Vishṇu

Vishṇu, “the all-pervading one”

Yajña has other meanings too: see all meanings of Yajña.

Vishṇu, also called Nārāyaṇa, pervades the three worlds. The Purāṇas name him as the one who existed alone before creation, from whom the world was born, and who takes form as the ten avatāras. Below is what several texts teach about him: the Varāha Purāṇa, the Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa, the Agni Purāṇa, the Liṅga Purāṇa, the Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa and the Mahābhārata.

The Vāmana Purāṇa, told by Pulastya Maharshi to Nārada, is above all an account of Bhagavān Vishṇu. Its first words bow to Śrīdhara, who in the form of Vāmana took from Bali the kingdom of the three worlds and gave it to Indra, and its last words bow to Kāraṇa-Vāmana. Between them it shows him as Nārāyaṇa who lies on Śesha in the ocean of milk and dwells in Śvetadvīpa in the form of the Mahāhaṃsa; as the one Vāsudeva who is fourfold, whose cakra has twelve leaves, and whose limbs are the twenty-seven nakshatras; as Nārāyaṇa Ṛshi of Badarikāśrama, whom Prahlāda could conquer by bhakti alone; as the one who received the Sudarśana cakra from Bhagavān Śiva by a thousand years of tapas; as the slayer of Mura, by which he is called Murāri, and of Kālanemi, Kujambha, Śrīdāma, Jalodbhava and Dhundhu; as the rescuer of Gajendra; and as Vāmana, born of Aditi, who measured the three worlds in three steps, sent Bali to Sutala and then himself stood guard at Bali’s gate with his gadā. Bhagavān Śiva declares in it that he and Vishṇu are one tattva in two forms. It gives many stotras to him, by Śiva, Brahmā, Prahlāda, Kaśyapa, Aditi, Agastya, Gajendra and Sarasvatī Devī, and Prahlāda’s teaching that Bhagavān Vishṇu is the one boat across the ocean of saṃsāra. These are set out below, in the section on the Vāmana Purāṇa.

Names and meaning

• Nārāyaṇa: “the one who has the primordial waters (nārāḥ) as his home (āyana)”. Bhagavān Vishṇu himself explains this in the Varāha Purāṇa: “I created the primal waters (nārāmbu) and made them my dwelling, so I am called Nārāyaṇa.”
• Vishṇu: “the one who pervades all three worlds”. In Chapter 31 of the Varāha Purāṇa, Brahmā says: “You have entered the three lokas, so you are Vishṇu.”
• Govinda, Keśava, Mādhava, Janārdana, Acyuta: names used again and again in stotras (hymns of praise).
• Purushottama: the highest among all purushas.

Before creation

Before creation, Nārāyaṇa alone existed. Though he did things by his own will, he found no delight. A wish for a second arose in him, and from that wish the cosmos was born. The Varāha Purāṇa describes him as:

• Paramottara, beyond the beyond.
• Amṛta and Purāṇa, deathless and ancient.
• Ananta-śakti, with endless power.
• One to whom neither “existing” nor “not existing” applies. He comes before all.

The eight mūrtis

In Chapter 4 of the Varāha Purāṇa, Bhagavān Vishṇu tells Bhūdevī that he has eight chief mūrtis (forms).

1. Bhūdevī (Earth), the first mūrti.
2. Jala (Water), the second.
3. Agni (Fire), the third.
4. Vāyu (Wind), the fourth.
5. Ākāśa (Sky), the fifth.
6. Sūrya (Sun), the sixth.
7. Candra (Moon), the seventh.
8. Yajamāna (the one who performs the yajña, the worshipper), the eighth.

This whole universe is filled with these eight forms of Nārāyaṇa.

The Daśāvatāra

Chapter 4 of the Varāha Purāṇa names the ten avatāras of Nārāyaṇa together.

1. Matsya (fish)
2. Kūrma (tortoise)
3. Varāha (boar)
4. Narasiṃha (man-lion)
5. Vāmana (dwarf)
6. Paraśurāma (Rāma with the axe, son of Jamadagni)
7. Rāma (son of Daśaratha)
8. Kṛshṇa
9. Buddha
10. Kalki

These ten are the mūrtis of Nārāyaṇa. They are like steps for those who wish to see Śrīman Nārāyaṇa.

Three roles in the cosmos

In Chapter 10 of the Varāha Purāṇa, Vishṇu works in three ways that match the three guṇas (qualities of nature).

He became Brahmā, Vishṇu and Maheśvara in name, and stayed as three.

Weapons, mount and marks

The Varāha Purāṇa describes Vishṇu in the stotra of Bhūdevī (Chapter 1) and in many other prayers.

• Weapons: the Śārṅga bow, the sword (khaḍga), the cakra (sudarśana), the mace (gadā) and the conch (śaṅkha).
• Mount: Garuḍa (garutmān).
• Consort: Lakshmī, who always lives on his chest (hṛdaya).
• Colour: dark blue (nīlamegha), with an ink-black shine.
• Eyes: eyes like lotus petals (padma-patrāksha).
• Garment: yellow silk (pīta-vastra).
• Resting place: the couch of Ādiśesha in the milk-ocean.
• Marks on the chest: the Śrīvatsa and the Kaustubha gem.

Yoga-nidrā and new creation

Each night of a kalpa, Vishṇu sleeps in yoga-nidrā. During this sleep the three lower lokas dissolve. At dawn his navel-lotus brings forth Brahmā again, and Brahmā receives the command, “Create the people.” (Varāha Mahā Purāṇa)

The teaching that Vishṇu is in all

Kapila and Jaigīshavya teach King Aśvaśiras in Chapter 4 of the Varāha Purāṇa:

Vishṇu is in your body, in the bodies of your ministers and servants, and in all beings, in devas, animals and insects alike. This whole universe is Vishṇu.

Yet one must grow the firm belief: “Hari is everywhere, and nothing equals him.”

Stotras in the Varāha Purāṇa

The Caturvyūha in the Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa

Chapter 4 of the Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa explains the Caturvyūha (four-fold form) of Nārāyaṇa. It answers the question: why did Vāsudeva, the cause of all causes, take human birth? The four vyūhas are:

• Vāsudeva: the supreme, beyond-all form, both saguṇa (with qualities) and nirguṇa (without qualities). He is the final source and support of all that is, and he lives in the highest akshara realm.
• Saṅkarshaṇa: the tāmasic vyūha, linked with Pātāla and with the drawing back of the world. He is Ananta Śesha, the serpent who bears all creation, and he draws beings back at the end of each cycle.
• Pradyumna: the sāttvik vyūha that sets dharma in place. His descents into the mortal world are to protect dharma and destroy adharma. The human birth of Kṛshṇa falls within this vyūha.
• Aniruddha: the vyūha that sustains. He lives in the heart of all beings as the antarātmā, the inner witness and supporter between creation and dissolution.

So the human birth (mānusha-janma) of Nārāyaṇa is the dharma-setting work of the Pradyumna vyūha in action. It is not a lowering but a purposeful showing. (Mārkaṇḍeya Mahā Purāṇa, Chapter 4)

The slaying of Madhu and Kaiṭabha in the Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa

At the end of a kalpa, in the great mahāpralaya when all worlds are dissolved, Vishṇu rests on the cosmic waters on the back of Śesha. In this cosmic sleep (Yoganidrā), Brahmā sat on the lotus that grew from Vishṇu’s navel. Two asuras, Madhu and Kaiṭabha, rose from the ear-wax of the sleeping Vishṇu and threatened to eat Brahmā.

Brahmā had no way to wake Vishṇu, because Yoganidrā herself was the force keeping him asleep. Here she is named the Devī, the supreme Śakti. So Brahmā offered a great prayer to Yoganidrā. He praised her as the cause of all creation, the māyā of Vishṇu himself, who lives in all eyes as sleep. Pleased by the stotra, Yoganidrā left Vishṇu’s body and went into the cosmos.

Vishṇu woke. He fought Madhu and Kaiṭabha for five thousand divine years. The asuras, deluded by the Devī, offered him a vara (a boon), and he chose their death. The earth was under the waters of pralaya, and the asuras had said “not on wet ground”. So Vishṇu spread his thighs above the level of the flood and killed them there. The marrow (medas) of their huge bodies melted into the ocean and became the earth. For this reason the earth is called Medinī (from medas). (Mārkaṇḍeya Mahā Purāṇa, Chapter 80)

Vishṇu in the Agni Purāṇa

The Agni Purāṇa was passed on by Hayagrīva to Brahmā and told by Nārada. It teaches a full Āgama theology of Vishṇu. This covers his nine-fold form (nava-vyūha), the twenty-four mūrtis, the chief mantras and the way of pūjā with five devas (pañcāyatana).

The ashṭāksharī and dvādaśāksharī mantras

The Agni Purāṇa names two supreme Vaishṇava mantras as the base of all upāsanā (worship) of Vishṇu. The ashṭāksharī has eight syllables and is the common mantra of Nārāyaṇa.

Oṃ Namo Nārāyaṇāya

The dvādaśāksharī has twelve syllables and is the mantra of Vāsudeva.

Oṃ Namo Bhagavate Vāsudevāya

It is also the frame of the caturviṃśati-mūrti-stotra. The first syllables of the twelve verses that praise the first twelve mūrtis spell out this dvādaśāksharī in order.

Four chief vyūha-mantras come from the dvādaśāksharī:

Oṃ Ā Namo Bhagavate Vāsudevāya

Oṃ Ā Namo Bhagavate Saṃkarshaṇāya

Oṃ Aṃ Namo Bhagavate Pradyumnāya

Oṃ Aḥ Namo Bhagavate Aniruddhāya

The trailokya-mohana mantra “Pāṃ” is described as the mantra for all mūrtis. (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 25)

The nava-vyūha

The Agni Purāṇa builds on the four-fold form and describes the nava-vyūha (nine-fold form) as the base of the highest Āgama pūjā-maṇḍala. Vāsudeva is set at the centre of the lotus, on the middle petal (karṇikā). The other eight forms are set on the eight petals around it.

