Overview
The Vishnu Purana (Sanskrit: विष्णुपुराण) is one of the eighteen Mahapuranas, a genre of ancient and medieval Hindu texts. It is regarded as an important Pancharatra text within the Vaishnavism literary corpus, and its manuscripts have survived into the modern era in numerous versions.
More than any other major Purana, the Vishnu Purana follows the Pancalaksana format, comprising Sarga (cosmogony), Pratisarga (cosmology), Vamsa (genealogy of gods, sages, and rulers), Manvantara (cosmic cycles), and Vamsanucarita (legends from the reigns of various kings and queens). Some manuscripts are notable for omitting sections such as mahatmyas and pilgrimage guides found in other major Puranas, while other versions do include chapters on temples and travel guides to sacred sites.
The text is among the shorter Puranas, with approximately 7,000 verses in extant versions. It centres primarily on the deity Vishnu and his avataras, including Rama and Krishna, while also praising Brahma and Shiva and presenting them as dependent on Vishnu. According to H. H. Wilson, the Purana is pantheistic in outlook, and its ideas, like those of other Puranas, are grounded in Vedic beliefs and concepts. The Padma Purana categorises it as a Sattva Purana, said to represent goodness and purity.
Like all major Puranas, the Vishnu Purana traditionally attributes its authorship to the sage Vyasa. Scholarly estimates of its composition range from 400 BCE to 900 CE, and the text was likely composed and rewritten in layers over time, with possible roots in 1st-millennium BCE texts that have not survived. It is also notable as the earliest Purana to have been translated and published, by H. H. Wilson in 1840 CE, based on manuscripts available at the time. This translation helped shape early scholarly assumptions about the nature of the Puranas.
References
- "Vishnu Purana", English
References