The Purana Index v1.c3.s6.4

v1.c3.s6.4

In this connection we can once again point out that a sort of homogeneity pervades the whole of this Purāṇa and it hardly indulges in Māhatmyas and the like which are found in the other literature of this class. These facts force us to conclude that this Purāṇa perhaps belonged to the age of the Upanishads when there was wide speculation about the philosophy of religion, and when there was no glorification of this god or that, and when there was faith only in one God who pervaded the whole universe and manifested himself in different ways for specific purposes. If we take these things into consideration, the Viṣṇu Purāṇa must be contemporaneous with the Atharva Veda Samhitā but it can be safely placed in the 6th or 5th century B.C. Though orthodox tradition would assign a much higher antiquity to this Purāṇa, a critical student of history would place its composition in the epoch of the Upanishads which may be roughly said to extend from the seventh to the fourth century B.C.