Vedic Mythology c5.s1.t5: § 17. Viṣṇu

Vedic Mythology c5.s1.t5

Language: English

§ 17. Viṣṇu

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Viṣṇu, though a deity of capital importance in the mythology of the Brāhmaṇas, occupies but a subordinate position in the RV. His personality is at the same time more important there than would appear from the statistical standard alone. According to that he would be a deity only of the fourth rank, for he is celebrated in not more than five whole hymns and in part of another, while his name occurs only about 100 times altogether in the RV. The only anthropomorphic traits of Viṣṇu are the frequently mentioned strides which he takes, and his being a youth vast in body, who is no longer a child (1, 155⁶). The essential feature of his character is that he takes (generally expressed by *vi-kram*) three strides, which are referred to about a dozen times. His epithets *urugāya*, ‘wide-going’ and *urukrama*, ‘wide-striding’, which also occur about a dozen times, allude to the same action. With these three steps Viṣṇu is described as traversing the earth or the terrestrial spaces. Two of these steps or spaces are visible to men, but the third or highest step is beyond the flight of birds or mortal ken (1, 155⁵; 7, 99²). The same notion seems to be mystically expressed (1, 155³) when he is said to bear his third name in the bright realm of heaven. The highest place of Viṣṇu is regarded as identical with the highest place of Agni, for Viṣṇu guards the highest, the third place of Agni (10, 1³) and Agni with the loftiest station of Viṣṇu guards the mysterious cows (probably = clouds: 5, 3³). The highest step of Viṣṇu is seen by the liberal like an eye fixed in heaven (1, 22²⁰). It is his dear abode, where pious men rejoice and where there is a well of honey (1, 154⁵), and where the gods rejoice (8, 29⁷). This highest step¹ shines down brightly and is the dwelling of Indra and Viṣṇu, where are the many-horned swiftly moving cows² (probably = clouds), and which the singer desires to attain (1, 154⁶). Within these three footsteps all beings dwell (1, 154²), and they are full of honey (1, 154⁴), probably because the third and most important is full of it³. Viṣṇu guards the highest abode (*pāthas*)⁴, which implies his favourite dwelling-place (3, 55¹⁰) and is elsewhere expressly stated to be so (1, 154⁵). In another passage (7, 100⁵) Viṣṇu is less definitely said to dwell far from this space. He is once spoken of (1, 156⁵) as having three abodes, *triṣadhastha*, an epithet primarily appropriate to Agni (§ 35).

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The opinion that Viṣṇu’s three steps refer to the course of the sun is almost unanimous. But what did they originally represent? The purely naturalistic interpretation favoured by most European scholars⁵ and by Yāska’s predecessor Aurṇavābha (Nir. 12, 19) takes the three steps to mean the rising, culminating, and setting of the sun. The alternative view, which prevails throughout the younger Vedas, the Brāhmaṇas, as well as post-Vedic literature, and was supported by Yāska’s predecessor Śākapūṇi and is favoured by BERGAIGNE and the present writer⁸, interprets the three steps as the course of the solar deity through the three divisions of the universe. With the former interpretation is at variance the fact that the third step of Viṣṇu shows no trace of being connected with sunset, but on the contrary is identical with the highest step. The alternative view does not conflict with what evidence the RV. itself supplies, and is supported by the practically unvarying tradition in India beginning with the later Vedas.

