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TheVayu Purana (Sanskrit:वायुपुराण,Vāyu-purāṇa) is a Sanskrit text and one of the eighteen majorPuranas ofHinduism.^[1][2][3]Vayu Purana is mentioned in the manuscripts of theMahabharata and other Hindu texts, which has led scholars to propose that the text is among the oldest in the Puranic genre.^[4][5][6] Vayu and Vayaviya Puranas do share a very large overlap in their structure and contents, possibly because they once were the same, but with continuous revisions over the centuries, the original text became two different texts, and the Vayaviya text came also to be known as theBrahmanda Purana.^[7]

TheVayu Purana, according to the tradition and verses in other Puranas, contains 24,000 verses (shlokas).^[8] However, the surviving manuscripts have about 12,000 verses.^[9] The text was continuously revised over the centuries, and its extant manuscripts are very different.^[10] Some manuscripts have fourpadas (parts) with 112 chapters, and some twokhandas with 111 chapters.^[10] Comparisons of the diverse manuscripts suggest that the following sections were slipped, in later centuries, into the more ancientVayu Purana: chapters on geography and temples-related travel guides, known asMahatmya,^[11] two chapters oncastes and individual,ashramas, three chapters onDharma and penances, eleven chapters on purity andSanskara (rite of passage) and a chapter on hell in after-life.^[12]

The text is notable for the numerous references to it, in medieval era Indian literature,^[13] likely links to inscriptions such as those found on the Mathura pillar and dated to 380 CE,^[14] as well as being a source for carvings and reliefs such as those at theElephanta Caves – a UNESCO world heritage site.^[15]

TheVayu Purana is mentioned in chapter 3.191 of the Mahabharata, and section 1.7 of theHarivamsa, suggesting that the text existed in the first half of the 1st-millennium CE.^[4][5] The 7th-century^[16] Sanskrit prose writerBanabhatta refers to this work in hisKadambari andHarshacharita. In chapter 3 of theHarshacharita Banabhatta remarks that theVayu Purana was read out to him in his native village.^[17][18]Alberuni (973 -1048), thePersianscholar who visited and lived in northwest Indian subcontinent for many years in early 11th century, quoted from the version ofVayu Purana that existed during his visit.^[19]

The various mentions of theVayu Purana in other texts have led scholars to recognize it as one of the oldest.^[4] The early 20th-century scholar Dikshitar, known for his dating proposals that push many texts as very ancient and well into 1st millennium BCE, stated that theVayu Purana started to take shape around 350 BCE.^[4] Later scholarship has proposed that the earliest version of the text is likely from the 300 to 500 CE period, and broadly agreed that it is among the oldest Puranas.^[4][20]

The text, like all Puranas, has likely gone through revisions, additions and interpolations over its history. Rajendra Hazra, as well as other scholars, for example, considerGaya-mahatmya, which is an embedded travel guide toGaya, as a later addition. TheGaya-mahatmya replaced older sections of theVayu Purana, sometime before the 15th century.^[21][22] Vayu Purana, like all Puranas, has a complicated chronology. Dimmitt and van Buitenen state that each of the Puranas is encyclopedic in style, and it is difficult to ascertain when, where, why and by whom these were written:^[23]

As they exist today, the Puranas are stratified literature. Each titled work consists of material that has grown by numerous accretions in successive historical eras. Thus, no Purana has a single date of composition. (...) It is as if they were libraries to which new volumes have been continuously added, not necessarily at the end of the shelf, but randomly.

The Asiatic Society,Calcutta published this text in two volumes in 1880 and 1888, as a part of theirBibliotheca Indica series. It was edited byRajendralal Mitra. The Venkateshvara Press,Bombay edition was published in 1895. It was followed by the publication of another edition by the Anandashrama (Anandashrama Sanskrit Series 49),Poona. In 1910, the Vangavasi Press,Calcutta published an edition along with a Bengali translation by Panchanan Tarkaratna, the editor of the text.^[13] In 1960 Motilal Banarsidass published an English translation as part of its Ancient Indian Traditions and Mythology series.^[24]

TheVayu Purana exists in many versions, structured in different ways, For example:

• In the Anandashrama and Vangavasi editions, this text is divided into four padas (parts):Prakriya-pada (chapters 1–6),Anushanga-pada (chapters 7–64),Upodghata-pada (chapter 65–99) andUpasamhara-pada (chapters 100–112). TheGayamahatmya (chapters 105–112 in these editions), praising theGayatirtha inMagadha is not found in all the manuscripts of this work and also found separately as an independent work.^[17]
• In the Asiatic Society and Venkateshvara Press editions, this text is divided into two parts:Prathamakhanda comprising 61 chapters andDvitiyakhanda comprising 50 chapters. The chapters 1-6 ofPrathamakhanda are titledPrakriya-pada and no title is provided for the chapters 7-61. The chapters 1-42 ofDvitiyakhanda are titledAnushanga-pada and the chapters 43-50 are theGayamahatmya.^[13]

