Vishnu
| Vishnu | |
|---|---|
God of Preservation[1]
| |
| Member of Trimurti[6] | |
 Painting depicting Vishnu, c. 1730 | |
| Other names | |
| Affiliation | |
| Abode | |
| Mantra | |
| Weapon | |
| Symbols | |
| Day | Thursday |
| Mount | |
| Festivals | |
| Consort | Lakshmi and her forms |
Vishnu (/ˈvɪʃnuː/; Sanskrit: विष्णु, lit. 'All Pervasive', IAST: Viṣṇu, pronounced [ʋɪʂɳʊ]), also known as Narayana and Hari, is one of the principal deities of Hinduism. He is the Supreme Being within Vaishnavism, one of the major traditions within contemporary Hinduism, and the god of preservation (sattva).[10][11] Though not prominently represented in the Vedas,[12][13][14][a] Vishnu was possibly already a significant non-elite divine figure in early Vedic times.[15][16][17] Vishnu rose to prominence in post-Vedic times, and was identified with various local traditions and deities, particularly the Bhāgavata-deities[18] Vāsudeva-Krishna and Gopala-Krishna and the Pāñcarātra-deity[18] Narayana,[19][20][21][22] in the last centuries BCE and the early centuries CE.[23]
Vishnu is known as The Preserver within the Trimurti, the triple deity of supreme divinity that includes Brahma and Shiva.[24][25] In Vaishnavism, Vishnu is the supreme Lord who creates, protects, and transforms the universe. Tridevi is stated to be the energy and creative power (Shakti) of each, with Lakshmi being the equal complementary partner of Vishnu.[26] He is one of the five equivalent deities in Panchayatana puja of the Smarta tradition of Hinduism.[25]
According to Vaishnavism, the supreme being is with qualities (Saguna), and has definite form, but is limitless, transcendent and unchanging absolute Brahman, and the primal Atman (Self) of the universe.[27] There are both benevolent and fearsome depictions of Vishnu. In benevolent aspects, he is depicted as an omniscient being sleeping on the coils of the serpent Shesha (who represents time) floating in the primeval ocean of milk called Kshira Sagara with his consort, Lakshmi.[28]
Whenever the world is threatened with evil, chaos, and destructive forces, Vishnu descends in the form of an avatar (incarnation) to restore the cosmic order and protect dharma. The Dashavatara are the ten primary avatars of Vishnu. Of these ten, Rama and Krishna are the most worshipped, with temples across India and beyond.[29]
Etymology
Vishnu (also spelled Viṣṇu, Sanskrit: विष्णु) means 'all pervasive'[30] and, according to Medhātith (c. 1000 CE), 'one who is everything and inside everything'.[31] Vedanga scholar Yaska (4th century BCE) in the Nirukta defines Vishnu as viṣṇur viṣvater vā vyaśnoter vā ('one who enters everywhere'); also adding atha yad viṣito bhavati tad viṣnurbhavati ('that which is free from fetters and bondage is Vishnu').[32]
In the tenth part of the Padma Purana (4–15th century CE), Danta (Son of Bhīma and King of Vidarbha) lists 108 names of Vishnu (17.98–102).[33] These include the ten primary avatars (see Dashavatara, below) and descriptions of the qualities, attributes, or aspects of God.
The Garuda Purana (chapter XV)[34] and the "Anushasana Parva" of the Mahabharata both list over 1000 names for Vishnu, each name describing a quality, attribute, or aspect of God. Known as the Vishnu Sahasranama, Vishnu here is defined as 'the omnipresent'.[citation needed]
Origins and development
Origins
Vishnu is a Rigvedic solar deity, but does not figure prominently in the RigVeda compared to Indra, Agni and others.[12][a] Just 5 out of 1028 hymns of the Rigveda are dedicated to Vishnu, although he is mentioned in other hymns,[31][14] though this does not necessarily mean he was unimportant.[17][16] Klostermaier notes that the Rig Veda does not represent all of the religion of the Vedic people,[17] and according to Gonda "Visnu must already have been a more important divine figure than it would appear from his comparatively infrequent appearances in the texts,"[16] with possible a greater prominence among the Aryan and non-Aryan masses of the early Vedic times.[15] Vishnu is mentioned in the Brahmana layer of text in the Vedas, when he rose to prominence mid-first millennium BCE.[35][14] His profile rises further as he was syncretised, in the process of Sanskritization,[36] with various local traditions and deities (Vasudeva-Krishna, Narayana, Krishna-Golpa)[19][20][37][22] in the last centuries BCE and the early centuries CE,[23] and over the history of Indian scriptures, states Jan Gonda, Vishnu becomes a divinity of the highest rank, one equivalent to the Supreme Being.[38][39]
Avatars
The various deities were amalgated into Vaishnavism as avatars or incarnations of Vishnu, who is the preserver or sustainer aspect of God within the Hindu Trimurti, and descends as an avatar to empower the good and to destroy evil, thereby restoring Dharma and relieving the burden of the Earth. An oft-quoted passage from the Bhagavad Gita describes the typical role of an avatar of Vishnu:[citation needed]
Whenever righteousness wanes and unrighteousness increases I send myself forth.
