Vishṇu

Description

HINDUS are either Vaishṇavites (followers of Vishṇu), Śaivites (followers of Śiva) or Śāktās (those who offer worship to Śakti, the Divine Mother). This would indicate the great importance of Vishṇu, probably the most popular of the Hindu gods. Though in the Hindu Trinity he cames after Brahmā, Vishṇu remain preeminent. He is the Protector-God. Of the three gods of the Hindu Triad, Vishṇu, being the Preserver, appears most humane. In his sympathies and attributes, he is very humane ans so he is the most popular.

The Rig Vedic Vishṇu is conceived as the sun in its three stages — rising, zenith and setting. The Vedic Vishṇu’s great deed and constitutes his great glory. With three steps Vishṇu, a solar deity, courses through the three divisions of the universe, ‘the god being manifest in a threefold form, Agni on earth, Indra or Vāyū in the atmosphere and Sūrya in the sky.’ He is said to have taken these three steps for the preservation and benefit of mortals. The zenith is appropriately called Vishṇu’s place. His third step cannot be seen with human eyes. It is here that Indra dwells.

The idea of swift motion is consistently associated with Vishṇu in the Vedas.

His association with sacrifice made him an important deity later as the importance sacrifices increased. In post-Vedic literature, the wheel in his hand is compared to the Sun. The Eagle, (Garuḍa), the king of the birds, is his vehicle. The eagle is also called Sūparṇa. In the Rig Veda, Sūparṇa is the attribute of the sun. This indicates the solar origin of Vishṇu.

In the Purāṇic period, Vishṇu became a very influential god, the most important of the Hindu Trinity. According to Dr. Banerjea, this new Vishṇu was the amalgam of three god-concepts (the man-god Vāsudeva-Krishṇa, the Vedic Sun-god Vishṇu and the cosmic god Nārāyaṇa of the Brāhmaṇas).

Vishṇu is conceived in his five main aspects—Para the highest, Vyuha the emanatory, Vibhava the incarnatory, Antaryāmin the inner controller of all beings, and Ārochā the iconic representation of the god.

Vishṇu’s supreme task is that of preservation. His incarnations (avatāras) were necessary to carry out the supreme work of preservation of the human race. Whenever the forces of Evil began to rule the world of men, Vishṇu, the Great Preserver, left the Heavens, descended to the world of men and rescued men from Evil. Sometimes he assumed forms for the attainment of particular objectives. A study of Vishṇu’s incarnations would show that some of these forms are cosmic in character, while some are obviously based on historical events. Historical personages came to be endowed with divine attributes and later came to be regarded as incarnations of the deity himself. It is also of interest to note the evolution of these incarnations from the lower to higher forms of life—fish (Matsya), tortoise (Kurma), boar (Varāha), to half-man, half-animal (Narasiṁha), to the Dwarf incarnation (Vāmana), and to great heroes, endowed with many superhuman qualities.

The doctrine of Vishṇu’s incarnations satisfied the great need of a people for a religion of faith in a personal God, ‘for a God sympathising with humanity and meeting it in its need. It expresses the desire for a divine deliverer, amid the evils and miseries of life.’¹

Iconography

Vishṇu should be seated on Garuḍa (Eagle). He has one face and four or more arms. He carries in his right hands an arrow, a rosary, a club; and in his left hands a hide, a cloth and rainbow.

He also holds a chakra (wheel) and gadā (mace).

The chakra represents rotation of the world, as also the Wheel of Dharma, the Wheel of Time and the Wheel of Planets.

Garuḍa is the mind pervading the bodies of all the creatures. There is nothing quicker and stronger than the mind.

Vishṇu’s eight hands symbolise the four quarters and the intermediate directions.

Śaṅkha (conch) represents the sky, chakra the air, gadā the light and padma (lotus) the waters.²

Informations

Colour: —

Vehicle: Eagle (Garuda)

Āsana: —

Faces: One

Hands: Four

Objects in hands/Symbols: Mace, lotus, conch, wheel³

Hand pose: —

Hair dress: Kirita crown (Fez-type crown worn by Vishṇu)

Consort: Śri and Lakshmi

Miscellaneous: Wears sometimes a flowergarland as the sacred thread

Variations: —

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