The order of nyāsa (placing the mantras on the body) for the nava-vyūha is described. Vāsudeva and the four bala forms are first placed on the thumbs and fingers. Then they are placed on the twelve limbs: śiras, lalāṭa, mukha, hṛdaya, nābhi, guhya, jānu and pāda. Nine separate lotus seats (navābja) are made, one for each form, and the nine mūrtis are called in (āvāhana) at the same time. The pūjā goes on as for a single mūrti, but widened across the whole lotus-maṇḍala. (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 23)

The twenty-four mūrtis

The Agni Purāṇa says the twenty-four named forms of Vishṇu come from the four vyūha devas: Vāsudeva, Saṃkarshaṇa, Pradyumna and Aniruddha. Each gives rise to six mūrtis, through changing the order of the four weapons held in the four hands: śaṅkha, cakra, gadā and padma. The twenty-four names are:

• From Vāsudeva: Keśava, Nārāyaṇa, Mādhava, Govinda, Vishṇu, Madhusūdana.
• From Pradyumna: Trivikrama, Vāmana, Śrīdhara, Hṛshīkeśa, Padmanābha, Dāmodara.
• From Saṃkarshaṇa: Saṃkarshaṇa, Vāsudeva, Pradyumna, Aniruddha, Purushottama, Adhokshaja.
• From Aniruddha: Narasiṃha, Acyuta, Janārdana, Upendra, Hari, Kṛshṇa.

Each form holds the four weapons in its own order in its four hands. The caturviṃśati-mūrti-stotra of Chapter 48 praises each in turn. When the opening syllables of its first twelve verses are put together, they give the dvādaśāksharī mantra, so it is also called the dvādaśāksharī-stotra.

The Agni Purāṇa also says that for Vāsudeva, the chief mūrti, the cakra is in the upper right hand, the padma in the lower right, the śaṅkha in the upper left and the gadā in the lower left. Lakshmī with a lotus and Pushṭidevī with a vīṇā stand on either side. (Agni Purāṇa, Chapters 25, 44, 48)

Pañcāyatana: Vishṇu with four others

The Agni Purāṇa describes a pañcadeva-pūjā in which Vishṇu is worshipped together with Śiva, Sūrya, Sarasvatī (or Śrī) and Gaṇeśa, as the five chief devas of Āgama pūjā. The general pūjā chapter (Chapter 21) gives mantras and rules for all five in one maṇḍala. Vishṇu’s large retinue is worshipped in its places around the central deva. It includes Vishvaksena, Garuḍa, the twelve Ādityas, the dikpālas (guardians of the directions), and the weapons: cakra, gadā, śaṅkha, musala, khaḍga, śārṅga, pāśa and aṅkuśa. It also includes the Śaktis Vimalā, Utkarshiṇī, Jñānā, Kriyā and Yogā. (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 21)

The Vishṇu-pañjara in the Agni Purāṇa

The Vishṇu-pañjara is the divine kavaca (protective armour) of Bhagavān Vishṇu. It is a stotra in which every direction and limb is guarded by a named form of Bhagavān Vishṇu. Chapter 270 of the Agni Purāṇa tells that Pushkara passed on this stotra to Paraśurāma. The kavaca has two famous earlier uses. Brahmā taught it to Śiva when Śiva was getting ready to destroy the Tripuras. Bṛhaspati taught it to Indra when Indra set out to kill the asura Bala.

Protection by direction

The Vishṇu-pañjara gives a form of Bhagavān Vishṇu to each of the eight directions and the planes above and below.

• East: Cakra-dhārī Vishṇu (Vishṇu who bears the discus, the Sudarśana Cakra).
• South: Gadā-dhārī Vishṇu (Vishṇu who bears the mace).
• North: Khaḍga-dhārī Vishṇu (Vishṇu who bears the sword).
• Intermediate directions (vidik): Hṛshīkeśa.
• Between the intermediate directions (vidiśāntara): Janārdana.
• Below (Bhūmi): Varāha-rūpa-dhārī Hari (Bhagavān Vishṇu in the Varāha form).
• Above (Ākāśa): Narasiṃha.

The Sudarśana Cakra as protector

The Vishṇu-pañjara describes the Sudarśana Cakra as a cosmic weapon of terrible power.

The pure Sudarśana Cakra, with its final kshara syllables, turns without rest. It travels killing pretas (wandering spirits) and rākshasas. None can look upon its rays. The blazing fire of this cakra, equal to a thousand suns, burns all rakshas, bhūtas and piśācas.

The gadā as protector

This gadā (mace), equal to blazing Agni, destroys all rakshas, bhūtas and piśācas.

The protecting sound of the śaṅkha

The śaṅkha of Vāsudeva, the Pāñcajanya, with its sound like Oṃkāra, destroys completely all enemies in all the three directions: the tilted, the human, the Kūshmāṇḍa and the prētādi.

The brightness of the khaḍga

The dazzling moonlight shine of the khaḍga of Bhagavān Vishṇu: bathed in it, my enemies will die at once, like serpents before Garuṭmanta.

Protection from the Kūshmāṇḍas

The Kūshmāṇḍas, yakshas, rākshasas, pretas, vināyakas, cruel humans, cruel birds, lions and serpents: struck by the sound of Vishṇu’s śaṅkha, may they all become gentle (saumyatva).

Those who steal my citta-vṛtti (mental powers) and smṛti-śakti (power of memory), those who lessen my saubhāgya (good fortune) and tejas, those who reduce my bhogas (enjoyments), those who destroy my śubha-lakshaṇas (good marks), the Kūshmāṇḍas: may they be struck by Vishṇu’s cakra and perish!

The closing mantra and its fruit

Through the saṃkīrtana (praising aloud) of Deva-deva Vāsudeva, may my mind, intellect and senses all find wholeness and health (svāsthya). May Janārdana-Hari be before me, behind me, to my left, in the recital of the branches of the Veda, in the corners, and everywhere, at all times. To the one who is worthy of all pūjā, who is never lessened (acyuta), who has endless forms, who is Parameśvara, to the feet of Janārdana I bow. One who bows thus is never touched by sorrow. As Śrī Hari is the Paramātmā, so is that Keśava the very form of the world (jagat-svarūpa). By the power of this truth and by the saṃkīrtana of the name of Acyuta, may all three kinds of pāpa (sin) perish.

The phala (fruit) is that reciting or wearing the Vishṇu-pañjara destroys all pāpa, removes the harm of the Kūshmāṇḍas, guards the body and mind from harmful forces in all directions, and makes sure that Bhagavān Janārdana is present as a constant guard in every direction. The kavaca carries the weight of its earlier use, when Brahmā gave it to Śiva before the destruction of the Tripuras. (Agni Mahā Purāṇa, Chapter 270)

Vishṇu in the Liṅga Purāṇa

The Liṅga Purāṇa shows Śrīhari Vishṇu as the first among the devotees of Parameśvara and as the highest example of Śivabhakti (devotion to Śiva) among the immortals. The Liṅga Purāṇa shows Vishṇu as one of the great upāsakas (worshippers) of Parameśvara.

The Jyotirliṅga and Vishṇu’s bowing

There was an ancient quarrel between Brahmā and Vishṇu over who was supreme. Parameśvara then appeared as the endless Jyotirliṅga (pillar of light). Vishṇu took the form of a boar (varāha) and went down into the depths for countless years, but did not find the base of the liṅga. Through his wisdom he knew Parameśvara in the endless pillar. He bowed down before it and sang the Vishṇu-Śiva Stotram, one of the greatest stotras of Śivopāsanā. In it he names Parameśvara as all the Pañcabrahma forms, all the five elements (pañcabhūtas) and all the tanmātras, and declares him to be the giver of moksha, the form of moksha, and moksha itself. (Liṅga Purāṇa, Pūrvārdha)

Vishṇu and Dadhīci

In the account of Dadhīci and Kshupa, Śrīhari Vishṇu came in person to the āśrama of Dadhīci on behalf of King Kshupa. He first came in the guise of an old brāhmaṇa and asked the ṛshi simply to say “I am afraid.” Dadhīci knew Vishṇu by the all-knowing sight Śiva had given him, and refused. Vishṇu then showed his true form and hurled the Sudarśana Cakra at Dadhīci. This was the very cakra he had received as a gift from Parameśvara. Dadhīci’s power of Śivabhakti made the cakra completely blunt.

All the weapons Vishṇu used were made useless. Even his Viśvarūpa was drenched with water by Dadhīci, who challenged him to fight him directly. Then, by the grace of the ṛshi, Vishṇu saw Brahmā, Vishṇu and Rudra together within Dadhīci’s body. He bowed before Dadhīci and went back to Vaikuṇṭha. The Liṅga Purāṇa records that Vishṇu himself praised Dadhīci as unbeaten through Śivabhakti. (Liṅga Purāṇa, Pūrvārdha)

Vishṇu’s pūjā of the Śivaliṅga

The Liṅga Purāṇa records that Vishṇu worships the Śivaliṅga every day. He is not forced to do so by anything outside. He does it because of this saying:

Liṅgārcanaṃ vinā nishṭhā nāsti

That is, there is no steady Śivanishṭhā (single-minded devotion to Śiva) without outer pūjā of the Śivaliṅga. Vishṇu sees the bhāva-liṅga (the inner awareness of Śiva) in the bāhya-liṅga (the outer mūrti). So he worships daily with śraddhā (faith) and pattudala (perseverance). This teaching is in Chapter 24 of the Liṅga Purāṇa. It shows that the highest Vaishṇava is also a Śivabhakta. (Liṅga Purāṇa, Pūrvārdha, Chapter 24)

Vishṇu and Nārāyaṇa in the Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa

Nārāyaṇa as the life-breath of Parabrahman

The Brahma Khaṇḍa of the Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa gives this account. At the start of creation, Nārāyaṇa arose from the right side of Kṛshṇa. In Śiva‘s teaching to Nārada in Chapter 28, Nārāyaṇa (Vishṇu) is named the prāṇa-svarūpa, the life-force form, of Parabrahman-Kṛshṇa. This does not put Vishṇu below Kṛshṇa. It states that the whole life-giving power of the cosmos is Nārāyaṇa himself, as one way of being of the one final reality. (Brahma Vaivarta Mahā Purāṇa, Brahma Khaṇḍa)

Nārāyaṇa’s creation stotra

When Nārāyaṇa came out from the right side of Kṛshṇa, he bowed before Kṛshṇa and sang a great stotra. In it he praises Kṛshṇa as kāraṇānāṃ kāraṇa (the cause of all causes), karma-svarūpa (the form of karma), tapas-svarūpa (the form of tapas) and veda-rūpa (the form of the Vedas). The phala of this stotra includes the destruction of all pāpa. It gives sons, a wife, a kingdom and wealth, and frees from prison and from illness. (Brahma Vaivarta Mahā Purāṇa, Brahma Khaṇḍa)

Nārāyaṇa in the account of Upabarhaṇa

In the account of Upabarhaṇa and Mālavatī (Chapters 13–21), Nārāyaṇa took two important forms.

