ORIENTAL SERIES.

36o VISHNU,
VISEJVU Boot, visk, 'to pervade.' The second god of the
Hindu triad. In the T&g-veda Vishnu is not in the first rank of
gods. He is a manifestation of the solar energy, and is described as
striding through the seven regions of the universe in three steps,
and enveloping all things with the dust (of his beams). These
three steps are explained by commentators as denoting the three
manifestations of light fire, lightning, and the sun ; or the three
places of the sun its rising, culmination, and setting. In the
Veda he is occasionally associated with Indra. He has very
little in common with the Yishnu of later times, but he is called
" the unconquerable preserver," and this distinctly indicates the
great preserving power which he afterwards became.
In the Brahmarcas Vishnu acquires new attributes, and is in-
vested with legends unknown to the Vedas, but still very far dis-
tant from those of the Puiawas. In Manu,
the name is men-
tioned, but not as that of a great deity. In the Maha-bharata
and in the Puranas he is the second member of the triad, the
embodiment of the Satwa-guna, the quality of mercy and good-
ness, which displays itself as the preserving power, the self-
existent, all-pervading spirit. As such,
his votaries associate
him with the watery element which spread everywhere before
the creation of the world. In this character he is called Kara-
yaa, '
moving in the waters/ and is represented pictorially in
human form slumbering on the serpent Sesha and floating on
the waters. This, too, is the position he assumes during the
periods of temporary annihilation of the universe.
The worshippers of Vishnu recognise in him the supreme
being from whom all things emanate. In the Maha-bharata and
in the Puranas he is the Prajapati (creator) and supreme god,
As such, he has three Avasthas or conditions : i. That of
Brahma, the active creator, who is represented as springing from
a lotus which grew from Vishnu's navel while he was sleeping
afloat upon the waters. 2. Vishnu himself, the preserver, in an
Avatara or incarnate form, as in 'Krishna.
3. Siva or Eudra,
the destructive power, who, according to a statement of the
Maha-bharata., sprang from his forehead. But though the Mahabharata
generally allows Vishnu the supremacy, it does not do
so invariably and exclusively.
There are passages which uphold
Siva as the greatest of the gods, and represent Vishnu as paying
him homage. The Saiva Purawas of course make Siva supreme.