VISHNU, said in the Veda.s t,o be called the unconquerable, and occasionally associated with Indra. In the Brahmanas he acquires new attri butes. He is mentioned in Menu, the Mahabharat a , and the Puranas. There is extant the anonymous Institutes of Vishnu, known as the Vishnu Smriti, which Julius Jolly translated in 1883. But to ordinary Hindus, and their mythology, Vishnu is the second person in the triad or trimurti of Hindu deities, and is worshipped as the Supreme I3eing by about sixty millions of the people of India. He is a personification of the preserving power, and his worshippers are more numerous than all the other sects. He has on nine occasions assumed human and also other shapes (styled avatar), and has yet to appear in his last shape, that of a white horse. Of his avatars, the first four were as animals, and five have been in human shape. Vishnu is a personi fication of the sun, or, conversely, the sun is a type of him. This character, as well as that of time, he shares with Brahma and Siva. But Vishnu is sometimes the earth. He is also water, or the fluid and humid plinciple generally. Hence he is air; he is also space, and his colour is blue, its apparent tint. In pictures, Vishnu's ethereal character is indicated by mounting him, as his vahan, on a garuda composed partly of the eagle and partly of the man. Images aud pictures of Vishnu either represent him in his own person, or in that of any of his avatara or incarnations and such pictures may generally be distinguished' from those of other deities by the chank shell and a wheel or disc, called a chakra, in his hands. When whirled by Vi shnu, the chakra has a sharp edge, and irresist ible fire flames from its periphery. Two other attributes appertain generally to Vishnu. Vishnu, regarded as time, corresponds with the Horns of Eg3rpt. The legends of his sleeping, awaking, and turning on his side, evidently allude to the sun at the solstices ; also to the phenomena of the over flow and receding of the Ganges, so similar to that of the Nile in Egypt. On the llth day
(sometimes on the 14th, which is the day of the full moon) of the bright half of the lunar month Kartica, Vishnu is fabled to arise from his slumber of four months. A festival is held in honour of this day, and at an auspicious moment, astro logically determined, Vishnu is awakened by this incantation or mantra : The clouds are dispersed, the full moon will appear in perfect brightness, and I come in hope of acquiring purity to offer thee fresh flowers of the season ; awake from thy long slumber, awake lord of worlds.' This god is usually represented of a black or blue colour, with four arms, in which he holds a club, to show that he punishes the wicked ; the chank or wreathed shell, blown on, days of rejoicing, and at periods of worship ; the chakra or discus, the emblem of his universal domination ; aud the lotus or water-lily, the type of his creative power. He is sometimes described seated on a throne of the sacred lotus, with his favourite wife Lakshrni in his arms, or standing on a lotus pedestal between his two wives, Lakshmi and Satyavama ; at others, reclining on a leaf of that flower, or on. the serpent Ananta or eternity, floatinu on the surface of the primeval waters, or gding on garuda, his celestial vahan or vehicle, which is represented as a youth with the wings and beak of a bird.
His successive avatars are now regarded as 1. Afatsya or fish. 6. Parasu Rama.
2. Kurma or tortoise. 7. Rama Chandra.
3. Varaha or boar. 8. Krishna.
4. Narasinha or man lion. 9. Buddha.
5. Vamana or dwarf. 10. Kalki or white horse.
These avatars are generally received, but the designations have not always been similarly de scribed. In the Mahabharata the ten are thus 1. Hansa or swan. 6. Vamana or dwarf.
2. Kuzma Or tortoise. 7. Parasu Rama.
3. Matsya or fish. 8. Rama.
4. Varaha or boar. 9. Satvat.
5. Narasinha or man lion. 10. Kalki.
The Bhagavat Purana enumerates 22 avatars of Vishnu, amongst them Prithu, Dhanwantari, and Kapila. Other Hindu writings have 24 avatars.