Vishṇu Purāṇa Pañcamāṃśa and Shashṭhāṃśa

The Pañcamāṃśa is the fifth portion of the Vishṇu Mahā Purāṇa. It has 38 chapters, and all of them are about the Kṛshṇa avatāra, from the reasons for the descent of Bhagavān Vishṇu to his departure from the world. The Shashṭhāṃśa is the sixth and last portion. It has eight chapters and Parāśara Maharshi tells it to Maitreya. It deals with the signs of Kali Yuga, the three kinds of pralaya (dissolution), the nature of moksha, and the long narrative of Keśidhvaja and Khāṇḍikya, and it ends with praise of the Purāṇa. Both portions are given here chapter by chapter.

Pañcamāṃśa: the Kṛshṇa avatāra

The Pañcamāṃśa opens with the prayer of Bhūmādevī to Brahmā and Bhagavān Vishṇu, the descent of Yogamāyā, and the wonderful birth of Bhagavān Kṛshṇa in Devakī’s prison chamber. It follows the whole life of Kṛshṇa:

• the childhood and youth līlās (divine plays) in Gokula and Bṛndāvana
• the move to Mathurā and the killing of Kaṃsa
• his schooling and his career as a warrior
• the building of Dvārakā
• the great battles with Jarāsandha and Kālayavana
• the marriage of Rukmiṇī
• the killing of Narakāsura
• the household and royal events at Dvārakā
• the war with Bāṇāsura
• the destruction of the Yādavas by one another at Prabhāsa
• the final merging of Bhagavān Kṛshṇa into his own supreme tattva (reality)

The last chapter tells what followed Kṛshṇa’s departure: Arjuna loses his divine power, the queens enter the fire, Dvārakā is submerged, and Parīkshit is crowned. The Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa tells the same life in its 10th and 11th Skandhas.

Chapter 1: కృష్ణావతార ప్రసంగము (Kṛshṇāvatāra Prasaṅgamu)

Bhūmādevī prays to Brahmā and Bhagavān Vishṇu. Kaṃsa imprisons Devakī and Vasudeva. The ākāśavāṇī (voice from the sky) gives its śāpa (a curse). The earth petitions, and Brahmā and Bhagavān Vishṇu speak together. Bhagavān Vishṇu resolves to descend.

Chapter 2: దేవకృత విష్ణుమాయా స్మృతి (Yogamāyā’s commands)

Bhagavān Vishṇu commands Yogamāyā. The unborn Balarāma is moved from Devakī’s womb to the womb of Rohiṇī. The devas honour Devakī’s divine pregnancy with a stotra (hymn of praise).

Chapter 3: కృష్ణావతారము (Kṛshṇa’s birth)

Bhagavān Kṛshṇa is born in four-armed form in Devakī’s prison. Vasudeva crosses the flooded Yamunā under the protection of Ādiśesha. The infants are exchanged with Yaśodā’s child. Yogamāyā speaks to Kaṃsa. Devakī and Vasudeva are freed.

Chapter 4: కంస దురాలోచానము (Kaṃsa’s evil planning)

Kaṃsa acts in desperation after Yogamāyā’s words. He sends asura agents to kill all the powerful children of the land.

Chapter 5: కృష్ణుడు మధురా నగర మేగుట (Childhood līlās and Pūtanā)

Pūtanā is sent to Gokula in disguise. Kṛshṇa drinks her life-force, and Pūtanā falls dead. Nanda performs a protective mantra-kavaca over Kṛshṇa, calling on Matsya, Varāha, Narasiṃha, Vāmana, Govinda, Keśava and Nārāyaṇa.

Chapter 6: బలరామకృష్ణ లీలా విహారము (Childhood episodes)

Śakaṭāsura is overturned. Garga Muni secretly gives the names Rāma and Kṛshṇa. In the Dāmodara episode Kṛshṇa is tied to the mortar and pulls up the twin arjuna trees. The community moves to Bṛndāvana. The chapter has lyrical descriptions of the seasons, with teaching on the Self. At the age of seven Kṛshṇa and Balarāma become gopālas (cattle-herders).