For the protection of the good and for the destruction of evil,
and for the establishment of righteousness,
I come into being age after age.
— Bhagavad Gita 4.7–8
Vedic literature, in particular the Puranas (ancient; similar to encyclopedias) and Itihasa (chronicle, history, legend), narrate numerous avatars of Vishnu. The most well-known of these avatars are Krishna (most notably in the Vishnu Purana, Bhagavata Purana, and Mahabharata; the latter encompassing the Bhagavad Gita), and Rama (most notably in the Ramayana). Krishna in particular is venerated in Vaishnavism as the ultimate, primeval, transcendental source of all existence, including all the other demigods and gods, such as Vishnu.[citation needed]
The Mahabharata
In the Mahabharata, Vishnu (as Narayana) states to Narada that He will appear in the following ten incarnations:
Appearing in the forms of a swan [Hamsa], a tortoise [Kurma], a fish [Matsya], O foremost of regenerate ones, I shall then display myself as a boar [Varaha], then as a Man-lion (Nrisingha), then as a dwarf [Vamana], then as Rama of Bhrigu's race, then as Rama, the son of Dasaratha, then as Krishna the scion of the Sattwata race, and lastly as Kalki.
— Book 12, Santi Parva, Chapter CCCXL (340), translated by Kisari Mohan Ganguli, 1883–1896[40]
The Puranas
Specified avatars of Vishnu are listed against some of the Puranas in the table below. However, this is a complicated process, and the lists are unlikely to be exhaustive because:
- Not all Puranas provide lists per se (e.g. the Agni Purana dedicates entire chapters to avatars, and some of these chapters mention other avatars within them)
- A list may be given in one place but additional avatars may be mentioned elsewhere (e.g. the Bhagavata Purana lists 22 avatars in Canto 1, but mentions others elsewhere)
- Manava Purana, the only Upa Purana lists 42 avatars of Vishnu.
- A personality in one Purana may be considered an avatar in another (e.g. Narada is not specified as an avatar in the Matsya Purana but is in the Bhagavata Purana)
- Some avatars consist of two or more people considered as different aspects of a single incarnation (e.g. Nara-Narayana, Rama and his three brothers)
| Purana | Avatars | Names / Descriptions (with chapters and verses) – Dashavatara lists are in bold |
|---|---|---|
| Agni[41] | 12[b] | Matsya (2), Kurma (3), Dhanvantari (3.11), Mohini (3.12), Varaha (4), Narasimha (4.3–4), Vamana (4.5–11), Parasurama (4.12–20), Rama (5–11; one of the 'four forms' of Vishnu, including his brothers Bharata, Laksmana and Satrughna), Krishna (12), Buddha (16), Kalki (16) |
| 10[b] | Matsya, Kurma, Varaha, Narasimha, Vamana, Parasurama, Rama, Buddha, and Kalki (Chapter 49) | |
| Bhagavata | 22[c][42] | Kumaras, Varaha, Narada, Nara-Narayana, Kapila, Dattatreya, Yajna, Rsabha, Prthu, Matsya, Kurma, Dhanvantari, Mohini, Nrsimha, Vamana, Parashurama, Vyasadeva, Rama, Balarama and Krishna, Buddha, and Kalki (Canto 1, Chapter 3). |
| 20[c][43] | Varaha, Suyajna (Hari), Kapila, Dattātreya, Four Kumaras, Nara-Narayana, Prthu, Rsabha, Hayagriva, Matsya, Kurma, Nṛsiṁha, Vamana, Manu, Dhanvantari, Parashurama, Rama, Krishna, Buddha, and Kalki (Canto 2, Chapter 7) | |