• He came to Mālavatī as an old brāhmaṇa (vṛddha-brāhmaṇa) with a staff and a water pot, to advise her after the death of Upabarhaṇa. This was a grace that kept her from cursing the devas.
• He also came as a brāhmaṇa boy and spoke on karma-phala (the fruit of action) with the messengers of Yama, Kāla and Mṛtyu-kanyā, teaching about birth and death.

When Upabarhaṇa was brought back to life together with others, it was Nārāyaṇa who gave the prāṇas, restoring the breath of life to the dead body. (Brahma Vaivarta Mahā Purāṇa, Brahma Khaṇḍa)

Nārāyaṇa Muni at Bādarikāśrama

Nārāyaṇa also took the form of the muni Nārāyaṇa at Bādarikāśrama. There he was always absorbed in repeating the name of Kṛshṇa (nāmajapa), taught Nārada about the cosmic nature of Kṛshṇa, and advised him on the path of dharma. (Brahma Vaivarta Mahā Purāṇa, Brahma Khaṇḍa)

Vishṇu in the Vāmana Purāṇa

The Vāmana Purāṇa is told by Pulastya Maharshi to Nārada, and its Saro Māhātmya by Romaharshaṇa to the brāhmaṇas. Its opening bows to Nārāyaṇa, to Nara the best of men, to Sarasvatī Devī and to Vyāsa, and then to Śrīdhara, who in the form of Vāmana took from Bali the kingdom spread over the three worlds and gave it to Indra. Nārada’s first question is why Vishṇu, though all-powerful, took the form of a dwarf in former times, and the whole Purāṇa moves towards the answer. Its last chapter closes with this namaskāra:

नमो नमः कारण वामनाय

namo namaḥ kāraṇa vāmanāya

Namaskāra again and again to Kāraṇa-Vāmana, Vāmana who is the cause. O Vibhu, who took the form of Vāmana to accomplish the work of the devas, namaskāra to you.

Source: Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapter 69

To those who keep niyama (discipline) and salute him by name in this way, Vishṇu, worshipped by the devas, grants moksha. Whoever worships Vishṇu every day, bows to him and hears this Purāṇa with bhakti is freed from all pāpas and gains the full fruit of an aśvamedha with its dakshiṇās; hearing, reading or praising it with śraddhā and bhakti brings the attainment of Vishṇu’s pada (his abode). The Purāṇa is to be told only to the devotees of Hari. (Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapters 1, 69)

His names

The Vāmana Purāṇa calls Bhagavān Vishṇu by many hundreds of names. Gajendra praises him as Abhava, the unborn, “shining with a thousand auspicious names”. When the ṛshis name the best of each kind, Janārdana is named first, as the best among all devatās (Chapter 12). Some of his names the Purāṇa explains itself:

• Nārāyaṇa: water is called nāra, and because he lay on the waters, he is named Nārāyaṇa (Saro Māhātmya, Chapters 21–22).
• Murāri, the enemy of Mura: because the bearer of the cakra slew the dānava Mura by a skilful stratagem (yukti), he became famous as Murāri (Chapter 35).
• Akhaṇḍa-tattva, the undivided principle: because he is made of the four purushārthas, dharma, artha, kāma and moksha (Chapter 62).
• Trivikrama, he of the three strides: the name he bore when he measured the worlds in three steps, once to bind the daitya Dhundhu and again to bind Bali (Chapters 52, 65).
• Garuḍadhvaja and Khagadhvaja, whose banner bears Garuḍa, the bird (Chapters 3, 4).
• Narāgraja, the elder brother of Nara, and Dharmaputra, the son of Dharma: names of Nārāyaṇa Ṛshi of Badarikāśrama (Chapter 8).
• Pītavāsa, clothed in yellow, and Abhava, the unborn (Chapter 8).
• Kaiṭabha-mardana, the slayer of Kaiṭabha, and Madhunāśaka, the slayer of Madhu (Chapters 22, 59).
• Śatrumardana, the crusher of enemies, the name by which he entered Aditi‘s womb (Chapter 50).
• Kuhanāvaṭu, the vaṭu (young brahmacārī) in disguise, and Cakrī, the bearer of the cakra, as Vāmana walks to Bali’s yajña (Saro Māhātmya, Chapter 9).
• Prabhavishṇu, the mighty one (Saro Māhātmya, Chapters 6, 15, 25).

Throughout the Purāṇa he is also Śrī Hari, Keśava, Janārdana, Mādhava, Madhusūdana, Govinda, Hṛshīkeśa, Acyuta, Adhokshaja, Upendra, Vāsudeva, Puṇḍarīkāksha, Padmanābha, Purushottama, Jagannātha, Cakrapāṇi, Gadādhara, Śārṅgapāṇi, Lakshmīpati, Śriyaḥpati and Śrīvallabha.

(Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapters 3, 4, 8, 12, 22, 35, 50, 52, 58, 59, 62, 65; Saro Māhātmya, Chapters 6, 9, 15, 21–22, 25)

His abode, his form and his divine vāhana

His abode. On the ocean of milk Śrī Hari lies on the couch of Śesha. There, Yama tells the dānava Mura, he will see Bhagavān Vishṇu, who pervades the world, the lord of the worlds; there Janārdana shines in four forms on the Śesha couch. Yama calls him his master, “Vishṇu who dwells in Śvetadvīpa and bears the cakra and the gadā”, and when the devas were defeated by Mahishāsura they took refuge in Śrī Hari, holder of the cakra and the gadā, who dwells in Śvetadvīpa in the form of the Mahāhaṃsa, the great swan. Brahmā tells the devas that the dwelling of the lord of the universe, north of the ocean of milk, is called Amṛta. Kurukshetra is Vishṇu’s own āśrama-sthāna, and Badarikāśrama is the holy abode of Murāri, most ancient and worthy of praise. Vārāṇasī is called the Hari-kshetra: the ṛshis there said it is now dear to Śrī Hari and will in time to come be dear to Śiva. After the binding of Bali, at Brahmā’s prayer, Vishṇu dwells for ever in Brahmā’s house in the form of Vāmana.

His form. He is four-armed, bears the Śrīvatsa, has eyes like lotus petals, and holds the śaṅkha, the cakra and the gadā; his śaṅkha is white like the foam that rises from churned amṛta. The gaṇas of Śiva describe him as dark like black collyrium, and Bhagavān Śiva says he has the colours white, yellow, red and black. His voice is deep as a cloud. His smile is flowers, and he laughs the great aṭṭahāsa. His eyes are the Sun and the Moon. He never leaves Lakshmī even for a moment, so that his bed with Lakshmī is never empty, and she goes with him on Garuḍa.

His sleep. When Uttarāyaṇa has passed and Āshāḍha comes, Lakshmīpati sleeps on the bed of Śesha: on Āshāḍha śukla ekādaśī, when Sūrya enters Mithuna, Jagannātha begins to sleep. He is the lord of the devas, and as soon as he sleeps the devas, the gandharvas, the yakshas and their mothers sink into sleep one after another. In the month of Āśvayuja a lotus rose from the navel of Jagannātha, and at once flowers and plants rose from the other devatās, each dear to the one it came from. At the mahāpralaya, when the world had perished, a lotus arose from the navel of Vishṇu, whose birth is unmanifest. Knowing the world to be submerged in water, he broke open the great egg, and from it the Oṃkāra came forth.

His vāhana. The divine vāhana Garuḍa, son of Vinatā, carries him to battle, and when the devas see the lord of the three worlds arrive on Garuḍa they bow. On Garuḍa he searched the seven Pātālas for the base of Śiva’s liṅga, carried Kārttikeya with his peacock to svarga, went with Lakshmī Devī to Śiva’s wedding, came down to the lake to free Gajendra, and, giving up the dwarf form after binding Bali, went to Brahmā’s abode.

(Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapters 6, 11, 16, 17, 18, 22, 27, 32, 34, 36, 41, 47, 58, 59, 60, 64, 66; Saro Māhātmya, Chapters 4, 6, 21–22, 26)

His divine weapons

The Vāmana Purāṇa names his weapons in many places. In the Vishṇupañjara that Śiva taught Kātyāyanī, Vishṇu holds the Sudarśana cakra, the Kaumodakī gadā, the plough named Saunanda, the excellent musala (pestle-club), the Śārṅga bow with the Nārāyaṇāstra, the Pāñcajanya śaṅkha with a lotus, the shield called Sūryaśata (“a hundred suns”) with the sword Candramasa, and he wears the Vaijayantī garland and the Śrīvatsa mark. In the Vishṇupañjara of the tapasvin his sword is the Nandaka, in whose flames enemies grow quiet as serpents do before Garuḍa. Against Vīrabhadra he used the Śārṅga with fire arrows, his divine astras, the gadā, the plough and the musala, and last the cakra. Prahlāda calls him the bearer of the sword and the paraśu (axe), and the one who holds the śaṅkha, the cakra, the gadā, the lotus and the sword. At Bali’s gate he held a gadā shining with the radiance of a thousand suns. In his Hari-Hara form he wears the vanamālā (forest garland).

(Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapters 4, 18, 36, 59, 67, 68)

The Sudarśana cakra

Pulastya Maharshi calls the account of the giving of the cakra very ancient, one that increases the glory of Śiva. Long ago a fearsome rākshasa named Śrīdāma conquered the three worlds and carried off Lakshmī Devī, so that all the worlds were left without Śrī; then he resolved to steal even the Śrīvatsa of Vāsudeva. Janārdana, wishing to slay him, went to Maheśvara, who had taken his seat as Yogamūrti on a level tableland of the Himācala. Contemplating the thousand-headed Mahādeva as dwelling within his own self, Śrī Hari stood on the big toe of one foot for a thousand years, worshipping that Parabrahma, reached by yogīs and beyond all marks.

