Vishnu Purana

Explanation and Analysis of the Document

Chapter XVIII of book III raises various issues, such as the mythic battle between the opposing divine and demonic forces, the supremacy of Vishnu as the Ultimate God, the significance of Vedic religion, and the relationship between the orthodox and heterodox religions of the time. The text gives a picture of an ancient Indian society in which Vedic and non-Vedic religions are locked in an intense ideological rivalry. It also shows how religious narratives must have been potent tools for maintaining and consolidating social unity. Chapter VII of book VI, in contrast, concentrates on the theme of yoga (“contemplative devotion”) and instructs devotees how to sever oneself from the bonds of material existence and be liberated from the cycle of rebirths. The text also teaches how one can progress along a spiritual path that leads to attainment of Vishnu, or final liberation in which the devotee reaches the abode of the Supreme God Vishnu.

Book III: Chapter XVIII

In this chapter, Parashara narrates to Maitreya how the ultimate god Vishnu sent “the great delusion” in the form of an ascetic in order to induce the daityas (“demons,” or “foes of gods”) to denounce their Vedic religion by teaching them heretical doctrines. The narrator argues that the religion of the Vedas was the true religion that had originally protected the demons and provided them with their powers. However, they misused their divine power by seizing upon the three worlds and appropriating the offerings made to the gods. It was then that the almighty Vishnu, upon the gods’ request, emitted an illusory form from his own body and sent him to defeat and destroy the demons.

Paragraphs 1 and 2: The opening paragraphs suggest the role of Vishnu in the conversion of the demons from the Vedic to unorthodox religions such Jainism and Buddhism. In this text, the illusory form sent by Vishnu is not regarded as his incarnation appearing on earth for the well-being of earthly creatures, although the mythical battle between the gods and the demons ultimately restores order. Nonetheless, the person sent by Vishnu is regarded as a form of Vishnu himself.

Parashara narrates how the “delusive being” sent by Vishnu approached the ascetics, the “lords of the Daitya race,” who were practicing acts of penance by the side of the Narmada River. This “arch deceiver” falsely taught the demons various doctrines that would, as he claimed, either lead the demons to heaven or liberate them from future existence (rebirths). He thus converted the entire race to different heterodox religious worldviews—such as Jainism, Buddhism, and that of the Varhospatyas (materialists)—and misled them from the religion of the Vedas. Sometimes, this being appeared as a Jain mendicant, with his head shaved and carrying peacock feathers. As scholars have noted, he taught doctrines such as syadvada, a theory of postulations in seven different categories (a thing is; a thing is not; it is and is not; it is not definable; it is, but it is not definable; it is not, and neither is it definable; it is, and it is not, and it is not definable). At other times, the master deluder posed as a compassionate ascetic—referring to the Buddha (spelled “Bauddha” here)—who falsely taught that the daityas should refrain from killing animals for ritual sacrifice, as practiced by the followers of Vedic religion, and that the world subsists without any ultimate support. According to Parashara, the sole purpose of this person (a form of Vishnu) was to persuade the demons to abandon their own faith—that is, the practices enjoined by the Vedas and the laws—in order to defeat and destroy them. He postulates that Jainism and Buddhism were originally propounded by this person and that they were nothing more than “heresies.”

Paragraphs 3 and 4: These paragraphs show how the same master deluder taught other “erroneous tenets,” such as those of the Lokayatas (meaning “materialistic” or “atheistic”; also called Varhospatyas), and helped the gods to win their battle against the demons. The chapter thus far gives the reader a picture of both the literal demonizing of other religious sects by the Vedic orthodoxy and the intense rivalry and ideological battle between the opposing groups. The text specifies some of the objections unorthodox people had toward the Vedic religion, which was remarkable for its belief that the gods, ancestors, spirits, and sages needed sacrifices, especially grains; its strong belief in sacrificial rituals, involving offerings of butter and other substances and, at times, animal sacrifices; its emphasis on the supremacy of the Brahmins and the three Vedas originally considered authoritative (the Rig Veda, Yajur Veda, and Sama Veda); and its faith in the sraddha, or shraddha, ritual of feeding and offering things to the priests, which means offering them directly to deceased ancestors. In contrast, the unorthodox religions were based on rationality and did not believe in anything unseen and speculative, one of the reasons they often laughed at general Vedic practices: “If an animal slaughtered in religious worship is thereby raised to heaven, would it not be expedient for a man who institutes a sacrifice to kill his own father for a victim?” However, from the perspective of the narrator, the “armour of religion” sustains one and gives one the necessary strength to fight outside forces.

Paragraph 5: In this paragraph, a further difference between the Vedic and non-Vedic religions is highlighted. Here, Parashara suggests that a heretic is anyone who does not follow the traditional religious order and discards “the garment of the Vedas,” becoming naked. The Vedic religion is defined as based on the traditional hierarchy of castes and four orders of life ("the religious student, the householder, the hermit, and the mendicant") and is regulated by the practice of food offerings to “the gods, the sages, the manes, spirits, and guests.” The narrator speaks from a strictly orthodox standpoint; for example, “there is no fifth state”—that is, there are only the four conditions listed—there is no chance for the unorthodox who are outside the Vedic system, and there is no forgiveness for those who desert their religion. Deserters of this type are “impure” and are led directly to hell, along with those who converse with such people.

Paragraphs 6 and 7: Parashara then illustrates what could happen if one is associated with the heretic in one or the other form. He recounts a story of a king and a queen, their chance encounter with a heretic, and the bad karmic results endured by the king as a consequence of his conversation. The narrative thus justifies what was postulated earlier—that even a mere conversation with heretics is bound to result in bad rebirths and can only be rectified by very arduous expiations.

