What are the Puranas in the context of ancient India?

1) Ancient sculptures
2) Ritualistic ceremonies
3) Textual compilations containing stories about deities
4) Ancient coins

Choose the correct answer from the given options:

3

Deciphering the significance embedded within these sculptures necessitates the historian's acquaintance with the narratives enshrined behind them. A multitude of these narratives found their repository in the Puranas, textual compendiums crafted by Brahmanas around the mid-first millennium CE. Within these texts, an abundance of material, including stories featuring deities, had been meticulously compiled and circulated across centuries.

Typically composed in straightforward Sanskrit verse, the Puranas were designed for oral recitation, accessible to all strata of society, including women and Shudras, who lacked access to Vedic education. The content within the Puranas dynamically evolved through interactions amongst diverse individuals – priests, merchants, and commonfolk traversing regions and sharing ideas and convictions.