The disturbed Mahā Yogi (Great Ascetic) looked around in anger for the source of his discomfort and, seeing Kāma, at once burned him to ashes with fire that issued from his third eye.
These eighteen are considered mahā- or great Purāṇas, and a further list of eighteen are called upa- or minor Purāṇas.
Classifying texts into mahā and upa appears to be a convenient device to organize the texts in a schematic order.
2005, Ajahn Chah, Food for the Heart: The Collected Teachings of Ajahn Chah:
One day a disciple of his, a mahā, was sitting with him, when some women came up and asked Ajahn Pow, "Luang Por! We want to invite you to go with us on an excursion, will you go?"
2008, S. Bodhesako, Beginnings: Collected Essays of S. Bodhesako, page 21:
The evidence is twofold. First, we would expect the Cullavagga to have, if not fewer, at least not more Khandhakas than the Mahāvagga. In the Suttas we often encounter Mahā/Culla pairs, and the Mahā is invariably the longer.
This is also the reasoning behind the subdivisions of the Nyingma School's mantra scriptures, such as the classification of mahāyoga into three parts, starting with the mahā of mahā.
2010, Eugène Burnouf, Introduction to the History of Indian Buddhism, page 279:
But this title, in regard to monks, is much less frequent in the legends than that of bhik.u, just as this latter never applies, as far as I know, to Śākyamuni, without being preceded by the epithet of mahā, “the great monk.”
Tibbotuvāvē Śrī Siddhartha Sumangala Mahā Nāyaka Thera of the Malvatu Vihāraya and the Ven. Aggamahāpandita Ahungallē Vimalanandatissa Mahā Nāyaka Thera of the Amarapura Mahā Sangha Sabhā is remembered with gratitude.
Believing the Buddha to have canceled out his power through a mastery of mahā (or “greater”) gandhāravijjā (the ability to read the minds of others and fly through the air), he entered the order to learn the Buddha's science.
2013, V. Ravi, Understanding and Worshiping Sri Chakra, page 92:
1 represents Mahā Kāmeśvarī (not Parāśakti; Mahā and Kāmeśvarī are two separate words here) and she protects the eastern corner, the point of triangle facing down.
2014, The Seduction of Shiva: Tales of Life and Love→ISBN:
All are classed among the eighteen mahā or ‘great’ purāṇas.
2014, Thea Mohr, Jampa Tsedroen, Dignity and Discipline: Reviving Full Ordination for Buddhist Nuns, page 45:
Among all the therīs, it is only her name that bears the prefix mahā- or “great”.
214 Om mahā pātaka nāśinyai namaḥ ...Who destroys even the greatest of sins. 215 Om mahāmāyāyai namaḥ ...Who is the Great Illusion. 216 Om mahā sattvāyai namaḥ ...Who possesses great sattva.
I meditate on You, the wife of Shiva, who is sitting pleasantly on his lap, surrounded by Shaktis led by Lord Ganesha, who is sitting highly radiant on the chakra raja, and who is Tripura and Rajarajeshvari.
