The Skanda Purana is a huge compilation of ancient Hindu scriptures. They were discovered in a library in Kathmandu, Nepal, in 1898 by Haraprasad Shastri and Cecil Bendall. The manuscripts were written on palm leafs, the oldest one dated to 810 CE. However, earlier versions are likely to have existed. Parts of the text have also been found in Tamil Nadu and other parts of India, indicating that the Skanda Purana has been an important and widespread corpus of texts. The complete Skanda Purana covers many topics. Parts of it describes pilgrim routes and serves as travel guides for monks to important temples and monasteries all over India. Other parts are more devotional and discusses theology, dharma and the absolute. The mythology also takes up large parts of the book, the name Skanda Purana refers to the war God Skanda (Kartikeya) son of Shiva.
20 scanned books – the complete PDF Skanda Purana
The Skanda Purana consists of 20 books, here they are in the English translation. This version is the first edition of the English translation published in India in 1950. I have removed blank pages from the scanned books to make the file size smaller and punished my CPU for 14 hours by running OCR. This means that you can do research by text search in the books now with Adobe PDF reader, copy and paste to other formats etc. Download the free PDF e-books of the Skanda Purana here (large files up to 60MB and 600 pages each):
The Skanda-Purana Part 1
The Skanda-Purana Part 2
The Skanda-Purana Part 3
The Skanda-Purana Part 4
The Skanda-Purana Part 5
The Skanda-Purana Part 6
The Skanda-Purana Part 7
The Skanda-Purana Part 8
The Skanda-Purana Part 9
The Skanda-Purana Part 10
The Skanda-Purana Part 11
The Skanda-Purana Part 12
The Skanda-Purana Part 13
The Skanda-Purana Part 14
The Skanda-Purana Part 15
The Skanda-Purana Part 16
The Skanda-Purana Part 17
The Skanda-Purana Part 18
The Skanda-Purana Part 19
The Skanda-Purana Part 20
10 interesting facts about the Skanda Purana:
- The Skanda Purana is one of the eighteen major Puranas in Hinduism. It is dedicated to the deity Kartikeya, also known as Skanda, the son of Shiva and Parvati.
- The Skanda Purana is the largest of all the Puranas, with over 81,000 verses. It is also one of the oldest, with some sections dating back to the 4th century BCE.
- The Skanda Purana is divided into seven books, or khandas, which cover a wide range of topics, including mythology, philosophy, ethics, and rituals.
- The first book of the Skanda Purana, called the Mahatmya, describes the greatness of Kartikeya and his role in the world. It also describes the story of his birth and the various battles he fought against demons.
- The Skanda Purana is particularly important in South India, where it is revered as one of the most important religious texts. Many temples and shrines dedicated to Kartikeya are based on stories and legends from the Skanda Purana.
- The Skanda Purana is also known for its detailed descriptions of pilgrimage sites and holy places throughout India. Many devotees use the Purana as a guidebook for visiting these sites and performing the associated rituals and prayers.
- The Skanda Purana also contains a large number of hymns and prayers dedicated to various gods and goddesses. These hymns are often chanted during religious ceremonies and festivals.
- The Skanda Purana is considered to be one of the most comprehensive texts on Hinduism, covering a wide range of topics and providing detailed descriptions of various religious practices and rituals.
- The Skanda Purana has been translated into many languages, including English, and is widely studied by scholars of Hinduism and religious studies.
- Despite its importance and influence in Hinduism, the Skanda Purana remains a relatively unknown text outside of India. Nonetheless, its rich mythology, detailed descriptions of pilgrimage sites, and powerful hymns continue to inspire and guide devotees of Kartikeya and other Hindu deities.
In which part of Skanda Purana can I find the verse: chaturtham kamyaka vanam
vananam vanam uttama
tatra gatva naro devi
namo Loka mahyate.
With sanskritverse, word for word translation, and purport.
This shloka is present in which part ?
śiva-śāstreṣu tad grāhyaṁbhagavac-chāstra-yogi yatparamo viṣṇur evaikastaj-jñanaṁ mokṣa-sādhanaṁ
I study “Shree Guru Gita” which states that it comes from “the latter portion of
Shree Skanda Purana.” So far I have made one search of the latter ten books
and not found any reference to that dialogue between Shiva and Parvati.
Am I making an error?
I am also looking for the full 400 verses of the Guru Gita which is supposed to be found in the Skanda puranas but I could not found it …If anyone knows which part of the Skanda purana contains the Guru Gita I would be very grateful !
https://en-m-wikipedia-org.translate.goog/wiki/Guru_Gita?_x_tr_sl=en&_x_tr_tl=hi&_x_tr_hl=hi&_x_tr_pto=tc,sc
I only know that the guru gita is a portion of the Sanatkumārasaṃhitā in the Uttarakhaṇḍa of the Skandapurāṇa.
Swami Radhikananda Saraswati has indepth knowledge of Guru Gita. you can search her youtube channel – Swami Radhikananda for more details
Please try this book Vigyan Bhairav Tantra. This book also has dialogue between Shiva and Parvati
Thank you for this collection! I was not able to find Ila story in this compilation. Am I missing any parts?
Dear Team,
The Skanda Purana is titled after Skanda son of Lord Shiva and Maa Parvati. Lord Skanda better known as the Warrior god. Thank you for sharing very nice book of Shree Jagannath.
Regards,
Jai Jagannath
What you do is what inspired me to make a webpage and I share this with so many since 2016. You are an inspiration and you have saved others in need of balance and structure thru their processes of awakening. Thank You so very much for your dedications. <3
Thanks Tara, I am happy that the books here can inspire. In fact, that was the whole idea with the site :-)
Regards
Admin
Really a great work which will go a long way in spreading the religious literature which will benefit the needy and can not afford hard copies.
Thanks a lot
Great effort by you. Thank you. I’ll spread the word around.
Truely helpful!! Thank you so much for sharing this.
God bless you
Prabhāsa Khaṇḍa (491 chapters) consists of four sections:
1. Prabhāsakṣetramāhātmya (365 chapters, Saurashtra and Somanatha Tirtha region,west India)
2. Vastrāpathakṣetramāhātmya (19 chapters, Girnar Tirtha region)
3. Arvuda Khaṇḍa (63 chapters, Aravalli Range Rajasthan Tirtha region) and
4. Dvārakāmāhātmya (44 chapters, Dwarka Gujarat Tirtha region)
Are 2,3,4 missing in the pdf text?
I am so much grateful for the downloads. It is amazing!!!
First of all, the hindu scriptures are not a MYTHOLOGY. Hindu on an oldest religion with valid records and scriptures amd sith physical proof of the incidents which we can see even today. Please change that word MYTHOLOGY.
THANK YOU
But thank you soo much for the collection.
Excellent work Sir stay blessed .
extraordinary collection
Thanks, my Friend.
Victor
Great work!! Will spread the word!! Thank you..
Hey man, thanks, please do :-)
super service.congratulations.
my appreciations
Dear Nagarajan,
You are so welcome here. Please let me know if you have any suggestions for the site.
Regards
Admin