| Brahma[44] | 15 | Matsya, Kurma, Varaha, Narasimha, Vamana, Hayagriva, Buddha, Rama, Kalki, Ananta, Acyuta, Jamadagnya (Parashurama), Varuna, Indra, and Yama (Volume 4: 52.68–73) |
| Garuda[45] | 20[d] | Kumara, Varaha, Narada, Nara-Narayana, Kapila, Datta (Dattatreya), Yajna, Urukrama, Prthu, Matsya, Kurma, Dhanavantari, Mohini, Narasimha, Vamana, Parasurama, Vyasadeva, Balarama, Krishna, and Kalki (Volume 1: Chapter 1) |
| 10[d] | Matsya, Kurma, Varaha, Nrsimha, Vamana, Parasurama, Rama, Krishna, Buddha, and Kalki (Volume 1, Chapter 86, Verses 10–11) | |
| 10[d][46] | Matsya, Kurma, Varaha, Nrsimha, Rama, Parasurama, Krishna, Balarama, Buddha, and Kalki (Volume 3, Chapter 30, Verse 37) | |
| Linga[47] | 10[e] | Matsya, Kurma, Varaha, Nrsimha, Vamana, Rama, Parasurama, Krishna, Buddha, and Kalki (Part 2, Chapter 48, Verses 31–32) |
| Matsya[48] | 10[f] | 3 celestial incarnations of Dharma, Nrishimha, and Vamana; and 7 human incarnations of Dattatreya, Mandhitri, Parasurama, Rama, Vedavyasa (Vyasa), Buddha, and Kalki (Volume 1: Chapter XLVII / 47) |
| Narada[49] | 10 | Matsya, Kurma, Varaha, Narasimha, Trivikrama (Vamana), Parasurama, Sri-Rama, Krisna, Buddha, Kalki (Part 4, Chapter 119, Verses 14–19), and Kapila[50] |
| Padma[51][52] | 10 | Part 7: Yama (66.44–54) and Brahma (71.23–29) name 'Matsya, Kurma, and Varaha. Narasimha and Vamana, (Parasu-)rama, Rama, Krsna, Buddha, and Kalki'; Part 9: this list is repeated by Shiva (229.40–44); Kapila[50] |
| Shiva[53] | 10 | Matsya, Kurma, Varaha, Nrsimha, Vamana, 'Rama trio' [Rama, Parasurama, Balarama], Krishna, Kalki (Part 4: Vayaviya Samhita: Chapter 30, Verses 56–58 and Chapter 31, verses 134–136) |
| Skanda | 14[54] | Varaha, Matsya, Kurma, Nrsimha, Vamana, Kapila, Datta, Rsabha, Bhargava Rama (Parashurama), Dasarathi Rama, Krsna, Krsna Dvaipayana (Vyasa), Buddha, and Kalki (Part 7: Vasudeva-Mamatmya: Chapter 18) |
| 10[55] | Matsya, Kurma, Varaha, Narasimha, Trivikrama (Vamana), Parasurama, Sri-Rama, Krisna, Buddha, and Kalki (Part 15: Reva Khanda: Chapter 151, Verses 1–7) | |
| Manavā | 42 | Adi Purusha, Kumaras, Narada, Kapila, Yajna, Dattatreya, Nara-Narayana, Vibhu, Satyasena, Hari, Vaikunta, Ajita, Shaligram, Sarvabhauma, Vrishbha, Visvaksena, Sudhama(not krishna's friend Sudama), Dharmasetu, Yogeshwara, Brihadbhanu, Hamsa, Hayagriva, Vyasa, Prithu, Vrishbha deva, Matsya, Kurma, Varaha, Vamana, Parashurama, Rama, Balrama, Krishna, Buddha, Venkateswara, Dnyaneshwar, Chaitanya, Kalki |
| Varaha[56][57] | 10 | Matsya, Kurma, Varaha, Nrsimha, Vamana, Parasurama, Rama, Krishna, Buddha, and Kalki (Chapter 4, Verses 2–3; Chapter 48, Verses 17–22; and Chapter 211, Verse 69) |
Dashavatara
The Dashavatara is a list of the so-called Vibhavas, or '10 [primary] Avatars' of Vishnu. The Agni Purana, Varaha Purana, Padma Purana, Linga Purana, Narada Purana, Garuda Purana, and Skanda Purana all provide matching lists. The same Vibhavas are also found in the Garuda Purana Saroddhara, a commentary or 'extracted essence' written by Navanidhirama about the Garuda Purana (i.e. not the Purana itself, with which it seems to be confused):
The Fish, the Tortoise, the Boar, the Man-Lion, the Dwarf, Parasurama, Rama, Krisna, Buddha, and also Kalki: These ten names should always be meditated upon by the wise. Those who recite them near the diseased are called relatives.
