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Vedas Rigveda · Yajurveda · Samaveda · Atharvaveda Divisions Samhita · Brahmana · Aranyaka · Upanishad

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Vedanga Shiksha · Chandas · Vyakarana · Nirukta · Jyotisha · Kalpa

Mahakavya (epics) Mahabharata · Ramayana

Other scriptures Smriti · Śruti · Bhagavad Gita · Purana · Agama · Darshana · Pancharatra · Tantra · Sutra · Stotra · Dharmashastra · Divya Prabandha · Tevaram · Ramacharitamanas · Shikshapatri · Vachanamrut · Ananda Sutram

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Introduction

The Vishnu Purana is often considered to be the most important of all the eighteen Puranas and is given the name Puranaratna (gem of Puranas). Literature regarded as central to the Hindu literary tradition was predominantly composed in Sanskrit, Indeed much of the morphology and linguistic "Veda" redirects here For other uses see Veda (disambiguation. The Rigveda ( Sanskrit sa ऋग्वेद ṛgveda, a compound of ṛc "praise verse" and veda "knowledge" The Yajurveda ( Sanskrit यजुर्वेदः, a Tatpurusha compound of yajus "sacrificial formula' + veda The Samaveda ( Sanskrit: सामवेद sāmaveda, from sāman "melody" + veda "knowledge") is third (in the usual The Atharvaveda ( Sanskrit: अथर्ववेद atharvaveda, a Tatpurusha compound of {{IAST|atharvan}}, an ancient Rishi The oral tradition of the Vedas ( Śrauta) consists of several pathas, "recitations" or ways of chanting the Vedic Mantras Such traditions The Brāhmaṇa s ( Devanagari: sa ब्राह्मणं are part of the Hindu śruti literature The Aranyakas (Sanskrit आरण्यक āraṇyaka) are part of the Hindu śruti, the four Vedas these religious texts were composed in The Upanishads ( Devanagari: उपनिषद् IAST: upaniṣad also spelled "Upanisad" are Hindu scriptures that constitute the core teachings The Upanishads ( Devanagari: उपनिषद् IAST: upaniṣad also spelled "Upanisad" are Hindu scriptures that constitute the core teachings The Aitareya Upanishad is one of the older "primary" Upanishads commented upon by Shankara. The Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upanishad ( Sanskrit: बृहदारण्यक उपनिषद् is one of the older "primary" ( Mukhya The Isha Upanishad ( īśa upaniṣad, otherwise Ishopanishad īśopaniṣad or īśāvāsya upaniṣad) is one of the shortest of the Upanishads The Taittiriya Upanishad is one of the older " primary " Upanishads commented upon by Shankara. The Chandogya Upanishad is one of the "primary" ( Mukhya) Upanishads Together with the Jaiminiya Upanishad Brahmana and the Brihadaranyaka The Kena Upanishad (kenopaniṣad is one of the older "primary" Upanishads commented upon by Shankara. The Muṇḍaka Upanishad is one of the older "primary" ( Mukhya) Upanishads commented upon by Shankara. Māndūkya Upanishad is the shortest Upanishads - the scriptures of Hindu Vedanta. The Kaṭha Upanishad is one of the older Mukhya "primary" Upanishads commented upon by Shankara. Prashna Upanishad ( IAST praṣnopaniṣad is one of the older "primary" Upanishads commented upon by Shankara. The Shvetashvatara Upanishad (Sanskrit Śvetāśvatara) (400 - 200 BCE is one of the older "primary" Upanishads It is associated with the Black The Vedanga ( vedāṅga, "member of the Veda" are six auxiliary disciplines for the understanding and tradition of the Vedas. See Shiksha (NGO for the Indian non-governmental organization The main principle of Vedic