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56-525: According to the Vishnu Purana , Shaunaka was the son of Gritsamada and invented the system of the four levels of human life. Sūta mahamuni narrated mythological stories to a group of sages headed by Shaunaka maha muni. Ṛgveda-Prātiśākhya is attributed to Shaunaka who taught it to others in a satra-yajna (a 12-day very large scale collective yajna) held in Naimisha according to Vishnumitra of Champa town,

112-442: A book by tying them together with a string. Such palm leaf texts typically had a lifespan of between a few decades and roughly 600 years before they started to rot due to moisture, insect activity, mould, and fragility. Thus the document had to be copied onto new sets of dried palm leaves. The oldest surviving palm leaf Indian manuscripts have been found in colder, drier climates such as in parts of Nepal , Tibet , and central Asia ,

168-435: A conversation between sage Maitreya and his Guru , Parashara , with the sage asking, "What Is The Nature Of This Universe And Everything That Is In It?" The first Amsha (part) of Vishnu Purana presents cosmology, dealing with the creation, maintenance and destruction of the universe. The mythology, states Rocher, is woven with the evolutionary theories of Samkhya school of Hindu philosophy . The Hindu god Vishnu

224-418: A primary medium of transcribing texts, including religious scriptures, and administrative and juridical records. The use of pesa dates back to 12th century Bagan , but the majority of existent pesa date to the 1700-1800s. Key historical sources, including Burmese chronicles , were first originally recorded using pesa . The Burmese word for "literature", sape (စာပေ) is derived from the word pesa. In

280-724: A sacred duty to rewrite Hindu texts . Many old manuscripts dated from ancient Java , Indonesia , were written on rontal palm-leaf manuscripts. Manuscripts dated from the 14th to 15th century during the Majapahit period. Some were found even earlier, like the Arjunawiwaha , the Smaradahana , the Nagarakretagama , and the Kakawin Sutasoma , which were discovered on the neighboring islands of Bali and Lombok . This suggested that

336-553: 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,

392-576: Is an important Pancharatra text in the Vaishnavism literature corpus. The manuscripts of Vishnu Purana have survived into the modern era in many versions. More than any other major Purana , the Vishnu Purana presents its contents in Pancalaksana format – Sarga ( cosmogony ), Pratisarga ( cosmology ), Vamsa ( genealogy of the gods and goddesses, sages and kings and queens), Manvantara (cosmic cycles), and Vamsanucarita (legends during

448-571: Is composed in metric verses or sloka , wherein each verse has exactly 32 syllables, of which 16 syllables in the verse may be free style per ancient literary standards. The Vishnu Purana is an exception in that it presents its contents in Vishnu worship-related Pancalaksana format – Sarga ( Cosmogony ), Pratisarga ( Cosmology ), Vamsa (Mythical genealogy of the gods, sages, and kings), Manvantara (Cosmic Cycles), and Vamsanucaritam (Legends During The Times Of Various Kings and Queens). This

504-577: Is from the 9th century, and dated to about 828 CE. The discovered palm-leaf collection also includes a few parts of another text, the Jñānārṇavamahātantra, currently held by the University of Cambridge. With the introduction of printing in the early 19th century, the cycle of copying from palm leaves mostly came to an end. Many governments are making efforts to preserve what is left of their palm-leaf documents. The round and cursive design of

560-484: Is presented as the central element of this text's cosmology, unlike some other Puranas where Shiva or Brahma or the Tridevi are offered prominence. The reverence and the worship of Vishnu is described in 22 chapters of the first part as the means for liberation, along with the profuse use of the synonymous names of Vishnu such as Hari , Janardana , Madhava, Achyuta, Hrishikesha and others. The chapters 1.16 through 1.20 of

616-418: Is rare, state Dimmitt and van Buitenen, because just 2% of the known Puranic literature corpus is about these five Pancalaksana items, and about 98% is about diverse range of encyclopedic topics. Who Is Vishnu? Out Of Vishnu This Universe Has Arisen, In Him Its Exists, He Is The One Who Governs Its Existence And Destruction, He Is The Universe. — Vishnu Purana , 1.14 Vishnu Purana opens as