Chapter 7: కాలియ మర్దనము (Kāliya Mardana)

Kṛshṇa dives into the Yamunā. Balarāma teaches the distressed gopas who Kṛshṇa truly is. Kṛshṇa dances on the hoods of Kāliya. Kāliya’s wives offer a stotra. Kāliya is sent to the ocean, with the marks of Kṛshṇa’s feet on him as protection from Garuḍa.

Chapter 8: ధేనుకాసుర వధ (Dhenukāsura Vadha)

Dhenukāsura, the donkey asura, lives in Tālavana. Balarāma seizes him by the hind legs and hurls him into the palm trees.

Chapter 9: ప్రబలంబాసుర వధ (Pralambāsura Vadha)

Pralambāsura takes the form of a gopāla boy. In a game of carrying each other he carries Balarāma into the sky. Balarāma kills him with his fist. Kṛshṇa reminds the amazed gopas that Balarāma is truly Ādiśesha, the cosmic serpent.

Chapter 10: గోవర్ధనగిరి యజ్ఞము (Govardhana Pūjā)

Kṛshṇa argues against the yāga (fire rite) to Indra. He teaches the four vidyās (fields of knowledge) as the true foundations of the gopas‘ life: anvīkshikī (logical inquiry), trayī (the three Vedas), vārtā (farming and trade) and daṇḍanīti (statecraft). The Govardhana pūjā is set up.

Chapter 11: గోవర్ధనోద్ధరణము (Lifting of Govardhana)

Indra is furious. The Sāṃvartaka clouds come. Kṛshṇa lifts Govardhana on one finger for seven nights and shelters all of Gokula.

Chapter 12: గోవింద పట్టాభిషేకము (Govinda coronation)

Indra comes down on Airāvata and bathes Kṛshṇa with water from the Pāñcajanya conch. Indra formally gives him the name Govinda. Through Vāyu he gives Kṛshṇa the Sudharmā Sabhā. The chapter says that Arjuna is the aṃśa (portion) of Indra himself.

Chapter 13: రాసక్రీడ పూర్వ రంగము (Rāsa preliminaries)

The gopikās long for Kṛshṇa. He plays the veṇu (flute). The description of the music includes the saptasvaras (the seven musical notes) and their cosmic meaning. The gopikās leave their homes and follow the sound through the forest, tracking Kṛshṇa’s footprints.

Chapter 14: వృషభాసుర వధ (Arishṭa the bull asura)

Arishṭa, the bull asura, attacks Gokula. Kṛshṇa seizes him by the horns and kills him.

Chapter 15: ధనుర్యాగ సంకల్పము — అక్రూర ప్రేషణము (Kaṃsa’s plan and Akrūra’s commission)

Nārada tells Kaṃsa who Kṛshṇa truly is. Kaṃsa plans his moves. He places Cāṇūra and Mushṭika as wrestlers and Kuvalayāpīḍa as the elephant of the arena. He sends Akrūra as his messenger to bring Kṛshṇa, on the pretext of the Dhanuryāga.

Chapter 16: కేశివధ (Keśī Vadha)

Keśī, the horse asura, attacks Bṛndāvana. Kṛshṇa kills him with his bare arm. Nārada praises Kṛshṇa as “Keśava”, the killer of Keśī.

Chapter 17: అక్రూరగమనము (Akrūra’s journey)

Akrūra travels from Mathurā to Gokula. On the way he speaks to himself in devotion, thinking of the great honour of being sent to bring Bhagavān Kṛshṇa.

Chapter 18: శ్రీకృష్ణాక్రూర సమావేశము (Akrūra meets Kṛshṇa)

Akrūra reaches Gokula and meets Kṛshṇa. During the bath in the Yamunā on the way to Mathurā, Akrūra sees Balarāma and Kṛshṇa in their four-armed divine forms, surrounded by nāgas and siddhas.

Chapter 19: అక్రూరకృత కృష్ణ సమర్చనము — మథురా ప్రవేశము (Entry into Mathurā)

Akrūra performs a mānasa pūjā (worship in the mind) to Bhagavān Kṛshṇa. They enter Mathurā. Kṛshṇa strikes the proud washerman who refused to give fine garments. Kṛshṇa blesses the garland-maker (mālākāra) Sudarśana and gives him the varas (boons) he wishes for.

