The Viṣṇu Purāṇa ANCIENT ANNALS OF THE GOD WITH LOTUS EYES The Viṣṇu Purāṇa ANCIENT ANNALS OF THE GOD WITH LOTUS EYES Translated from the Sanskrit by McComas Taylor For my grandchildren Published by ANU Press The Australian National University Acton ACT 2601, Australia Email: [email protected] Available to download for free at press.anu.edu.au ISBN (print): 9781760464400 ISBN (online): 9781760464417 WorldCat (print): 1247155624 WorldCat (online): 1247154847 DOI: 10.22459/VP.2021 This title is published under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial- NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0). The full licence terms are available at creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/legalcode Cover design and layout by ANU Press Cover image: Vishnu Reclining on Ananta. From Sage Markandeya’s Ashram and the Milky Ocean, c. 1780–1790. Mehrangarh Museum Trust. This edition © 2021 ANU Press Contents Preface xi Acknowledgements xiii Glossary xv Introduction 1 The purāṇas 1 The Viṣṇu Purāṇa 3 Problems with dating 4 Authorship 6 The audience 6 Relationship to other texts 7 The nature of Viṣṇu 10 Viṣṇu and Kṛṣṇa 12 The other avatāras 13 The purāṇic thought-world 14 Divine and semi-divine beings 18 Elements of the Viṣṇu Purāṇa 21 The six books 25 The Sanskrit text 32 Other translations 33 About this translation 34 References 38 Book One: Creation 43 1. Maitreya asks Parāśara about the world 43 2. Parāśara praises Viṣṇu; Creation 45 3. The divisions of time 50 4. Brahmā creates the world anew 52 5. Brahmā creates living beings 57 6. Human society 62 7. The first patriarchs 65 8. The eight forms of Rudra 68 9. The sage Durvāsas curses Indra; Churning of the ocean 71 10. Descendants of the first patriarchs and Dakṣa’s daughters 82 11. The birth of Dhruva 83 12. The trials of Dhruva 88 13. Dhruva’s descendants 96 14. Pṛthu’s descendants 103 15. The Pracetases, Māriṣā, the Ādityas and Prahlāda 107 16. Maitreya asks about Prahlāda 119 17. Prahlāda instructs the Daitya boys 120 18. Prahlāda instructs his gurus 128 19. Prahlāda’s torments continue 131 20. Prahlāda achieves liberation 138 21. Kaśyapa’s descendants and the origin of the Maruts 141 22. Brahmā appoints sovereigns; Nature of the Absolute 144 Book Two: The World 151 1. Priyavrata distributes the continents 151 2. Jambūdvīpa, ‘Land of the Rose-Apple Tree’ 154 3. The land of Bhārata 158 4. Plakṣadvīpa and the other continents 160 5. The lower realms; The serpent Śeṣa 167 6. The hell realms 169 7. The upper spheres; The power of Viṣṇu 173 8. The movement of the sun; Time; The heavenly paths 176 9. The source of rain 185 10. The carriage of the sun 187 11. The sun’s energy 188 12. The moon and planets 190 13. ‘Foolish’ Bharata 194 14. Bharata teaches the highest goal 201 15. Ṛbhu’s discourse on the highest truth 203 16. Ṛbhu’s discourse continues 206 Book Three: Society 209 1. The past and present Manvantaras 209 2. The future Manvantaras 212 3. The Vyāsas arrange the Vedas; The syllable Oṃ 216 4. The origin of the four Vedas 218 5. The branches of the Yajur Veda 220 6. The branches of the Sāma and Atharva Vedas; The purāṇas 223 7. How to escape death: Yama’s song 225 8. The four communities 229 9. The four stages of life 232 10. Birth and marriage 234 11. Rituals of the householder 236 12. The conduct of the wise 246 13. Rituals relating to birth and death 250 14. The śrāddha ritual for the ancestral spirits 253 15. Conducting a śrāddha 255 16. Śrāddha offerings 260 17. The protection afforded by the Vedas; Viṣṇu’s phantom 262 18. The phantom confounds the demigods 265 Book Four: The Royal Dynasties 275 1. The Solar Dynasty: The lineage of Manu 275 2. Manu’s sons Dhṛṣta, Nābhāga and Ikṣvāku 279 3. The descendants of Ambarīṣa 287 4. Sagara’s sons excavate the ocean; The story of Rāma 289 5. The legend of Nimi: Why we blink 294 6. The Lunar Dynasty 296 7. King Jahnu drinks the Gaṅgā dry 300 8. The descendants of Purūravas’s son Āyus 302 9. Āyus’s son Raji usurps Indra 303 10. Āyus’s grandson Yayāti exchanges old age for youth 304 11. Yayāti’s son Yadu 306 12. Yadu’s descendant Jyāmagha rescues a princess 307 13. Kṛṣṇa and the Syamantaka jewel 309 14. The ancestry of Kṛṣṇa’s father, Vasudeva, and his nemesis, Śiśupāla 317 15. Hiraṇyakaśipu, Rāvaṇa and Śiśupāla 319 16. Yayāti’s son Turvasu 321 17. Yayāti’s son Druhyu 322 18. Yayāti’s son Anu 322 19. Yayāti’s son Puru 323 20. The lineages of the Kauravas and Pāṇḍavas 325 21. The future descendants of Parīkṣit 327 22. The future descendants of Bṛhadbala 328 23. The future descendants of Bṛhadratha 329 24. Future kings; The age of Kali 329 Book Five: Kṛṣṇa 337 1. The union of Vasudeva and Devakī 337 2. The deities praise