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672-432: Is the shortest, with 8 chapters. The first part of the sixth book asserts that Kali Yuga 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 Yoga and meditation, as a means to Vishnu devotion. Contemplative devotion, asserts

728-512: The Kama Sutra . Some of the early discoveries of Odia palm leaf manuscripts include writings like Smaradipika , Ratimanjari , Pancasayaka, and Anangaranga in both Odia and Sanskrit . The State Museum of Odisha at Bhubaneswar houses 40,000 palm leaf manuscripts. Most of them are written in the Odia script, though the language is Sanskrit. The oldest manuscript here belongs to the 14th century but

784-714: The Dharmasutra 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 Advaita Vedanta and Yoga influences. The theistic Vedanta scholar Ramanuja , according to Sucharita Adluri, incorporated ideas from

840-680: The Palmyra or talipot palm . Their use continued until the 19th century when printing presses replaced hand-written manuscripts. One of the oldest surviving palm leaf manuscripts of a complete treatise is a Sanskrit Shaivism text from the 9th century, discovered in Nepal , and now preserved at the Cambridge University Library . The Spitzer Manuscript is a collection of palm leaf fragments found in Kizil Caves , China. They are dated to about

896-597: The Philippines , these nations also became home to large collections. Palm-leaf manuscripts called Lontar in dedicated stone libraries have been discovered by archaeologists at Hindu temples in Bali (Indonesia) and in 10th century Cambodian temples such as Angkor Wat and Banteay Srei . One of the oldest surviving Sanskrit manuscripts on palm leaves is of the Parameshvaratantra , a Shaiva Siddhanta text of Hinduism . It

952-561: The Sun and the Moon . Four Chapters (2.13 to 2.16) of the second book of the text present the legends of King Bharata , who abdicates his throne to lead the life of a Sannyasi , which is similar to the legends found in section 5.7 to 5.14 of the Bhagavata Purana . The geography of Mount Mandara is east of Mount Meru, presented in this book and other Puranas, states Stella Kramrisch, may be related to

1008-483: The Tamil Heritage Foundation collects, preserves, digitizes, and makes ancient palm-leaf manuscript documents available to users via the internet. In Indonesia, the palm-leaf manuscript is called lontar . The Indonesian word is the modern form of Old Javanese rontal . It is composed of two Old Javanese words, namely ron "leaf" and tal " Borassus flabellifer , palmyra palm". Due to

1064-820: The Vishnu Purana to identify the Brahman concept in the Upanishads with Vishnu, thus providing a Vedic foundation to the Sri Vaishnava tradition. Palm-leaf manuscript Palm-leaf manuscripts are manuscripts made out of dried palm leaves . Palm leaves were used as writing materials in the Indian subcontinent and in Southeast Asia dating back to the 5th century BCE. Their use began in South Asia and spread to other regions, as texts on dried and smoke-treated palm leaves of

1120-468: The Vishnu Purana presents the legend of compassionate and Vishnu devotee Prahlada and his persecution by his demon king father Hiranyakashipu , wherein Prahlada is ultimately saved by Vishnu when Vishnu as Narasimha disimbowels and kills Hiranyakashipu. This story is also found in other Puranas. Vishnu is described in the first book of Vishnu Purana as, translates Wilson, all elements, all matter in

1176-504: The Yugas (eras), with Parikshita is a current king. The text includes the legends of numerous characters such as Shaubhri, Mandhatri , Narmada , Kapila , Rama , Nimi , Janaka , Satyavati , Puru , Yadu , Krishna , Devaka, Pandu , Kuru , Bharata , Bhishma , and others. The fifth book of the Vishnu Purana is the longest, with 38 chapters. It is dedicated to the legend of Krishna, an incarnation of Vishnu. The book begins with