Chapter 20: కుబ్జానుగ్రహము — కువలయాపీడవధ — కంస సంహారము (Kaṃsa Vadha)

Kṛshṇa cures Kubjā’s hump. The Dhanuśālā episode follows. Kuvalayāpīḍa, the elephant of the arena, is killed. Cāṇūra and Mushṭika are killed in wrestling. Kṛshṇa kills Kaṃsa, and Balarāma kills Kaṃsa’s brother Sunāma. Devakī and Vasudeva offer a deeply moving stotra to the victorious Bhagavān Kṛshṇa.

Chapter 21: కంసాంగనాసమాశ్వాసనము — భగవల్లీలా ప్రదర్శనము (Restoration of order)

Kaṃsa’s wives are comforted. Ugrasena is set again on the throne of Mathurā. Kṛshṇa obtains the Sudharmā Sabhā. He studies at the āśrama (hermitage) of Sāndīpani at Avantī and learns all the śāstras in sixty-four days. As guru-dakshiṇā (the teacher’s fee) Kṛshṇa kills the asura Pañcajana and takes the Pāñcajanya conch from his shell. Kṛshṇa goes down to Yamapura, the realm of Yama, and brings Sāndīpani’s dead son back to life.

Chapter 22: బలరామ కృష్ణ కృత జరాసంధ పరాజయము (Jarāsandha wars and Dvārakā)

Jarāsandha attacks Mathurā again and again; the Vishṇu Purāṇa speaks of more than eighteen campaigns. The divine weapons of Bhagavān Kṛshṇa, the Śārṅga bow and the weapons that go with it, come down of their own accord from Vaikuṇṭha. Balarāma takes up the hala (plough) and the musala (pestle). Kṛshṇa builds Dvārakā twelve yojanas from the shore of the ocean.

The chapter also tells how Kālayavana came to be. The Yādavas insulted Gārgya for his impotence. Gārgya performed tapas (austerity) to Śiva, and Kālayavana was born to the wife of a Yavana king.

Chapter 23: ముచుకుందానుగ్రహము (Mucukunda’s liberation)

Kālayavana chases Kṛshṇa into a cave in the Himālaya. Kṛshṇa leads him to the sleeping Mucukunda. Kālayavana kicks Mucukunda awake and is burned to ashes by the angry glance of the ancient king. Mucukunda offers a stotra of surrender. Kṛshṇa grants him moksha. Mucukunda resolves to go to Badarikāśrama.

Chapter 24: ముచుకుందుని బదరికాగమనము (Mucukunda’s departure)

Mucukunda leaves for Gandhamādana and Badarikāśrama. Kṛshṇa takes the army and wealth of Kālayavana to Dvārakā and gives them to Ugrasena. Balarāma visits Nandagokula.

Chapter 25: బలరామ కృత యమునాకర్షణము — పుత్రోదయము (Balarāma drags the Yamunā)

Balarāma drinks Vāruṇī, the divine wine from the forest tree. He tells the Yamunā to come near. When the river ignores him, he drags it with his plough. The Yamunā gives in and prays for forgiveness. Balarāma marries Revatī, daughter of King Raivatarāja. Their sons Niśita and Ulkuka are born.

Chapter 26: రుక్మిణీ కల్యాణము — ప్రద్యుమ్న జననము (Rukmiṇī’s marriage and Pradyumna’s birth)

Rukmī of Vidarbha wants to give Rukmiṇī to Śiśupāla. Kṛshṇa carries Rukmiṇī off, in the rākshasa-vivāha manner, in front of the assembled kings. He defeats Rukmī. Rukmiṇī becomes Kṛshṇa’s first queen, and Pradyumna is born of this union.

Chapter 27: శంబరాసుర వధ — ప్రద్యుమ్నాగమనము (Pradyumna kills Śambara)

Śambara carries off the infant Pradyumna and throws him into the ocean. A fish swallows the child. Māyāvatī, who is Rati born again, brings him up. Nārada tells Pradyumna who he is. Pradyumna kills Śambara with the eighth māyā. He returns to Dvārakā with Māyāvatī. Nārada then explains to Rukmiṇī that Māyāvatī is truly Rati.

