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Table of Contents

1. Vishnu as representing the sun.

Vaishnava, Vishnuite Sect.—The name given to Hindus whose special deity is the god Vishnu, and to a number of sects which have adopted various special doctrines based on the worship of Vishnu or of one of his two great incarnations, Rāma and Krishna. Vishnu was a personification of the sun, though in ancient literature the sun is more often referred to under another name, as Savitri, Surya and Aditya. It may perhaps be the case that when the original sun-god develops into a supreme deity with the whole heavens as his sphere, the sun itself comes to be regarded as a separate and minor deity. His weapon of the chakra or discus, which was probably meant to resemble the sun, supports the view of Vishnu as a sun-god, and also his vāhan, the bird Garūda, on which he rides. This is the Brāhminy kite, a fine bird with chestnut plumage and white head and breast, which has been considered a sea-eagle. Mr. Dewar states that it remains almost motionless at a great height in the air for long periods; and it is easy to understand how in these circumstances primitive people mistook it for the spirit of the sky, or the vehicle of the sun-god. It is propitious for a Hindu to see a Brāhminy kite, especially on Sunday, the sun’s day, for it is believed that the bird is then returning from Vishnu, whom it has gone to see on the previous evening.1 A similar belief has probably led to the veneration of the eagle in other countries and its association with the god of the sky or heavens, as in the case of Zeus. Similarly the Gayatri, the most sacred Hindu prayer, is addressed to the sun, and it could hardly have been considered so important unless the luminary was identified with one of the greatest Hindu gods. Every Brāhman prays to the sun daily when he bathes in the morning. Vishnu’s character as the preserver and fosterer of life is probably derived from the sun’s generative power, so conspicuous in India.

As the sun is seen to sink every night into the earth, so it was thought that he could come down to earth, and Vishnu has done this in many forms for the preservation of mankind.

2. His incarnations.

He is generally considered to have had ten incarnations, of which nine are past and one is still to come. The incarnations were as follows:

1. As a great fish he guided the ark in which Manu the primeval man escaped from the deluge.

2. As a tortoise he supported the earth and poised it in its present position; or according to another version he lay at the bottom of the sea while the mountain Meru was set on its peak on his back, and with the serpent Vāsuki as a rope round the mountain the ocean was churned by the gods for making the divine Amrit or nectar which gives immortality.

3. As a boar he dived under the sea and raised the earth on his tusks after it had been submerged by a demon.

4. As Narsingh, the man-lion, he delivered the world from the tyranny of another demon.

5. As Wāman or a dwarf he tricked the King Bali, who had gained possession over the earth and nether world and was threatening the heavens, by asking for as much ground as he could cover in three steps. When his request was derisively granted he covered heaven and earth in two steps, but on Bali’s intercession left him the nether regions and refrained from making the third step which would have covered them.

6. As Parasurama2 he cleared the earth of the Kshatriyas, who had oppressed the Brāhman hermits and stolen the sacred cow, by a slaughter of them thrice seven times repeated.

7. As Rāma, the divine king of Ajodhia or Oudh, he led an expedition to Ceylon for the recovery of his wife Sīta, who had been abducted by Rawan, the demon king of Ceylon. This story probably refers to an early expedition of the Aryans to southern India, in which they may have obtained the assistance of the Munda tribes, represented by Hanumān and his army of apes.

8. As Krishna he supported the Pāndavas in their war against the Kauravas, and at the head of the Yādava clan founded the city of Dwārka in Gujarāt, where he was afterwards killed. The popular group of legends about Krishna in his capacity of a cowherd in the forests of Mathura was perhaps at first distinct and afterwards combined with the story of the Yādava prince.3 But it is in this latter character as the divine cowherd that Krishna is most generally known and worshipped.

9. As Buddha he was the great founder of the religion known by his name; the Brāhmans, by making Buddha an incarnation of Vishnu, have thus provided a connecting link between Buddhism and Hinduism.

In his tenth incarnation he will come again as Nishka-lanki or the stainless one for the final regeneration of the world, and his advent is expected by some Hindus, who worship him in this form.

Image of Lakshmi, the Goddess of Wealth, the consort of Vishnu, with attendant

3. Worship of Vishnu and Vaishnava doctrines.

In the Central Provinces Vishnu is worshipped as Nārāyan Deo, who is identified with the sun, or as Parmeshwar, the supreme beneficent god. He is also much worshipped in his incarnations as Rāma and Krishna, and their images, with those of their consorts, Sīta and Rādha, are often to be found in his temples as well as in their own. These images are supposed to be subject to all the conditions and necessities incident to living humanity. Hence in the daily ritual they are washed, dressed, adorned and even fed like human beings, food being daily placed before them, and its aroma, according to popular belief, nourishing the god present in the image.

The principal Vishnuite sects are described in the article on Bairāgi, and the dissenting sects which have branched off from these in special articles.4 The cult of Vishnu and his two main incarnations is the most prominent feature of modern Hinduism. The orthodox Vaishnava sects mainly differed on the point whether the human soul or spirit was a part of the divine soul or separate from it, and whether it would be reabsorbed into the divine soul, or have a separate existence after death. But they generally regarded all human souls as of one quality, and hence were opposed to distinctions of caste. Animals also have souls or spirits, and the Vishnuite doctrine is opposed to the destruction of animal life in any form. In the Bania caste the practices of Vaishnava Hindus and Jains present so little difference that they can take food together, and even intermarry. The creed is also opposed to suicide.

Faithful worshippers of Vishnu will after his death be transported to his heaven, Vaikuntha, or to Golaka, the heaven of Krishna. The sect-mark of the Vaishnavas usually consists of three lines down the forehead, meeting at the root of the nose or below it. All three lines may be white, or the centre one black or red, and the outside ones white. They are made with a kind of clay called Gopichandan, and are sometimes held to be the impress of Vishnu’s foot. To put on the sect-mark in the morning is to secure the god’s favour and protection during the day.

1 Bombay Ducks, p. 194.

2 For a suggested explanation of the myth of Parasurāma see article Panwār Rājpūt.

3 See also article Ahīr.

4 Kabīrpanthi, Nānakpanthi, Dādupanthi, Swāmi-Nārāyan, etc.