VISHNŬ, THE PRESERVER.
Vishnŭ is the second person in the Hindū triad; he is a personification of the preserving power, and has on the whole a greater number of adorers than any other deity or attribute.
I have a brazen image representing Vishnŭ reposing on a serpent with seven heads; perhaps intended to represent Sesha, the vast thousand-headed serpent, or ananta, as the serpent, as well as Vishnŭ, is sometimes named; meaning endless or infinite. Vishnŭ is represented as he is described in the Scanda Purana, asleep in the bosom of the waters, when a lotus arose from his body, which soon reached the surface of the flood. Brahma sprung from the flower, and looking round without seeing any creature on the boundless expanse, imagined himself to be the first-born. Vishnŭ denied his primogeniture; they had an obstinate battle, which lasted until Mahadēo cut off one of Brahma’s five heads, which settled the affair, and the image of Brahma bears only four heads. Nothing can be more luxurious than this image, the god floating on the water-lily, and the serpent, whose outspread heads afford him shade during his repose; while two celestial beings, sitting at his feet, shampoo him during his slumber. The one is his sacti, Lachhmī, the goddess of beauty, who was produced with the chowda ratny, or fourteen gems, at the churning of the sea; the other, another sacti, Saraswatī, the goddess of literature and harmony, the daughter of Brahma.
Vishnŭ and Shivŭ are said each to have a thousand names; they are strung together in verse, and repeated on certain occasions by Brahmāns as a sort of litany, accompanied sometimes with the rosary. Images of Vishnŭ, either representing him in his own person, or in any of his avataras or incarnations, may be generally distinguished from those of other deities by a shell (chank), and a sort of wheel or discus, called chakra. The chank is the large buccinum, sometimes seen beautifully coloured like a pheasant’s breast. The chakra is a missile weapon, very like our quoit, having a hole in its centre, on which it is twirled on the forefinger, and thrown at the destined object; it has a sharp edge, and irresistible fire flames from its periphery when whirled by Vishnŭ. Two other attributes appertain to him; the gadha, a mace or club; and the padma, a lotus. The god is represented four-handed, and wears on his head a high cap of singular form, called mugut. At the back of this brazen idol lotus-leaves form a sort of glory, crowned by the head of a bird, perhaps intended as an emblem of his vahan Garuda. Vishnŭ is sometimes seen mounted on an eagle, or rather on an animal composed of an eagle and a man, cleaving the air, and soaring to the skies. Vishnŭ is represented in the form of a black man, with yellow garments.