Viṣṇu Purāṇa (book)

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The Viṣṇu Purāṇa (also Vishnu Purana) is one of the eighteen Mahapuranas, a genre of ancient and medieval texts of Hinduism. The contents of the book are i) cosmogony (sarga), ii) cosmology (pratisarga), iii) mythical genealogy of the gods, sages and kings (vamśa), iv) cosmic cycles (manvantara), and v) legends during the times of various kings (vamśānucaritam).

The Vishnu Purana is among the shorter Purana texts, with about 7,000 verses in extant versions. Like all major Puranas, it attributes its author to be sage Veda Vyasa. The actual author(s) and date of its composition are unknown and contested. Estimates range of its composition range from 1st millennium BCE to early 2nd-millennium CE.

The Vishnu Purana 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.

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