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1232-508: The 17th century, decorated palm leaf manuscripts called kammavācā or kammawasa (ကမ္မဝါစာ) emerged. The earliest such manuscript dates to 1683. These decorated manuscripts include ornamental motifs and are inscribed with ink on lacquered palm leaves gilded with gold leaf. Kammavaca manuscripts are written using a tamarind-seed typeface similar to the style used in Burmese stone inscriptions. Palm-leaf manuscripts continued to be produced in

1288-401: The 2nd century CE and related to Buddhist hybrid Sanskrit. The text in palm leaf manuscripts was inscribed with a knife pen on rectangular cut and cured palm leaf sheets; colourings were then applied to the surface and wiped off, leaving the ink in the incised grooves. Typically, each sheet had a hole through which a string could pass, and using these holes, the sheets were bound together like

1344-554: The British India colonial era, some in the 19th century. The scholarship on Vishnu Purana , and other Puranas, has suffered from cases of forgeries, states Ludo Rocher , where liberties in the transmission of Puranas were normal and those who copied older manuscripts replaced words or added new content to fit the theory that the colonial scholars were keen on publishing. The extant text comprises six amsas (parts) and 126 adhyayas (chapters). The first part has 22 chapters,

1400-682: The Legend Of Vishnu, through Mayamoha , helping the Devas and Devis win over Asuras and Asuris by teaching the Asuras and Asuris heretical doctrines that deny the Vedas, who declare their contempt for the Vedas, which makes them easy to identify and all are killed. The fourth book of the text, in 24 long chapters, presents royal dynasties, starting with Brahma and Sarasvati, followed by solar and lunar , fire and snake dynasties, then those on earth over

1456-412: 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. Many of the extant manuscripts were written on palm leaf or copied during

1512-528: The Sanskrit edition. It is: The Critical Edition of the Visnupuranam , edited by M. M. Pathak, 2 vols., Vadodara: Oriental Institute , 1997, 1999. All scholars citing translations of Sanskrit texts are expected to refer to the Sanskrit original, because translations are inexact. From 1999 onward, anyone citing the Vishnu Purana will be expected to refer to this Sanskrit critical edition. A translation of

1568-426: The commentator of Uvaṭa 's commentary of Ṛgveda-Prātiśākhya The Ṛgvidhāna, a Vidhāna text on the use of Rigvedic mantras, is also attributed to Shaunaka. Shaunaka had a prominent role in the epic Mahābhārata . The epic Mahābhārata was narrated to Shaunaka by a storyteller named Ugrasrava Sauti during a conclave of sages headed by Shaunaka in a forest named Naimisha. Shaunaka also consoled Yudhishthira on

1624-454: The country of Bharata ) along with its numerous rivers and diverse people . The seven continents are named Jambu , Plaksha , Salmala , Kusha , Krauncha , Saka, and Pushkara , each surrounded by different types of oceans ( saltwater , freshwater , wine , sugarcane juice , ghrita , yogurt , and milk ). This part of the Vishnu Purana describes spheres above the Earth , Planets ,

1680-785: The country well into the 20th century. The Universities' Central Library in Yangon houses the country's largest collection of traditional manuscripts, including 15,000 pesa . In February 2013, the Pali Text Society , Sendai University , and the University of Toronto , along with local partners, began an ongoing initiative to digitise and catalogue Myanmar's palm-leaf manuscripts, including collections from U Pho Thi Library in Thaton , and Bagaya Monastery in Inwa. The digitised manuscripts are available at

1736-518: The critical edition was published in 2021 under the title, The Vishnu Purana: Ancient Annals of the God with Lotus Eyes. 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

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1792-407: The current age belong to the seventh. In each age, asserts the text, the Vedas are arranged into four, it is changed, and this has happened twenty eight times already. Each time, a Vyasa appears and he diligently organizes the eternal knowledge, with the aid of his students. After presenting the emergence of Vedic schools, the text presents the ethical duties of the four Varnas in chapter 2.8,

1848-560: The earth, the Vaishya should engage in commerce and farming, while the Shudra should subsist by profits of trade, service other varnas and through mechanical labor. The text asserts the ethical duties of all Varnas 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 and kill anyone wrongfully. Be diligent in

