Studies in the Epics and Puranas c12.71

c12.71

Allied with the question of the identification of Vāsudeva-Kṛṣṇa with the highest god is that of his identification with Nārāyaṇa. The exact period when Kṛṣṇa-Vāsudeva was first identified with Nārāyaṇa-Viṣṇu cannot be ascertained. The *Taittirīya Āraṇyaka* (X. 1. 6) identifies Vāsudeva with Nārāyaṇa-Viṣṇu, but the date of that work is not certain. Nārāyaṇa and Viṣṇu were originally names of distinct deities. Viṣṇu is a *Ṛgvedic* deity, but Nārāyaṇa occurs for the first time in the *Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa* (XII. 3. 4. 1). Viṣṇu in the *Ṛgveda* is but a comparatively minor deity. He gradually rose into prominence in the epic period as the only Supreme god, Śiva being his only rival for the post of honour. One of the reasons why Kṛṣṇa after his deification was identified with Viṣṇu instead of any other godhead seems to be that the epithets of Viṣṇu such as Gopā (*RV.* I. 22. 18) could very well be applicable to Kṛṣṇa. Another reason appears to be that Viṣṇu, who was reputed to be the great benefactor of mankind, the preserver of Dharma since the earliest Vedic times, was the natural choice of the followers of Kṛṣṇa in preference to the malevolent Śiva, the dreadful, when Kṛṣṇa was deified, and Viṣṇu was made the centre of the *avatāra* theory propounded in the *Bhagavadgītā*.