Devakī 344 3. The advent of Kṛṣṇa 345 4. Kaṃsa plots to kill Kṛṣṇa 348 5. Kṛṣṇa slays Pūtanā 349 6. Kṛṣna’s childhood 351 7. Kṛṣṇa subdues the serpent Kāliya 354 8. Balarāma defeats Dhenuka the Donkey-Demon 361 9. Balarāma destroys Pralamba the Cowherd-Demon 362 10. Autumn in the cattle camp 365 11. Kṛṣṇa raises Mount Govardhana 368 12. Indra praises Kṛṣṇa 370 13. Kṛṣṇa delights the herding women 372 14. Kṛṣṇa slays Ariṣṭa the Bull-Demon 376 15. Kaṃsa sends Akrūra to the cattle camp 377 16. Kṛṣṇa slays Keśin the Horse-Demon 379 17. Akrūra arrives at the cattle camp 381 18. Kṛṣṇa sets out for Mathurā 384 19. Kṛṣṇa slays the washerman and blesses the garland-maker 388 20. Kṛṣṇa in Mathurā; The wrestling bout; Kaṃsa’s demise 390 21. Ugrasena is reinstated 397 22. Kṛṣṇa battles Jarāsandha 399 23. Kṛṣṇa leads the Yādavas to Dvārakā 401 24. Balarāma returns to the cattle camp 404 25. Balarāma diverts the Yamunā River 406 26. Kṛṣṇa abducts Rukmiṇī 407 27. Kṛṣṇa’s son Pradyumna is taken by a demon 408 28. Pradyumna’s son Aniruddha; Balarāma slays Rukmin 411 29. Kṛṣṇa slays the demon Naraka and retrieves Aditi’s earrings 413 30. Aditi praises Kṛṣṇa 415 31. Kṛṣṇa plants the Pārijāta tree in Dvārakā 421 32. Uṣā dreams of Aniruddha 422 33. Aniruddha is bound by Bāṇa and freed by Kṛṣṇa 424 34. Kṛṣṇa burns Vārāṇasī 428 35. Balarāma threatens Hastināpura 431 36. Balarāma defeats the giant monkey Dvivida 434 37. The destruction of the Yādavas 436 38. Arjuna leads the women from Dvārakā 441 Book Six: Dissolution 449 1. The decline of virtue in the age of Kali 449 2. Vyāsa reveals the single virtue of the Kali age 453 3. The causal dissolution at the end of every aeon 456 4. The elemental dissolution 459 5. The final dissolution and the nature of suffering 463 6. Khāṇḍikya and his cousin Keśidhvaja 469 7. Keśidhvaja instructs Khāṇḍikya in yoga 473 8. The benefits of listening to theViṣṇu Purāṇa 481 Appendix 487 Selective index 491 Preface Viṣṇu is a central deity in the Hindu pantheon, especially in his manifestation as the seductive cattleherding youth, Kṛṣṇa. The purāṇas are a genre of sacred texts, which, as the Sanskrit name implies, are collections of narratives from ‘long ago’. The Viṣṇu Purāṇa is thus an ancient account of the universe and a guide to life, which places Viṣṇu–Kṛṣṇa at the centre of creation, theology and reality itself. This text, composed about 1,500 years ago, provides a comprehensive and accessible introduction to the most important themes and narratives that constitute the Hindu imagination: the cyclical creation and destruction of the universe, the origin of gods and mortals, the peopling of the world and the structure and conduct of ideal brahminical society. The Viṣṇu Purāṇa describes the trials of exemplary devotees, the existential struggles between gods and demons and the exploits of legendary cultural heroes. It also contains many ecstatic songs of praise for the deity. The ever- popular accounts of Kṛṣṇa’s love games with the cattle-herding girls of Vṛṇdāvana—which have proliferated in literature, dance, song and visual arts over the millennia—are found here in authoritative form. This introduction provides background information to help non-specialist readers understand, appreciate and, most importantly, enjoy the Viṣṇu Purāṇa. It begins by describing the purāṇas as a genre, noting the difficulty of assigning specific dates and authors to individual texts. This is followed by an outline of the relationship between the Viṣṇu Purāṇa and other master texts of the Sanskritic archive. I then outline the theology of the Viṣṇu Purāṇa, describing the place of the deity in the Hindu pantheon, along with his avatāras—his physical manifestations who have ‘crossed down’ into the world—including Kṛṣṇa. xi THe VIṣṇU PurāṇA To assist readers in navigating the purāṇic thought-world, the various classes of divine, semi-divine and mortal beings that inhabit these accounts are described. I will briefly discuss the different elements that make up the text, beginning with the overall framing narrative, the verse and prose sections, the embedded subnarratives, the extensive genealogical lists and the all-important songs of praise. The Viṣṇu Purāṇa is divided into six parts (aṃśa) or books, which I have labelled for convenience: ‘Creation’, ‘The World’, ‘Society’, ‘The Dynasties’, ‘Kṛṣṇa’ and ‘Dissolution’. each book is summarised to provide the reader with a convenient overview of the entire work. I conclude this introduction with a few notes on the various Sanskrit versions of the Viṣṇu Purāṇa, earlier translations and an explanation of how I approached some of the dilemmas faced by every translator, especially those working with Sanskrit texts.