Vishnu

Cambodian statue of Vishnu of the 13th century.

The Vishnu God with the goddess Laksmi, in the temple of Kashurajo.

Vishnu (also called Visnu, in Sanskrit and Hindi: विष्णु Viṣṇu) is a god revered in Hinduism. Along with Brahma and Shiva, Vishnu forms the trimurti; however, ancient Hindu texts also mention other trinities of gods. In Vaisnavism, Vishnu is identical to the abstract metaphysical concept called Saguna Brahman (the Brahman with qualities); being considered the Svayam bhagavan (the supreme), who has various avatars to act as "the preserver, protector" when the world is threatened by evil, chaos and destructive forces. Of his avatars (incarnations of him) we can highlight Krishna, in the Mahabharata, and Rama in the Ramayana. He is also known as Narayana, Jagannath, Vasudeva, Vithoba and Hari.

In Hindu iconography, Vishnu is usually represented with blue skin (dark or pale), and with four arms. He holds in them a lotus flower in his lower left hand, a mace (weapon) in his lower right hand, a shell in his upper left hand, and a disk in his upper right hand.

Introduction

The first appearance of Vishnu is found in the Rig-veda (the oldest text in India, from the middle of the 2nd millennium BC, transmitted orally since in India it is not had still developed writing). There he is presented as a minor god, secondary to other Rigvedic gods. However, in later religious scriptures, Vishnu is one of the main and most powerful deities of the religion, as Vishnu performs amazing actions due to the omnipotence of him, for example:

• Vishnu lies at the bottom of the universe, expands and all the activity of living beings within the cosmos, for him is a simple nap.
• It also has another kind of dream called "Yeogic dream" within the Vaikhunta, a place of precious stones where Vishnu currently inhabits with his family, at the beginning of this dream, lies and sleep, in his breathing exhales millions of universes as material particles.
• One of his objects known as Sudarshana Chakra gives him the ability to kill demons and really colossal beings without any seeming problem.

Several centuries later, in the Atharva-veda (from the end of the 2nd millennium BC) his two wives: Aditi and Sinivali, and a son: Kamadeva are described.

Family

Over the centuries, their parentage changed. In the Majabhárata (3rd century BC), his son Kamadeva will be the son of the god Dharma and in the Bhagavat-purana (10th century AD.) will be the son of the god Shiva. In the Majabhárata and the Puranas already the wives of Vishnu are Laksmi and Sri

Trimurti

In the Puranas, Vishnu became one of the most important gods, and became part of the trimurti ('three forms') in Hindu cosmology; being these:

• Brahma (the Creator, in the mode of passion),
• Vishnú (the Preserver, in the mode of goodness)
• Shiva (the Destroyer, in the form of ignorance).

According to the Padma-purana, Vishnu is the chief god of the trimurti; that is, he is the creator, preserver and destroyer of the universe: when Vishnu decided to create the universe he divided himself into three parts. To create he gave the right part of himself, giving rise to the god Brahma. To protect he gave up the left part of him, giving rise to Vishnu (ie himself) and lastly, to destroy he divided half of him into two parts, giving rise to Shiva. On the other hand, in Shaivism they see it as one of the forms that emanated from Shiva. Similarly, some Hindus, especially the smarta (followers of the smriti regulations), believe that Vishnu is one of many forms of atman or the absolute Brahman.

However Vishnu is more famously identified with his avatars, more especially with Rama and mainly with Krisna.

Paradise

Vishnu dwells in the aforementioned Vaikhunta. From that place beyond the sky, the river Ganges rises from his divine feet and falls in an inaccessible place in the Himalayas, on the head of the god Shiva.

Theological attributes

Representation of Vishnu.

Vishnu possesses six divine glories:

• jñāna (‘knowledge’).
• śakti (‘energy’, ‘power’)
• Bullet (‘force’).
• vīrya (‘virility’).
• tiles (‘replanting’).
• aiśvarya (‘supernatural powers’):
  • animan (‘to become tiny’).
  • laghiman (‘make light’).
  • mahiman (‘make yourself immense’).
  • prāpti (‘log [anything]’).
  • prākāmya (‘obtaining desires’).
  • vaśitva (‘control over others’).
  • īśitva (‘quality of Isvara’, superiority, supremacy.
  • kāmā-avasāyitva (‘Quality of suppressing desires’).
  • vision
  • audition
  • Cogitation
  • discrimination
  • omnipotence
  • speed of thought
  • power of transformation
  • the power to expand or explain

His vajana ('vehicle') is Garuda, the god of birds.

