Devalok
God · All traditions · Pan-India

Vishnu

Also called: Narayana, Hari, Perumal, Mayon, Trivikrama, Srinivasa

Vishnu begins as a minor god of the Rigveda, addressed in only a handful of hymns and remembered for pacing out the worlds in three steps beside Indra. The Brahmanas make him the sacrifice itself in dwarf form; the late Vedic and epic layers fuse him with the cosmic Purusha and with Narayana resting on the waters. In the Puranas and in Vaishnava theology he is the sustainer who descends as avatars whenever order fails, reclining on the serpent Shesha in the ocean of milk with Lakshmi beside him and Brahma seated on the lotus from his navel. Shaiva and Shakta texts tell the same cosmogony with the roles reversed, so any claim of supremacy is recorded here as the view of the tradition that makes it.

preservation avatar cosmogony

Sources: Vishnu — Wikipedia; Narayana — Wikipedia; Vishnu — World History Encyclopedia; Shiva Purana — Wikipedia; Devi Mahatmya — Wikipedia · see Vishnu's web

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Coverage

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Dashavatara at overview level only — each avatar is its own cycle (dashavatara/<avatar>). Unverified: Srivatsa-as-footprint, Chhera Pahara, Dwarka submergence, Guruvayur sub-legends.

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