Vishnu

(“all-pervasive”) Along with Shiva and
the Goddess, one of the three most
important deities in the Hindu pantheon. All three of these are notable for
being almost unmentioned in the
Vedas, the earliest Hindu religious texts,
and the ascendancy of these three and
the gradual eclipse of the Vedic gods
points clearly to a definitive shift in
Hindu religious life. Of the three, Vishnu
has the most significant presence in the
Vedas. Many of the hymns in which he is
mentioned describe him as a helper to
the storm-god Indra, the primary Vedic
god, and one of Vishnu’s epithets here is
Upendra (“junior Indra”). Yet he also
appears in some of the late hymns as an
independent agent, who is associated
with marvelous deeds for the good of
the cosmos, such as taking three steps to
measure out the universe. Vishnu is also
associated with the sun, both in his ability to move through the heavens, and to
fall on (and thus “observe”) all things.
In the divine triad of BrahmaVishnu-Shiva, Vishnu is identified as the
sustainer or maintainer of the cosmos.
One manifestation of this can be seen in
a common creation myth, which begins
with Vishnu lying on the back of his serpent couch, Shesha, in the primordial
ocean at the time of cosmic dissolution
(pralaya). A lotus sprouts from Vishnu’s
navel, which opens to reveal Brahma,
the creator, who begins the work of creation. Vishnu presides over the creation,
and when the time for dissolution comes
again, the entire process reverses, and
the universe is drawn back into Vishnu,
who is thus seen as the source of all.
The other way that Vishnu sustains
the cosmos is through the action of his
avatars or incarnations, who come into
the world to restore balance to a universe dangerously out of equilibrium,
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Vishnu
Vishnu as depicted in a granite carving, Hampi.
usually because of a demon grown disproportionately strong. There are ten
generally reckoned avatars. The first
four are in nonhuman forms: the Fish
avatar, Tortoise avatar, Boar avatar,
and Man-Lion avatar. The other six are
in human form, often as sages or heroes:
Vamana avatar, Parashuram avatar,
Rama avatar, Krishna avatar, Buddha
avatar, and Kalki avatar; the last has yet
to come. In each of these cases, Vishnu
takes form to avert some sort of disaster
and to maintain the integrity of the cosmos. The doctrine of the avatars provided
a mechanism to assimilate existing
deities into the larger pantheon and to
give them recognizable status of their
own. Although most of the avatars are
no longer objects of worship (the Boar
and Man-Lion avatars each had a substantial following early in the common
era), in much of northern India the worship of Rama and Krishna has largely
eclipsed that of Vishnu himself, who
has largely faded into the background.
In southern India, Vishnu is still
an important object of worship, particularly in the Shrivaishnava community.
Aside from the doctrine of the avatars,
important local deities have also been
assimilated into the pantheon as forms
of Vishnu; the most significant
examples are Jagannath, Venkateshvara,
and Vithoba.
In medieval Hinduism sectarian
rivalry developed between Vaishnavas
and Shaivas, with each claiming that
their chosen deity (Vishnu and Shiva,
respectively) was supreme. Although
Vaishnavas see Vishnu as the supreme
power in the universe, his mythic character and activity differ sharply from
Shiva’s. Whereas Shiva is associated with
ascetic life and practices (tapas), and
thus with the religious power generated
by such practices, Vishnu’s headdress is
a crown, and his persona is that of an allruling king. Whereas Shiva destroys his
mythic adversaries using raw power,
from which all subtlety is absent, Vishnu
more often triumphs through cunning,
cleverness, and trickery. Each deity’s
adherents affirm their divinity as the
preeminent power in the universe, from
which all the other gods gain their
power, and both are seen as gracious
and loving to their devotees (bhakta).