Chapter 28: రుక్మి వధ (Rukmī’s death)

Aniruddha marries the granddaughter of Rukmī. At the dice game Rukmī taunts Balarāma. Balarāma, in anger, kills Rukmī and the king of Kaliṅga. Kṛshṇa stays silent. He neither approves nor blames, out of regard for Rukmiṇī’s feelings.

Chapter 29: నరకాసుర వధ (Narakāsura Vadha)

Indra tells Kṛshṇa of Narakāsura’s crimes against the devas. Kṛshṇa and Satyabhāmā fly to Prāgjyotishapura on Garuḍa. The asura Mura, who has five heads, is killed. Narakāsura is killed. Sixteen thousand one hundred maidens are freed. The earrings of Aditi are recovered. Bhūmādevī, the mother of Narakāsura, offers a stotra to Bhagavān Kṛshṇa.

Chapter 30: పారిజాత నయనము (The taking of the Pārijāta)

Kṛshṇa and Satyabhāmā visit Svarga and return the earrings to Aditi. Indra crowns Kṛshṇa as Govinda in a formal ceremony. Satyabhāmā asks for the Pārijāta tree. There is a battle with Indra, and Indra gives in. The Pārijāta is planted in Dvārakā beside the palace of Satyabhāmā.

Chapter 31: పరమాత్మ లీలావిహార వైభవము (The glory of the Pārijāta and Kṛshṇa’s presence in many homes)

Indra speaks his surrender, acknowledging the supremacy of Bhagavān Kṛshṇa. After Kṛshṇa’s departure the Pārijāta is returned to Svarga. Satyabhāmā speaks to herself in thought. All the Yādavas who meet the fragrance of the Pārijāta see in it visions of their own earlier divine births. The chapter speaks of the sixteen thousand one hundred wives, and of Kṛshṇa present at the same time in all their homes, whole and undivided in each.

Chapter 32: ఉషా పరిణయ ప్రసంగము (Ushā’s dream, the opening of the Bāṇāsura war)

Ushā dreams of a beautiful young man; this fulfils a vara (boon) of Pārvatī. Citralekhā draws portraits of divine and royal persons. Aniruddha is recognised among the Yādavas. By her yogic power Citralekhā brings Aniruddha to Śoṇitapura.

Chapter 33: బాణాసుర సంహారము — ఉషానిరుద్ధ కల్యాణము (Bāṇāsura war)

Bāṇa finds Aniruddha and holds him with the nāgāstra. Kṛshṇa, Balarāma and Pradyumna march to Śoṇitapura. The battle with Śiva’s fever (Śiva-jvara) follows. Kṛshṇa uses the Jṛmbhakāstra to make Śiva drowsy. Pradyumna defeats Skanda. Bāṇa’s thousand arms are cut down to four. Śiva speaks for Bāṇa. The oneness of Kṛshṇa and Śiva is declared, and the supreme non-difference of Vishṇu and Śiva is proclaimed. Ushā and Aniruddha are married.

Chapter 34: పౌండ్రక వాసుదేవ వధ (Pauṇḍraka Vadha)

Pauṇḍraka, the king of Puṇḍra, says that he is the true Vāsudeva. Kṛshṇa kills him, and also the king of Kāśī, who was allied with him. Sudakshiṇa, the son of the king of Kāśī, performs tapas to raise a kṛtyā (a destroying power) to avenge his father. The kṛtyā is sent to Dvārakā. The Sudarśana Cakra destroys the kṛtyā and burns all of Kāśī.

Chapter 35: బలరామ పరాక్రమ వైభవము (Balarāma drags Hastināpura)

Sāmba carries off Lakshmaṇā, the daughter of Duryodhana, from her svayaṃvara. The Kauravas capture Sāmba. Balarāma goes alone to Hastināpura. The Kauravas insult him with proud speeches. Balarāma drives his ploughshare into the foundations of the city and begins to drag Hastināpura towards the Gaṅgā. The Kauravas give in in terror. Sāmba is freed, with Lakshmaṇā and rich gifts of dowry.