Besides the law of karma, this passage places emphasis on perceived wifely virtues, such as devotion to husband, benevolence, sincerity, humility, and discretion. It also gives insight into the contemporary suttee, or sati, practice, the custom of a wife’s suicidal ascension onto the funeral pyre of her husband upon his death. In this story, the queen sacrifices herself on the king’s cremation pile twice in her different births (with the husband’s many beastly reincarnations occuring in between) in order to follow her husband. After her first suttee, the queen, reborn as a princess, is endowed with “knowledge of the events of her preexistence” as a result of her good karma. There also surfaces here the belief that heroic death on the battlefield leads one to heaven. The king, having been reborn as a Kshatriya (“warrior,” or “protector of gentle people”), fights and dies in battle and is appropriately sent to heaven. The text gives some idea about the princess’s right to choose her future husband, a practice that seems to have operated at least in royal households of the Indian Subcontinent.

Paragraphs 8 and 9: Parashara ends this narrative with the moral that a follower of the Vedas should “carefully avoid the discourse or contact of an unbeliever,” especially while in devotional worship or practicing religious rites, because any association with the heretic demands expiation. He asserts, “Let not a person treat with even the civility of speech, heretics, those who do forbidden acts.… Intercourse with such iniquitous wretches, even at a distance, all association with schismatics, defiles.”

Book VI: Chapter VII

In this chapter, Parashara is narrating a story to Maitreya and discusses the nature of ignorance and the benefits of yoga, translated here as “contemplative devotion.” The story concerns Kesidhwaja and Khandikya, former rivals who share their religious ideas in friendly terms and benefit from each other’s knowledge. They talk about many important points, such as the “nature of ignorance,” the human soul, the constituents of the universe in relation to the Supreme God, the relationship between the human soul and the godhead (Brahma, Vishnu), and finally yoga as a sure method of training the mind for liberation. The chapter theologizes yoga from the Vaishnava point of view and discusses how one spiritually evolves by strictly following the eightfold noble path of Yoga and attains liberation through perfection in yoga practice.

Paragraphs 1 and 2: These paragraphs contain a dialogue between Kesidhwaja and Khandikya about the worldly ambitions and the duties of the warrior class, Kshatriyas, as narrated by Parashara to Maitreya. The context of the dialogue is that Khandikya’s kingdom was seized by Kesidhwaja. Having been driven from his palace, Khandikya then became a mendicant, beyond desire and selfishness of any kind. Here, Khandikya realizes that he was unable to do the duties of the warrior class and protect his kingdom; therefore, the takeover of the kingdom by a more capable one was justified. In the previous chapter (not included here), Khandikya taught Kesidhwaja about the ways of doing penance for the death of a cow, and, as a gift for his teaching, Kesidhwaja now instructs Khandikya in the doctrine of the soul.

Kesidhwaja distinguishes between the soul and the body. He argues that the soul by its inherent nature is pure, but when it is associated with Prakriti (the world of becoming), it assumes the qualities of gross nature. He explains that the human body is composed of five elements—ether, air, fire, water, and earth—and that human beings are confined to bodily existence because of their attachment to worldly things. He further states that by imputing selfhood to what is not self (namely, the body and worldly existence), and by regarding something that is not actually one’s own as one’s property, the human being is bound to the realm of ignorance. As a consequence, he accrues bodily karma and revolves in the world of birth and rebirth. Kesidhwaja instructs that it is through the practice of contemplative devotion (yoga), that one can be free from “worldly sorrows” and attain liberation from the world of birth and rebirth.

Paragraphs 3 and 4: In these paragraphs, Kesidhwaja talks about how one can train one’s mind through yoga and be liberated from the cycle of birth, death, and rebirth. He argues that the mind is the root cause of both bondage and liberation, and therefore one has to first restrain the mind from the objects of the senses and continue meditating on the Supreme Being. He stresses that both the soul and the Supreme Being have a similar “nature,” and therefore one can be united with Brahma, the ultimate Self, through perfection in yoga. Here, the perfection of yoga means following the noble eightfold path of Yoga and cultivating one’s virtues and practice. Through the ensuing paragraphs, he elaborates the eight limbs of Yoga: yana (abstentions, moral restraints), niyama (ethical observances), asana (posture), pranayama (breath control), pratyahara (withdrawal of the senses), dharana (concentration), dhyana (meditation), and samadhi (full meditative absorption).

Paragraphs 5 and 6: Kesidhwaja expounds how through perfection in yoga and the cultivation of supreme virtues, one abides one’s mind in Brahma (the ultimate Self), which is defined as both “with or without form” and as both “supreme and secondary.” He regards Brahma as another name of Vishnu and stresses that the one who knows him “recognises no distinctions” and has the knowledge that all those who are seen and unseen are pervaded by the single “imperishable form of Vishnu,” the supreme lord of the universe. However, Kesidhwaja cautions that this ultimate form cannot be contemplated by the sages in their early devotions; only through devoted yoga practice and constant meditation, progressing one’s focus from the gross to the more subtle forms of Hari (another name for Vishnu), can one contemplate the ultimate form. He also postulates that the spiritual faculties of the beings in this world manifest in different ways and have different gradations.

Paragraphs 7–9: After his extensive elaboration of the eight limbs of Yoga, Kesidhwaja concludes that the yogi, or yogic sage, acquires discriminative knowledge and attains the supreme Brahma through perfection in yoga. This attainment is defined as the identification of the individual soul with the supreme Brahma (again, Vishnu). Kesidhwaja also states that the absence of knowledge earlier led to the distinction between the individual soul and the supreme Self, but with the dawn of the knowledge of Yoga, ignorance is removed, and one finds oneself in complete oneness with the supreme Self. The narration ends with Kesidhwaja returning to his city, installing his son on the throne, and retiring into the woods to accomplish his devotions.