The Vayu Purana discusses its theories ofcosmology,genealogy of gods and kings of solar and lunar dynasties, mythology, geography,manvantaras, theSolar System and the movements of the celestial bodies.^[17] In addition to these, the text has chapters which were inserted in the later centuries into the older version of the Vayu Purana, such as chapters 16-17 which discuss duties of theVarna (caste or class) and duties of a person during variousashrama, chapter 18 which discusses penances forsannyasi (monks,yati), chapters 57–59 ondharma, chapters 73 to 83 on sanskaras (rites of passage), and chapter 101 on the theory of hell in after-life.^[12]

The text shares a large number of verses with theBrahmanda Purana, and the two texts originated most likely from the same core text.^[10] The comparison of the two texts and specifics within the texts suggests, states Hazra, that the split into two texts could not have happened before 400 CE.^[12] The chapters which were slipped into the Vayu Purana are missing in many versions of Vayu and in Brahmananda manuscripts. Chapter 18 on penances for those in monastic life, was likely inserted before the 14th century.^[26] The travel guide to Gaya, Bihar was likely inserted before the 15th-century, because theGaya-mahatmya was referenced many times by the 15th-century Vacaspatimisra (not to be confused with 9th-century Advaita scholar of the same name).^[22]

The text also contains chapters on music,^[27] variousshakhas of theVedas,Pashupata-Yoga, and geographicMahatmya (travel guides) particularly aboutGaya inBihar.^[13] TheVayu Purana also features other topics such as those dealing with construction of mountain topHindu temples.^[28]

TheRevakhanda of Vayu Purana since 1910 has been wrongly attributed to theSkanda Purana, says Juergen Neuss, but he adds that the manuscripts attest theRevakhanda containing 232 chapters belongs to the Vayu Purana and was wrongly included in the Skanda Purana by Veṅkateśvara Steam Press in 1910 and all publications of the Skanda after it. The one belonging to the Skanda Purana has 116 chapters.^[29]

• Gregory Bailey (2003). Arvind Sharma (ed.).The Study of Hinduism. University of South Carolina Press.ISBN 978-1-57003-449-7.
• Collins, Charles Dillard (1988).The Iconography and Ritual of Siva at Elephanta: On Life, Illumination, and Being. SUNY Press.ISBN 978-0-88706-773-0.
• Dalal, Rosen (2014),Hinduism: An Alphabetical Guide, Penguin,ISBN 978-8184752779
• Dimmitt, Cornelia; van Buitenen, J. A. B. (2012).Classical Hindu Mythology: A Reader in the Sanskrit Puranas. Temple University Press (1st Edition: 1977).ISBN 978-1-4399-0464-0.
• Gietz, K.P.; et al. (1992),Epic and Puranic Bibliography (Up to 1985) Annoted and with Indexes: Part I: A - R, Part II: S - Z, Indexes, Otto Harrassowitz Verlag,ISBN 978-3-447-03028-1
• Glucklich, Ariel (2008).The Strides of Vishnu : Hindu Culture in Historical Perspective: Hindu Culture in Historical Perspective. Oxford University Press.ISBN 978-0-19-971825-2.
• Gonda, Jan, ed. (1986).A History of Indian Literature, Vol.II: Epics and Sanskrit religious literature, Fasc.3. Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz Verlag.ISBN 978-3447025225.
• Hazra, Rajendra Chandra (1940).Studies in the Puranic Records on Hindu Rites and Customs. Motilal Banarsidass (1987 Reprint).ISBN 978-81-208-0422-7.{{cite book}}:ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)
• Kramrisch, Stella (1976),The Hindu Temple, Volume 1 & 2, Motilal Banarsidass,ISBN 81-208-0223-3
• Rocher, Ludo. "The Puranas". InGonda (1986).
• Wilson, H. H. (1864).The Vishnu Purana: A System of Hindu Mythology and Tradition (Volume 1: Introduction, Book I). Read Country Books (reprinted in 2006).ISBN 1-84664-664-2.{{cite book}}:ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)
• Winternitz, Maurice (1922).History of Indian Literature Vol 1 (Original in German, translated into English by VS Sarma, 1981). New Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass (Reprint 2010).ISBN 978-8120802643.{{cite book}}:ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)

• Vayu Purana – English translation by G. V. Tagare (Part 1)
• Vayu Purana – English translation by G. V. Tagare (Part 2)

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