Chapter 36: బలరామ కృత ద్వివిద సంహారము (Dvivida Vadha)

Dvivida, a vānara and friend of Narakāsura, causes great destruction. Balarāma is on the Raivataka hill, drinking Vāruṇī with Revatī. Dvivida steals Balarāma’s weapons and mounts, and insults him with taunts. Balarāma kills him.

Chapter 37: యాదవ కులోపసంహారము — కృష్ణ బ్రహ్మీభావము (The end of the Yādavas and Kṛshṇa’s departure)

The ṛshis Viśvāmitra, Kaṇva and Nārada test the Yādavas by asking them to say who Sāmba is, disguised as a pregnant woman. The Yādavas answer proudly, and the answer brings the śāpa (a curse) of the iron musala. Ugrasena breaks the musala, but one iron piece remains. The Yādavas fight at Prabhāsa with eraka grass, which turns into iron weapons. After the Yādavas have destroyed one another, Kṛshṇa gives his last instructions to Dāruka. Balarāma’s mahānirvāṇa follows: a great serpent comes out of his mouth and departs. The hunter Jarā’s arrow strikes Kṛshṇa’s foot. Kṛshṇa merges into his own Vishṇu-tattva, and the devas respond to the return of Bhagavān Kṛshṇa to his supreme abode.

Chapter 38: కృష్ణావతారగమనానంతరము — పరీక్షిత్పట్టాభిషేకము (After Kṛshṇa’s departure)

Arjuna comes to Dvārakā and performs the last rites for Vasudeva and the others. Rukmiṇī and the eight chief mahishīs (queens) enter the funeral fire. Revatī, Devakī, Rohiṇī and Vasudeva also enter the fire in grief. Arjuna leads the people of Dvārakā who are left towards Indraprastha in the north. On the way the cowherds called Ābhīras attack. Arjuna finds his bow too heavy and his arrows falling short, because his divine power has gone with Kṛshṇa. Vyāsa appears and comforts Arjuna with the kālasvarūpa teaching: Kṛshṇa was kāla (time) itself, and kāla takes back what it has given. The Pāṇḍavas leave for the forest. Parīkshit is crowned king.

Points the Pañcamāṃśa records

• Chapter 5: the mantra-kavaca that Nanda performs over Kṛshṇa.
• Chapter 10: Kṛshṇa names the four fields of knowledge (anvīkshikī, trayī, vārtā, daṇḍanīti) when he explains why the loyalty of the gopas should not be to Indra.
• Chapter 12: the Sudharmā Sabhā is given through Vāyu, and Arjuna is the aṃśa of Indra.
• Chapter 22: the descent of Kālayavana through the tapas of Gārgya.
• Chapter 37: Balarāma’s mahānirvāṇa as a great serpent, an aṃśa of Ādiśesha, going out of his mouth.
• Chapter 38: Rukmiṇī and eight mahishīs enter the fire, Vyāsa gives the kālasvarūpa teaching to Arjuna, and Parīkshit is crowned.

Shashṭhāṃśa: Kali Yuga, pralaya and moksha

The Shashṭhāṃśa is the sixth and last aṃśa (portion) of the Vishṇu Mahā Purāṇa. Parāśara Maharshi tells it to Maitreya. It brings the whole Purāṇa to its end. It has eight chapters. They speak of the nature and signs of Kali Yuga, of the great merit that is open in Kali through Kṛshṇa-saṅkīrtana, of the three kinds of cosmic pralaya and their order, of moksha as ātyantika laya, and of the long narrative of Keśidhvaja and Khāṇḍikya, where the Purāṇa gives its fullest teaching of yoga. The Shashṭhāṃśa closes with a phalaśruti (the statement of the fruit of hearing the Purāṇa) and the full line by which the Purāṇa was handed down.

Chapter 1: Kali Svarūpa Varṇanamu (the nature of Kali Yuga)

Maitreya asks Parāśara for a full account of the present age. This chapter gives the longest account in the Purāṇa of what marks Kali Yuga. It describes the collapse of varṇāśrama, the breakdown of marriage and of the guru-śishya system, and the end of agnihotra and deva-upāsanā (honouring of the devas).