Description of Vishnu

Usually represented as a human-shaped being, with blue skin and four arms holding

• One padma (Lotus flower, whose aroma gives pleasure to the Visnuist devotees),
• One sudarshaná chakrá (very sharp ring similar to that used by ninjas and rajput, which Visnú uses to kill demons),
• a shankhah (caracola, whose sound in India represented victory after killing an enemy) and
• a gold bush (to crush the skull of demons).

He is often seen seated, resting on a lotus flower, with his consort Laksmi sitting on one of his knees.

On his chest is a lock of white hair (or a white mark) called a srivatsa (Sri's abode).

Other forms of Vishnu

Maha Vishnu

Mahāviṣṇu (the 'great Vishnu') is its greatest aspect, and the one in charge of creating all the universes. He lies down in a place in the Vaikuntha spiritual world and his sleep is called yoga-nidra ('yogic sleep'). From his breath emanate (as particles) the millions of material universes. In the Devi Mahatmyam it is said that the spiritual aspect of Maya (called Yogamaya) covers Vishnu's eyes to make him sleep in yoganidra.^{[citation needed]}

While sleeping, he dreams the activities of all living things.^{[citation needed]}

According to Advaita philosophy, the impersonal Brahman (God or universal principle without form or qualities) is the origin of all forms of God; On the other hand, according to the Vishnuists, Brahman is only the effulgence brahma-yioti ('divine brightness') that emanates from the body of Vishnu's forms.

Garbhodaka-shai Vishnu

Within each matter universe generated from Mahā Vishnu's body, he expands and lies at the bottom of each universe (imagined as an egg at the bottom of which is an ocean). That expansion is called Garbhodaka-shai Vishnu.

Kshirodaka-shai Vishnu

Hindus believed that the Earth was flat, and that it was not just another star. In it there was an ocean of salt water, which surrounded India, and then several concentric oceans unreachable by human beings: fresh water, milk, fried butter, honey, etc.). There is another expansion of 'Vishnu lying in the ocean of milk'.

Paramatman

This form of Vishnu also expands to be present within each body that occupies the large number of souls. He is called Parama-ātman ('super soul').

Shalagram shila

There is a form of Vishnu as a deity, which is a generally black and spherical stone (actually an amanita fossil), which is called shálagram shila.

Ananta Shesha

The thousand-headed serpent Ananta Shesha is an expansion of Balaram (first expansion of krishna) as a servant.

Laksmi, the consort

Vishnu's consort is Laksmi-devi, the Goddess of fortune. This sakti ('energy') is the samvit ('complete knowledge') of the god, while the other five attributes arise from this samvit. Śakti is the aham-mata ('thought of self') of Vishnu. She is personified in Hindu folklore and is called Sri or Laksmi. She manifests in: kríia-sakti ('creative activity'), and bhuti-sakti ('creation') of God.

Vishnu cannot be part of his own energy or creativity (ahamta: 'quality of self'). Therefore he needs his consort Goddess Laksmi to always be with him, untouched by anyone else. That is why the goddess has to accompany Vishnu in all his incarnations.

Worship

Vishnu is the main god of Vishnuism. Today Hindus believe that Vishnu incarnated in India as various avatars. He is frequently worshiped in the form of these avatars.

It is not clearly known when or how the worship of Vishnu began. In the Vedas (compilations of the beliefs of the Aryans), Vishnu is classified as a minor god, closely associated with Indra. Only later in Hindu mythology did he become a member of the trimurti and ultimately the most important of that religion's deities.

The Sri Ranganathaswamy Temple in Srirangame (Tiruchirapalli, Tamil Nadu, India) is a Hindu temple dedicated to Vishnu. It occupies an area of 630 000 m2 with a perimeter 4 116 m, making it the largest temple in India and one of the largest religious complexes in the world.

