A PROSE ENGLISH TRANSLATION OF VISHNUPURĀNAM
Transcriber's Note
This book was transcribed from scans of the original found at the Internet Archive. The original text badly needed proofreading. It contained inconsistent spellings of names, misplaced punctuation, misspellings, inconsistent use of the macron (ā), improper nested quotations, and other problems. I have attempted to correct these where the author's intent was obvious. Manmatha Nath Dutt's translation is based on an earlier one by H. H. Wilson, available at sacred-texts.com. Where the wording or meaning of certain passages was unclear, either because of damage to the book or bad proofing, I have consulted the Wilson translation to make sure I got the meaning right.
There are two words in the text that may seem like one word inconsistently spelled but which are not: Brahma and Brahmā. The former refers to the impersonal form of Vishnu, and the latter is the demigod in charge of creation of the material universe.
The cover illustration makes use of art from the Met Museum, Krishna Govardhandhara, a miniature painting commissioned by Akbar (c.1590-95) Ink, opaque watercolor, and gold on paper.
A
PROSE ENGLISH TRANSLATION
OF
VISHNUPURĀNAM
(BASED ON PROFESSOR H. H. WILSON'S TRANSLATION.)