The social signs are these:

• wealth rules over lineage
• women and rulers become corrupt
• pāshaṇḍa (heretical) teachings spread
• the authority of the brāhmaṇas is given up

The physical signs are great drought, failed crops, shorter lives, smaller bodies and early death.

The chapter also lists the signs by which wise people can tell that Kali’s power is growing: when pāshaṇḍas increase, when the path of the Veda declines, when Bhagavān Vishṇu is not honoured with pūjā as the creator, and when the voices for orthodoxy grow weak.

Chapter 2: Kali Yuga Dharma Sūkshma Praśaṃsā (the excellence of subtle dharma in Kali Yuga)

After describing the dangers of Kali, Parāśara tells an episode from the life of Vyāsa. A group of ṛshis come to Kṛshṇa-Dvaipāyana Vyāsa at the Yamunā while he is bathing. Vyāsa comes up out of the water and cries “Good! Good!” three times. He is praising Kali Yuga, the Śūdra and women. When they ask him to explain, Vyāsa teaches:

• The merit earned in ten years in Tretā is gained by one year of practice in Kali.
• The merit of one month in Dvāpara is gained in one day in Kali.
• The fruit of meditation (Kṛta Yuga), of yajña (Tretā) and of arcana (Dvāpara) is gained in Kali through Vishṇu-saṅkīrtana alone.

For this reason Kali is “good”.

The Śūdra is “good” because, by serving the brāhmaṇas, he gains the merit that would otherwise need yajña and its many requirements. Women are “good” because, by serving their husbands with a true heart, they gain all the merit their husbands earn, with no extra effort.

The chapter closes with the teaching that in Kali Yuga the name of Kṛshṇa alone, without any other sādhanā (practice), frees a person from saṃsāra.

Chapter 3: Pralaya Nirūpaṇam (description of pralaya)

Maitreya asks for the teaching on the dissolution of the cosmos. Parāśara says that three kinds of pralaya rule over all beings:

1. naimittika, caused by the end of a kalpa
2. prākṛta, caused by the end of Brahmā’s life
3. ātyantika, the liberation of the individual jīva through jñāna (knowledge)

The chapter gives the units of time in detail: nimesha, kāshṭhā, kalā, nāḍikā, muhūrta, day and night, month, year, the divine year (360 human years), the divine millennium (1200 divine years, equal to one catur-yuga), and the 1000 catur-yugas that make a kalpa, which is one day of Brahmā. The parārdha is defined as the eighteenth place when one counts in tens from one. Two parārdhas make the life of Brahmā and mark the gap of the prākṛta pralaya.

The order of the naimittika pralaya begins with a drought of a hundred years. The seven rays of the sun become seven suns. Then come the pralaya fire and the Sāṃvartaka clouds.

Chapter 4: Pralaya Svarūpamu: Naimittika Pralaya (the nature of pralaya, the naimittika)

The Sāṃvartaka clouds are described in great detail by their many colours:

• blue like the dark water-lily
• white like the kunda flower
• smoke-coloured
• green
• grey like a donkey
• red like lac
• blue like vaidūrya
• white like a conch and the molle flower
• the colour of a wet insect
• peacock-coloured
• stone-coloured
• ink-coloured
• dark
• like a great city, a mountain, a tower or a plain

They pour rain for a hundred years, put out all fire, and flood the three worlds up to Maharloka. The Saptarshi-maṇḍala is drowned. The three worlds become one ocean. Then Bhagavān Vishṇu breathes in all the Sāṃvartaka wind, takes the Brahma-rūpa (the form of Brahmā) and sleeps on the coils of Śesha in the cosmic ocean for one kalpa. The siddhas in Janaloka meditate on him. This is the naimittika pralaya.

The prākṛta pralaya follows:

• water takes in the quality of earth, gandha (smell)
• fire takes in the quality of water, rasa (taste)
• vāyu (air) takes in the quality of fire, rūpa (form)
• ākāśa (space) takes in the quality of vāyu, sparśa (touch)
• bhūtādi (tāmasa ahaṃkāra) takes in the quality of ākāśa, śabda (sound)
• mahat takes in ahaṃkāra
• prakṛti takes in mahat

The seven mūla tattvas (root principles) are the “prakṛtis“. The manifest world (vyakta) dissolves into the unmanifest (avyakta). Purusha and prakṛti both dissolve into Paramātman. That Paramātman is Vishṇu, the one reality behind all arising and dissolving. This is the prākṛta pralaya.

