{"collection":"Hinduism","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/hin/vp/vp029.htm","path":"hin/vp/vp029.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/hin/vp/vp029.htm","text":"The Vishnu Purana, translated by Horace Hayman Wilson, [1840]\nThe Fifth Book\nThe fifth book of the Vish\u0144u Pur\u00e1\u0144a is exclusively occupied with the life of Krish\u0144a. This is one of the distinguishing characteristics of the Pur\u00e1\u0144a, and is one argument against its antiquity. It is possible, though not yet proved, that Krish\u0144a as an Avat\u00e1ra of Vish\u0144u, is mentioned in an indisputably genuine text of the Vedas. He is conspicuously prominent in the Mah\u00e1bh\u00e1rata, but very contradictorily described there. The part that he usually performs is that of a mere mortal, although the passages\nare numerous that attach divinity to his person. There are, however, no descriptions in the Mah\u00e1bh\u00e1rata of his juvenile frolics, of his sports in Vrind\u00e1van, his pastimes with the cow-boys, or even his destruction of the Asuras sent to kill him. These stories have all a modern complexion: they do not harmonize with the tone of the ancient legends, which is generally grave, and sometimes majestic: they are the creations of a puerile taste, and grovelling imagination. These Chapters of the Vish\u0144u Pur\u00e1\u0144a offer some difficulties as to their originality: they are the same as those on the same subject in the Brahm\u00e1 Pur\u00e1\u0144a: they are not very dissimilar to those of the Bh\u00e1gavata. The latter has some incidents which the Vish\u0144u has not, and may therefore be thought to have improved upon the prior narrative of the latter. On the other hand, abridgment is equally a proof of posteriority as amplification. The simpler style of the Vish\u0144u Pur\u00e1\u0144a is however in favour of its priority; and the miscellaneous composition of the Brahm\u00e1 Pur\u00e1\u0144a renders it likely to have borrowed these chapters from the Vish\u0144u. The life of Krish\u0144a in the Hari-van\u015ba and the Brahma-vaivartta are indisputably of later date.","title":"The Vishnu Purana: Preface: The Fifth Book","type":"page"}