— Navanidhirama, Garuda Purana Saroddhara, Chapter VIII, Verses 10–11, translated by E. Wood and S.V. Subrahmanyam[58][59]
Apparent disagreements concerning the placement of either the Buddha or Balarama in the Dashavatara seems to occur from the Dashavatara list in the Shiva Purana (the only other list with ten avatars including Balarama in the Garuda Purana substitutes Vamana, not Buddha). Regardless, both versions of the Dashavatara have a scriptural basis in the canon of authentic Vedic literature (but not from the Garuda Purana Saroddhara).
Perumal
Perumal (Tamil: பெருமாள்)—also known as Thirumal (Tamil: திருமால்), or Mayon (as described in the Tamil scriptures)— was accepted as a manifestation of Vishnu during syncretism of South Indian deities into mainstream Hinduism. Mayon is indicated in the Tolkappiyam to be the deity associated with the mullai tiṇai (pastoral landscape).[60][61] Tamil Sangam literature (200 BCE to 500 CE) mentions Mayon or the "dark one" and as a supreme deity who creates, sustains, and destroys the universe, and who was worshipped in the plains and mountains of Tamilakam.[62] The verses of Paripadal describe the glory of Perumal in poetic terms. Many poems of the Paripadal consider Perumal as a supreme god of Tamils.[62] He is a popular Hindu deity among Tamils in Tamil Nadu, and in the Tamil diaspora.[63][64] Revered by the Sri Vaishnava tradition, Perumal is venerated in popular tradition as Venkateshwara at Tirupati,[65] and Sri Ranganathaswamy at Srirangam.[66]
The Trimurti
.jpeg)
The Puranic period from the 4th to the 12th century CE saw the rise of post-Vedic religion and the evolution of what R. C. Majumdar calls "synthetic Hinduism."[67] Particularly in Vaishnavism, the Trimurti (also known as the Hindu Triad or Great Trinity)[68][69] represents the three fundamental forces (guṇas) through which the universe is created, maintained, and destroyed in cyclic succession. Each of these forces is represented by a Hindu deity:[70][71]
- Brahma: presiding deity of Rajas (passion, creation)
- Vishnu: presiding deity of Sattva (goodness, preservation)
- Shiva: presiding deity of Tamas (darkness, destruction)
The trimurti themselves are beyond three gunas and are not affected by it.[72]
In Hindu tradition, the trio is often referred to as Brahma-Vishnu-Mahesh. All have the same meaning of three in one; different forms or manifestations of One person the Supreme Being.[73]
Textual development
The iconography of Hindu god Vishnu has been widespread in history. | |||||||
._Bilingual_series._BASILEWS_AGAQOKLEOUS_with_Indian_god_Balarama-Samkarshana.jpg)
_-_20090209.jpg)
_Nat.jpg)
Vedas
Though a minor mention and with overlapping attributes in the Vedas, he has important characteristics in various hymns of the Rig Veda, such as 1.154.5, 1.56.3 and 10.15.3.[38] In these hymns, the Vedic scriptures assert that Vishnu resides in that highest home where departed Atman (Self) reside, an assertion that has been proposed in older publications as a reason for his increasing emphasis and popularity in Hindu soteriology,[38][74] yet deemed an insufficient explanation by Gonda.[38] He is also described in the Vedic literature as the one who supports heaven and earth.[31]
तदस्य प्रियमभि पाथो अश्यां नरो यत्र देवयवो मदन्ति । उरुक्रमस्य स हि बन्धुरित्था विष्णोः पदे परमे मध्व उत्सः ॥५॥ ऋग्वेद १-१५४-५
5. Might I reach that dear cattle-pen of his, where men seeking the gods find elation, for exactly that is the bond to the wide-striding one: the wellspring of honey in the highest step of Viṣṇu.
आहं पितॄन्सुविदत्राँ अवित्सि नपातं च विक्रमणं च विष्णोः ।
बर्हिषदो ये स्वधया सुतस्य भजन्त पित्वस्त इहागमिष्ठाः ॥३॥ ऋग्वेद १०-१५-३
3. I have found here the forefathers good to find and the grandson and the wide stride of Viṣṇu.
Those who, sitting on the ritual grass, share in the pressed soma and the food at (the cry of) "svadhā", they are the most welcome arrivals here.
