page_title: Vishnu Purana
section_title: Third aṃśa: time
hierarchical_section_title: Vishnu Purana / Contents / Third aṃśa: time
caption_attribution_description: Représentation de Krishna sur le mur d'enceinte du temple recouvert de carreaux de céramique
context_page_description: The Vishnu Purana is one of the eighteen Mahapuranas, a genre of ancient and medieval texts of Hinduism. It 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, Pratisarga, Vamśa, Manvañtara, and Vamśānucaritam. 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 1864 CE by HH Wilson, based on manuscripts then available, setting 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 avatars such as Krishna, but it praises Brahma and Shiva and asserts that they are one with Vishnu.
context_section_description: The initial chapters of the third book of the Vishnu Purana presents its theory of manvantaras, or Manus-ages (each equals about 4.3 million years). This is premised upon the Hindu belief that everything is cyclic, and even Yuga (era, ages) start, mature and then dissolve. Six manvantaras, states the text, have already passed, and the current age belong to the seventh. In each age, asserts the text, the Vedas are arranged into four, it is challenged, and this has happened twenty eight times already. Each time, a Veda-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, 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 (rites in honor of ancestors, faith) in chapters 2.13 through 2.16.
  The Vishnu Purana asserts that the Brahmin should study shastras, worship gods and perform libations on behalf of others, the Kshatriya should maintain arms and protect 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 or slay any human being or living being. Be diligent in the service of the gods, sages and guru, asserts the Purana, 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, claims the Vishnu Purana. Similar statements on ethical duties of man are found in other parts of Vishnu Purana.
  The text describes in chapter 2.9, 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 the legend of Vishnu, through Mayamoha, helping the Devas win over Asuras, by teaching the Asuras heretical doctrines that deny the Vedas, who declare their contempt for the Vedas, which makes them easy to identify and thereby defeat.
caption: The longest part of the Vishnu Purana is dedicated to the legend of Krishna (above).
exif: {"Image ImageWidth": "3672", "Image ImageLength": "4896", "Image BitsPerSample": "[8, 8, 8]", "Image PhotometricInterpretation": "2", "Image Make": "SONY", "Image Model": "DSC-HX200V", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image SamplesPerPixel": "3", "Image XResolution": "350", "Image YResolution": "350", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop Elements 12.0 Macintosh", "Image DateTime": "2014:04:07 16:39:39", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image PrintIM": "[80, 114, 105, 110, 116, 73, 77, 0, 48, 51, 48, 48, 0, 0, 2, 0, 2, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 1, 1, 1, 0, 0, 0]", "Image ExifOffset": "344", "GPS GPSVersionID": "[2, 3, 0, 0]", "GPS GPSLatitudeRef": "N", "GPS GPSLatitude": "[10, 5, 50519/1000]", "GPS GPSLongitudeRef": "E", "GPS GPSLongitude": "[77, 2, 6583/200]", "GPS GPSAltitudeRef": "0", "GPS GPSAltitude": "15077/10", "GPS GPSTimeStamp": "[6, 53, 4]", "GPS GPSStatus": "A", "GPS GPSMeasureMode": "3", "GPS GPSDOP": "139/100", "GPS GPSSpeedRef": "K", "GPS GPSSpeed": "333/125", "GPS GPSTrackRef": "T", "GPS GPSTrack": "12099/50", "GPS GPSImgDirectionRef": "M", "GPS GPSImgDirection": "417/2", "GPS GPSMapDatum": "WGS-84", "GPS GPSDate": "2014:03:25", "GPS GPSDifferential": "0", "Image GPSInfo": "1044", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "1514", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "6515", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/320", "EXIF FNumber": "4", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Portrait Mode", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "100", "EXIF SensitivityType": "Recommended Exposure Index", "EXIF RecommendedExposureIndex": "100", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0230", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2014:03:25 12:23:03", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2014:03:25 12:23:03", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "2", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "1040241/125000", "EXIF ApertureValue": "4", "EXIF BrightnessValue": "1269/160", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "4", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "241/20", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "869", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "1200", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "1012", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "1", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Portrait", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal", "EXIF LensSpecification": "[24/5, 144, 14/5, 28/5]"}