Chapter 5: Ātyantika Layamanedi Mokshamu (ātyantika laya as moksha)

The ātyantika (absolute) dissolution is moksha. It is reached through knowledge of the tāpatraya, the three kinds of suffering:

• ādhyātmika, of the body and mind
• ādhibhautika, from other beings
• ādhidaivika, from nature

Seeing them brings vairāgya (detachment). Vairāgya brings jñāna, and jñāna brings moksha.

The chapter gives vivid and detailed descriptions of garbha-duḥkha (the suffering in the womb), the torments of infancy and old age, the agonies of death, the binding and beating by the yamabhaṭas, the horrors of naraka, and the fact that svarga does not last. Even svarga carries the fear of falling, so no state that depends on conditions is a true refuge.

The chapter then gives the teaching on the two vidyās, citing the Muṇḍakopanishad. Aparā vidyā is the Vedic karma-kāṇḍa (the part on rites). Parā vidyā is the knowledge of the imperishable Brahman.

The definition of Bhagavān Vāsudeva is given. He is the one who has six qualities, jñāna, śakti, bala, aiśvarya, vīrya and tejas, and has none of the unwanted (heya) qualities. He is Vāsudeva, the Paramātman, in whom all beings arise and to whom all return.

Chapter 6: Keśidhvaja-Khāṇḍikya Upākhyāna: Brahma-Prāpti Praśaṃsā (the narrative of Keśidhvaja and Khāṇḍikya, the excellence of reaching Brahman)

Parāśara tells a well-known upākhyāna (narrative) from the line of the Janaka kings.

Dharmadhvaja had two sons. Mitadhvaja followed the karma-mārga (the path of action). Kṛtadhvaja followed the adhyātma-mārga (the path of the Self). The son of Kṛtadhvaja was Keśidhvaja, an expert in ātma-vidyā (knowledge of the Self). The son of Mitadhvaja was Khāṇḍikya, a follower of the path of action, who ruled the kingdom.

Keśidhvaja defeated Khāṇḍikya and drove him out of his kingdom. Khāṇḍikya withdrew to the forest with his ministers and his purohita (household priest).

During a yajña of Keśidhvaja, a tiger killed the gharmadhenu, the cow for the morning rite of the yajña. The ṛtvijas (priests) could not find the right prāyaśchitta (atonement). They asked one another in turn, from Kāśeruka to Bhārgava to Śunaka, and all agreed that only Khāṇḍikya, the enemy in the forest, knew the answer.

Keśidhvaja held the yajña more dear than his pride. He mounted his chariot and went to the forest of his enemy. Khāṇḍikya saw him coming with his bow drawn. His ministers advised him to kill Keśidhvaja and take the kingdom. Khāṇḍikya refused. He said that the lasting wealth of para-dharma is far greater than the passing wealth of a kingdom (rājya). He told Keśidhvaja the prāyaśchitta.

Keśidhvaja finished the yajña. Then he went back to pay guru-dakshiṇā, for he realised he had forgotten it. Khāṇḍikya turned down the kingdom. He asked instead for the one thing that would end all kleśa (affliction): the knowledge of how to reach liberation.

Chapter 7: Keśidhvaja’s teaching on Brahman and the crowning of Khāṇḍikya’s son

This is the philosophical heart of the Shashṭhāṃśa.

Keśidhvaja explains avidyā (ignorance). It is the mistaken belief that the ātman is the body made of five elements, and the false sense of “I” (aham) and “mine” (mama) that follows. The body is pañcha-bhautika (made of the five elements) and is fed by food made of the five elements. It belongs to the elements, not to the Self. The ātman is different from all of it.

The way bondage works is compared to water and fire with a pot between them. Water and fire do not touch each other. But because the pot brings them close, boiling and sound arise. In the same way, the ātman and prakṛti are not truly one. But because they are close through the antaḥkaraṇa (the inner instrument), the false sense of oneness arises.

