Vishnu Purana

"Vishnu Puran" redirects here. For the television series, see Vishnu Puran (TV series).

Vishnu Purana
Vishnu
Information
ReligionHinduism
AuthorVyasa
LanguageSanskrit
Chapters126
Verses23,000
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The Vishnu Purana is one of the eighteen Mahapuranas, a genre of ancient and medieval texts of Hinduism.[1] It is an important Pancharatra text in the Vaishnavism literature corpus.[1][2]

The manuscripts of Vishnu Purana have survived into the modern era in many versions.[3][4][5] More than any other major Purana, the Vishnu Purana presents its contents in Pancalaksana format – Sarga (cosmogony), Pratisarga (cosmology), Vamsa (genealogy of the gods and goddesses, sages and kings and queens), Manvantara (cosmic cycles), and Vamsanucarita (legends during the times of various kings and queens).[6][7][8] Some manuscripts of the text are notable for not including sections found in other major Puranas, such as those on Mahatmyas and tour guides on pilgrimage,[9] but some versions include chapters on temples and travel guides to sacred pilgrimage sites.[1][10] The text is also notable as the earliest Purana to have been translated and published in 1840 CE by HH Wilson, based on manuscripts then available, setting the presumptions and premises about what Puranas may have been.[11][12]

The Vishnu Purana is among the shorter Purana texts, with about 7,000 verses in extant versions.[13][14] It primarily centers around the Hindu god Vishnu and his avataras such as Rama and Krishna, but it praises Brahma and Shiva and says that they are dependent on Vishnu.[14] The Purana, states Wilson, is pantheistic and the ideas in it, like other Puranas, are premised on the Vedic beliefs and ideas.[15]

Vishnu Purana, like all major Puranas, attributes its author to be sage Vyasa.[16] The actual author(s) and date of its composition are unknown and contested. Estimates of its composition range from 400 CE to 900 CE.[9] The text was likely composed and rewritten in layers over a period of time, with roots possibly in ancient 1st-millennium BCE texts that have not survived into the modern era.[17] The Padma Purana categorizes Vishnu Purana as a Sattva Purana (Purana that represents goodness and purity).[18]

  1. ^ a b c Dalal 2014, p. 460.
  2. ^ Rocher 1986, pp. 245–249.
  3. ^ Rocher 1986, pp. 18, 245–249.
  4. ^ Wilson 1864, pp. xxxiv–xxxv.
  5. ^ Gregory Bailey (2003). Arvind Sharma (ed.). The Study of Hinduism. University of South Carolina Press. pp. 141–142. ISBN 978-1-57003-449-7.
  6. ^ Rocher 1986, pp. 248–249.
  7. ^ Rao 1993, pp. 85–100.
  8. ^ Johnson 2009, p. 248.
  9. ^ a b Rocher 1986, p. 249.
  10. ^ Ariel Glucklich 2008, p. 146, Quote: The earliest promotional works aimed at tourists from that era were called mahatmyas.
  11. ^ Wilson 1864, pp. i–xviii, for full context and comparison of Vishnu Purana with other Puranas then known, see all of the Preface section..
  12. ^ Gregory Bailey (2003). Arvind Sharma (ed.). The Study of Hinduism. University of South Carolina Press. pp. 148–149. ISBN 978-1-57003-449-7.
  13. ^ Wilson 1864, p. xxxv.
  14. ^ a b Rocher 1986, p. 246, 248 with footnote 501.
  15. ^ Wilson 1864, pp. xii–xiv.
  16. ^ Rocher 1986, p. 48.
  17. ^ Rocher 1986, pp. 41–48, 249.
  18. ^ Wilson, H. H. (1840). The Vishnu Purana: A system of Hindu mythology and tradition. Oriental Translation Fund. p. 12.