other major Puranas, and for these reasons, predominant portions of this Purana are likely to be a 15th or 16th century composition. The text very likely existed much earlier, and the older version likely was complete in the 8th to 10th century period. A version probably existed by 700 CE, adds Hazra. However, in its history, this Hindu text also underwent major revisions, over the centuries. This text was likely revised in the Bengal region of South Asia. Another related text, called Brahmakaivarta Purana, also relatively modern but traced to South India, exists in many versions. There are a few manuscripts titled Adi brahmavaivarta purana, of unclear date of composition, proposed as the older possibly original Purana, but these are very different from the Brahmavaivarta Purana text generally considered one of the 18 Mahapuranas. The older version of the Brahmavaivarta Purana was once influential in its own way, because Nibandha authors of 15th and 16th century quoted nearly 1,500 lines in texts such as the Smriti Candrika, which they claimed is in this Purana. However, only 30 of these lines are found in the extant manuscripts of Brahmavaivarta Purana suggesting massive rewrite of the original Purana over its history, in or after the 15th or 16th century. The text includes Smriti chapters that, states Hazra, were likely inserted into the text after the 16th century. This modern content includes chapters on "mixed castes, duties of women, duties of varna, duties of individuals during their ashrama (stages of life), worship and glorification of Brahmins, theory of hell in after-life, and religious gift giving for merit". The only Smriti chapters in currently surviving manuscripts, that can be found in older versions of this text are two, namely 4.8 and 4.26. These relate to vrata. Structure The text has four Khandas (parts). The third khanda is called either Ganesha-khanda or Ganapati-khanda. The tradition and other Puranas assert that this Purana had 18,000 verses. The actual manuscripts have more than 18,000 verses, unlike other Puranas where they usually fall short. The Padma Purana categorizes Brahma Vaivarta Purana as a Rajas Purana. Sanskrit scholar Ludo Rocher considers the Sattva-Rajas-Tamas classification as "entirely fanciful" and argues there is nothing in this text that actually justifies this classification. Content The text's title Brahmavaivarta means "metamorphosis of Brahman", who is identified with Krishna. This Purana takes a view on the creation where the Brahman as Krishna creates the