Pleased with this fierce tapas, Bhagavān Śiva gave him the radiant, divine Sudarśana cakra as a vara, and described it. It is fearsome to all beings, like the wheel of death; it is the best of weapons, able to destroy all other weapons, and of great speed. It has twelve spokes, six naves and two axles. In its spokes are the devatās, the twelve months, the twelve rāśis beginning with Mesha and the six seasons. Sūrya, Candra and Agni, Varuṇa, Indra the lord of Śacī, the Viśvedevas, the Prajāpatis, Hanumān, Dhanvantari and others are in it: it is made of all the devas, fashioned for the protection of the good. In it are tapas, the twelve tapasvīs, and the months from Caitra to Phālguna. “Take this divine weapon and slay the enemy of the devas,” Śiva said. “This never-failing astra, worshipped by Indra, I have until now held in my eyes by the power of yoga.”

Śrī Hari asked how he might know whether the astra was truly amogha, a weapon that meets no resistance anywhere, and said he would release it on Śiva himself. Pinākapāṇi told him to release it at once, without hesitation. The cakra, a mass of radiance, cut Śiva’s body into three parts, Viśveśvara, Yajñeśvara and Yājaka, and Bhagavān Vishṇu fell at the feet of Bhagavān Śiva. Bhava looked at him with love and said: “Rise, Dāmodara. This change touches only the bodily form seen in me. My true form cannot be cut and cannot be burned. Even this body, cut by your cakra, will become a giver of auspiciousness. Of the three pieces, the first will be famed as Hiraṇyāksha, the second as Suvarṇāksha and the third as Virūpāksha, and they will give puṇya to men. Take this cakra and slay the asura.” Garuḍadhvaja went to Mount Meru and with the cakra cut off Śrīdāma’s head, and the rākshasa fell like a mountain peak struck by the vajra. Murāri worshipped Śiva Virūpāksha and, with his leave, went with the Sudarśana to the ocean of milk. The place where this happened is the kshetra of Bhṛgutuṅga at the broad foot of the Himālaya. Dharmaśīlā told this account to her son Upamanyu, and the boy worshipped Virūpāksha and obtained food of milk.

In the Saro Māhātmya the Mahādeva where Vishṇu, the Prabhavishṇu, worshipped and obtained the Sudarśana stands east of the liṅga of Supārśva at Kurukshetra.

The cakra’s power appears again and again. Vishṇu gave a cakra to Kātyāyanī Devī, but when she used it against Mahisha it lost its nature as a cakra. Vīrabhadra, taking the body of a fish, swallowed the Sudarśana in Daksha‘s yajña, and Vishṇu threw him to the ground and crushed him with his arms until it came out again. When the Sudarśana came to Pātāla, where Bali lived after his binding, its sound was like the churning of the ocean; Vindhyāvalī knew it as the weapon of Vāmana Deva, worthy of pūjā, and Bali praised it. In Bali’s stotra Brahmā stands at the nābhi (hub) of the cakra, Śūlapāṇi Śaṅkara at its face, and the host of devas with Indra, Āditya and Agni at the roots of its edges; its speed joins wind, water, fire, earth and sky and is unobstructed; clouds, lightnings, grahas and stars surround its spokes, and tapodhanas such as the Vālakhilyas serve it in its outer region. Bali prayed to the “king of Vishṇu’s cakras” to burn with its flames all the pāpa of his body, speech and mind, and the pāpas of his line on his mother’s side and his father’s, to end his ādhis and vyādhis, and to destroy all his wrongs by the remembrance of its holy name. Receiving Bali’s pūjā, the cakra left the asuras without tejas and went away from Pātāla at the time of the southern equinox.

(Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapters 4, 19, 21, 55, 56, 67; Saro Māhātmya, Chapter 25)

The one Vāsudeva and his fourfold form

As the dānava Mura went to the ocean of milk, where Janārdana shines in four forms on the Śesha couch, Nārada asked why the one Vishṇu has four forms: because he is all-pervading (sarvaga), or because he is unmanifest (avyakta)? Pulastya answered that Jagannātha, though unmanifest, all-pervading and one, is caturmūrti, of four forms. The supreme principle (paratattva) called Vāsudeva is beyond reasoning, cannot be pointed out as “this”, is unmanifest, is white in colour, has peace as its very form, and has twelve petals. This most secret tattva was first told by Brahmā (Parameshṭhī Prajāpati) to Sanatkumāra, and Pulastya heard it from him.

The twelve leaves. Brahmā taught Sanatkumāra the dvādaśa-patraka yoga, the yoga of the twelve leaves. Each leaf has a syllable, a place on the body, a rāśi and a month:

Thus the cakra of the Paramātmā Keśava Vāsudeva, made of twelve leaves, has twelve spokes and two navels. Though seen in three mūrtis, that Parameśvara is one, and his form is twelvefold. For those who know this there is no more death.

The manifest forms. The second form of that Brahma is rich in sattva: it has four faces in four colours and four arms, beautiful limbs, wears the pītāmbara and is a joy to the eyes. The third is the Śesha-mūrti, in which tamas is strong: that Lakshmīvara, with a thousand faces and a thousand feet, brings about the pralaya of beings. The fourth form, mixed with rajas, is red, with four faces and two hands: that radiant Ādipurusha, wearing a garland, carries out creation. These three are the manifest forms that came forth from the unmanifest Brahma, and from him were born thousands of ṛshis, Marīci and the others. This account of the ancient form of the Paramātmā, Pulastya says, increases the strength of the mind.

(Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapters 34, 35)

The Nakshatra Purusha

Śrīman Nārāyaṇa shines in the form of the nakshatras as the Nakshatra Purusha, and Janārdana, the imperishable, is nakshatramaya, made of the nakshatras. The nakshatras on the limbs of Śrī Hari, in the Purāṇa’s order, are:

In the Nakshatra Purusha vrata, which begins on Caitra śuddha ashṭamī with Mūla, each limb is worshipped on the day the Moon is joined with its nakshatra, with its own dohada (special offering), and brāhmaṇas are fed at each step, since Janārdana is made of the nakshatras. Bhṛgu Maharshi kept this vrata, the best of all vratas. Pleased by it, Śrīdhara destroys the pāpa of seven births, the faults that come down in the family and the pāpas of one’s mother and father; the worshipper’s limbs become beautiful, and the Nakshatra Purusha grants health, joy of mind, beauty, sweet speech, honour everywhere and every desired thing. By it Arundhatī became worthy of honour for all womankind; Rambhā gained beauty, Menakā sweet speech, Candra his lustre and Purūravas his kingdom; and Sūrya, worshipping the Nakshatrāṅga Purusha, obtained Govinda himself as his son, who is Revanta.

(Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapter 54)

His forms in every place

When Vāmana, after his upanayana, asked his guru Bharadvāja for leave to go to Bali’s aśvamedha at Kurukshetra, he said that Bali can perform that yajña on earth only by the power and presence of Vāmana’s own tejas-aṃśas (portions of his splendour), which increase puṇya. Bharadvāja asked where these aṃśas abide, and Vāmana answered: the earth, the sky, pātāla, the oceans, divi (the heavens), the directions, the mountains and the clouds are all filled with his avatāras, which are his likenesses; Indra, Sūrya, Candra, Yama, the Vasus, Varuṇa, Agni, all the lokapālas and everything from Brahmā down to a clump of grass he created to fill the earth, and they arose from him. By seeing or praising his chief aṃśas on earth, all pāpas are destroyed at that very moment. He then named every place of his presence and the form he bears there.

On the earth. The first and highest of his manifest forms is the Matsya form in the Mānasa Sarovara, which destroys all pāpas by kīrtana and touch alone. Then: Kūrma at the river Kauśikī; Hayaśīrsha at Kṛshṇāṃśa tīrtha; Govinda at Hastināpura; Trivikrama at the Yamunā; Bhava at Liṅgabheda; Mādhava and Śauri at Kedāra; Hṛshṭamūrdhaja and Hṛshīkeśa at Kubjāmra; Nārāyaṇa at Badarikāvana; Varāha-mūrti at the Garuḍāsana kshetra; Jayeśvara at Bhadrakarṇa; Brāhmaṇapriya at the Vipāśā; Rūpadhara at the Irāvatī; Kurudhvaja at Kurukshetra; Nṛsiṃha at Kṛtaśauca; Viśvakarmā at Gokarṇa; Kāmapāla at Prācīna; Puṇḍarīka at Mahāmbhasa; Ajita at Viśākhayūpa; Haṃsa at Haṃsapadī; Akhaṇḍa at the Payoshṇī; Kumārila at the Vitastā; Śiva at Maṇiparvata; Prajāpati at Brahmaṇa-kshetra; Cakradhara at the river Madhu; Śūlapāṇi in the Himālaya; Vishṇu at Oshadhiprastha; Suvarṇāksha at Bhṛgutuṅga; Pītāmbara at Naimisha; Gadādhara and Gopatīśvara at Gayā; Trailokyanātha, Varada and Kuśeśaya at Gopratāra; Ardhanārīśvara at the holy Mahendra in the south; Gopāla and Somapīthi at the northern Mahendra; Vaikuṇṭha at Sahyagiri; Aparājita on the Pāriyātra mountain; Deveśvara, Viśvarūpa and Tapodhana in the Kaveru land; Sugandhi on the Malaya mountain; Sadāśiva at the foot of the Vindhya; Vishṇu in Avantī; Amareśvara at Nishadha; the Pāñcālika deva in the Pāñcāla land; Hayagrīva at Mahodaya; Yogaśāyī at Prayāga; Svayambhū at Madhuvana; Keśava and Lola at Pushkara.

