Mythology, depicted in above sculpture, is described in the Vishnu Purana. Suvarnabhumi Airport, Bangkok The composition date of Vishnu Purana is unknown and contested, with estimates widely disagreeing. Some proposed dates for the earliest version of Vishnu Purana by various scholars include:. (1908): 400-300 BCE,. (1925): 9th-century,. (1932): possibly early 1st millennium, but states Rocher, he added, 'it is no more possible to assign a definite date to the Vishnu Purana than it is for any other Purana'.
Rajendra Chandra Hazra (1940): 275-325 CE. (1951): 700-300 BCE,. Roy (1968): after the 9th century.
(1864): acknowledged that the tradition believes it to be 1st millennium BCE text and the text has roots in the Vedic literature, but after his analysis suggested that the extant manuscripts may be from the 11th century. Rocher states that the 'date of the Vishnu Purana is as contested as that of any other Purana'.
References to Vishnu Purana in texts such as Brihadvishnu whose dates are better established, states Rocher, suggest that a version of Vishnu Purana existed by about 1000 CE, but it is unclear to what extent the extant manuscripts reflect the revisions during the 2nd millennium. Vishnu Purana like all Puranas has a complicated chronology. Dimmitt and van Buitenen state that each of the Puranas including the Vishnu Purana is encyclopedic in style, and it is difficult to ascertain when, where, why and by whom these were written: As they exist today, the Puranas are a stratified literature. Each titled work consists of material that has grown by numerous accretions in successive historical eras.
Thus no Purana has a single date of composition. (.) It is as if they were libraries to which new volumes have been continuously added, not necessarily at the end of the shelf, but randomly. The Vishnu Purana includes several chapters in book 3 on rites of passage from birth through death. Included are chapters on cremation rites (above).
After presenting the emergence of Vedic schools, the text presents the ethical duties of the four in chapter 2.8, the four (stages) of the life of each human being in chapter 2.9, the rites of passage including wedding rituals in chapters 2.10 through 2.12, and (rites in honor of ancestors, faith) in chapters 2.13 through 2.16. The Vishnu Purana asserts that the Brahmin should study, worship gods and perform libations on behalf of others, the should maintain arms and protect the earth, the should engage in commerce and farming, while the should subsist by profits of trade, service other varnas and through mechanical labor. The text asserts the ethical duties of all is to do good to others, never abuse anyone, never engage in calumny or untruth, never covet another person's wife, never steal another's property, never bear ill-will towards anyone, never beat or slay any human being or living being. Be diligent in the service of the gods, sages and, asserts the Purana, seek the welfare of all creatures, one's own children and of one's own soul. Anyone, regardless of their varna or stage of life, who lives a life according to the above duties is the best worshipper of Vishnu, claims the Vishnu Purana. Similar statements on ethical duties of man are found in other parts of Vishnu Purana. The text describes in chapter 2.9, the four stages of life as (student), (householder), (retirement) and (renunciation, mendicant).
Vishnu is one of the principal deities of Hinduism, and the Supreme Being or absolute truth in. The medieval Indian scholar Medhātithi suggested that the word Vishnu has etymological. The Sangam literature refers to an extensive regional collection in Tamil language, mostly from the early centuries of the common era.
The text repeats the ethical duties in this chapter, translates Wilson. The chapters on Shraddha (rites for ancestors) describe the rites associated with a death in family, the preparation of the dead body, its cremation and the rituals after the cremation.
The third book closes with the legend of Vishnu, through Mayamoha, helping the win over, by teaching the Asuras heretical doctrines that deny the Vedas, who declare their contempt for the Vedas, which makes them easy to identify and thereby defeat. This soul is of its own nature, pure, composed of happiness and wisdom. The properties of pain, ignorance and impurity, are those of, not of soul. — Vishnu Purana, 6.7 The last book of the Vishnu Purana is the shortest, with 8 chapters. The first part of the sixth book asserts that is vicious, cruel and filled with evilness that create suffering, yet 'Kali Yuga is excellent' because one can refuse to join the evil, devote oneself to Vishnu and thus achieve salvation.
The last chapters, from 6.6 to 6.7 of the text discusses and meditation, as a means to Vishnu devotion. Contemplative devotion, asserts the text, is the union with the (supreme soul, ultimate reality), which is only achievable with virtues such as compassion, truth, honesty, disinterestedness, self-restraint and holy studies. The text mentions five, five,. The pure and perfect soul is called Vishnu, states the text, and absorption in Vishnu is liberation.
The final chapter 6.8 of the text asserts itself to be an 'imperishable Vaishnava Purana'. Influences Vishnu Purana is one of the 18 major Puranas, and these text share many legends, likely influenced each other. The fifth chapter of the Vishnu Purana was likely influenced by the Mahabharata. Similarly, the verses on rites of passage and ashramas (stages) of life are likely drawn from the literature. Rajendra Hazra, in 1940, assumed that Vishnu Purana is ancient and proposed that texts such as Apasthamba Dharmasutra borrowed text from it. Modern scholars such as Allan Dahlaquist disagree, however, and state that the borrowing may have been in the other direction, from Dharmasutras into the Purana. Other chapters, particularly those in book 5 and 6 of the Vishnu Purana have and influences.
The theistic Vedanta scholar, according to Sucharita Adluri, incorporated ideas from the Vishnu Purana to identify the concept in the Upanishads with Vishnu, thus providing a Vedic foundation to the Srivaishnava tradition. See also.
Notes. Bryant, Edwin Francis (2007). Oxford University Press. Collins, Charles Dillard (1988).
Dimmitt, Cornelia; van Buitenen, J. Temple University Press (1st Edition: 1977). Dalal, Rosen (2014). Dutt, MN (1896). Elysium Press. Flood, Gavin (1996). An Introduction to Hinduism.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. K P Gietz; et al. Otto Harrassowitz Verlag.
Ariel Glucklich (2008). Oxford University Press. Johnson, W.J. A Dictionary of Hinduism.
Oxford University Press. Kramrisch, Stella (1976). The Hindu Temple, Volume 1 & 2. Motilal Banarsidass. Rao, Velcheru Narayana (1993).
'Purana as Brahminic Ideology'. In Doniger Wendy. Purana Perennis: Reciprocity and Transformation in Hindu and Jaina Texts. Albany: State University of New York Press. Otto Harrassowitz Verlag.
Read Country Books (reprinted in 2006). Further reading. Mani, Vettam. Puranic Encyclopedia. 1st English ed. New Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1975.
Shri Vishnupuran published by Gitapress Gorakhpur External links. at sacred-texts.
correct IAST transliteration and glossary. Other language versions on the Internet Archive: (by Vishnuchitta Alwar, 1922), by Kaliprasanna Vidyaratna (1926), by K.
Bhavanarayana (1930).