Target Audience - Friendly Treatises

1. The Puranas are of the same class as the Itihasas (the Ramayana, Mahabharata, etc.).
2. They also give a description of the regions of the universe not visible to the ordinary physical eye.
3. The Puranas were meant, not for the scholars, but for ordinary people who could not understand high philosophy and could not study the Vedas and the Darsanas or schools of philosophy are very stiff. They are meant only for the learned few. The Puranas are meant for the masses.
4. The Puranas were written to popularise the Vedas. All the Puranas belong to the class of Suhrit-Sammitas, or the Friendly Treatises, while the Vedas are called the Prabhu-Sammitas or the Commanding Treatises with great authority.
5. They contain the essence of the Vedas and The aim of Puranas is to impress on the minds of the masses the teachings of the Vedas and generate Faith and devotion to God,
6. Even to this day, the Puranas are popular. The Puranas contain the history of remote times. They are very interesting to read and are full of information of all kinds. Children hear the stories from their grandmothers. Pundits and Purohits hold Kathas or religious discourses in temples, on banks of rivers and in other important places. Agriculturists, labourers and bazaar people hear the stories.