Names

Like all Hindu deities, Vishnu has many names, perhaps more than any other, listed in the Vishnu Sahasranama ('the thousand names of Vishnu'), which appear in the Mahābhārata . The names are generally derived from the so-called an-anta kaliana gunas ('in-finite fortunate attributes') of the Lord. The following are some names with special status:

• Achiuta: ‘infallible’ (a: negative particle; Chiuta: ‘that can fall’.
• Ananta: infinite (a: negative particle; anta: ‘end’).
  • It is also called its Ananta Shesha expansion.
• Ananta-saiana: he lies on the Ananta snake.
• Antariami: ‘internal, the controller’
• Bhagavan: ‘of the glories, the possessor’.
• Jari (proper of the Sanskrit root hrī which means ‘removing [sin or suffering]’.
• Jrishīkesh: ‘love of the senses’ (being jriśika: ‘sent’ e īśá: ‘sir, controller’).
• Hrishīka Nātha: ‘love of the senses’ (being jriśika: ‘sent’ e nātha: ‘sir’.
• Jagannātha: ‘master of the world’.
• Keshavá: ‘[it has] beautiful, abundant or long hair.’
• Mādhava: ‘spring’
• Mahapurusha: ‘Great Enjoyer’ mahā: ‘large’, and Purish: ‘varón’).
• Naraianah ‘of men, the refuge’ (being Nara: ‘Man’, ayāna: ‘refugio’).
• Padmanābha: ‘loto-ombligo’. This is called Garbhodakashai Vishnu, who has a gigantic lotus flower that is born of his navel. From that flower is born Lord Brahma, creator of the universe.
• Paramatma: ‘suprema-alma’
• Púrusha: ‘varón’ or ‘different’
• Shesha: ‘end’
• Vaikuntha Natha: the Lord of Vaikunthá (the spiritual paradise where Vishnu and his devotees live).
• Vishnu: ‘the omnipenetrant’.

Avatars

Main article: Avatars of Vishnu

• Parashurama (‘hacha-placer’): Incarnation as a brahman who killed thousands of rabble warriors who had deviated from the path of religion.
• Rama (‘placer’): king of Aiodhia and husband of Sita. The rapture of this (like that of Helena de Troya) generated the war that is related in the Ramaiana.
• Vámana (‘enano’) or Trivikrama (‘the three great steps’): Vishnu in the form of a dwarf.
• Krisna (‘the Black’) appeared in the duapara iuga era, along with his brother Balarama. According to the Bhāgavata-purana (XI century AD), Balaram joined Krisna as the incarnation of the divine serpent Ananta Sesha.
• Varaha: gigantic pig who discovered the Earth sniffing the muddy bottom of the universe, and who relocated it to its fixed place in the center of the universe.

Krishna Names

As Krisna is the most important incarnation of Vishnu, their names are sometimes used interchangeably. In Krisnaism (called Bengal Vishnuism) Krisna is considered to be the supreme being and not Vishnu. They see Vishnu as an avatar of Krisna and not vice versa, as is traditional.

Name and etymology

• vischnauin the AITS system (international alphabet for the transliteration of the Sanskrit).
• in devanagari writing of the Sanskrit.
• Pronunciation:
  • [vi)u] (approximately "virshnu") in Sanskrit language
  • vi).u in the current languages of India (such as Bengali, Hindi, Marathi or Urdu).
• Etymology:
  • could mean ‘omnipenetrante’ or ‘worker’ in some form of ancient Sanskrit (in the Rigvedatext from the middle of the second millennium to C.).
  • could also mean ‘omnipresent’.^{[chuckles]required]}

Vishnu Image Gallery

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  A Vishnu representation of the 5th century in the Udayagiri Caves

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  11th century sculpture with Vishnu and Lakshmi and Sarasvati goddess.

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  A representation of Vishnu of the 14th century, Thailand.

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  A statue in Bangkok with Vishnu on his vehicle (Vájana), an eagle.

