This is the third of a series of short articles on various deities. As I am not a Hindu myself, I would appreciate any feedback from Hindus.
The Avatars
The story of Vishnu, an aspect of the Hindu Trimurti, begins with the avatars. Although a benevolent deity, Vishnu himself was unable to intervene directly in the affairs of the world. Instead, he manifested through a series of incarnations known as avatars. The avatars each had all of the attributes of Vishnu and in fact identified themselves with him. According to different sources the total number of avatars may have been innumerable or restricted to twenty-four or, most often, to ten. These were:
1) A fish. The ancestors of humanity, the Manu, were under threat from a flood. As a fish, Vishnu saved them and then went underwater to search for the sacred Vedas, hidden by the demon Hayagriva in the confusion.
2) A tortoise. The devas (luminous heavenly beings) and asuras (supreme minds) were using mount Mandara as a beater to whisk the sea into milk in order to create Amrta, the essence of immortality. But the mountain was sinking as a result and Vishnu, as a tortoise, crawled underneath it to form a steady base.
3) A boar. Hiranyaksa and the other demons had become so numerous on the world that it had begun to sink into the sea. Vishnu, as a boar, caught the world on his tusks and returned it.
4) Narasimha, the man-lion. Brahma had bestowed a gift on the demon Hiranyakasipu (Hiranyaksa’s brother). He was unable to be killed by a human or animal neither by day nor by night, inside nor outside the temple. Narasimha defeated him by emerging from a pillar of the temple in time to save his devotee, Prahlada.
5) Vamana, the dwarf (see below)
6) Parasurama. He rid the world of the ksatriyas
7) Rama. He ended the misdeeds of the ravanas
8 ) Krishna. He conquered the cruel king, Kamsa
9) Buddha. He forbid bloody sacrifices
10) Kalkin. The last of the avatars is to arrive on a white horse to punish the wicked and reward the good
Vamana, the dwarf, and the emergence of Vishnu
The devas finally overcame the asuras thanks to Vishnu’s fifth avatar, the dwarf Vamana. The asuras had agreed to leave the devas any territory that they could measure in three steps. Up stepped Vamana who promptly traversed the earth, sky and intervening space. This was the moment of Vishnu’s emergence from hiranyagarbha, the golden matrix or cosmic egg. Omnipresent and with the task of extending his influence indefinitely, Vishnu became a supreme divinity with Brahma emerging from a flowering lotus on his naval to create the new world. Between creations, Vishnu (who symbolises space) sleeps on Sesa, the thousand headed serpent. It is a mystical sleep in which he plans the next creation.
Symbols & Family
Vishnu’s retinue include Garuda, his eagle steed, and Hanuman, the king of the monkeys. He holds a disc, conch, club, lotus flower and, sometimes, a sword and bow.
Lakhsmi is his first wife, the supreme beneficent goddess who is said to be the model woman. She is the energy and strength of action of Vishnu. His second wife is Bhumi, the Earth.
Vishnu is sometimes confused with Prajapati as both form the centre of the world and the place of sacrifice as well as being benevolent.
Bhakti & the Blinded Ascetics
Vishnu also appeared as Narayana, a brilliant, radiant being – so brilliant that three ascetics, Ekata, Dvita and Trita were blinded when they saw him. Vishnu explained to them that contemplation of the supreme being could only come about through Bhakti, exclusive devotion to God. Study of the Vedas, non-violence and sacrifice were irrelevant to that path.
The Vyuhas
Whereas the avatars were pure incarnations of Vishnu himself, it became necessary for the deity to divide himself in order to perform various functions. These partial emanations were the three Vyuhas, the brother, son and grandson of Krishna (Samkarsana, Pradyumna and Aniruddha). Instead of possessing all of Krishna’s six attributes, each Vyuha took only two. Samkarsana displayed knowledge and might, Pradyumna was endowed with power and vigour and Aniruddha took efficiency and influence .
This is just a brief introduction to the attributes and stories of Vishnu and I may add more detail at a later stage.
The universal form of Vishnu, displaying the avatars
Do you have any personal experience of or interest in Vishnu or Hinduism that you would like to share? If so, please leave a comment below.
References/Sources used (please use my bookstore if you want to order the books):
Comte, F. (1991) ‘The Wordsworth Dictionary of Mythology’, Wordsworth, Kent
Image attributions
Vishnu image licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license by Pravin Premkumar
Avatar image licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license by Steve Jurvetson
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