Then: Padmakiraṇa at Padma-kshetra; Baḍavāmukha in the ocean; Bāhlīśa, Kārtikeya and Barhiṇa at Kumāradhārā; Śambhu and Anagha at Ajeśa; Sthāṇu at Kurujāṅgala; Vanamālī, as the people of Kishkindhā call him; at the Narmadā they call him Vīra, Kuvalayārūḍha, Śaṅkha-cakra-gadādhara, Śrīvatsāṅka, Udārāṅga and Śriyaḥpati; Trinayana and Hutāśana at Māhishmatī; Trisauparṇa at Arbuda; Kshmādhara at Sūkarācala; Triṇāciketa, Kapardī and Somaśekhara at Prabhāsa; Śaśi, Sūrya and Dhruva at Udaya tīrtha; Hiraṇyāksha, the golden-eyed, at Hemakūṭa; Skanda at Śaravaṇa; Rudra at Mahālaya; Padmanābha, giver of every happiness, in Uttara Kuru; Hāṭakeśvara at Sapta-Godāvarī; Mahāhaṃsa and Vaṭeśvara at Prayāga; Rukmakavaca at the Śoṇa; Ghrāṇatarpaṇa at Kuṇḍina; the Mahāyogī at Khillīvana; Purushottama in the Madra land; Viśva and Śrīnivāsa at Plakshāvataraṇa; Caturbhuja at Śūrpāraka; Sudhāpati in Magadha; Paśupati at Girivraja; Śrīkaṇṭha on the bank of the Yamunā; Vanaspati, as the dwellers of Daṇḍakāraṇya know him; Nīlakaṇṭha at Kāliñjara; Śambhu at the Sarayū; Haṃsayukta at Mahākośī; Śarva at the southern Gokarṇa; Vāsudeva at Prajāmukha tīrtha; Mahāśauri on the Vindhya peak; Madhusūdana at Kandha; Cakrapāṇi and Īśvara on the Trikūṭa peak; Hṛshīkeśa at Lauhadaṇḍa; Manohara in Kosala; Mahābhuja in Surāshṭra; Yaśodhara in Navarāshṭra; Bhūdhara at the river Devikā; Kuśapriya at Mahodā; Chāditagada at the Gomatī; Śaṅkhī at Śaṅkhoddhāra; Sunetra in Saindhavāraṇya; Śūra at Śūrapura; Rudra at Hiraṇvatī; Vīrabhadra at Trivishṭapa; Śaṅkukarṇa on the bank of the Bhīmā; Bhīma and Viśvāmitra at Śālavana; Vṛshabhadhvaja on Kailāsa; Maheśa on Mahāḷāgiri; Śaśiprabha in Kāmarūpa; Gomitra at Valabhī; Paṅkajapriya at Kaṭāha kshetra; Upendra in Siṃhala dvīpa; Kundamālādhara at Śakra tīrtha.

In the worlds below. In Rasātala he is renowned as Sahasraśīrsha, the thousand-headed, who is Ādiśesha, and there he is also Kālāgni Rudra and Kṛttivāsa; in Sutala he is Kūrma and Acala; in Vitala Paṅkajāsana; in Mahātala Chāgaleśa and Deveśa; in Tala-loka he is called Sahasracaraṇa, Sahasrabhuja, Īśvara and Sahasrāksha; in Pātāla he is Yogīśa, Hari and Śaṅkara; in Dharātala Kokanada; and on Medinī, the earth, he is renowned as Cakrapāṇi.

In the worlds above and beyond. In Bhuvarloka he is Garuḍa; in Svarloka Vishṇu, the imperishable; in Maharloka Agastya; in Janaloka Kapila-deva; in Tapoloka he has the forms joined with all speech and truth; and in the seventh loka he is established as Brahmā. Among the Śaivas he is Sanātana; in the Vaishṇava fold he is Parabrahma; in the state without support he is Apratarkya, beyond reasoning; in the region beyond space he is Tapomaya, made of tapas.

In the seven dvīpas. In Jambūdvīpa he is Caturbhuja; in Kuśadvīpa Kuśeśaya; in Plakshadvīpa he is renowned as Garuḍavāhana; in Krauñcadvīpa they call him Padmanābha; in Śālmala he is Vṛshabhadhvaja; in Śākadvīpa Sahasrāṃśu, the thousand-rayed; and in Pushkaradvīpa Dharmarāṭ, the king of dharma.

On this earth his presence is in the Śālagrāmas, and he dwells in all moving and unmoving beings in the waters and on land. All these places of his are eternal, ancient and holy; they give dharma, are full of tejas, destroy pāpa and are always to be praised. By darśana (seeing), sparśana (touching), kīrtana (praising) and smaraṇa (remembering) of these devatās, devas, humans and sādhyas attain all four purushārthas. “This is certain,” said Bhagavān Vāmana. Then he said, “Arise, let us go to the yajña of the lord of the asuras, to bring welfare to the devas,” and went with Bharadvāja Ṛshi to Kurujāṅgala.

Before Vāmana’s birth, Prahlāda had seen many of these forms on his tīrtha-yātrā: Vishṇu dwelling in a fish body in the Mānasa lake; Trivikrama, Lokeśvara; Mādhava with Umādhava at Kedāra, worshipped with a mind that saw no difference; the Garuḍa-vāhana at Varāha tīrtha; Ajita at Viśākhayūpa; Deveśvara, worshipped by the Vālakhilya ṛshis, at the Vitastā; Acyuta Pītāmbara at Naimisha; Gadādhara at Udapāna; Ajita Purushottama, Puṇḍarīkāksha, the Akshara; Nārāyaṇa at Sahyādri; Aparājita at Pāriyātra; Viśvarūpa at Kaśeru; Vāsudeva Śrīvallabha at the Narmadā; Padmanābha in Uttara Kuru; Śrīnivāsa at Plakshāvataraṇa; Caturbhuja at Śūrpāraka; Cakrapāṇi on three-peaked Atriputra, where he recited the Gajendra-mokshaṇa stava. In Daṇḍakāraṇya Nārāyaṇa stands as a divine, great-branched tree that keeps violent animals away, and at Śālagrāma Vishṇu is present in all things moving and unmoving: there Prahlāda saw the all-pervading Vishṇu in every object and worshipped his feet with great love.

(Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapters 52, 53, 55, 57, 62, 63)

Hari and Hara are one

When the devas could not see Bhagavān Śiva on Mandara, because of the pāpa of the garbha-havana of Bhavānī Mṛḍānī, Vishṇu told them to purify themselves by the taptakṛcchra vrata (three days of hot water, three of milk, three of ghee and three of air) and to perform a great abhisheka to Śiva: 150 pots of milk, 64 of curd, 32 of ghee, 16 of pañcagavya and 8 of honey, and then pure water in twice as many pots as all of these together; gorocana paste 108 times; kuṅkuma and candana; bilva leaves, lotuses, ummetta, suracandana, mandāra, pārijāta and atimukta flowers; dhūpa of agaru with kāleya; and japa of the Śatarudrīya. When they asked where Śambhu was, Vishṇu said, “Śaṅkara is here with me, in my body,” and showed them the Īśvara-liṅga as if lying on his own heart-lotus. As the devas wondered how Hari and Hara, of the opposed guṇas of sattva and tamas, could be one, the imperishable Śrī Hari, holding all weapons and bearing all auspicious marks, took the viśvarūpa: Śiva joined in Hari, with three eyes, serpent and lotus earrings, jaṭā, the Garuḍa and Vṛshabha banners, serpent necklaces, the pītāmbara and the tiger skin, the vanamālā, and the weapons of both, the cakra, sword, śaṅkha, plough, Śārṅga, Pināka, śūla, Ajagava, khaṭvāṅga, skull and bell. Brahmā and all the devas bowed to that Hari-Harātmaka form, saying “Sarvagata, Avyaya, namaskāra to you,” and knew that the two are one.

Bhagavān Śiva himself teaches the same to his gaṇas. He rose and embraced the Mahāpāśupatas, who bear both the cakra and the śūla and worship Bhairava and Vishṇu without seeing any difference, and he told the other gaṇas, who worship Hara but revile the lotus feet of Vishṇu, why he did not embrace them: “I am that Bhagavān Vishṇu himself. That Vishṇu is my own imperishable form. There is no difference between us; we are one tattva in two forms.” Jagannātha, he said, the lotus-eyed one whom they revile, full of Śiva, is himself; he is Śarva, all-pervading, lord of all gaṇas, of the colours white, yellow, red and black. Then Śiva showed them a form half Vishṇu and half Śiva, once holding the Garuḍa banner and seated on the bull, once holding the bull banner and riding a bird, and changing in a moment into a Mahāpāśupata, Indra, Prabhākara, Vishṇu and Brahmā, until the gaṇas understood the oneness of Brahmā, Vishṇu, Śiva and Bhāskara and were freed of pāpa. In the same way Devī Ambikā told her son Skanda that his father had told her there is no devatā greater than Garuḍadhvaja, not even themselves.

Hari and Hara act as one in the Purāṇa again and again. They exchanged their weapons to slay the daitya Jalodbhava, whom Brahmā’s vara made unslayable by anyone’s own weapon, and at the Madhunandinī Prahlāda saw Hari holding the śūla and the one who holds the cakra. In the Saro Māhātmya, after a battle of a thousand divine years between Bhagavān Narasiṃha and Bhagavān Śiva in the form of the Śarabha, both fell into a lake; and as Nārada watched in dhyāna under an aśvattha tree, Vishṇu took his four-armed form and Śiva the form of a liṅga, and they stood there. Nārada praised them and called himself blessed to have had darśana of the two Purushottamas, and the place became the Anyajanma kshetra. Where Śiva and Vishṇu are ever present, bowing to them and pleasing them gives mukti; at Kedāra Prahlāda worshipped Mādhava and Umādhava with a mind that saw them as one; and at the Śālūkinī tīrtha one who worships Hari and Hara with bhakti is freed of pāpa.

(Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapters 32, 36, 41, 53, 55; Saro Māhātmya, Chapters 13, 14, 15)

Stotras to Bhagavān Vishṇu

Their names and teachings, in the order of the Purāṇa, are these.

