The Viṣṇu Purāṇa: Ancient Annals of the God with Lotus Eyes

Preface
Acknowledgements
Glossary
Introduction
	The purāṇas
	The Viṣṇu Purāṇa
	Problems with dating
	Authorship
	The audience
	Relationship to other texts
	The nature of Viṣṇu
	Viṣṇu and Kṛṣṇa
	The other avatāras
	The purāṇic thought-world
	Divine and semi-divine beings
	Elements of the Viṣṇu Purāṇa
	The six books
	The Sanskrit text
	Other translations
	About this translation
	References
Book One: Creation
	1. Maitreya asks Parāśara about the world
	2. Parāśara praises Viṣṇu; Creation
	3. The divisions of time
	4. Brahmā creates the world anew
	5. Brahmā creates living beings
	6. Human society
	7. The first patriarchs
	8. The eight forms of Rudra
	9. The sage Durvāsas curses Indra; Churning of the ocean
	10. Descendants of the first patriarchs and Dakṣa’s daughters
	11. The birth of Dhruva
	12. The trials of Dhruva
	13. Dhruva’s descendants
	14. Pṛthu’s descendants
	15. The Pracetases, Māriṣā, the Ādityas and Prahlāda
	16. Maitreya asks about Prahlāda
	17. Prahlāda instructs the Daitya boys
	18. Prahlāda instructs his gurus
	19. Prahlāda’s torments continue
	20. Prahlāda achieves liberation
	21. Kaśyapa’s descendants and the origin of the Maruts
	22. Brahmā appoints sovereigns; Nature of the Absolute
Book Two: The World
	1. Priyavrata distributes the continents
	2. Jambūdvīpa, ‘Land of the Rose-Apple Tree’
	3. The land of Bhārata
	4. Plakṣadvīpa and the other continents
	5. The lower realms; The serpent Śeṣa
	6. The hell realms
	7. The upper spheres; The power of Viṣṇu
	8. The movement of the sun; Time; The heavenly paths
	9. The source of rain
	10. The carriage of the sun
	11. The sun’s energy
	12. The moon and planets
	13. ‘Foolish’ Bharata
	14. Bharata teaches the highest goal
	15. Ṛbhu’s discourse on the highest truth
	16. Ṛbhu’s discourse continues
Book Three: Society
	1. The past and present Manvantaras
	2. The future Manvantaras
	3. The Vyāsas arrange the Vedas; The syllable Oṃ
	4. The origin of the four Vedas
	5. The branches of the Yajur Veda
	6. The branches of the Sāma and Atharva Vedas; The purāṇas
	7. How to escape death: Yama’s song
	8. The four communities
	9. The four stages of life
	10. Birth and marriage
	11. Rituals of the householder
	12. The conduct of the wise
	13. Rituals relating to birth and death
	14. The śrāddha ritual for the ancestral spirits
	15. Conducting a śrāddha
	16. Śrāddha offerings
	17. The protection afforded by the Vedas; Viṣṇu’s phantom
	18. The phantom confounds the demigods
Book Four: The Royal Dynasties
	1. The Solar Dynasty: The lineage of Manu
	2. Manu’s sons Dhṛṣta, Nābhāga and Ikṣvāku
	3. The descendants of Ambarīṣa
	4. Sagara’s sons excavate the ocean; The story of Rāma
	5. The legend of Nimi: Why we blink
	6. The Lunar Dynasty
	7. King Jahnu drinks the Gaṅgā dry
	8. The descendants of Purūravas’s son Āyus
	9. Āyus’s son Raji usurps Indra
	10. Āyus’s grandson Yayāti exchanges old age for youth
	11. Yayāti’s son Yadu
	12. Yadu’s descendant Jyāmagha rescues a princess
	13. Kṛṣṇa and the Syamantaka jewel
	14. The ancestry of Kṛṣṇa’s father, Vasudeva, and his nemesis, Śiśupāla
	15. Hiraṇyakaśipu, Rāvaṇa and Śiśupāla
	16. Yayāti’s son Turvasu
	17. Yayāti’s son Druhyu
	18. Yayāti’s son Anu
	19. Yayāti’s son Puru
	20. The lineages of the Kauravas and Pāṇḍavas
	21. The future descendants of Parīkṣit
	22. The future descendants of Bṛhadbala
	23. The future descendants of Bṛhadratha
	24. Future kings; The age of Kali
Book Five: Kṛṣṇa
	1. The union of Vasudeva and Devakī
	2. The deities praise Devakī
	3. The advent of Kṛṣṇa
	4. Kaṃsa plots to kill Kṛṣṇa
	5. Kṛṣṇa slays Pūtanā
	6. Kṛṣna’s childhood
	7. Kṛṣṇa subdues the serpent Kāliya
	8. Balarāma defeats Dhenuka the Donkey‑Demon
	9. Balarāma destroys Pralamba the Cowherd‑Demon
	10. Autumn in the cattle camp
	11. Kṛṣṇa raises Mount Govardhana
	12. Indra praises Kṛṣṇa
	13. Kṛṣṇa delights the herding women
	14. Kṛṣṇa slays Ariṣṭa the Bull-Demon
	15. Kaṃsa sends Akrūra to the cattle camp
	16. Kṛṣṇa slays Keśin the Horse-Demon
	17. Akrūra arrives at the cattle camp
	18. Kṛṣṇa sets out for Mathurā
	19. Kṛṣṇa slays the washerman and blesses the garland-maker
	20. Kṛṣṇa in Mathurā; The wrestling bout; Kaṃsa’s demise
	21. Ugrasena is reinstated
	22. Kṛṣṇa battles Jarāsandha
	23. Kṛṣṇa leads the Yādavas to Dvārakā
	24. Balarāma returns to the cattle camp
	25. Balarāma diverts the Yamunā River
	26. Kṛṣṇa abducts Rukmiṇī
	27. Kṛṣṇa’s son Pradyumna is taken by a demon
	28. Pradyumna’s son Aniruddha; Balarāma slays Rukmin
	29. Kṛṣṇa slays the demon Naraka and retrieves Aditi’s earrings
	30. Aditi praises Kṛṣṇa
	31. Kṛṣṇa plants the Pārijāta tree in Dvārakā
	32. Uṣā dreams of Aniruddha
	33. Aniruddha is bound by Bāṇa and freed by Kṛṣṇa
	34. Kṛṣṇa burns Vārāṇasī
	35. Balarāma threatens Hastināpura
	36. Balarāma defeats the giant monkey Dvivida
	37. The destruction of the Yādavas
	38. Arjuna leads the women from Dvārakā
Book Six: Dissolution
	1. The decline of virtue in the age of Kali
	2. Vyāsa reveals the single virtue of the Kali age
	3. The causal dissolution at the end of every aeon
	4. The elemental dissolution
	5. The final dissolution and the nature of suffering
	6. Khāṇḍikya and his cousin Keśidhvaja
	7. Keśidhvaja instructs Khāṇḍikya in yoga
	8. The benefits of listening to the Viṣṇu Purāṇa
Appendix
Selective index