Book excerpt: Vishnu Puran is believed to be one of the most important Puranas, if not the most valuable ancient record of the faith called Sanatan Dharma. Its stories reveal about the various exploits of Vishnu incarnations. In rendering this holy text into English, the attention has been paid to put only those details that have certain fundamental truths of life. Hence, in this work those details have been deliberately omitted which may appear rather confusing or uninteresting to the reader not having the initiation in the sacred love. The main thrust of this attempt has been to show a clear glimpse of our ancient hermitage.