Śiva’s stotra at Kurujāṅgala. Bhagavān Śiva, unable to free himself of Brahmahatyā after the skull of Brahmā clung to his hand, came to Kurujāṅgala and had darśana of Garuḍadhvaja, lotus-eyed, holding the śaṅkha, the cakra and the gadā, and praised him with joined palms: “Deveśvara, Garuḍadhvaja, namaskāra to you; Śaṅkha-cakra-gadādhara, Vāsudeva, vandana to you.” He is Nirguṇa, Ananta, Apratarkya (beyond reasoning), the creator, the form of both knowledge and ignorance, the support of all, himself without support. In rajas he is the eternal Brahma-mūrti, and all the moving and unmoving world is his creation; resting in sattva he protects all beings, Adhokshaja, Lokeśvara, Janārdana, Vishṇu, the mighty-armed. “I, the form of tamas, am born of a portion of your krodha,” Śiva says. Earth, water, sky, fire, wind, buddhi, manas, day and night are he; dharma, yajña, tapas, satya, ahiṃsā, śauca, ārjava, kshamā, dāna, dayā, Lakshmī and brahmacarya are he; the four Vedas with their six aṅgas, their knower, the supreme tattva known through them, and the Upavedas are he. “Acyuta, Cakrapāṇi, Mādhava, Matsyamūrti, namaskāra to you. Most compassionate Lakshmīpati, protect me from these bonds of pāpa. Tīrtha-svarūpa, save me from these flames and make me pure.” Cakrapāṇi answered with words that remove brahmahatyā: east of there, in the Prayāga kshetra, dwells Yogaśāyī, born of his imperishable aṃśa, from whose right foot the river Varaṇā and from whose left foot the river Asi came forth; between them is Vārāṇasī, where even those given to enjoyment attain absorption in Śiva, and where at Daśāśvamedha Keśava is present with Vishṇu’s aṃśa, with Lolārka Deva. Śiva bathed there and was freed of Brahmahatyā; and when the skull still clung to his palm, Vishṇu showed him a divine lake before him, full of lotuses and served by gandharvas. Śiva bathed in it, the skull fell away, and by the grace of Bhagavān Vishṇu the place became the Kapālamocana tīrtha, and Śiva was named Kapālī. (Chapter 3)

Prahlāda’s stotra at Badarikā. After a thousand divine years of battle, Prahlāda could not conquer Nārāyaṇa Ṛshi and asked Vishṇu, the Pītavāsa, why. Vishṇu told him that the mighty-armed son of Dharma could not be conquered in battle by him or by devas or rākshasas, but only by bhakti and prapatti (surrender): “For the welfare of the worlds and the spreading of dharma, I myself undertook this severe tapas. Worship them, conquer them with bhakti, and go and serve the son of Dharma.” Prahlāda gave his kingdom to Andhaka, went to Badarikā and bowed to Nara and Nārāyaṇa, and praised Nārāyaṇa: “Who can conquer you? Who is greater than you? You are Nārāyaṇa himself, Ananta, Janārdana clothed in yellow, Puṇḍarīkāksha, Vishṇu bearing the Śārṅga, Avyaya, Maheśāna, Purushottama, Śāśvata.” Yogīs meditate on him, the wise worship him, snātakas do japa of his name, and the performers of yajña offer to him as Yajñeśvara; he is praised as Hṛshīkeśa, Cakradhara, Dharādhara, Matsyamūrti, Hayagrīva and Kūrmamūrti; he is Śrī Varāhamūrti who slew Hiraṇyāksha and the Nṛkesarī who slew Prahlāda’s father. Brahmā, Śiva, Indra, Agni, Yama, Varuṇa, Vāyu, Sūrya, Candra and all things moving and unmoving are he; Lakshmīpati pervades the world in thousands of forms as earth, light, sky and water. “Jagadguru, Sarvagata and Avyaya, you can be conquered by bhakti alone, in no other way.” Nārāyaṇa said he was pleased with the stotra and conquered by Prahlāda’s undivided bhakti, and as the defeated pays reparation, he offered a vara. Prahlāda asked three: that the pāpas of mind, speech and body from fighting him as an enemy be destroyed and his offence against Nara forgiven; that all his thoughts always rest in Vishṇu, fixed on his pūjā, arcana and upāsanā; and that he always have bhakti for Vishṇu’s feet. All three were granted, and Nārāyaṇa blessed him: “By my prasāda you will be free of old age and death and flourish long; since you are devoted to me, the bonds of karma will not touch you.” He told Prahlāda to go home, rule the daityas and practise the dharma of his line, and when Prahlāda would not take back the kingdom he had given away, to be the counsellor of good to the whole rākshasa race and protect the daityas and dānavas. (Chapter 8)

The Vishṇupañjara taught by Śiva to Kātyāyanī. “Govinda, namaskāra to you; I have taken refuge in you.” Vishṇu with the Sudarśana guards the east; Padmanābha of boundless tejas with the Kaumodakī gadā the south; Vishṇu with the Saunanda plough the west; Puṇḍarīkāksha with the musala the north; the destroyer of rākshasas with the Śārṅga and the Nārāyaṇāstra the north-east; Vishṇu Yajñapurusha with the Pāñcajanya and the lotus the south-east; Narasiṃha, of divine form, with the Sūryaśata shield and the Candramasa sword the south-west; Hayagrīva, wearing the Vaijayantī and the Śrīvatsa, the north-west; Janārdana mounted on Garuḍa the sky; and one mounted on Viśālāksha the pātāla below. “Ajita, Aparājita, salutations to you always.” Akūpāra, in the form of an eight-armed cage, guards the hands, head, feet, heels and every limb: “Purushottama Deva, namaskāra to you.” Long ago Śiva told this stotra to Kātyāyanī for her protection, and by its power the Mahādevī slew Mahishāsura, Namara, Raktabīja and many other dānavas. (Chapter 18)

Gajendra’s stava. Gajendra, seized by the crocodile in the lake of Trikūṭa, took refuge in Garuḍadhvaja because of the bhakti to Nārāyaṇa’s lotus feet he had practised in former births, and holding a golden lotus at the tip of his trunk he praised Keśava, who holds the śaṅkha white like the foam of churned amṛta, the cakra and the gadā, Abhava, shining with a thousand auspicious names, Sarva-loka-nāyaka. Pulastya calls it the foremost of the stotras that Prahlāda chanted; by singing, hearing and remembering it, a man is far from pāpa. (Chapter 58)

The Vishṇupañjara of the tapasvin. A tapasvin wholly devoted to Vāsudeva protected himself with this rakshā stotra on a river bank: Vishṇu with the cakra in the east, Gadādhara in the north, Śārṅgapāṇi in the west, Vishṇu with the sword in the north again; Hṛshīkeśa in the intermediate quarters and Janārdana in the gaps between; Varāha-Vishṇu on the earth and Nṛsiṃha in the sky. The Sudarśana, blazing like the sun’s disc, roams everywhere destroying pretas and rākshasas; the gadā, pouring forth a thousand rays, destroys rakshas, bhūtas, piśācas and ḍākinīs; the bow of Vāsudeva slays enemies; in the flames of the Nandaka sword enemies grow quiet as serpents before Garuḍa; and the sound of Vishṇu’s cakra quiets yakshas, daityas, kūshmāṇḍas, pretas, vināyakas, cruel men, beasts and serpents, and destroys the powers that steal memory, strength and good fortune. “By bhajana of Śrī Hari may my buddhi, manas and senses attain full health. May Janārdana be before me, behind me, at my right and left and in every corner. One who bows to Vishṇu, Ananta and Acyuta meets no trouble. Śrī Vishṇu is Parabrahma, the furthest limit, the form of the world. Since I have remembered the name of Acyuta with faith, may my threefold pāpas be destroyed.” A man-eating rākshasa who leapt at the tapasvin lost all his strength and stood still for four months, and by mere contact with the stotra dispassion arose in him. (Chapter 59)

The Vishṇu Sārasvata stotra. That rākshasa later seized a brāhmaṇa boy, who took refuge in Agni; at Agni’s command Sarasvatī Devī stood on the boy’s tongue and spoke this stotra, to be chanted at dawn, midday and the end of day, which gives śānti and strength. It bows to Śrī Hari, the form of the praṇava, Kṛshṇa, Hṛshīkeśa, Vāsudeva Janārdana, Jagannātha; to Śeshaśāyī, guru and lord of the moving and unmoving, Govinda; to Śriyaḥpati, holder of the śaṅkha, cakra, Śārṅga and garland; to the wide-eyed, lotus-eyed Acyuta, worshipped even by those who are themselves worshipped; to Nārāyaṇa, Nara, Śauri, Mādhava, Madhusūdana, support of the world; to mighty-armed Keśava, whose eyes are the Moon and Sun, slayer of Kaṃsa and Keśī; to Śrīvatsāṅka, Lakshmīpati, Śrīdhara, Śrīnivāsa, Śrīvallabha; and it takes refuge in Vāsudeva, lord of all beings, the Akshara of indescribable form on whom yogīs meditate, Parabrahma, the unmanifest imperishable tattva that the wise reach when their karma is spent, reaching whom yogīs, freed of puṇya and pāpa, are not born again. In the form of four-faced Brahmā Acyuta creates the world of devas, asuras and men; from his mouth as the Veda-purusha the four Vedas came forth; Janārdana took Brahmā’s form for creation, and after creating stood as a yogī; Ādi-Vishṇu lifted up the earth, slew the daityas and protected the devas; vipras worship him through yajñas as Yajñeśvara, Yajña-bhāvana and Yajña-purusha; in the form of Rudra he dissolves the worlds and dances the tāṇḍava. Suras, asuras, pitṛs, gandharvas, yakshas and rākshasas come forth from him; all races of devas and men, and trees, plants, cattle and beasts, are his aṃśas; there is nothing other than him; like fire in wood he is hidden in all things; the whole world from Brahmā down is full of Vishṇu, and all the buddhi can reach is his form. May the pāpas of mind, speech and body, done by night, at dawn, midday, afternoon and the sandhyās, rising, walking and lying down, knowingly or unknowingly, perish by mere remembrance of the name of Vāsudeva; may the pāpas of childhood, youth and old age in every birth dissolve like salt in water by the saṅkīrtana of “Nārāyaṇa, Govinda, Hari, Kṛshṇa, Īśvara”. It hails him as Vāsudeva, Vishṇu, Hari, Keśava, Janārdana, Kṛshṇa, the slayer of Naraka who is to come, the destroyer of Kaṃsa, slayer of Arishṭa, Keśī and Cāṇūra; and it asks: who but he could take the three worlds from Bali, humble the arm-strength of the Haihaya king Kārtavīrya, bind the ocean and slay Daśakaṇṭha with his ministers and army, and, sporting in Nanda‘s Gokula, slay Pralamba and Pūtanā? Its phalaśruti: one who praises the qualities of Vishṇu in this way, in sorrow and in joy, loses the mahāpātakas and upapātakas of seven births; reciting it once gives the fruit of giving sesame with sixteen pots every day for a year; one who chants it for a year without breaking brahmacarya attains Vishṇuloka. Śrī Hari, who loves stotras, destroys all the pāpas of those who praise him with it. The rākshasa chanted it at Śālagrāma, worshipped Jagannātha, and by the grace of Purushottama reached Vishṇuloka; whoever reads it loses all his pāpas and attains moksha. (Chapter 59)

