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Vishnu Purana

Vishnu Purana Vishnu as the boar Varaha lifts the goddess Earth on his tusks out of the waters of dissolution.
  • 26stories

Twenty-six selected episodes.

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Scope and main editionThe named verification reference is Gita Press Complete Vishnu Purana, Sanskrit with Hindi translation, product 48. Sources and limits → Collection coverage map →

Vishnu Purana Vishnu as the boar Varaha lifts the goddess Earth on his tusks out of the waters of dissolution.

Vishnu Purana among its 8 companions in Epics and Puranas

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26 stories

Book One: Creation, Time, and the Avatars

Beneath a banyan by the water Parashara tells Maitreya, seated before him with joined palms, how the world began, while above them in a golden sky four-armed Vishnu reclines on the many-hooded Shesha.
Creation, Time, and the Glory of VishnuWhen Maitreya asks, Parashara reveals where this world came from and what time itself truly is.
Vishnu as the boar Varaha lifting the Earth from the cosmic waters
The Varaha Avatar and the Rescue of the EarthThe Earth has sunk into the cosmic depths, and the Lord as Varaha lifts her back up on his tusks.
Brahma sits on a great lotus among his seated mind-born sons, with Manu and Shatarupa standing below him with joined palms.
Creation, the Prajapatis, and Svayambhuva ManuBrahma's mind-born sons, the coming of the Prajapatis, and the world spreading outward from Manu and Shatarupa.
Lakshmi rising on a lotus from the churned ocean of milk
Lakshmi and the Churning of the OceanStripped of fortune by Durvasa's curse, the gods churn the ocean of milk, and Lakshmi rises from it.
The Story of King Vena and His Son PrithuAfter the lawless Vena comes Prithu, who milks the Earth to feed and sustain his people.
The Prachetas sit in meditation on the sea floor as Vishnu appears to them in the shafts of light falling through the water.
The Origin of the Prachetas and DakshaThe Prachetas at tapas for thousands of years beneath the sea, and the beginning of the line of Daksha Prajapati.
Indra raises his vajra at the head of the Maruts as they surge through the storm clouds, with four-armed Vishnu above them.
The Birth of the Maruts and the Glory of VishnuIndra splits open Diti's womb, and forty-nine Maruts rise from it; then Vishnu's ordering of the world.

Book Two: Cosmography and Knowledge

Geography: the seven continents ringed by their seven oceans, the netherworlds below, and the hells at the base of the world
Geography: The Seven Continents, the Netherworlds, and the HellsA map of the cosmos, from Jambudvipa down through the seven underworlds and the many hells.
The tiered upper worlds above the earth and the great wheel of stars turning about the pole star Dhruva
The Upper Worlds and the Wheel of StarsThe upper worlds from Bhu to Satyaloka, the chariot of the Sun, and the planets and stars bound to the Shishumara wheel.
From a red palanquin the king of Sauvira points at Jada Bharata, who walks ahead on the forest road with the pole on his shoulder.
The Story of Bharata and Jada BharataKing Bharata, snared by his love for a deer, is reborn; and the sage who plays the fool teaches the king of Sauvira.
White-bearded Ribhu stands on a village path at sunset speaking to Nidagha, who sits at his feet beside a water pot.
Ribhu's Teaching of Non-Duality to NidaghaThe guru Ribhu returns twice, a thousand years apart, to teach his student Nidagha to erase the difference between 'you' and 'I'.

Book Three: The Manvantaras, the Vedas, and Dharma

Vyasa, ringed by a halo, sits among stacks of palm-leaf manuscripts in a forest hermitage, sorting the leaves of the Veda.
Fourteen Manvantaras, Vyasa, and the Eighteen PuranasThe Manus and Indras that change with each manvantara, a different Vyasa for every age, and the dividing of the Vedas into their branches.
Yama, crowned and holding mace and noose, sits on his buffalo as a luminous devotee stands before him with folded hands.
The YamagitaYama, lord of death, warns his messengers never to dare lay a hand on a devotee of Vishnu.
Queen Shaivya kneels by a fire altar as King Shatadhanu rises in light toward heaven and a dark figure slips into shadow.
Mayamoha and King ShatadhanuAt the gods' request the Lord conjures Mayamoha, and the faith of his wife Shaivya wins Shatadhanu his deliverance.

