Stories from the Matsya Purana

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The eighteen major Puranas are the Brahma, Padma, Visnu, Siva, Linga, Garuda, Narada, Bhagavata, Agni, Skanda, Bhavisya, Brahma-vaivarta, Markandeya, Vamana, Varaha, Matsya, Karma and Brahmanda Puranas.

Srila Prabhupada often mentioned that of the eighteen major Puranas, six are meant for persons in the mode of goodness, six are meant for those in the mode of passion, and six are intended for persons in the mode of ignorance.

In the Back to Godhead magazine, a list of how these are divided is given as follows.

Eighteen Maha-puranas ("Great Puranas")

Six sattvic Puranas (for persons in goodness) Bhagavata Purana (Srimad Bhagavatam), Visnu Purana, Naradiya Purana, Garuda Purana, Padma Purana, and Varaha Purana.

Six rajasic Puranas (for persons in passion) Matsya Purana, Kurma Purana, Linga Purana, Siva Purana, Skanda Purana, and Agni Purana.

Six tamasic Puranas (for persons in ignorance) Brahma Purana, Brahmanda Purana, Brahma-vaivarta Purana, Markandeya Purana, Bhavisya Purana, and Vämana Purana.

Here in the Matsya Purana we find many of the same stories that are related in Srimad-Bhagavatam. What is interesting is that in different narrations of the same stories found in various Puranas is that new insights or parts of the stories are found. For example, in the story of Bali Maharaja and Lord Vämana found here in this Purana, we find the original cause for Bali losing his kingdom-that he was cursed by his grandfather, Prahlada Maharaja, when the latter heard him blaspheme the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

Even though many of the stories found here are familiar to most of us, by reading these accounts, we fill in some of the blanks, so to speak. This Purana was originally spoken by Lord Matsya to Vaivasvata Manu, and later on repeated by Suta Gosvami to the rsis of Naimisaranya, headed by Saunaka.

Another interesting feature of this Purana is the lengthy section describing the duties of a king, and the kinds of punishment a king should mete out to those who transgress the laws of the state, which are nothing but the laws laid down in the dharma-sastra.