Puranic narratives live at the meeting point of oral and written streams, each shaping and sustaining the other. In the oral sphere, specialized storytellers—variously known as Sutas, kathākāras, paurāṇikas, and vyāsas—recite and expound these stories in temples, royal courts, village squares, and during festivals. Their recitations often take the form of rhythmic verses, call‑and‑response exchanges, and extended pravachans that invite questions and interpretation. Musical and dramatic forms such as harikatha, bhagavata katha, kīrtan, and related performances embed the myths in song, gesture, and communal participation, making intricate cosmologies and teachings of dharma accessible to all. Guru–disciple lineages and certain families cultivate the discipline of memorizing large portions of the texts, transmitting not only words but also traditional modes of explanation. Through this living performance culture, the stories are continually adapted to local languages and sensibilities, while still claiming the authority of the Purāṇic tradition.

Alongside this vibrant oral world stands a long history of written preservation. Puranas are copied onto palm leaves, birch bark, and later paper, in a variety of regional scripts, and stored in temple libraries, monasteries, and royal collections. The labor of hereditary scribes, supported at times by royal patronage, produces multiple manuscript lineages, each with its own minor variations and interpolations. Scholars compose commentaries and compendia that analyze, summarize, and systematize the vast material, helping to stabilize certain readings and interpretations. Vernacular retellings—sometimes called Puranas in their own right—recast the Sanskrit narratives in regional idioms, preserving core myths while reflecting local theological emphases. Temple inscriptions, ritual manuals, and pilgrimage guides also echo Puranic cosmology and myth, embedding the narratives in the very fabric of ritual and sacred geography.

The relationship between these two modes of transmission is not static but mutually generative. Oral storytellers draw on written manuscripts as authoritative sources, yet freely elaborate, simplify, or allegorize episodes to address the needs and questions of particular audiences. In turn, popular oral episodes and local legends sometimes find their way back into written recensions, giving rise to the multiple versions known today. While the written tradition tends to preserve the encyclopedic breadth of the Puranas—cosmology, genealogies, ritual prescriptions—the oral tradition highlights memorable narrative episodes, moral exempla, and devotional themes. Festivals, temple gatherings, and pilgrimages function as recurring stages on which these stories are re‑enacted, reinforcing memory and meaning across generations. Through this ongoing interplay of recitation and manuscript, performance and text, the Puranic heritage remains both remarkably stable in its essentials and endlessly adaptable in its expression.