The Vamana Purana consists only of 5813 stanzas and five prose pieces
which are stotras. Seeing the suggested number of verses and actual
number of verses it is believed that later half part of this Purana is
missing. It is said that it contained two bhagas (parts) but we are left
with extant Purva bhaga consisting of 6000 verses only.
Four sects of Shaivism
Vamana Purana has given four sects of Shaivism namely Shaiva, Pashupata, Kaladamana, Kapalika.
§ Shaiva – Vasishtha’s son Shakti is the founder of Shaiva cult. In
6.88 of Vamana Purana he is believed as the incarnation of Shiva.
Gopayana was the pupil of Shakti and he was the main sage of Shaiva
cult.
§ Pashupata – Pashupata cult was started by the students of Lakulisha
namely Kushika. Cult of Pashupata was mainly started among Kshatriyas
§ Kaladamana –the cult namely Kalamukha is explained here by the name
of Kaladamana. People of this cult mainly worship Shiva in the form of
Mrutyunjaya or Bhavantaka. Kalamukha cult mainly flourished in south
India and there are many inscriptions in South India about this cult.
Lakulisha is considered as the founder of Kalamukha cult.
§ Kapalika – Kapalika cult is associated with Kapali Shiva or Bhairava form of Shiva. It originated from the sage Dhanada.
Narad asks sage Pulastya about Vaaman incarnation:
Vaaman Puraan is one of the eighteen Puraans written by sage Vyasa. It contains tales pertaining to Lord Vishnu in his Vaaman (dwarf) incarnation. Sage Pulastya while giving answers to Narad's enquiry narrates the tale of Vaaman Puraan.
All the Puraans give glimpses of Indian civilization and culture and Vaaman Puraan is no exception. It also teaches the virtue of righteousness and religiousness. Vaaman Puraan not only contains the divine tales of Nara- Narayana and Goddess Durga but it also contains tales of famous devotees like Prahlad, the salvation of Gajendra (elephant) etc.
Sage Narad asks Pulastya- "O revered sage! Why did Shri Hari take the incarnation of Vaaman? Why did Prahlad fight a battle with the deities despite being a devotee of Lord Vishnu? How did Sati, Daksha Prajapati's daughter become Mahadev's consort in her next birth? I am eager to know the answers to all these questions."
In VAMANA
Avatar, Lord Vishnu incarnates himself as a dwarf priest in this world.
BALI, the grandson of Prahlada was a very valorous and mighty asura. By
his penance and might, he conquered the whole world. Indra and other
gods fearing that he and asuras would conquer all the three worlds, went
to Lord Vishnu for help. Lord Vishnu was then born as a dwarf Vamana in
the household of a brahmana(priest). He went to Bali on growing up and
asked for alms. Bali was delighted to offer him anything he requested
even though his priest warned him that it was Lord Vishnu.
Vamana then requested for the amount of land that could come under his three feet. Bali gracefully agreed. Lord Vishnu then grew in size and covered the earth and heaven in two stride. And due to lack of space, he put his third leg on Bali himself and crushed Bali to the nether or the Patala loka(underground world), thus helping the Gods out.
Vamana then requested for the amount of land that could come under his three feet. Bali gracefully agreed. Lord Vishnu then grew in size and covered the earth and heaven in two stride. And due to lack of space, he put his third leg on Bali himself and crushed Bali to the nether or the Patala loka(underground world), thus helping the Gods out.
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