The ''Vamana Purana'' ( sa, वामन पुराण,

IAST The International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration (IAST) is a transliteration scheme that allows the lossless romanisation of Indic scripts as employed by Sanskrit and related Indic languages. It is based on a scheme that emerged during ...

: ), is a medieval era

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural diffusion ...

text and one of the eighteen major

Purana Purana (; sa, , '; literally meaning "ancient, old"Merriam-Webster's Encyclopedia of Literature (1995 Edition), Article on Puranas, , page 915) is a vast genre of Indian literature about a wide range of topics, particularly about legends an ...

s of

Hinduism Hinduism () is an Indian religion or '' dharma'', a religious and universal order or way of life by which followers abide. As a religion, it is the world's third-largest, with over 1.2–1.35 billion followers, or 15–16% of the global p ...

. The text is named after one of the incarnations of

Vishnu Vishnu ( ; , ), also known as Narayana and Hari, is one of the principal deities of Hinduism. He is the supreme being within Vaishnavism, one of the major traditions within contemporary Hinduism. Vishnu is known as "The Preserver" withi ...

and probably was a

Vaishnava Vaishnavism ( sa, वैष्णवसम्प्रदायः, Vaiṣṇavasampradāyaḥ) is one of the major Hindu denominations along with Shaivism, Shaktism, and Smartism. It is also called Vishnuism since it considers Vishnu as the ...

text in its origin. However, the modern surviving manuscripts of ''Vamana Purana'' are more strongly centered on

Shiva Shiva (; sa, शिव, lit=The Auspicious One, Śiva ), also known as Mahadeva (; Help:IPA/Sanskrit, ɐɦaːd̪eːʋɐ, or Hara, is one of the Hindu deities, principal deities of Hinduism. He is the Supreme Being in Shaivism, one o ...

, while containing chapters that revere Vishnu and other Hindu gods and goddesses. It is considered a

Shaiva Shaivism (; sa, शैवसम्प्रदायः, Śaivasampradāyaḥ) is one of the major Hindu traditions, which worships Shiva as the Supreme Being. One of the largest Hindu denominations, it incorporates many sub-traditions rangi ...

text. Further, the text hardly has the character of a Purana, and is predominantly a collection of ''Mahatmyas'' (travel guides) to many Shiva-related places in India with legends and mythology woven in. The extant manuscripts of ''Vamana Purana'' exist in various versions, likely very different from the original, and show signs of revision over time and regions. It has been published by All India Kashiraj Trust in two rounds. The first round had 95 chapters, while the

critical edition Textual criticism is a branch of textual scholarship, philology, and of literary criticism that is concerned with the identification of textual variants, or different versions, of either manuscripts or of printed books. Such texts may range in da ...

(edited by Anand Swarup Gupta, and published by the All-India Kashiraj Trust, Varanasi) published in the second round has 69 chapters plus an attached ''Saro-mahatmya'' with 28 chapters dedicated to temples and sacred sites in and around modern

Haryana Haryana (; ) is an Indian state located in the northern part of the country. It was carved out of the former state of East Punjab on 1 Nov 1966 on a linguistic basis. It is ranked 21st in terms of area, with less than 1.4% () of India's land ...

. Both these versions lack the ''Brhad-vamana'' with four

samhita Saṃhitā literally means "put together, joined, union", a "collection", and "a methodically, rule-based combination of text or verses".Bengal Bengal ( ; bn, বাংলা/বঙ্গ, translit=Bānglā/Bôngô, ) is a geopolitical, cultural and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal, predom ...

. At the beginning (chapter 1), Narada asks Pulastya about the assumption of the ''Vamana''

avatar Avatar (, ; ), is a concept within Hinduism that in Sanskrit literally means "descent". It signifies the material appearance or incarnation of a powerful deity, goddess or spirit on Earth. The relative verb to "alight, to make one's appear ...

by Vishnu, which is his dwarf avatar. The text includes chapters glorifying Vishnu, but includes many more chapters glorifying Shiva. The text also glorifies various goddesses. The text contains chapters on cosmology and mythology typical of a Purana. The text includes ''Saromahatmya'', which is a 28 chapter guide to the tirthas, rivers and forests of the region around Thanesar and

Kurukshetra Kurukshetra (, ) is a city and administrative headquarter of Kurukshetra district in the Indian state of Haryana. It is also known as Dharmakshetra ("Realm of duty ") and as the "Land of the Bhagavad Gita". Legends According to the Pura ...

in modern

, as well as sites in modern eastern Punjab (India). The text also mentions geography and sites in South India.

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