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That the idea of motion is characteristic of Viṣṇu is shown by other expressions besides the three steps. The epithets ‘wide-going’ and ‘wide-striding’ are almost entirely limited to Viṣṇu, as well as the verb *vi-kram*. The latter is also employed in allusion to the sun, spoken of as the variegated stone placed in the midst of heaven, which took strides (5, 47³). Viṣṇu is also swift *eṣa* (otherwise said only once of Bṛhaspati) or ‘swift-going’ *evayā*, *evayāvan* (otherwise connected only with the Maruts). Coupled with the constant idea of swift and far-extending motion is that of regularity. In taking his three strides Viṣṇu observes laws (1, 22¹⁸). Like other deities typical of regular recurrence (Agni, Soma, Sūrya, Uṣas), Viṣṇu is the ‘ancient germ of order’, and an ordainer, who (like Agni, Sūrya, Uṣas) is both ancient and recent (1, 156²⁻⁴). In the same words as the sun-god Savitṛ (5, 81³), he is said (1, 154¹; 6, 49¹³) to have measured out the earthly spaces. With this may also be compared the statement that Varuṇa measured out the spaces with the sun (p. 11). Viṣṇu is in one passage (1, 155⁶ cp. 1, 164⁴. ⁴⁸) described as setting in motion like a revolving wheel his 90 steeds (= days) with their four names (= seasons). This can hardly refer to anything but the solar year of 360 days. In the AV. (5, 26⁷) Viṣṇu is besought to bestow heat on the sacrifice. In the Brāhmaṇas Viṣṇu’s head when cut off becomes the sun. In post-Vedic literature one of Viṣṇu’s weapons is a rolling wheel⁸ which is represented like the sun (cp. RV. 5, 63⁴), and his vehicle is Garuḍa, chief of birds, who is of brilliant lustre like Agni, and is also called *garutmat* and *suparṇa*, two terms already applied to the sun-bird in the RV. Finally the post-Vedic *kaustubha* or breast-jewel of Viṣṇu has been explained as the sun by Kuhn⁹. Thus though Viṣṇu is no longer clearly connected with a natural phenomenon, the evidence appears to justify the inference that he was originally conceived as the sun, not in his general character, but as the personified swiftly moving luminary, which with vast strides traverses the whole universe. This explanation would be borne out by the derivation from the root *viṣ*¹⁰, which is used tolerably often in the RV. and primarily means ‘to be active’ (PW.). According to this, Viṣṇu would be the ‘active one’ as representing solar motion. Oldenberg, however, thinks that every definite trace of solar character is lacking in Viṣṇu, that he was from the beginning conceived only as a traverser of wide space, and that no concrete natural conception corresponded to the three steps. The number of the steps he attributes simply to the fondness for triads in mythology.

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Viṣṇu’s highest step, as has been indicated, is conceived as his distinctive abode. The sun would naturally be thought of as stationary in the meridian rather than anywhere else. So we find the name of the zenith in Yāska to be *viṣṇupada*, the step or place of Viṣṇu. Probably connected with the same range of ideas are the epithets ‘mountain-dwelling’ (*girikṣit*) and ‘mountain-abiding’ (*giriṣṭhā*) applied to Viṣṇu in the same hymn (1, 154²⋅ ³); for in the next hymn (1, 155¹) Viṣṇu and Indra are conjointly called ‘the two undeceivable ones, who have stood on the summit (*sānuni*) of the mountains, as it were with an unerring steed’. This would allude to the sun looking down from the height of the cloud mountains¹² (cp. 5, 87⁴). It is probably owing to such expressions in the RV. that Viṣṇu is later called ‘lord of mountains’ (TS. 3, 4, 5¹).

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The reason why Viṣṇu took his three steps is a secondary trait. He thrice traversed the earthly spaces for man in distress (6, 49¹³); he traversed the earth to bestow it on man for a dwelling (7, 100⁴); he traversed the earthly spaces for wide-stepping existence (1, 155⁴); with Indra he took vast strides and stretched out the worlds for our existence (6, 69⁵⋅ ⁶). To this feature in the RV. may ultimately be traced the myth of Viṣṇu’s dwarf incarnation which appears in the Epic and the Purāṇas. The intermediate stage is found in the Brāhmaṇas (ŚB. 1, 2, 5⁵; TS. 2, 1, 3¹; TB. 1, 6, 1⁵), where Viṣṇu already assumes the form of a dwarf, in order by artifice to recover the earth for the gods from the Asuras by taking his three strides¹³.

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The most prominent secondary characteristic of Viṣṇu is his friendship for Indra, with whom he is frequently allied in the fight with Vṛtra. This is indicated by the fact that one whole hymn (6, 69) is dedicated to the two deities conjointly, and that Indra’s name is coupled with that of Viṣṇu in the dual as often as with that of Soma, though the name of the latter occurs vastly oftener in the RV. The closeness of their alliance is also indicated by the fact that in hymns extolling Viṣṇu alone, Indra is the only other deity incidentally associated with him either explicitly (7, 99⁵⋅ ⁶; 1, 155²) or implicitly (7, 99⁴; 1, 154⁶. 155¹; cp. 1, 617)¹⁴. Viṣṇu strode his three steps by tha energy (*ojasā*) of Indra (8, 12²⁷), who in the preceding verse is described as slaying Vṛtra, or for Indra (Vāl. 4³). Indra about to slay Vṛtra says, ‘friend Viṣṇu, stride out vastly’ (4, 18¹¹). In company with Viṣṇu, Indra slew Vṛtra (6, 20²). Viṣṇu and Indra together triumphed over the Dāsa, destroyed Śambara's 99 castles and conquered the hosts of Varcin (7, 99⁴· ⁵). Viṣṇu is Indra's intimate friend (1, 22¹⁹). Viṣṇu accompanied by his friend opens the cows' stall (1, 156⁴). In the ŚB. (5, 5, 5¹) Indra is described as shooting the thunderbolt at Vṛtra, while Viṣṇu follows him (cp. TS. 6, 5, 1¹). Viṣṇu is also invoked with Indra in various single verses (4, 2⁴. 55⁴; 8, 10²; 10, 66⁴). When associated with Indra as a dual divinity, Viṣṇu shares Indra's powers of drinking Soma (6, 69) as well as his victories (7, 99⁴⁻⁶), Indra conversely participating in Viṣṇu's power of striding (6, 69⁵; 7, 99⁶). To both conjointly is attributed the action of creating the wide air and of spreading out the spaces (6, 69⁵) and of producing Sūrya, Uṣas, and Agni (7, 99⁴). Owing to this friendship Indra drinks Soma beside Viṣṇu (8, 3⁸. 12¹⁶) and thereby increases his strength (8, 3⁸; 10, 113²). Indra drank the Soma pressed by Viṣṇu in three cups (2, 22¹ cp. 6, 17¹¹), which recall Viṣṇu's three footsteps filled with honey (1, 154⁴). Viṣṇu also cooks for Indra 100 buffaloes (6, 17¹¹) or 100 buffaloes and a brew of milk (8, 66¹⁰ cp. 1, 61⁷). Along with Mitra, Varuṇa, and the Maruts, Viṣṇu celebrates Indra with songs (8, 15⁹).

