Upapuranas List – About Hindu Scriptures Upa Puranas

Upapuranas occupy a very important place among Hindu scriptures. There are about eighteen or even more Upa Puranas or minor Puranas. They are equally important as the major puranas but some scholars treat them with lesser importance.

The list of eighteen Upapuranas are:

1. Santakumara, 
2. Narasimha, 
3. Skanda, 
4. Sivadharma, 
5. Ascharya, 
6. Naradiya, 
7. Kapila, 
8. Vamana, 
9. Asunas, 
10. Brahmanda,
11. Varuna, 
12. Kalika, 
13. Maheshwara, 
14. Samba, 
15. Saura, 
16. Parasara, 
17. Maricha 
18. Bhargava.

Majority of the Upapuranas appeared several centuries after the Mahapuranas or eighteen major Puranas. But there are some minor puranas whose antiquity is as same as the major puranas like Narasimha, Nandi, Samba and Aditya Puranas.

Most of the Upa Puranas are treated as less important because they are taken as subsections of major puranas.

The contents of the minor puranas are generally the same as those of the major Puranas.

Upapuranas are broadly classified into two main groups - Saura and Vaishnava.

It is also believed that many Upapuranas have been lost and we have to infer their existence only from their mention in other scriptures.

Kurma Purana states that the Upapuranas were composed by different sages after the eighteen major Puranas were completed by Sage Vyasa.