{"collection":"Hinduism","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/hin/vp/vp018.htm","path":"hin/vp/vp018.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/hin/vp/vp018.htm","text":"The Vishnu Purana, translated by Horace Hayman Wilson, [1840]\n14. The V\u00e1mana Pur\u00e1\u0144a\n14. V\u00e1mana Pur\u00e1\u0144a. \"That in which the four-faced Brahm\u00e1 taught the three objects of existence, as subservient to the account of the greatness of Trivikrama, which treats also of the \u015aiva Kalpa, and which consists of ten thousand stanzas, is called the V\u00e1mana Pur\u00e1\u0144a 74.\"\nThe V\u00e1mana Pur\u00e1\u0144a contains an account of the dwarf incarnation of Vish\u0144u; but it is related by Pulastya to N\u00e1rada, and extends to but about seven thousand stanzas. Its contents can scarcely establish its claim to the character of a Pur\u00e1\u0144a 75.\nThere is little or no order in the subjects which this work recapitulates, and which arise out of replies made by Pulastya to questions put abruptly and unconnectedly by N\u00e1rada. The greater part of them relate to the worship of the Linga; a rather strange topic for a Vaish\u0144ava Pur\u00e1\u0144a, but engrossing the principal part of the compilation. They are however subservient to the object of illustrating the sanctity of certain holy places; so that the V\u00e1mana Pur\u00e1\u0144a is little else than a succession of M\u00e1h\u00e1tmyas. Thus in the opening almost of the work occurs the story of Daksha's sacrifice, the object of which is to send \u015aiva to P\u00e1pamochana t\u00edrtha at Benares, where he is released from the sin of Brahmanicide. Next conies the story of the burning of K\u00e1madeva, for the purpose of illustrating the holiness of a \u015aiva-linga at Kedare\u015bwara in the Himalaya, and of Badarik\u00e1\u015brama. The larger part of the work consists of the Saro-m\u00e1h\u00e1tmya, or legendary exemplifications of the holiness of Sth\u00e1\u0144u t\u00edrtha; that is, of the sanctity of various Lingas and certain pools at Thanesar and Kurukhet, the country north-west from Delhi. There are some stories also relating to the holiness of the G\u00f3davar\u00ed river; but the general site of the legends is in Hindustan. In the course of these accounts we have a long narrative of the marriage of \u015aiva with Um\u00e1, and the birth of K\u00e1rtikeya. There are a few brief allusions to creation and the Manwantaras, but they are merely incidental; and all the five characteristics of a Pur\u00e1\u0144a are deficient. In noticing the Sw\u00e1rochisha Manwantara, towards the end of the book, the elevation of Bali as monarch of the Daityas, and his subjugation of the universe, the gods included, are described; and this leads to the narration that gives its title to the Pur\u00e1\u0144a, the birth of Krish\u0144a as a dwarf, for the purpose of humiliating Bali by fraud, as he was invincible by force. The story is told as usual, but the scene is laid at Kurukshetra.\nA more minute examination of this work than that which has been given to it might perhaps discover some hint from which to conjecture its date. It is of a more tolerant character than the Pur\u00e1\u0144as, and divides its homage between \u015aiva and Vish\u0144u with tolerable impartiality. It is not connected, therefore, with any sectarial principles, and may have preceded their introduction. It has not, however, the air of any antiquity,\nand its compilation may have amused the leisure of some Brahman of Benares three or four centuries ago.\nxlvii:75 From the extracts from the V\u00e1mana Pura translated by Col. Vans Kennedy, p. 293 et seq., it appears that his copy so far corresponds with mine, and the work is therefore probably the same: two copies in the Company's library also agree with mine.","title":"The Vishnu Purana: Preface: 14. The V\u00e1mana Pur&aac...","type":"page"}