The remedy is yoga, and it is taught in full:

• the yamas: ahiṃsā, satya, asteya, brahmacharya, aparigraha
• the niyamas: svādhyāya, śaucha, santosha, tapas
• the āsanas
• prāṇāyāma, of two kinds, sādhāraṇa and nirbīja
• pratyāhāra
• dhāraṇā on the mūrta form of Vishṇu (the viśvarūpa) and on his amūrta form (the Brahma-śakti)
• dhyāna on the described form of Bhagavān Vishṇu: eyes like lotus petals, a fair broad forehead, splendid kuṇḍalas (earrings), the śrīvatsa on the chest, a deep navel, eight arms or four, and yellow garments (pīta vastra)
• samādhi, in which all bhāvanā (imagining) dissolves into pure ātma-saṃvit (awareness of the Self)

The three śaktis of Vishṇu are named: Parā (the supreme śakti), Kshetrajñā (the awareness of the jīva), and Avidyā-karma (the third śakti, which veils and binds).

When Khāṇḍikya has received this teaching, he crowns his son as king and goes into the forest to practise yoga. By steady practice over many births he reaches liberation. Keśidhvaja does his karma without attachment to its fruit. He burns away all his stored karma and reaches ātyantika-siddhi, which is moksha.

Chapter 8: Purāṇa Praśaṃsā (the phalaśruti and praise of the Purāṇa)

This is the formal end of the Purāṇa.

The five lakshaṇas (marks) of a Purāṇa are listed: sarga (creation), vaṃśa (family lines), manvantara (the cycles of cosmic time), vaṃśānucharita (the lives of kings) and pratisaṃchara (dissolution). All five have been taught in this Vishṇu Mahā Purāṇa.

The phalaśruti says the following:

• This Purāṇa is equal to the Vedas.
• It removes all pāpa (sin).
• It gives all four purushārthas.
• Hearing it gives the puṇya (merit) of the aśvamedha.
• Bathing in the Yamunā on Jyeshṭha Śukla Dvādaśī and visiting Mathurā bring great fruit.
• In the end it gives Vishṇu-sāyujya (union with Vishṇu).

The line of transmission is given: Brahmā, Ṛbhu, Priyavrata, Bhāguri, Stamba Mitra, Dadīchi, Sārasvata, Bhṛgu, Purukutsa, Narmadā (the river devī), Dhṛtarāshṭra (a nāga king), Āpūraṇa, Vāsuki, Vatsa, Aśvatara, Kambala, Elāputra.

Separately, Vedaśira, a ṛshi, went to Pātāla and received the Purāṇa there. He taught it to Pramatika and Jātukarṇi. Parāśara himself received it from Pulastya by grace. He will teach it to Maitreya, and Maitreya will pass it to Śinī at the end of Kali Yuga.

The Purāṇa ends with two maṅgala-ślokas (verses of blessing) in praise of Vishṇu: the one without change, the only Purushottama, the Akhilātmaka (the Self of all), the master of all jñāna and all śrī.

The six portions of the Purāṇa

The Vishṇu Mahā Purāṇa has six portions. The first, the Pradhamāmsa, gives the creation. The second, the Dvitīyāmsa, gives the geography of the cosmos. The third, the Tritīyāmsa, gives the dharma and the lines of the ṛshis. The fourth, the Chaturdhāmsa, and the fifth, the Pañcamāṃśa, give the royal dynasties, ending with Kṛshṇa’s departure. The Shashṭhāṃśa then tells what becomes of all this. The world dissolves from time to time in the naimittika pralaya. It dissolves completely in the prākṛta pralaya. The individual jīva dissolves for good in the ātyantika pralaya through jñāna.

The narrative of Keśidhvaja and Khāṇḍikya shows two ways to liberation: karma without attachment (Keśidhvaja) and yoga and jñāna with vairāgya (Khāṇḍikya).

Sources

• Vishṇu Mahā Purāṇa, Pañcamāṃśa, Chapters 1–38
• Vishṇu Mahā Purāṇa, Shashṭhāṃśa, Chapters 1–8
• Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 10th and 11th Skandhas (the same life of Kṛshṇa, as mentioned)
• Muṇḍakopanishad (cited in Shashṭhāṃśa, Chapter 5)