Vishnu Purana

Audience

As it is written, Parashara narrates the entire Vishnu Purana to Maitreya, who is thus the first audience. In historical terms, it appears that the text was composed with the express aim of showing the superiority of the Vedic religion over heterodox religions of the time. Written from the perspective of the orthodox Brahmins, this Purana represents an attempt to consolidate the Vedic order of life and ways of thinking. The text seems to have been composed for the first three traditional Hindu classes of people—Brahmins, Kshatriyas, and Vaishyas—directing them to preserve the traditional social order and traditional religious practices. The modern reader thus gains insight into the prevailing ideological rivalry between the Vedic and other religious systems of the time. The Vishnu Purana specifically targets the Jain, Buddhist, and Lokayata doctrines by demonizing them through the mythology that their religions are false and were enunciated by the “delusive” form of Vishnu himself.