Shunya Purana is not part of the collection of Hindu Puranas. It is today associated with Shiva and narrates about origin of agriculture and other related topics. In the Shunya Purana, a heterogeneous Bengali text traditionally ascribed to Ramai Pandit from the 12th century CE, the deer (mrga) is referred to as the "guardian of the forest."
Shunya Purana is intricately linked with God’s (Shiva)
involvement in agriculture and the mythical narrative of the original two
ploughmen. While more commonly recognized as the Agama Purana, the Shunya
Purana was purportedly attributed by the initial editor and comprises diverse
sections authored between the 16th and 18th centuries, compiled towards the
close of the 19th century. Alongside the Dharma-Puja-Vidhana, also credited to
Ramai Pandit, it imparts guidance on the worship of Dharma Thakur (or
Dharmaraj), a fertility deity revered by the Doms of Bengal. Additionally
acknowledged as the spouse of various local goddesses (Shitala, Manasa, etc.),
since the 18th century, he has been largely supplanted by the Bengali
agricultural deity Shiva.
A particularly captivating segment delves into the
"creation of agriculture," essentially constituting an interpolated
Sivayana. This portion narrates the Lord's abandonment of begging, his sojourn
stripped and partaking in hemp, prompted by his wife's comments. “When
Maheshwara travelled naked from door-to-door begging for alms with the name of
God on his lips, Bhagavati Adya advised him to take to cultivation – Grow in
your fields all the varieties of crops and grow bananas also, so that we may
get all the necessary things on the occasion of Dharma worship.”
The revival of the deer is achieved by the Lord's touch upon
its skin. Subsequently, the Lord fashions the two primal cultivators (Mana and
Pabana) along with the indispensable agricultural implements (plough, spade,
husking pedal, etc.), proceeding to cultivate the soil. Following this, he
engages in meditation but experiences a yearning for Durga. This desire gives
rise to a diverse array of crops, elucidating the cyclical progression until
the harvest. Intriguingly, the Shivayanas, Shunya Purana, and Dharma-Puja-Vidhana
are commonly regarded as Tantric texts.