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Indra's constant attendants in the Vṛtra-fight, the Maruts, are also drawn into association with Viṣṇu. When Viṣṇu favoured the exhilerating Soma, the Maruts like birds sat down on their beloved altar (1, 857)¹⁵. The Maruts are invoked at the offering of the swift Viṣṇu (2, 34¹¹ cp. 7, 40⁵). They are the bountiful ones of the swift Viṣṇu (8, 20³). The Maruts supported Indra, while Pūṣan Viṣṇu cooked 100 buffaloes for him (6, 17¹¹). Viṣṇu is the ordainer associated with the Maruts (*māruta*), whose will Varuṇa and the Aśvins follow (1, 156⁴). Throughout one hymn (5, 87, especially verses 4·5) he is associated with the Maruts, with whom, when he starts, he speeds along¹⁶.

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Among stray references to Viṣṇu in the RV. may be mentioned one (7, 100⁶) in which different forms of Viṣṇu are spoken of: 'Do not conceal from us this form, since thou didst assume another form in battle'. He is further said to be a protector of embryos (7, 36⁹) and is invoked along with other deities to promote conception (10, 184¹). In the third verse of the *Khila* after 10, 184¹⁷, Viṣṇu is, according to one reading, called upon to place in the womb a male child with a most beautiful form, or, according to another, a male child with Viṣṇu's most beautiful form is prayed for¹⁸.

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Other traits of Viṣṇu are applicable to the gods in general. He is beneficent (1, 156⁵), is innocuous and bountiful (8, 25¹²), liberal (7, 40⁵), a guardian (3, 55¹⁰), who is undeceivable (1, 22¹⁸), and an innoxious and generous deliverer (1, 155⁴). He alone sustains the threefold (world), heaven and earth, and all beings (1, 154⁴). He fastened the world all about with pegs (7, 99³). He is an ordainer (1, 156⁴).

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In the Brāhmaṇas Viṣṇu is conceived as taking his three steps in earth, air, and heaven (ŚB. 1, 9, 3⁹; TB. 3, 1, 2⁷). These three strides are imitated by the sacrificer, who takes three Viṣṇu strides beginning with earth and ending with heaven¹⁹, for that is the goal, the safe refuge, which is the sun (ŚB. 1, 9, 3¹⁰· ¹⁵). The three steps of the Amṣaspands taken from earth to the sphere of the sun, are similarly imitated in the ritual of the Avesta²⁰. A special feature of the Brāhmaṇas is the constant identification of Viṣṇu with the sacrifice.

