Hare Krishna, dear devotees!
In the introduction to Sri Isopanishad, Srila Prabhupada mentions:
'Originally there was only one Veda, and there was no necessity of reading it. People were so intelligent and had such sharp memories that by once hearing from the lips of the spiritual master they would understand. They would immediately grasp the whole purport. But five thousand years ago Vyasadeva put the Vedas in writing for the people in this age, Kali-yuga. He knew that eventually the people would be short-lived, their memories would be very poor, and their intelligence would not be very sharp. "Therefore, let me teach this Vedic knowledge in writing." He divided the Vedas into four: Rig, Sama, Atharva and Yajur. Then he gave the charge of these Vedas to his different disciples. He then thought of the less intelligent class of men-stri, sudra and dvija-bandhu. He considered the woman class and sudra class (worker class) and dvija-bandhu. Dvija-bandhu refers to those who are born in a high family but who are not properly qualified. A man who is born in the family of a brahmana but is not qualified as a brahmana is called dvija-bandhu. For these persons he compiled the Mahabharata, called the history of India, and the eighteen Puranas.'
From Padma Purana we see the eighteen puranas are:
'Lord Shiva says Parvati:
vaisnavam naradiyanca tathabhagavatam subham garudanca tathapadmam varaham subhadarsane sattvikanipuranani vijneyani subhani vai brahmandam brahmavaivartam markandeyam tathaiva ca bhavisyam vamanam brahmam rajasani nibodhame matsyam kaurmam tathalaingam saivam skandam tathaiva ca agneyam ca sadetani tamasani nibodhame.
O beautiful lady (Parvati), know that the Visnu, Narada, Bhagavata, Garuda, Padma and Varaha Puranas are sattvika; the Brahmanda, Brahma-vaivarta, Markandeya, Bhavisya, Vamana and Brahma Puranas are rajasika; and the Matsya, Kurma, Linga, Siva, Skanda and Agni Puranas are tamasika.'
Devi puran or Vayu Puran is not included in the list of these eighteen puranas. Then who wrote Devi Puran and Vayu Puran?
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