The Purana Index v1.c3.s6.1

v1.c3.s6.1

This Purāṇa has been credited with a certain amount of antiquity, as being the best conserved of all. According to tradition, it is narrated by sage Parāśara in the reign of Parikshit, king of the Kurus. From Parikshit to Adhisīma-Kṛṣṇa, there may be an intervening period of four generations. If tradition can be believed then we have to take it that the Vishnu Purāṇa was composed four or five generations before the other Purāṇas came into existence. Pargiter would assign to this Purāṇa a period not earlier than the 5th century A.D. The version in this Purāṇa and the Harivamśa bears correspondence and similarity in some cases, and it has been said that the Vishnu Purāṇa must be indebted to the Harivamśa giving a late date arbitrarily to the latter. Whatever be the similarity between the Harivamśa and the Vishnu Purāṇa, it need not deter us from determining the date of the Vishnu Purāṇa. The remarkable fact about this Purāṇa is that it is the work of a single hand, for it presents a single whole with a well prepared plan. In its historical portion the account of the Gupta dynasty is given, but this does not mean that the Purāṇa was composed then, but more material was added at that time