In the Vedic hymns, Vishnu is invoked alongside other deities, especially Indra, whom he helps kill the symbol of evil named Vritra.[31][77] His distinguishing characteristic in the Vedas is his association with light. Two Rigvedic hymns in Mandala 7 refer to Vishnu. In section 7.99 of the Rigveda, Vishnu is addressed as the god who separates heaven and earth, a characteristic he shares with Indra. In the Vedic texts, the deity or god referred to as Vishnu is Surya or Savitr (Sun god), who also bears the name Suryanarayana. Again, this link to Surya is a characteristic Vishnu shares with fellow Vedic deities named Mitra and Agni, wherein in different hymns, they too "bring men together" and cause all living beings to rise up and impel them to go about their daily activities.[78]
In hymn 7.99 of Rigveda, Indra-Vishnu is equivalent and produce the sun, with the verses asserting that this sun is the source of all energy and light for all.[78] In other hymns of the Rigveda, Vishnu is a close friend of Indra.[79] Elsewhere in Rigveda, Atharvaveda and Upanishadic texts, Vishnu is equivalent to Prajapati, both are described as the protector and preparer of the womb, and according to Klaus Klostermaier, this may be the root behind the post-Vedic fusion of all the attributes of the Vedic Prajapati unto the avatars of Vishnu.[31]
In the Yajurveda, Taittiriya Aranyaka (10.13.1), "Narayana sukta", Narayana is mentioned as the supreme being. The first verse of "Narayana Suktam" mentions the words paramam padam, which literally mean 'highest post' and may be understood as the 'supreme abode for all Selfs'. This is also known as Param Dhama, Paramapadam, or Vaikuntha. Rigveda 1.22.20 also mentions the same paramam padam.[80]
In the Atharvaveda, the mythology of a boar who raises goddess earth from the depths of cosmic ocean appears, but without the word Vishnu or his alternate avatar names. In post-Vedic mythology, this legend becomes one of the basis of many cosmogonic myth called the Varaha legend, with Varaha as an avatar of Vishnu.[77]
Trivikrama: The Three Steps of Vishnu
_(8567815983).jpg)
Several hymns of the Rigveda repeat the mighty deed of Vishnu called the Trivikrama, which is one of the lasting mythologies in Hinduism since the Vedic times.[81] It is an inspiration for ancient artwork in numerous Hindu temples such as at the Ellora Caves, which depict the Trivikrama legend through the Vamana avatar of Vishnu.[82][83] Trivikrama refers to the celebrated three steps or "three strides" of Vishnu. Starting as a small insignificant looking being, Vishnu undertakes a herculean task of establishing his reach and form, then with his first step covers the earth, with second the ether, and the third entire heaven.[81][84]
विष्णोर्नु कं वीर्याणि प्र वोचं यः पार्थिवानि विममे रजांसि ।
यो अस्कभायदुत्तरं सधस्थं विचक्रमाणस्त्रेधोरुगायः ॥१॥...
viṣṇōrnu kaṃ vīryāṇi pra vōcaṃ yaḥ pārthivāni vimamē rajāṃsi |
yō askabhāyaduttaraṃ sadhasthaṃ vicakramāṇastrēdhōrugāyaḥ ||1||
I will now proclaim the heroic deeds of Visnu, who has measured out the terrestrial regions,
who established the upper abode having, wide-paced, strode out triply...
The Vishnu Sukta 1.154 of Rigveda says that the first and second of Vishnu's strides (those encompassing the earth and air) are visible to the mortals and the third is the realm of the immortals. The Trivikrama describing hymns integrate salvific themes, stating Vishnu to symbolize that which is freedom and life.[81] The Shatapatha Brahmana elaborates this theme of Vishnu, as his herculean effort and sacrifice to create and gain powers that help others, one who realizes and defeats the evil symbolized by the Asuras after they had usurped the three worlds, and thus Vishnu is the saviour of the mortals and the immortals (Devas).[81]
Brahmanas
To what is One
Seven germs unripened yet are heaven's prolific seed:
their functions they maintain by Vishnu's ordinance.
Endued with wisdom through intelligence and thought,
they compass us about present on every side.
What thing I truly am I know not clearly:
mysterious, fettered in my mind I wonder.
When the first-born of holy Law approached me,
then of this speech, I first obtain a portion.
