Religion
Puranas are a genre of important Hindu, Jain and Buddhist religious texts, notably consisting of narratives of the history of the universe from creation to destruction, genealogies of kings, heroes, sages, and demigods, and descriptions of Hindu cosmology, philosophy, and geography.
The Bhāgavata, along with the Bhagavad Gita, are the main sources of scriptural authority used by Gaudiya Vaishnavas for demonstrating the pre-eminence of Krishna over other forms of God.
The most well know Purana is the Hindu Bhagavata comprising 12 books. Its primary focus on the incarnations of Vishnu (Supreme God who supports, sustains and governs the Universe), particularly Krishna.
The creation account from the Vishnu Purana, wherein Vishnu, lying on an ocean of milk atop the serpent Sesha, sprung a lotus from his naval that contained the god Brahma.Having been sprung from Vishnu's navel, Brahma creates all living beings, as well as the sun, moon, planets, etc. and a number of other gods and demigods.Following Brahma's creative acts, it is then said that Vishnu expanded himself into Ksirodakasayi Visnu (Paramatma) and entered into everything that exists in the material and immaterial spheres.
The Tanakh or Hebrew Scripture refers the Torah (Law) and Prophets, which also make up the Old Testament of the Bible. It was compiled from c. 1000 B.C. to c. 100 B.C.
The Talmud is the "oral law tradition", written down by the Palestinian rabbis after the destruction of the Temple in 70 AD, with their commentaries (The "Mishnah"). It is a central text of mainstream Judaism, in the form of a record of rabbinic discussions pertaining to Jewish law, ethics, customs and history.
See Also Talmud at JewFAQ.org
Links:
Holy Books of the World
Religious text - Wikipedia
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