Across the regions where they travel, the Puranas rarely remain as bare Sanskrit texts; they are continually reborn in local speech and imagination. One major mode has been direct translation into vernaculars such as Hindi, Bengali, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Gujarati, Odia, Assamese, and others. These renderings often follow the narrative order of the Sanskrit originals while simplifying grammar, omitting highly technical ritual or cosmological detail, and adding explanations to make the material intelligible to a broader audience. In many cases, the same narratives circulate in different scripts and mixed idioms—early Hindi, Braj, Old Marathi, Old Bengali, and related forms—standing between classical Sanskrit and everyday speech and thereby widening access.

Equally important are the freer retellings, where poets and saints reshape Puranic material into independent works that speak directly to regional cultures. Texts such as Tulsidas’ Ramcharitmanas, Krittivasi Ramayana, Pampa Ramayana, and other regional epics weave Puranic cosmology and theology into local poetic forms, often reframing deities as regional or family gods and subtly adjusting dharmic emphases to fit local norms. Numerous sthala‑puranas and mahatmyas similarly adapt Skanda and other Puranic traditions to specific temples, pilgrimage sites, and landscapes, so that the sacred geography of a region becomes inseparable from its Puranic storytelling.

Devotional and sectarian movements have drawn deeply from these narratives, turning them into living theology. Vaishnava, Shaiva, and Shakta bhakti traditions compose hymns, songs, and kirtans that retell episodes such as Krishna’s līlās, Shiva’s exploits, and the Devi’s battles in simple, emotionally charged language. Commentarial traditions in Tamil, Telugu, Marathi, Gujarati, Bengali, and other languages interpret the same Purana through distinct philosophical lenses, whether nondual, qualified nondual, or dualistic, so that a single text yields multiple, regionally inflected visions of the divine and of dharma.

The Puranas also find new life in performance and oral exposition. Storytelling practices—katha, pravachan, Harikatha, Kathakalakshepa, and related forms—paraphrase and expand the narratives in regional idioms, sometimes altering details for didactic or devotional effect. Dramatic traditions such as Kathakali, Yakshagana, Kuchipudi, Jatra, Ramlila, and various puppet and folk theaters embody these myths on stage, allowing communities to see, hear, and ritually participate in the stories that articulate their understanding of cosmos and duty.

Over time, simplified prose versions, abridged collections, and “bal” or children’s retellings have further distilled Puranic material into accessible storybooks and chapbooks, often emphasizing key myths, moral teachings, and practical ritual instructions while leaving aside elaborate cosmology. Beyond the Indian heartlands, Puranic narratives circulate in Nepal in Sanskrit, Newari, and Nepali, and in Sri Lanka in Sinhala prose, poetry, and temple lore, while in parts of Southeast Asia they merge with local epics and court literature. Through all these channels, the Puranas are less static texts than ongoing processes of translation, localization, and reinterpretation, continually re‑articulating cosmology, deities, and dharma in the many tongues of the subcontinent and its neighbors.