meter is measurement by the number of syllables The Sanskrit grammatical tradition of vyākaraṇa is one of the six Vedanga disciplines Nirukta ("explanation etymological interpretation" is one of the six {{IAST|Vedānga}} disciplines of Hinduism, treating Etymology, particularly Jyotiṣa ( Sanskrit jyotiṣa, from jyótis- "light heavenly body" also spelled Jyotish and Jyotisha in English Kalpa is one of the six disciplines of Vedanga, treating Ritual. Indian epic poetry is the Epic poetry written in the Indian subcontinent. The Rāmāyaṇa ( Devanāgarī: sa रामायण is an ancient Sanskrit epic attributed to the Hindu sage ( Maharishi) Valmiki The following is a bibliography of Hindu scriptures and texts. Smriti (Sanskrit स्मृति " that which is remembered " refers to a specific body of Hindu religious Scripture If you are looking for the singer see Shruti Haasan. For other meanings see Śruti (disambiguation. For other meanings see Purana (disambiguation. The Puranas ( Sanskrit: sa पुराण purāṇa, "of ancient times" Darśana ( Darshan, दर्शन is a Sanskrit term meaning "sight" (in the sense of an instance of seeing or beholding from a root Pāñcarātra are Vaishnavite devotional texts dedicated to a single deity Sriman Narayana who manifests in different forms Tantras (" Looms " or " Weavings " refers to numerous and varied scriptures pertaining to any of several esoteric traditions In Hinduism a Stotra is a hymn of praise These hymns praise aspects of the divine such as Devi, Siva, or Vishnu. Dharmaśāstra is a genre of Sanskrit texts and refers to the śāstra, or Indic branch of learning pertaining to Hindu Dharma, religious The Nalayira Divya Prabandha (or Nalayira Divya Prabhandham) is a collection of 4000 verses (Naalayira in Tamil means 'four thousand' composed before 8th century The Tevaram ( Tamil: தேவாரம் Teva means "God" aram means "garland") denotes the first seven volumes of the Śrī Rāmacaritamānas ( Devanāgarī: hi श्री राम चरित मानस ( Hindi / Avadhi) is an Epic poem composed by the The Shikshapatri ( Devanagari: शिक्षापत्री is a text of two hundred and twelve verses written in Sanskrit by Bhagwan Swaminarayan The Vachanamrut of Bhagwan Swaminarayan is the most sacred and foundational scripture of the Swaminarayan faith. Ananda Sutram is the basic scripture of modern Yoga composed in Sanskrit by Shrii Shrii Anandamurti (1921-1990 in the year 1961 For other meanings see Purana (disambiguation. The Puranas ( Sanskrit: sa पुराण purāṇa, "of ancient times" Presented as a dialogue between Parashara with his disciple Maitreya. Parāśara "crusher destroyer" is the name of several figures in Hindu tradition a son of Vasishtha, or a son of Shakti and Maitreya ( Sanskrit) or Metteyya ( Pāli) is a future Buddha of this world in Buddhist eschatology. It is divided into six parts. The major topics discussed include creation myths, stories of battles fought between Asuras and Devas, the avatars (incarnations) of Vishnu and genealogy and stories of legendary kings. In Hinduism In Hinduism, the Asura ( Sanskrit: असुर are a group of power-seeking deities sometimes referred to as Demons or sinful Deva (देव in Devanagari script pronounced as /'d̪evə/ is the Sanskrit word for "god Deity " Avatar or Avatara (अवतार IAST Avatāra) is often inaccurately translated into English as incarnation For other meanings see Vishnu (disambiguation. Vishnu ( IAST viṣṇu Devanagari विष्णु (honorific