The Sarva-pāpa-mocana stava of Maheśvara. Bhagavān Śiva made this stava known at Vārāṇasī; Rudra bathed in the Sitodaka tīrtha, went before Keśava and was freed of pāpa. It praises Vishṇu as Jagannātha, Devadeva, Vāsudeva, Bahurūpī; Ekaśṛṅga, Vṛshākapi, Śrīnivāsa, Bhūtabhāvana, Vishvaksena, Nārāyaṇa, Dhruvaketana, Satyadhvaja, Yajñadhvaja, Dharmadhvaja, Tāladhvaja, Garuḍadhvaja; Sarvottama, Vishṇu, Vaikuṇṭha, Purushottama, Jayanta, Vijaya, Jaya, Ananta, Parājita (“conquered by his bhaktas”); Kṛtāvarta, Mahāvarta, Mahādeva, without beginning, the beginning and end, the middle and end, Brahmapriya; Purañjaya, Śatruñjaya, Śubhañjaya, Dhanañjaya; abode of creation, of holy name, Pṛthuśravā, Hiraṇyagarbha, Kamalagarbha, Kamalanetra, Kālanābha (whose navel is time), Mahānābha; Vṛshṭimūla (cause of rain), Mahāmūla, Mūlāvāsa, abode of dharma, water and wealth; Dharmādhyaksha, Prajādhyaksha, Lokādhyaksha, Senādhyaksha, Kālādhyaksha; Gadādhara, rescuer of the Vedas, holder of the cakra and of Lakshmī, bearer of the vanamālā and of Bhūdevī, Hari; Ārcisheṇa, of the form of a great army, Purushṭuta, Bahukalpa, Mahākalpa, Sarvātmā, Sarvaga, Vibhu, Viriñci, Śveta, Keśava, Nīla, Rakta, Mahānīla, Aniruddha; Kāla-rūpa who holds the twelve Ādityas in his womb, Sāmaveda-rūpa, Paramātmā, Ākāśa-rūpa, Sarva-jīvātmaka; Harikeśa, Mahākeśa, Guḍākeśa, Muñjakeśa, Hṛshīkeśa, Sarvanātha; subtle and most subtle, gross and most gross, wearer of white, golden and black garments; Kuśeśaya, Padmeśaya, Jaleśaya, Govinda, Haṃsa-rūpa, Pītāmbara-priya, Prīti-kartā; Adhokshaja, Sīradhvaja, Janārdana, Vāmana, Madhusūdana; Sahasraśīrsha, Brahmaśīrsha, Sahasranetra, whose eyes are the Moon, Sun and Fire, Atharvaśīrsha, Mahāśīrsha, Dharmanetra, Mahānetra; Sahasrapāda, enemy of the thousand-armed Bāṇa, Yajña-varāha, Mahārūpa; Viśvedeva, Viśvātmā, Viśvasambhava, Viśvarūpa, from whom alone the universe arose. He is the great banyan worshipped with flowers at its roots, whose root is the brāhmaṇas, trunks the kshatriyas, branches the vaiśyas and leaves the śūdras. He is the Virāṭ Purusha: from his mouth the vipras who keep the sacred fire, from his arms the kshatriyas, from his sides the vaiśyas, from his feet the śūdras; from his eyes Sūrya, from his feet the earth, from his ears the directions, from his navel the antariksha, from his mind Candra, from his prāṇas the winds, from his kāma Brahmā, from his krodha the three-eyed Rudra, from his head divi (the heavens), from his mouth Indra and Agni, from his mala the cattle and from his hairs the herbs. He is Oṃkāra, Vashaṭkāra, Vaushaṭ, Svadhā, Svāhā, Sudhā and Hantakāra; all forms are his and he has no form; he is Veda-rūpī, full of all devas, all tīrthas and all yajñas; the Yajña-purusha who enjoys its share; the vajra of a thousand and a hundred edges; the lokas Bhūḥ, Bhuvaḥ and Svaḥ; Brahmeśvara, Parabrahma, Śabdabrahma; knowledge, the knowable and the knower; the hotā, the homa, the havya and what is offered, the Havyavāhana, the praṇava that is all; the slayer and the slain; the ladles, mortar, araṇi and vessels of the yajña; the yajña and the yajamāna; jñāna-yoga, the goal of yogīs, moksha, steadfastness and joy; in the yajñaśālā the priest, hotā, udgātā, the sāma chant, the yūpa, the dakshiṇā, the dīkshā and the puroḍāśa; guhya, Dhātā, Parama, Śiva, Nārāyaṇa, shining like a thousand moons and suns; Purushottama who is Bhavānīśvara, the wheel of time with twelve spokes, six axles, three vyūhas and two yokes; Hayagrīva and Hari; Sarveśvara, Brahmeśvara, Sūryeśvara; Hayamukha, Mahāmedha, Śambhu, Indra, the wind, the mūrti of Mitra and Varuṇa; the sinless supreme one, Acyuta, Ūrdhva-retaska. It ends: “Destroyer of mahāpātakas and upapātakas, beyond all pāpas, I take refuge in you.” Spoken by Tripurāntaka and devoted to Vishṇu, it frees from pāpa the one who reads it with śraddhā, gives him śānti, and makes him worthy of honour even by the devas. (Chapter 60)

Agastya’s second pāpa-śamana stotra. This ancient stotra of Agastya Maharshi praises Bhagavān Vishṇu through his forms at the tīrthas, in nearly the same order in which Vāmana later names them to Bharadvāja. It bows to Matsya-mūrti, Kūrma-deva, Govinda, Hayagrīva, Vishṇu Trivikrama and Bhava, Śiva and Keśava, Hṛshīkeśa and Kārtikeya, Nārāyaṇa and Garuḍāsana; to Brāhmaṇapriya, who is Ūrdhvakeśī, Nṛsiṃha, Rūpadhārī, Kurudhvaja, Kāmapāla and Akhaṇḍa; to Ajita, Viśvakarmā, Puṇḍarīka, Dvijapriya, Haṃsa, Śambhu, and Viriñci with Prajāpati; to Śūlapāṇi and Cakradhara; to Śiva, Vishṇu, Hiraṇyanetra, Gopati and Pītāmbara; to Gadādhara, Kuśeśaya, Pāpanāśaka and Ardhanārīśvara; to Gopāla, Vaikuṇṭha, Aparājita, Viśvarūpa, Saugandhi and Sadāśiva; to Pāñcālika, Hayagrīva, Svayambhū, Amareśa, Pushkarāksha, Payogandhi and Keśava; to the lord of Avimukta, Lola, Jyeshṭheśvara, Madhyama, Upaśānta, Mārkaṇḍeya and Jambuka; to Padmakiraṇa and Baḍavāmukha; to the one whose form is Kārtikeya, Bāhlīka and Śikhi; to Sthāṇu, Anagha, Vanamālādhara, Lāṅgavīśa and Śriyaḥpati; to Trinetra, Havyavāhana, Trisauvarla and Dharaṇīdhara; to Triṇāciketa, Brahmeśa, Śaśibhūshaṇa, Kapardīśa and the destroyer of all diseases; to Candra and Sūrya, Dhruva, Rudra, Padmanābha, Hiraṇyanetra and Skanda; to Bhīma and Haṃsa, Hāṭakeśvara and Prāṇatarpaṇa; to the great Yogīśvara shining in golden armour, Śrīnivāsa and Purushottama; to Caturbhuja, Vasudhāvallabha, Vanaspati and Paśupati; to Śrīkaṇṭha, Vāsudeva, Nīlakaṇṭha and Sadaṇḍī; to Śarva, Anagha, Gaurīśa and Vīśa; to Kṛshṇakeśa, Cakrapāṇi, Yaśodhara and Kuśapriya; to Bhūdhara, Chāditagada, Sunetra, Śūla-Śaṅkha, Bhadrāksha, Vīrabhadra and Śaṅkukarṇa; to Vṛshadhvaja, Maheśvara, Viśvāmitra, Śaśiprabha, Upendra, Govinda and Paṅkajapriya; to the thousand-headed one, Kundamālādhara, Rudra, Kālāgni and Kṛttivāsa; to Chāgaleśa, Paṅkajāsana, Sahasrāksha, Kokanada and Hari-Śaṅkara; to Agastya, Garuḍa, Vishṇu, Kapaṭa, Brahmā whose form is speech, Sanātana, Brahmā and Brahmatatpara; to Apratarkya, Caturbāhu, Sahasrāṃśu, Tapomaya, Dharmarāja and Garuḍavāhana; to the one who dwells in all beings, Śānta, Nirmala, Sarvalakshaṇa, the Mahāyogī, Avyakta and Pāpanāśana. It closes: “I take refuge in Sarveśvara, the refuge, Nirañjana, Nirākāra, Nirguṇa, spoken of by the pure word, the slayer of pāpa.” One who studies it well loses all his pāpas; by singing, remembering or hearing it many pāpas are destroyed, and one gains fame and fulfilment. (Chapter 61)

Brahmā’s stotra to the new-born Vāmana. As soon as Nārāyaṇa took avatāra from Aditi, Brahmā came with the brahmarshis and praised him: Mādhava, Satyamūrti, Śāśvata, Viśvarūpa; the forest fire that burns the forests of enemies and of great pāpas; Puṇḍarīkāksha, Viśvabhāvana, Jagadādhāra, Purushottama; Nārāyaṇa, Jaganmūrti, Jagatpati, Gadādhara, Pītāmbaradhara, Śriyaḥpati, Janārdana; protector of our welfare, Viśvātmā, Avyaya, Sarvavyāpī, bearer of all, Dharaṇīdhara, all forms; “you who make the three worlds flourish, may you flourish; Devapūjita, Deveśvara, wipe away the tears of Indra, king of the devas”; Dhātā and Vidhātā, Saṃhartā and Maheśvara, Mahālaya-rūpī, Mahāyogī and Yogaśāyī. (Chapter 62)