Additional bibliography

• Brown, C. Mackenzie (1983). "The Origin and Transmission of the Two "Bhāgavata Purāna": A Canonical and Theological Dilemma. Journal of the American Academy of Religion. Oxford University Press. 51 (4): 551–567. doi:10.1093/jaarel/li.4.551. JSTOR 1462581.
• Brown, Cheever Mackenzie (1998). The Devī Gītā: the song of the Goddess; a translation, annotation, and commentary. SUNY Press. ISBN 978-0-7914-3940-1.
• Bryant, Edwin F., ed. (2007). Krishna: A Sourcebook. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-514891-6. [Via Google Books
• Cutler, Norman (1987). Songs of Experience. Indiana University Press. p. 1. ISBN 978-0-253-35334-4.
• Deussen, Paul (1997). Sixty Upanishads of the Veda. Motilal Banarsidass. ISBN 978-81-208-1467-7.
• Glucklich, Ariel (2008). The Strides of Vishnu: Hindu Culture in Historical Perspective: Hindu Culture in Historical Perspective. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-971825-2.
• Soifer, Deborah A. (1991). The Myths of Narasimha and Vamana: Two Avatars in Cosmological Perspective. SUNY Press. ISBN 9780791407998.
• Guy, John (2014). Lost Kingdoms: Hindu-Buddhist Sculpture of Early Southeast Asia. Metropolitan Museum of Art. ISBN 978-1-58839-524-5.
• Kumar Das, Sisir (2006). A history of Indian literature, 500–1399. Sahitya Akademi. ISBN 978-81-260-2171-0.
• Lamb, Ramdas (2002). Rapt in the Name: The Ramnamis, Ramnam, and Untouchable Religion in Central India. SUNY Press. ISBN 978-0-7914-5386-5.
• Mahony, William K. (1998). The Artful Universe: An Introduction to the Vedic Religious Imagination. State University of New York Press. ISBN 978-0-7914-3579-3. Translation by Richard W. Lariviere (1989). The Nāradasmr.ti. University of Philadelphia.
• Olivelle, Patrick (2007). "The Date and Provenance of the Viggerna Smharati" (PDF). Indologica Taurinensia. 33: 49-163. Archived from the original (PDF) on 22 July 2011. Retrieved 23 October 2015.
• Rocher, Ludo (1986). The Puranas. Otto Harrassowitz Verlag. ISBN 978-3447025225.
• Devdut Pattanaik (2011). 7 Secrets of Vishnu. westland ltd. ISBN 978-93-80658-68-1.
• Daniélou, Alain (1991) [1964]. The myths and gods of India: the classic work on Hindu polytheism from the Princeton Bollingen series. Rochester, Vt.: Inner Traditions International. pp. 164–187. ISBN 0-89281-354-7.
• Coleman, T. (2011). "Avatāra." Oxford Bibliographies Online: Hinduism. doi:10.1093/obo/9780195399318-0009. Short introduction and bibliography of sources about Avatāra (Subscription or UK public library membership required.).
• Matchett, Freda (2001). Krishna, Lord or Avatara?: the relationship between Krishna and Vishnu. Routledge. ISBN 978-0700712816.
• Paul Hacker (1978). Lambert Schmithausen (ed.). Zur Entwicklung der Avataralehre (in German). Otto Harrassowitz. ISBN 978-3447048606.
• Mittal, Sushil; Thursby, G. R. (2005). The Hindu World. New York: Routelge. ISBN 978-0-203-67414-7.
• Sen, S.C. (1937). The Mystical Philosophy Of The Upanishads. Cosmo Publications. ISBN 978-81-307-0660-3.
• Rukmani, T. S. (1993). "Siddhis in the Bhāgavata Purāna and in the Yogasutras of Patanjali – a Comparison". In Wayman, Alex (ed.). Researches in Indian and Buddhist philosophy: essays in honour of Professor Alex Wayman. Motilal Banarsidass. pp. 217-226. ISBN 978-81-208-0994-9.
• Sheridan, Daniel (1986). The Advaitic Theism of the Bhāgavata Purāna. Columbia, MO: South Asia Books. ISBN 978-81-208-0179-0.
• Sheth, Noel (2002). "Hindu Avatāra and Christian Incarnation: A Comparison." Philosophy East and West. University of Hawai'i Press. 52 (1 (January)): 98–125. doi:10.1353/pew.2002,0005. JSTOR 1400135. S2CID 170278631.
• Varadpande, Manohar Laxman (1987). History of Indian theatre, Vol. 3. Abhinav Publications. ISBN 978-81-7017-221-5.