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Two myths connected with Viṣṇu, the source of which can be traced to the RV., are further developed in the Brāhmaṇas. Viṣṇu in alliance with Indra is in the RV. described as vanquishing demons. In the Brāhmaṇas the gods and demons commonly appear as two hostile hosts, the former not, as in the RV., uniformly victorious, but often worsted. They therefore have recourse to artifice, in order to recover the supremacy. In the AB. (6, 15) it is related that Indra and Viṣṇu, engaged in conflict with the Asuras, agreed with the latter that as much as Viṣṇu could stride over in three steps should belong to the two deities. Viṣṇu accordingly strode over these worlds, the Vedas, and speech. The ŚB. (1, 2, 5) tells how the Asuras having overcome the gods began dividing the earth. The gods placing Viṣṇu, the sacrifice, at their head, came and asked for a share in the earth. The Asuras agreed to give up as much as Viṣṇu, who was a dwarf, could lie on. Then the gods by sacrificing with Viṣṇu, who was equal in size to sacrifice, gained the whole earth. The three steps are not mentioned here, but in another passage (ŚB. 1, 9, 3⁹), Viṣṇu is said to have acquired for the gods the all-pervading power which they now possess, by striding through the three worlds. It is further stated in TS. 2, 1, 3¹, that Viṣṇu, by assuming the form of a dwarf whom he had seen, conquered the three worlds (cp. TB. 1, 6, 15). The introduction of the dwarf as a disguise of Viṣṇu is naturally to be accounted for as a stratagem to avert the suspicion of the Asuras²¹. This Brāhmaṇa story forms the transition to the myth of Viṣṇu's Dwarf Incarnation in post-Vedic literature²².

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Another myth of the Brāhmaṇas has its origin in two passages of the RV. (1, 61⁷; 8, 66¹⁰). Their purport is that Viṣṇu having drunk Soma and being urged by Indra, carried off 100 buffaloes and a brew of milk belonging to the boar (= Vṛtra), while Indra shooting across the (cloud) mountain, slew the fierce (*emuṣam*) boar. This myth is in the TS. (6, 2, 4²· 3) developed as follows. A boar, the plunderer of wealth, kept the goods of the Asuras on the other side of seven hills. Indra plucking up a bunch of *kuśa* grass and piercing through these hills, slew the boar. Viṣṇu, the sacrifice, carried the boar off as a sacrifice for the gods. So the gods obtained the goods of the Asuras. In the corresponding passage of the Kāṭhaka (IS. XI. p. 161) the boar is called Emūṣa. The same story with slight variations is told in the Caraka Brāhmaṇa (quoted by Sāyaṇa on RV. 8, 66¹⁰). This boar appears in a cosmogonic character in the ŚB. (14, 1, 2¹¹) where under the name of Emūṣa he is stated to have raised up the earth from the waters. In the TS. (7, 1, 5¹) this cosmogonic boar, which raised the earth from the primeval waters, is described as a form of Prajāpati. This modification of the myth is further expanded in the TB. (1, 1, 3⁵). In the post-Vedic mythology of the Rāmāyaṇa and the Purāṇas, the boar which raises the earth, has become one of the Avatārs of Viṣṇu.

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The germs of two other Avatārs of Viṣṇu are to be found in the Brāhmaṇas, but not as yet connected with Viṣṇu. The fish which in the ŚB. (1, 8, 1¹) delivers Manu from the flood, appears in the Mahābhārata as a form of Prajāpati, becoming in the Purāṇas an incarnation of Viṣṇu. In the ŚB. (7, 5, 1⁵, cp. TA. 1, 23³) Prajāpati about to create offspring becomes a tortoise moving in the primeval waters. In the Purāṇas this tortoise is an Avatār of Viṣṇu, who assumes this form to recover various objects lost in the deluge²³.

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The ŚB. (14, 1, 1) tells a myth of how Viṣṇu, the sacrifice, by first comprehending the issue of the sacrifice, became the most eminent among the gods, and how his head, by his bow starting asunder, was cut off and became the sun (*āditya*). To this story the TA. (5, 1, 1—7) adds the trait that the Aśvins as physicians replaced the head of the sacrifice and that the gods now able to offer it in its complete form conquered heaven (cp. PB. 7, 5⁶).

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In the AB. (1, 1) Viṣṇu as the locally highest of the gods is contrasted with Agni the lowest, all the other deities being placed between them. The same Brāhmaṇa (1, 30) in quoting RV. 1, 156⁴, where 'Viṣṇu accompanied by his friend opens the stall', states that Viṣṇu is the doorkeeper of the gods.

Cites (11)

Ṛgvedasaṃhitā — Sanskrit
Śatapathabrāhmaṇa — Yājñavalkya & Śāṇḍilya (Vedic teacher), Sanskrit
Kṛṣṇayajurvedasaṃhitā — Sanskrit
Taittirīyabrāhmaṇa — Sanskrit
Aitareyabrāhmaṇa — Mahidāsa Aitareya, Sanskrit
Nirukta — Yāska, Sanskrit
Pañcaviṃśabrāhmaṇa — Sanskrit
Taittirīyāraṇyaka — Sanskrit
Atharvavedasaṃhitā — Atharvan & Aṅgiras, Sanskrit
Kṛṣṇayajurvedasaṃhitā — Sanskrit
Mahābhārata — Vyāsa, Sanskrit