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Table of Contents
Intro
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.
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.