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Vishnu

Vishnu (IAST viṣṇu, Devanagari विष्णु, with honorific Shri Vishnu; śrī viṣṇu, श्री विष्णु ), is a form of God, in Hinduism. For Vaishnavas, He is the Ultimate Reality or God, as is Shiva for Shaivites. In Trimurti concept (sometimes called the Hindu Trinity), He is the second aspect of God (the others being Brahma and Shiva).

Known as the Preserver, He is most famously identified with His avatars, or incarnations, especially Krishna and Rama. He is also frequently referred to as Narayana.

For the followers of Vaishnavism, known as Vaishnavas, He is the Ultimate Reality and not just one form of God. Smartas, who follow Advaita philosophy, believe that deities such as Vishnu or Shiva are various forms of one ultimate higher power ("Brahman"), which has no specific form, name, face or features. Vaishnavism however believes that God can transcend all personal characteristics yet can also have personal characteristics for the grace of the human devotee. Personal characteristics are considered an aid for the devotee to focus on God. It also believes that it is not necessarily wrong to view a form of God as long as it is recognized that God is not limited to a particular form. Nonetheless, there are many Vaishnava sects, most notably Vadakalai Iyengars, who believe that Vishnu's actual form is not beyond human comprehension, and that His form is exactly as shown in pictures and idols.

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

Hindus believe that Vishnu incarnates periodically for the establishment and protection of righteousness, good dharma and destruction of evil adharma; see avatar for more information.

Etymology

The traditional Hindu explanation of the name Viṣṇu 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". The early commentator on the Vedas,Yaska, in his Nirukta, defines Vishnu as 'vishnu vishateh; one who enters everywhere', and 'yad vishito bhavati tad vishnurbhavati; that which is free from fetters and bondages is Vishnu.'

Adi Sankara in his commentary on Vishnu Sahasranama (Swami Tapasyananda's translation, 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 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 Vedas

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.

The most celebrated act of Vishnu in the Rigveda is the 'three steps' by which he strode over this (universe) and in three places planted his step. The 'Vishnu Sukta' of the Rig Veda (1.154) says that the first and second of Vishnu's strides (those encompassing the earth and air) are visible to men and the third is in the heights of heaven (sky). This last place is described as Vishnu's supreme abode in RV 1.22.20:

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

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,

(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.)

One early commentator, Aurnavabha, who is mentioned by Yaska in his Nirukta, interprets the three steps as the different positions of the sun at his rising, culmination, and setting. Though such solar aspects have been associated with Vishnu by tradition as well as modern-scholarship, he was not just the representation of the sun for in Rigveda he traverses in his strides both vertically and horizontally.

In hymns I.22.17, 1.154.3, 1.154.4 he strides across the earth with three steps, in VI.49.13 , VII.100.3 strides across the earth three times and in I.154.1,I.155.5,VII.29.7 he strides vertically, with the final step in the heavens. The same Veda also says he strode wide and created space in the cosmos for Indra to fight Vritra. By his stride he said to have made dwelling for men possible, the three being a symbolic representation of its all-encompassing nature. This all-enveloping nature, assistance to Indra and benevolence to men were to remain the enduring attributes of Vishnu. As the triple-strder he is known as Tri-vikrama and as Uru-krama for the strides were wide.(The reference to the three strides of Vishnu in the Rig Veda is most possibly a prototype for the later legend of Vamana.)

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.

It is inexplicable how Vishnu (and Shiva) rose to the prominence enjoyed currently by referring only to the Vedic hymns as Indra and Agni are invoked far more. It must be remembered that these hymns are liturgical in nature and meant primarily for the Soma sacrifice, especially dear to Indra. They may not represent the popular religion of those times as Jan Gonda cautions. (He also gives an elaborate explantion of how the notion of Vishnu spread over various hymns contains the germs of future attributes.) In some Rgvedic hymns, Indra seeks the help of Vishnu in destroying Vritra, indicating that he is not sufficient to accomplish it on his own.(This story can be found in later epics and Puranas with ever increasing emphasis on Vishnu's role, till in the Bhagavata Purana, Vritra is a warrior, philosopher and devotee in whose comparison Indra is a pale figure.)

In another interpretation, the characteristic of Vishnu as the Supreme God appeared much earlier in the Vedic texts. For example, the following Vedic hymns express that point of view:

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