1904-406: The form of treated palm leaves. Hindu temples often served as centers where ancient manuscripts were routinely used for learning and where the texts were copied when they wore out. In South India, temples and associated mutts served custodial functions, and a large number of manuscripts on Hindu philosophy , poetry , grammar , and other subjects were written, multiplied, and preserved inside

1960-557: The four Ashrama (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 Shraddha (Ancestral rites) in chapters 2.13 through 2.16. The Vishnu Purana asserts that the Brahmana should study the Shastras , worship deities and perform libations on behalf of others, the Kshatriya should maintain arms and protect

2016-442: The four stages of life as Brahmacharya (Student), Grihastha (Householder), Vanaprastha (Retirement) and Sannyasa (Renunciation, Mendicant). 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

2072-512: The ideas in it, like other Puranas, are premised on the Vedic beliefs and ideas. Vishnu Purana , like all major Puranas, attributes its author to be sage Vyasa . The actual author(s) and date of its composition are unknown and contested. Estimates of its composition range from 400 CE to 900 CE. The text was likely composed and rewritten in layers over a period of time, with roots possibly in ancient 1st-millennium BCE texts that have not survived into

2128-453: The latter abridged the version in former, or both depended on the Harivamsa estimated to have been composed sometime in the 1st millennium CE. Soul and Prakriti This soul is of its own nature, pure, composed of happiness and wisdom. The properties of pain, ignorance and impurity, are those of Prakriti , not of soul. — Vishnu Purana , 6.7 The last book of the Vishnu Purana

2184-555: The letters of many Brahmic scripts such as Devanagari , Nandinagari , Kannada , Telugu , Lontara , Javanese , Balinese , Odia , Burmese , Tamil , Khmer , and so forth, may be an adaptation to the use of palm leaves, as angular letters could tear the leaves apart. Palm-leaf manuscripts or sleuk rith as they are known in the Khmer language , can be found in Cambodia since Angkorian times as can be seen from at least one bas-relief on

2240-562: The modern era. The Padma Purana categorizes Vishnu Purana as a Sattva Purana (Purana that represents goodness and purity). 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: 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

2296-428: The nature of suffering after the latter was exiled. This Hinduism-related article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Vishnu Purana Divisions Sama vedic Yajur vedic Atharva vedic Vaishnava puranas Shaiva puranas Shakta puranas The Vishnu Purana is one of the eighteen Mahapuranas , a genre of ancient and medieval texts of Hinduism . It

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2352-447: The presumptions and premises about what Puranas may have been. The Vishnu Purana is among the shorter Purana texts, with about 7,000 verses in extant versions. It primarily centers around the Hindu god Vishnu and his avataras such as Rama and Krishna , but it praises Brahma and Shiva and says that they are dependent on Vishnu. The Purana, states Wilson, is pantheistic and

2408-412: The second part consists 16 chapters, the third part comprises 18 chapters and the fourth part has 24 chapters. The fifth and the sixth parts are the longest and the shortest part of the text, comprising 38 and 8 chapters respectively. The textual tradition claims that the original Vishnu Purana had 23,000 verses, but the surviving manuscripts have just a third of these, about 7,000 verses. The text

2464-450: The service of the deities, sages and gurus , asserts the Purana, and 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 and Lakshmi, says the Vishnu Purana . Similar statements on ethical things of people are found in other parts of Vishnu Purana. The text describes in chapter 2.9,

2520-460: The shape of the Palmyra palm's leaves, which are spread like a fan, these trees are also known as "fan trees". The leaves of the rontal tree have always been used for many purposes, such as for the making of plaited mats, palm sugar wrappers, water scoops, ornaments, ritual tools, and writing material. Today, the art of writing in rontal still survives in Bali , performed by Balinese Brahmin as

