Book of The Vishanti

The Book of the Vishanti is a fictional grimoire appearing in Marvel Comics, most closely associated with the character of Doctor Strange. It first appeared in Strange Tales #116 (January 1964) and was created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko. It is the greatest known source of "white" magical knowledge on the Earth of the Marvel Universe dimension. It contains many spells of defensive magic, and is itself indestructible. Its counterpart is the Darkhold which contains all the knowledge of black magic in the Marvel Universe and is likewise indestructible. Still, it is possible to destroy single pages of either book, but the balancing spell in the other book will be destroyed as well to maintain a mystical balance. Also the Vishanti, a collective of the three powerful magical beings Agamotto, Oshtur and Hoggoth, must allow the spell to be destroyed.

Even though the Book of Vishanti is a tome of benevolent magic, the spells within can still be dangerous when used improperly, as proven when a young, inexperienced Doctor Strange tried to use the Book to resurrect his dead brother Victor Strange, but the spell, known as the Vampiric Verses, would cause Vincent Strange to become the vampire Baron Blood years later.

Apart from spells and mystical knowledge, the Book of Vishanti also contains information about persons and events as seen in The Book of Vishanti backstories in Doctor Strange vol. 3. It is unknown how exactly the Book is able to contain very recent information while written thousands of years ago.