(...)
They call him Indra, Mitra, Varuna, Agni,
and he is heavenly-winged Garutman.
To what is One, sages give many a title.
The Shatapatha Brahmana contains ideas which Vaishnavism tradition of Hinduism has long mapped to a pantheistic vision of Vishnu as supreme, he as the essence in every being and everything in the empirically perceived universe. In this Brahmana, states Klaus Klostermaier, Purusha Narayana (Vishnu) asserts, "all the worlds have I placed within mine own self, and my own self has I placed within all the worlds."[88] The text equates Vishnu to all knowledge there is (Vedas), calling the essence of everything as imperishable, all Vedas and principles of universe as imperishable, and that this imperishable which is Vishnu is the all.[88]
Vishnu is described to be permeating all object and life forms, states S. Giora Shoham, where he is "ever-present within all things as the intrinsic principle of all", and the eternal, transcendental self in every being.[89] The Vedic literature, including its Brahmanas layer, while praising Vishnu do not subjugate others gods and goddesses. They present an inclusive pluralistic henotheism. According to Max Muller, "Although the gods are sometimes distinctly invoked as the great and the small, the young and the old (Rig Veda 1:27:13), this is only an attempt to find the most comprehensive expression for the divine powers and nowhere is any of the gods represented as the subordinate to others. It would be easy to find, in the numerous hymns of the Veda, passages in which almost every single god is represented as supreme and absolute."[90]
Upanishads
The Vaishnava Upanishads are minor Upanishads of Hinduism, related to Vishnu theology. There are 14 Vaishnava Upanishads in the Muktika anthology of 108 Upanishads.[91] It is unclear when these texts were composed, and estimates vary from the 1st-century BCE to 17th-century CE for the texts.[92][93]
These Upanishads highlight Vishnu, Narayana, Rama or one of his avatars as the supreme metaphysical reality called Brahman in Hinduism.[94][95] They discuss a diverse range of topics, from ethics to the methods of worship.[96]
Puranas
_Manuscript_LACMA_M.88.134.4_(2_of_2).jpg)
Vishnu is the primary focus of the Vaishnavism-focused Puranas genre of Hindu texts. Of these, according to Ludo Rocher, the most important texts are the Bhagavata Purana, Vishnu Purana, Nāradeya Purana, Garuda Purana and Vayu Purana.[97] The Purana texts include many versions of cosmologies, mythologies, encyclopedic entries about various aspects of life, and chapters that were medieval era regional Vishnu temples-related tourist guides called mahatmyas.[98]
One version of the cosmology, for example, states that Vishnu's eye is at the Southern Celestial Pole from where he watches the cosmos.[99] In another version found in section 4.80 of the Vayu Purana, he is the Hiranyagarbha, or the golden egg from which were simultaneously born all feminine and masculine beings of the universe.[100]
Vishnu Purana
The Vishnu Purana presents Vishnu as the central element of its cosmology, unlike some other Puranas where Shiva or Brahma or goddess Shakti are. The reverence and the worship of Vishnu is described in 22 chapters of the first part of Vishnu Purana, along with the profuse use of the synonymous names of Vishnu such as Hari, Janardana, Madhava, Achyuta, Hrishikesha and others.[101]
The Vishnu Purana also discusses the Hindu concept of supreme reality called Brahman in the context of the Upanishads; a discussion that the theistic Vedanta scholar Ramanuja interprets to be about the equivalence of the Brahman with Vishnu, a foundational theology in the Sri Vaishnavism tradition.[102]
Bhagavata Purana
Vishnu is equated with Brahman in the Bhagavata Purana, such as in verse 1.2.11, as "learned transcendentalists who know the Absolute Truth call this non-dual substance as Brahman, Paramatma and Bhagavan."[103]
The Bhagavata Purana has been the most popular and widely read Purana texts relating to Vishnu avatar Krishna, it has been translated and available in almost all Indian languages.[104] Like other Puranas, it discusses a wide range of topics including cosmology, genealogy, geography, mythology, legend, music, dance, yoga and culture.[105][106] As it begins, the forces of evil have won a war between the benevolent devas (deities) and evil asuras (demons) and now rule the universe. Truth re-emerges as the Vishnu avatar first makes peace with the demons, understands them and then creatively defeats them, bringing back hope, justice, freedom and good – a cyclic theme that appears in many legends.[107] The Bhagavata Purana is a revered text in Vaishnavism.