Vishnu

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Vishnu on the serpent Shesha in the primordial sea.
Wife Lakshmi massages his feet as a gesture of veneration, while the four-headed creator Brahma appears from his navel, sitting on a lotus blossom .
Vishnu riding Garuda (sculpture in Lalitpur , Nepal)

Vishnu ( Sanskrit विष्णु Viṣṇu [ ˈʋɪʂɳʊ ], etymology unclear) is one of the most important forms of the divine in Hinduism and already occurs in the Vedas . In Vishnuism he is considered the manifestation of the Supreme. His Shakti , the feminine side of the divine, is Lakshmi , who is considered his wife.

Several Puranas report on Vishnu, his incarnations are listed in the Bhagavatapurana , among others .

Vishnu was initially a Vedic deity, even if he used to be subordinate compared to today. In the Rigveda , Vishnu appears primarily as a god with cosmic meaning. Originally he was probably a god of the sun, light and warmth, who set time in motion, penetrated the universe and measured space. He was one of the Adityas , the sons of the goddess Aditi , some of whom were also considered his wife. The Rigveda mentions Vishnu's important role in sacrifice several times; he was mainly a god of rituals and is also worshiped as the center and pillar of the universe. He also watched over the sacrificial pillars of the animals. Vishnu was also the creator of the Maya , the primal and miraculous power of the Vedic gods who brought forth the world. In three steps ( Trivikrama ), as a symbol for rising, peaking and setting of the sun, as a dwarf figure who grew into a giant, he measured the entire space, took possession of all three worlds (Triloka) and made it for people and gods habitable. This dwarf figure ( Vamana ) later became the fifth avatar of Vishnu in today's Hinduism. With the development of the Vedic epoch, the god Vishnu went through a tremendous development. Along with the god Rudra , he is one of the great ascendants of Hinduism. In the course of time he took on more and more of the classic duties of Indra as a fighter against the “demons” and sustainers of the world.

Trimurti

Vishnu is part of the Trimurti , a very well-known concept of the “three figures” in Hinduism. This consists of three aspects of the divine, which are related to the fundamental principles or forces of the cosmos :

The tasks are distributed in the trinity: Vishnu is the divine form of maintenance, since he receives the Dharma in the sense of a just cosmological and human order and for this purpose repeatedly incarnates as an animal or human . Shiva, on the other hand, destroys and dissolves in order to enable a new beginning, while Brahma is responsible for creation. In the Trimurti concept, these opposing values ​​form a complementary connection. Outside of these Trimurti, however, both Vishnu and Shiva combine all three aspects. Vishnu can also have a destructive effect: he uses the throwing disc ( chakram ), one of his four symbols, as a destructive weapon.

Shiva also contains all aspects outside of the trinity. For those believers who venerate him as the highest, the Shivaites , he is also considered a savior, as the kind , as his name suggests. A divine form that unites the aspects of Vishnu and Shiva is Harihara .

Meditating Vishnu with club ( gada ) and throwing disc ( chakra )

presentation

Vishnu is usually represented with four insignia that he holds in his four hands:

  • Flying disc ( Chakra ) , which is thrown during a battle against the enemy
  • Snail horn (shankha) on which he blows on various occasions
  • Lotus blossom (padma) , u. a. the symbol of wisdom and purity, because it is radiantly pure even in the dirtiest pond
  • Club ( gada ) with which he fights Asuras .

Others

  • Vishnu wears a pot-shaped crown on his head.
  • His mount ( vahana ) is the half-human, half-eagle-shaped Garuda .
  • In many representations he rests as Narayana on the cosmic serpent Ananta or Shesha .

other names

Vishnu has various epithets, some of which were originally regional; the most important and most common are:

In the Tamil area, Vishnu also bears the names Mayon ("the dark one"), Tirumal ("the illustrious great one"), Perumal ("the great one") or Ranganatha ("lord of the world"). The name "Vishnu" does not appear once in the oldest literature ( Sangam corpus) and only appears in Tamil as a name for this form of the with the increasing influence of Brahmanic Hinduism in the second half of the 1st millennium AD Divine to have come into use.

The 10 Avataras ( Dashavatara )

The 10 Avatars of Vishnu

Vishnu shows himself in a variety of manifestations . In order to protect the Dharma in the sense of a just cosmological and human order, it always incarnates on earth when the world order (Dharma) threatens to fluctuate. These incarnations are called avatars .

  1. Matsya - fish, pulls the ark in the great tide
  2. Kurma - turtle, carries the mountain Mandara on its shell while the milk ocean is whisking
  3. Varaha - giant boar, saves the earth in the form of the goddess Bhudevi from the primordial ocean
  4. Narasimha - man with a lion head, kills the demon Hiranyakashipu
  5. Vamana - dwarf, grows up to be a giant and measures the world in three steps
  6. Parashurama - "Rama with the ax", Vishnu in human form as the avenger of a brahmin murder
  7. Rama - the hero of the epic Ramayana , not identical with the 6th incarnation
  8. Krishna - "the black", herald of the Bhagavad Gita
  9. Buddha - sometimes also Balarama , the brother of Krishna
  10. Kalki - future incarnation of Vishnu as a rider on the horse who restores the Dharma

The best known and most important avatars are Rama (prince of Ayodhya and hero of the epic Ramayana ) and Krishna .

In the texts of Vishnu's tenth avatar Kalkin, it is said that he will appear at the end of Kali-Yuga to purify the world. Since the 20th century it has therefore not been unusual for followers of Vishnu to venerate Jesus Christ , because in the Bible, especially in the Book of Revelation (chapter 19), Christ is mentioned as the eschatological judge who appears on earth, to judge the world .

See also

literature

  • Anneliese and Peter Keilhauer: The Imagery of Hinduism. The Indian world of gods and their symbolism. DuMont, Cologne 1986, pp. 65 ff. ISBN 3-7701-1347-0
  • Veronica Ions: Indian Mythology. Hamlyn Publishing, Rushden 1988, pp. 45 ff. ISBN 0-600-34285-9
  • Gerhard J. Bellinger, Knaurs Lexikon der Mythologie , Knaur, Munich 1999, Vishnu
  • Jan Gonda: The Religions of India. 1. Veda and older Hinduism. W. Kohlhammer Verlag, Stuttgart 1960, Vishnu

Web links

Commons : Vishnu  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Manfred Mayrhofer: Etymological Dictionary of the Old Indian , Vol. 2. Winter, Heidelberg 1996, p. 566 sv víṣṇu- ISBN 3-8253-4550-5
  2. ^ Gerhard J. Bellinger, Knaurs Lexikon der Mythologie , Knaur, Munich 1999, Vishnu
  3. ↑ Jan Gonda: The Religions of India. 1. Veda and older Hinduism. W. Kohlhammer Verlag, Stuttgart, Vishnu
  4. ↑ Anneliese and Peter Keilhauer: The visual language of Hinduism. The Indian world of gods and their symbolism . P. 51 ff.
  5. ↑ Anneliese and Peter Keilhauer: The visual language of Hinduism. The Indian world of gods and their symbolism . P. 68 f.
  6. ↑ Anneliese and Peter Keilhauer: The visual language of Hinduism. The Indian world of gods and their symbolism . P. 77 ff.