Vishnu Purana — Creation, the Kings, and the Life of Krishna
The Vishnu Purana in H.H. Wilson’s classic translation — creation, the royal dynasties, and the life of Krishna, retold as an immersive reader.
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The Vishnu Purana in One Sitting
Book One (Aṃśa I): Creation and Cosmic Order
Prathama Aṃśa3 chapters
The Churning of the Ocean
Gods and demons together churn the ocean of milk, using Mount Mandara as their staff and the serpent Vasuki as their rope, to draw out the goddess Sri, the physician Dhanvantari, and the nectar of immortality.
Dhruva, the Steadfast Star
Slighted as a small boy, the prince Dhruva withdraws to the forest and performs such intense austerity that Vishnu grants him an unshakable place in the sky as the pole star, fixed while all other stars revolve around him.
Prahlada and the Man-Lion
The demon king Hiranyakashipu persecutes his own son Prahlada for his unshaken devotion to Vishnu, until the god bursts from a pillar as Narasimha, the man-lion, to destroy the tyrant and save the child.
Book Two (Aṃśa II): The Shape of the World
Dvitīya Aṃśa2 chapters
The Geography of the Worlds
Parashara maps the cosmos as the Puranas conceive it: the seven concentric island-continents ringed by seas, the great mountain Meru at the center, the nether regions below, and the seven upper worlds above.
Bharata and the Deer
The royal sage Bharata renounces his throne but grows so attached to an orphaned fawn that he is reborn as a deer, and then as a seemingly dull brahmin, teaching that even a single lingering attachment can bind the soul.
Book Three (Aṃśa III): Dharma and the Ages
Tṛtīya Aṃśa2 chapters
The Manus and the Vedas
Parashara describes the succession of Manus who preside over the vast ages of the world, and the arrangement of the Vedas by Vyasa into their branches so that sacred knowledge could be preserved and transmitted.
The Duties of the Four Ages
The text sets out the duties of the four orders of society and the four stages of life, and how right conduct sustains dharma across the four yugas as the world's virtue gradually declines from age to age.
Book Four (Aṃśa IV): The Line of Kings
Caturtha Aṃśa1 chapters
Book Five (Aṃśa V): The Life of Krishna
Pañcama Aṃśa3 chapters
The Birth of Krishna
To fulfil a prophecy that will end the tyrant Kamsa, Vishnu takes birth as Krishna in a prison in Mathura and is carried across the river Yamuna to the safety of the cowherds of Gokula.
Krishna and the Tyrant Kamsa
Growing up among the herdsmen, Krishna survives the demons Kamsa sends against him, and at last returns to Mathura to overthrow and slay the tyrant king, restoring the rightful ruler to the throne.
The Lifting of Govardhana
When Krishna persuades the cowherds to honour their hill and cattle instead of Indra, the offended god of rain sends a deluge, and Krishna lifts Mount Govardhana on one finger as an umbrella to shelter the people and their herds.