It is said to contain some 23,000 shlokas, though the actual number of verses contained is less than seven thousand. A Sanskrit term shloka (श्लोक also spelt sloka specifically denotes a metered and often rhymed poetic verse or phrase All the copies, procured both in the east and in the west of India, agree; and there is no appearance of any part being wanting. There is a beginning, a middle, and an end, in both text and comment; and the work as it stands is incontestably entire. This is a discrepancy not easy to account for. ^[1]

Contents

The book starts with detailed stories of creation and introduces the concept of four yugas. A Yuga ( Devanāgari: युग in Hindu philosophy is the name of an 'epoch' or 'era' within a cycle of four ages The tale of Rudra, an elaborate story of the Samudra Manthana, or the churning of the ocean, the Story of Dhruva, an ardent devotee of Vishnu, and stories of ancient kings Vena and Prithu are also discussed in the first section. Hinduism, Samudra manthan ( Devanagari: समुद्र मंथन or The churning of the ocean of milk is one of the most famous episodes in the Dhruva, ध्रुव in Hindu Mythology, was an ardent young devotee of Vishnu a prince blessed to eternal existence and glory as the Pole Star ( Dhruva Nakshatra Other uses Vena is also a Russian name of Vienna city the nickname of 2S31 self-propelled 120 mm russian mortar/cannon and a record label According to Hindu mythology, Prithu ( Sanskrit: पृथु Pṛthu lit Tales of Prithu's descendants, the Prachetas, the famous story of Hiranyakashipu and Prahlada, some topological details of the known world with mentions of lands, tribes, mountains and rivers, concepts of the universe, and the stories of the many births of Jadabharata are the major topics discussed in the next book. Hiranyakashipu (or Hiranyakasipu) ( Sanskrit: हिरण्‍यकश्यप is an Asura from the Puranic scriptures of Hinduism Prahlada is a character from the Puranic texts of Hinduism, wherein he is famed for his exclusive devotion ( Bhakti) to Vishnu, despite attempts The story of Jadabharata is a story from Indian Mythology with deep insights into Indian Philosophy of the reality of the self The third section discusses the stories of Manvantara (cycles of creation and destruction), the sages Vyasa and Yajnavalkya, Surya (the sun god),Yama (the god of the dead), devotees Shatadhanu and Shaivya, the four classes (varnas) and the four stages of life(ashramas) and details of many rituals. Manvantara or Manuvantara, or age of a Manu. Each Manvantara is created and ruled by a specific Manu who in turn is created by Brahma, the Creator Vyāsa ( Devanāgarī: व्यास is a central and revered figure in the majority of Hindu traditions Sage Yajnavalkya ( याज्ञवल्क्य) of Mithila was a legendary sage of Vedic India, credited with the authorship of the In Hinduism, Surya ( Devanagari: सूर्य sūrya, lit "the Supreme Light" Malay: Suria; Thai: | Llama, the animal Yama ( Sanskrit: यम also known as Yamarāja (यमराज in India Yanluowang (閻羅王 or simply Yan Varna (sa वर्ण varṇa) is a Sanskrit term derived from the root meaning "to enclose" Ashrama redirects here See Ashram for the Hindu hermitages An Ashrama ( āśrama) in Hinduism is one of four stages The fourth section gives a detailed account of all the famous Kings from the solar and lunar dynasties of ancient India, and also lists the names of kings who 'would appear' in the age of Kali. Kali redirects here See Kali (disambiguation for other uses Not to be confused with Kali (demon, the personification of Kali Yuga The second list contains the name of historical kings of Magadha, including kings from the Shishunaga, Nanda and Maurya dynasties. Shishunaga (or Shusunaga (c413 - 395 BCE was the founder of the Shishunaga dynasty of the Magadha Empire in the present day northern India. NANDA (formerly the North American Nursing Diagnosis Association is a professional organization of Nurses to standardize Nursing Terminology that was The Maurya Empire ( 322 – 185 BCE) ruled by the Mauryan dynasty was a geographically extensive and powerful political and military The next section deals in details the different events in the life of Lord Krishna, starting from his birth, through his childhood and up to his death and the destruction of the entire Yadava clan. Krishna (कृष्ण in Devanagari kṛṣṇa in IAST, ˈkr̩ʂɳə in classical Sanskrit is a deity worshiped across many traditions of Hinduism The sixth and last section mainly discusses the impending age of Kali, the concepts of universal destruction that would eventually follow and explains the importance of the Puranas in general. For other meanings see Purana (disambiguation. The Puranas ( Sanskrit: sa पुराण purāṇa, "of ancient times"

The Vishnudharmottara Purana, a separate text dedicated to the arts, is a Supplement or Appendix to the Vishnu Purana. The Vishnudharmottara Purana (or simply the Vishnudharmottara) is a Hindu text dedicated to the arts

H. H. Wilson considers it one of the oldest of the Puranas, and dates it to the first century BCE,^[2] though Gavin Flood dates it later to the fourth century CE. Horace Hayman Wilson (London 26 September, 1786 – London 8 May, 1860) was an English orientalist. For other meanings see Purana (disambiguation. The Puranas ( Sanskrit: sa पुराण purāṇa, "of ancient times" ^[3]

Notes

References

• Flood, Gavin (1996). An Introduction to Hinduism. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-43878-0.  

• Wilson, H. Horace Hayman Wilson (London 26 September, 1786 – London 8 May, 1860) was an English orientalist. H. (2006). The Vishnu Purana: A System of Hindu Mythology and Tradition. Cambridge: Read Country Books. ISBN 1846646642.  

Further reading

• Mani, Vettam. Puranic Encyclopedia. 1st English ed. New Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1975.

External links

• Vishnu Purana translation by H.H. Wilson at sacred-texts
• Abridged Translation of the Vishnu Purana