2576-518: The source of 1st-millennium CE manuscripts. The individual sheets of palm leaves were called Patra or Parna in Sanskrit (Pali/Prakrit: Panna ), and the medium when ready to write was called Tada-patra (or Tala-patra , Tali , Tadi ). The famous 5th-century CE Indian manuscript called the Bower Manuscript discovered in Chinese Turkestan , was written on birch-bark sheets shaped in

2632-533: The story of Krishna's birth, his childhood pranks and plays, his exploits, and killing the demon-tyrant king of Mathura , named Kamsa . The Krishna story in the Vishnu Purana is similar to his legend in the Bhagavata Purana , in several other Puranas and the Harivamsa of the Mahabharata . Scholars have long debated whether the Bhagavata Purana expanded the Krishna Legend in the Vishnu Purana , or whether

2688-483: The temples. Archaeological and epigraphical evidence indicates the existence of libraries called Sarasvati-bhandara , dated possibly to the early 12th century and employing librarians, attached to Hindu temples. Palm-leaf manuscripts were also preserved inside Jain temples and in Buddhist monasteries. With the spread of Indian culture to Southeast Asian countries like as Indonesia , Cambodia , Thailand , Laos , and

2744-589: The text asserts itself to be an "imperishable Vaishnava Purana". A Critical Edition of the Sanskrit text of the Visnu-purana was published in two large volumes, 1997 and 1999. A critical edition is prepared by comparing a number of different manuscripts , recording their variant readings in notes, and choosing the best readings to constitute the text of the critical edition. This is a real , large-scale critical edition, in which 43 Sanskrit manuscripts were gathered and collated, and 27 were chosen from which to prepare

2800-608: The text can be dated to the 2nd century. In 1997 The United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation ( UNESCO ) recognised the Tamil Medical Manuscript Collection as part of the Memory of the World Register . A very good example of the usage of palm leaf manuscripts to store history is a Tamil grammar book named Tolkāppiyam , written around the 3rd century BCE. A global digitalization project led by

2856-410: The text, is the union with the Brahman (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 Yamas , five Niyamas , Pranayama and Pratyahara . The pure and perfect soul is called Vishnu, states the text, and absorption in Vishnu is liberation. The final chapter 6.8 of

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2912-453: The times of various kings and queens). Some manuscripts of the text are notable for not including sections found in other major Puranas, such as those on Mahatmyas and tour guides on pilgrimage, but some versions include chapters on temples and travel guides to sacred pilgrimage sites. The text is also notable as the earliest Purana to have been translated and published in 1840 CE by HH Wilson , based on manuscripts then available, setting

2968-586: The tradition of preserving, copying, and rewriting palm-leaf manuscripts continued for centuries. Other palm-leaf manuscripts include Sundanese language works: the Carita Parahyangan , the Sanghyang Siksakandang Karesian , and the Bujangga Manik . In Myanmar, the palm-leaf manuscript is called pesa (ပေစာ). In the pre-colonial era, along with folding-book manuscripts , pesa was

3024-616: The walls of Angkor Wat . While they were of major importance until the 20th century, French archeologist Olivier de Bernon estimated that about 90% of all the sleuk rith were lost in the turmoil of the Cambodian Civil War while new supports such as codex books or digital media took over. Since then, conservation efforts have been made in pagodas such as at Wat Ounalom in Phnom Penh. Palm leaf manuscripts of Odisha include scriptures, pictures of Devadasi , and various mudras of

3080-417: The word Mandiram ( Hindu Temple ) and the reason of its Design, Image, Aim and Destination. The initial chapters of the third book of the Vishnu Purana presents its theory of Manvantaras , (each 306.72 Million Years Long ). This is premised upon the Hindu belief that everything is Cyclic, and even Yugas (Eras) start, complete and then end. Six manvantaras, states the text, have already passed, and

3136-444: The world, the entire universe, all living beings, as well as Atman (Inner Self, essence) within every living being, nature, intellect, ego, mind, senses, ignorance, wisdom, the four Vedas, all that is and all that is not. The second part of the text describes the story of earth , the seven continents and seven oceans . It describes Mount Meru , Mount Mandara and other major mountains , as well as Bharatavarsha (Literally,

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