Puranas
There are 1 Maha Purana, 17 Mukhya Puranas (Major Puranas) and 18 Upa Puranas (Minor Puranas),[7] with over 400,000 verses.[2] The first version of various Puranas were likely to be composed between 3rd- and 10th-century CE.[8]
Markandeya purana
The Markandeya text is probably one of the oldest Puranas in Hinduism.[2][15] The text’s literary style and content, wherein the early chapters read like a supplement to the Hindu epic Mahabharata has led scholars to suggest it is an early composition that likely followed the epic.[2]
The Markandeya Purana, states Wendy Doniger, is probably from c. 250 CE, with the exception of the Devi Mahatmya, which she dates to c. 550 CE.[15] Other scholars have also suggested that parts of this Purana existed by the third century.[16] In contrast, Nileshvari Desai suggests that the oldest of extant manuscripts probably is from the 7th-century CE.[12]
The text has also been dated with the help of epigraphical evidence.[2][17] The Dadhimati Mata inscription, for example has been dated to be from 608 CE, and this inscription is a quote from chapter 10 of the Devi Mahatmya (91st chapter of the Purana). This suggests that this part of the text existed by the 6th century CE.[2][17] A complete Palm-leaf[...x]