also conjured up in the Medieval Hindi epic 'Padamavata' by Malik Mohammad Jayasi.