Most of the Puranas contain these five topics,--Creation, Destruction and Renovation, the Genealogy of the gods, Reigns of the Manus, and History of the Solar and Lunar races.

Their philosophy of creation is derived from the Sanknya philosophy.

Pantheism is one of their invariable characteristics, as they always identify God and Nature; and herein they differ from the system of Kapila.

The form of the Puranas is always that of a dialogue.

The Puranas are eighteen in number, and the contents of the whole are stated to be one million six hundred thousand lines.[91] The religion of the Hindoos at the present time is very different from that of the Vedas or Manu.