Vishnu

Known as the Preserver, He is most famously identified with His avatars, or incarnations of God, most especially Krishna and Rama. Additionally, another important name for Vishnu is Narayana.

Vaishnavite Hindus also worship Vishnu as an abstract form (i.e., God with vague form) as a saligrama. Use of the saligrama is similar to the use of lingam, a form of Shiva

Etymology

The traditional Hindu explanation of the name Vishnu involves the root viś, meaning "to settle, to enter", or also (in the Rigveda) "to pervade", and a suffix nu, translating to approximately "the All-Pervading One". For example Adi Sankara, in Swami Tapasyananda's translation of his commentary on Vishnu Sahasranama (Ramakrishna Math publications) states derivation from this root, with a meaning "presence everywhere" ("As He pervades everything, vevesti, He is called Visnu"). Adi Sankara states (regarding Vishnu Purana, 3.1.45): "The Power of the Supreme Being has entered within the universe. The root Viś means 'enter into.'"

Regarding the suffix, Manfred Mayrhofer (Indo-Aryan etymological dictionary, 1996, II.566f.) proposes that the nasal is analogous to jiṣṇu "victorious". Mayrhofer further suggests that the name goes back to an already Indo-Iranian *višnu, and was replaced by rašnu in Zoroastrian Iran.

The root viś is also associated with viśva "all" (possibly by popular etymology, the word is generally believed to derive from Indo-Iranian *vi-k'o-, influenced by sarva "all", but a minority opinion does, indeed, derive viśva as from vik'-so, (J. Knobloch (1980)).

Suggestions involving other roots include include vi-ṣṇu "crossing the back", vi-ṣ-ṇu "facing towards all sides" and viṣ-ṇu "active", as well as attempts to explain Vishnu as an amalgate of two unrelated words, or as being derived from a non-Aryan root (see Mayrhofer, A Concise Etymological Sanskrit Dictionary (1976) III.231f., J. Gonda, Aspects of Early Visnuism (ISBN 8120810872, reprint 1993) for a collection of references). The name is continued in Prakrit veṇhu, viṇhu.

pre-Puranic Vishnu

In the Rigveda, Vishnu is mentioned 93 times. He is frequently invoked with other gods, especially with Indra, whom he assists in killing Vritra, and with whom he drinks Soma. His companionship with Indra is still reflected by his later epitheta Indrānuja and Upendra. His distinguishing characteristic in the Vedas is his association with Light, or even his identification with the Sun. He appears as striding across the heavens in three paces, by Rigvedic commentators explained as denoting the threefold manifestations of light in the form of fire, lightning, and the Sun, or as designating the three daily stations of the Sun in rising, culminating, and setting.

Vishnu as a solar deity appears e.g. in RV 1.22.20:

The princes evermore behold / that loftiest place where Visnu is / Laid as it were an eye in heaven. (trans. Grittith)

Griffith's "princes" are the sūri, either "inciters" or lords of a sacrifice, or priests charged with pressing the Soma. The verse is later quoted as expressing Vishnu's supremacy by Vaishnavites, while in the Rigveda the Sun is not a high-ranking deity, c.f. e.g. RV 2.12.7,

He who gave being to the Sun and Morning, who leads the waters, He, O men, is Indra. (trans. Griffith)

where Indra appears as senior to the Sun.

In the Vedas, Vishnu appears not yet included in the class of the Adityas (unless it is implied that he is identical with Surya, and included as the eighth Aditya), but in later texts he appears as heading them. In the Brahmanas, he is associated with sacrifice, and on one occasion described as a dwarf.

His rise to supremacy is apparent in the epics (Mahabharata, Ramayana), and from this period he may be considered a manifestation of the Singular God. The division of Hinduism in Vaishnavism and Shaivaism appears only with the Puranas, where Vishnu's descents in ten principal Avatars become his distinguishing characteristic.

Theological attributes of Vishnu and more

Vishnu takes form as an all-inclusive deity, known as Purusha or Mahāpurusha, Paramātma [Supreme Soul], Antaryāmi [In-dweller], and He is the Sheshin [Totality] in whom all souls are contained. He is Bhagavat or Bhagavan, which in Sanskrit means "possessing bhāga (Divine Glory)".

Vishnu possesses six such divine glories, namely,

However, the actual number of auspicious qualities of Vishnu are countless, with the above-mentioned six qualities being the most important. Other important qualities attributed to God are Gambhirya (inestimatable grandeur), Audarya (generosity), and Karunya (compassion.)

Vishnu's Relations with other Deities

Vishnu's consort is Lakshmi, the Goddess of wealth. Maya is the samvit (the primary intelligence) of Vishnu, while the other five attributes emerge from this samvit and hence Maya is his ahamata, activity, or Vishnu's Power. This power of God, Maya, is personified and is called Maya, Vishnumaya, or Mahamaya, and She is said to manifest Herself in, 1) kriyāshakti, (Creative Activity) and 2) bhütishakti (Creation) of Universe. Hence this world cannot part with His creativity i.e., ahamta, which is a feminine form and is called Maya.

His vehicle is Garuda, the eagle; who is a part of His creation. He needs no support for anything He does in and outside this world.

Depiction of Vishnu

The Rigveda says: Vishnu can travel in three strides. The first stride is the Earth. The second stride is the visible sky. The third stride cannot be seen by men and is the heaven where the gods and the righteous dead live. (This feature of three strides also appears in the story of his avatar Vamana called Trivikrama.) The Sanskrit for "to stride" is the root kram; its reduplicated perfect tense is chakram (guņa grade) or chakra (zero-grade), and in the Rigveda He is called by epithets such as vi-chakra-māņas = "he who has made 3 strides". The Sanskrit word chakra also mans "wheel". That may have suggested the idea of Vishnu carrying a chakra.

The Bhagavata Purana describes the various lilas of twenty-five avatara of Vishnu.

1) Catursana 2) Narada Muni 3) Varaha 4) Matsya 5) Yajna 6) Nara Narayana 7) Kapila 8) Dattatreya 9) Hayasirsa 10) Hamsa 11) Prsnigarbha 12) Rsabha 13) Prthu 14) Nrsimha 15) Kurma 16) Dhanvantari 17) Mohini 18) Vamanadeva 19) Parasurama 20) Raghavendra 21) Vyasa 22) Balarama 23) Krishna 24) Buddha  25) Kalki

Worship

It is not clearly known when or how the worship of Vishnu began. In the Vedas, and the information on Aryan beliefs, Vishnu is associated with Indra. However, Shukavak N. Dasa, a Vaishnavite scholar, in reference at this link has commentated that Srivaishnavites would note that:

Nevertheless, it was only later in Hindu history that Vishnu became a member of the Trimurti and hence is one of the most important forms of God in contemporary Hinduism.

Names

 

An ancient statue of Vishnu as Narasimha, his fourth avatara

Vishnu has a number of names, collected in the Vishnu sahasranama ("Vishnu's thousand names"), which occurs in the Mahabharata. In Vishnu Sahasranama Vishnu is praised as the Supreme God.

The names are generally derived from the anantakalyanagunas (infinite auspicious attributes) of the Lord. Some names are:

Other names:

Theological beliefs and philosophy

Major branches of Vaishnavism include:-