Book Four: The Royal Dynasties and the Future

The sage Saubhari, his body wound with lotus stems, steps out of the water toward a row of crowned princes of the Solar line.
The Solar Dynasty: Saubhari, Trishanku, and SagaraThe line of Ikshvaku, the fall of Saubhari from his tapas in the water, Trishanku's heaven, and the conquests of Sagara.
The Ganga pours down from the heavens onto the matted hair of Shiva, seated in meditation beside his trident; from her stream the sons of Sagara rise in shining forms toward heaven, as sages bathe and King Bhagiratha stands with joined palms.
The Descent of the Ganga, Rama, and NimiThe Ganga descending to deliver the sons of Sagara, a brief life of Rama, and the story of Nimi and Janaka.
At dusk by the lotus lake of Kurukshetra King Pururava kneels and reaches toward Urvashi, who stands in a glowing mist above the water while four apsaras watch from the lake behind her.
Pururava and UrvashiThe beginning of the Lunar Dynasty, Pururava's love for the apsara Urvashi and their parting, and the fire the gandharvas give him.
Light passes between the hands of an aged king on his throne and the young prince kneeling before him as courtiers watch.
The Story of YayatiAged by a curse, Yayati borrows youth from his son Puru, then learns how empty the pursuit of pleasure is.
Krishna sits facing Jambavan in a torch-lit cave, the glowing Syamantaka jewel between them.
The Story of the Syamantaka JewelA jewel gifted by the Sun, a false charge of theft, and the truth Krishna uncovers in the cave of Jambavan.
Parashara sits by a river with a raised hand as crowned kings of future ages and their armies appear in the clouds.
The Kings of the Future and the Coming of Kali YugaParashara foretells which kings are yet to come, the dynasty of Magadha, and the signs of the Kali age.

Book Five: The Play of Krishna

Vasudeva carries the infant Krishna across the river beneath Shesha’s shelter
Krishna's Birth: Across the Yamuna at NightVasudeva carries the newborn Krishna across the Yamuna by night, and the girl left in his place, dashed by Kamsa against a stone, stands in the sky with eight arms.
Krishna speaks with Nanda among the village elders
Govardhana: From Festival to ShelterKrishna turns the festival of Vraja from Indra to the cows and the mountain, and when Indra's clouds pour for seven nights he holds up Govardhana as shelter for the whole camp.
On the shore at Prabhasa four-armed Krishna sits in yoga beneath a pipal with one foot across his knee, Jara's arrow in its sole, as the hunter who took it for a deer kneels before him with joined palms.
The End of the Yadu Dynasty and Krishna's Return to His Own AbodeThe Yadavas destroyed by a curse of the sages, Krishna's departure to his own abode, and the crowning of Parikshit.

Book Six: The Kali Age, Dissolution, and the Yoga of Brahman

A devotee kneels with joined palms at dusk before a lamp-lit shrine of Krishna playing the flute.
The Dharma of the Kali AgeParashara explains how even a little devotion bears great fruit in the Kali age, and how women and shudras attain their welfare with ease.
Vishnu reclines on the coils of Shesha upon dark waters as worlds dissolve into a spiral of light behind him.
The Four Kinds of DissolutionNaimittika, prakrita, atyantika, and nitya: the forms in which creation is drawn back into itself.
Two crowned kings sit facing each other on the forest floor, one speaking with open hands while the other listens.
Keshidhvaj, Khandikya, and BrahmayogaThe meeting of two rival kings, where an enemy becomes the guru who points the way to moksha; and the closing of the text.

Reading paths

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The Varaha Avatar and the Rescue of the Earth

About 9 minutes

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Krishna’s birth: across the Yamuna at night

About 4 minutes

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Vishnu Purana

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Open in the Atlas →The full order

All 26 readings, in order

The whole order, about 4 hours

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The stories of Vishnu as Parashara tells them to Maitreya, drawn from the Gita Press edition of the Vishnu Purana.

Find these passages in the source

This collection offers 26 selected narratives from the work’s six books.

  1. Creation, time, and avatars
    Vishnu Purana, Book 1
  2. Cosmography and knowledge
    Vishnu Purana, Book 2
  3. Manvantaras, Vedas, and dharma
    Vishnu Purana, Book 3
  4. Dynasties and the future
    Vishnu Purana, Book 4
  5. Krishna: birth, Govardhana, and the Yadava ending
    Vishnu Purana, Book 5
  6. Kali age, dissolution, and the yoga of Brahman
    Vishnu Purana, Book 6

Editions and comparison: Gita Press (Vishnu Purana, Books 1 to 6); McComas Taylor, ANU Press (Vishnu Purana, contents and Books 1 to 6).