Brahmā’s stotra in Brahma-sadana. After binding Bali, Vishṇu showed Brahmā the Viśvarūpa in a small measure, ten thousand yojanas in length, breadth and height, and Brahmā praised him: “Oṃ, Devādhideva, Vāsudeva, Ekaśṛṅga, Bahurūpa, Vṛshākapi”; Pītāmbaradhara, Śrīnivāsa, Kapila, Mahākapila, Vishvaksena, Nārāyaṇa; Dhruvadhvaja, Satyadhvaja, Khaḍgadhvaja, Tāḷadhvaja; Vaikuṇṭha, Purushottama, Vareṇya, Vishṇu, Aparājita, Jaya, Jayanta, Vijaya; Kṛtāvarta; without beginning, without end, without beginning, middle or end; Pṛśnigarbha, born from the womb of Pṛśni; Śrīpati, Lakshmīdhara, Śrīnivāsa; Dharmādhivāsa, Dharmavāsa, Dharmādhyaksha; Gadāpāṇi, Vedadhara, Vanamālādhara, Dharaṇīdhara, Padmanābha; Mahāsena, Senādhyaksha, Bahustuta, Bahukalpa, Mahākalpa, Kalpanāmukha; Aniruddha, Sarvaga, Sarvātmā; Dvādaśa, Sūryātmaka, Candrarūpa, Kālarūpa, Vyomātmaka, Jīvarūpa, Rasātmaka; Muñjakeśa, Harikeśa, Guḍākeśa, Keśava; Nīla, Sūkshma, Sthūla, Pīta, Rakta, Śveta; dweller in Śvetadvīpa; Raktāmbarapriya, Prītikara, Prītivāsa, Haṃsa, Nīlavāsa; Sīradhvaja; Sarvalokādhivāsa, Kuśeśaya, Adhokshaja, Govinda, Janārdana, Madhusūdana and Vāmana. He has a thousand heads, eyes, feet, arms and forms, and the devas praise him as Sahasravadana; he is Viśvadeveśa, Viśvasrashṭā, Viśvātmaka, Viśvarūpa, Viśvasambhava. From his mouth the brāhmaṇas were born, from his arms the kshatriyas, from his thighs the vaiśyas and from his feet the śūdras; from his navel the antariksha, from his mouth Indra and Agni, from his eyes Sūrya, from his mind Candra; “by your prasāda I came to be,” Brahmā says; from his kopa the three-eyed Śiva, from his prāṇas Mātariśvan, from his head divi (the heavens), from his ears the directions, from his feet the earth and from his tejas the host of stars. All things with form and without form came from him, so he is Viśvātmaka. He is the smile of flowers and the great laughter; the form of Oṃkāra, with vashaṭ, svāhā, vaushaṭ and svadhā; Vedamaya, the yajamāna, the yajña and its enjoyer; the giver of earth, sky, svarga, gold, cows and amṛta; the root cause of Brahmā; the Great Fish, Mahāsena, Mahāśira and Narakesarī; the hotā, the havya, the aśvamedha; dhyāna and its object; the motion in what moves, the knowledge in the wise, the yoga in yogīs, the moksha of those who seek it, the wealth of the wealthy; Soma and Sūrya, the dīkshā and the dakshiṇā; Nara, Trinetra, Mahānetra, creator of the Ādityas; Time in the form of the months; Aśvagrīva and Mahāmedha; Harīśvara, Śambhu, Brahmeśvara, Sūrya, Vasishṭha; the Trivikrama Deva who frees from all pāpa. Pleased with the stotra, Vishṇu told Brahmā to ask a vara, and Brahmā asked him to dwell for ever in his house in the puṇya-giving form just shown. Muramathana said “Tathāstu” and stayed in Brahmā’s house in the Vāmana form, receiving his pūjā; in svarga he appeared as a Vāmana a thousand yojanas in measure, and Indra too worshipped Murahara with all upacāras. (Chapter 66)

Bali’s stotra to the Sudarśana is given above with the account of the cakra (Chapter 67), and Aditi’s stotra to Sūrya-Nārāyaṇa below with the account of the Vāmana avatāra (Chapter 50). The stotras of Kaśyapa, Aditi, Prahlāda and Brahmā in the Saro Māhātmya are given with the Saro Māhātmya’s account.

(Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapters 3, 8, 18, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 66)

Prahlāda’s teaching on refuge in Vishṇu

Prahlāda, the supreme bhāgavata among the daityas, is the Purāṇa’s great teacher of bhakti to Vishṇu. When Bali reviled Vishṇu before the Vāmana avatāra, Prahlāda said that none was dearer to him than Janārdana, dearer than his own life; that to Bali his father was to be honoured, to Bali’s father Prahlāda was the guru, but to Prahlāda the guru most worthy of honour was Vishṇu, the guru of the world; and that those who take refuge in Hari, without beginning or end, the guru of the moving and unmoving, the helping hand to those fallen into the well of saṃsāra, suffer no torment.

After Bali was sent to Sutala, he remembered Prahlāda and asked what boat carries men across the ocean of saṃsāra. Prahlāda answered: saṃsāra is an ocean tossed by the winds of the pairs of opposites, joy and sorrow, attachment and aversion, good and bad, and its water is the craving for the objects of the senses; men leap into it without a boat, carrying on their heads the load of wife and children. For them there is one support alone, one boat: Bhagavān Vishṇu. Those who take refuge in Śrī Hari Nārāyaṇa, without beginning, middle or end, the giver of kalyāṇa, the Garuḍavāhana, the husband of Śrī, do not go to the city of Yama; for Yama tells his servants who carry the nooses, “Do not go near those who have taken refuge in Bhagavān Vishṇu; you have authority only over those who are not Vaishṇavas,” and a king of the Ikshvāku line made the same decree.

His teaching goes on, point by point:

• That tongue alone is a tongue that praises Hari; that mind alone is a mind offered to him; hands that do not worship his lotus feet are like the branches of trees, and a tongue that does not sing his qualities is like a frog’s throat.
• One who does not worship Vishṇu’s feet is dead while he lives, and his kin should weep for him; those who are immersed in the pūjā of Vāsudeva are not to be grieved for even in death.
• All things, bodily and mental, with form and without form, moving and unmoving, are of the nature of Keśava.
• Those who worship Bhagavān Vāmana in the four ways have worshipped all the worlds with their devas and dānavas.
• As the jewels in the ocean are countless, so are the auspicious qualities of the bearer of the cakra.
• Those who take refuge in the bearer of the śaṅkha, cakra, gadā and Śārṅga, Garuḍadhvaja, Lakshmīpati, do not fall again into the well of saṃsāra; those in whose mind Govinda dwells never meet defeat and do not fear death; those who take refuge in Vishṇu see neither Yama nor naraka.
• The goal of a devotee of Vishṇu is not reached by vipras learned only in śruti and śāstra, and is higher than the goal of those who die facing the enemy in battle.
• Those who worship Vāsudeva with undivided mind merge into the divine form of the subtle, unmanifest one who dwells in all beings; those who bow to Keśava with undivided mind become pure like tīrthas; none have more puṇya than those absorbed in the dhyāna of Nārāyaṇa while walking, sleeping, waking, eating and drinking.
• He sports in all bodies and is seated in all, yet is not bound by their karmas; he loves those who love Vishṇu.
• Those who bow according to rule to Vaikuṇṭha, the bearer of the sword and the axe, who cuts the bonds of becoming, and those who always meditate on and worship Dāmodara, are not born again.
• Those who rise at dawn and remember Madhusūdana do not fall into the mire of saṃsāra; those who hear his accounts in the morning and praise him overcome every calamity; those who drink the amṛta of Hari’s words with the cups of their ears overcome every hardship.
• Unwavering bhakti to the bearer of the cakra and gadā gains the eternal pada of Hari, the Yogeśvara, a pada not reached by tapas of a thousand births.
• Without parā bhakti, japa, mantras, tapas and the āśramas are of no use; for those who hate Madhusūdana, yajña, Veda-study, dāna, vratas, tapas and fame are all in vain.
• For a devotee of Janārdana many mantras are not needed: the one mantra “Oṃ Namo Nārāyaṇāya” accomplishes all purposes.

ओं नमोनारायणाय

oṃ namonārāyaṇāya

Oṃ, namaskāra to Nārāyaṇa.

Source: Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapter 67

• There is no defeat or humiliation for those who hold in their hearts Janārdana, dark as the blue lotus. One should bow to Nārāyaṇa before every work.
• Calamities such as vishṭi and vyatīpāta, which arise from bad conduct, perish by remembrance of Vishṇu’s name.
• Serving a thousand crore tīrthas and bathing in a hundred crore tīrthas are not equal to a sixteenth part of one namaskāra to Śrīman Nārāyaṇa; saṅkīrtana of his name gives the fruit of all tīrthas and of seeing all temples; the worlds of those devoted to namaskāra to Śrī Kṛshṇa are not reached by many vratas or by the harshest tapas.
• Even one who worships other devatās and only feigns bhakti to Kṛshṇa attains the goal of the sādhus.
• Remembering Padmanābha at the three sandhyās gives the fruit of a fast.
• Those who remember Hari day and night, the Ādipurusha, Ananta, ageless and imperishable, attain Vishṇu’s pada, auspicious, all-pervading, made of Brahman and firm; those who, free of attachment and aversion, remember Nārāyaṇa cross the ocean of saṃsāra like royal swans reaching the shore; those who meditate on Acyuta never again drink a mother’s milk; those who remember the bearer of the śaṅkha, cakra, gadā, lotus and sword reach the place of Madhusūdana; those who hear his līlās are freed of all pāpa and live content as if they had drunk amṛta.
• The devas count dhyāna, smaraṇa, kīrtana, śravaṇa and the reading of his name as equal to pūjā; and one who does not worship Keśava with flowers, leaves, water and sprouts has been robbed of everything by the thief Vidhi.

Asked further how Janārdana is pleased, Prahlāda said that dānas given with śraddhā and bhakti for Janārdana give imperishable fruit; that the best tithis are the days on which a man, absorbed in Bhagavān Vishṇu, fasts and worships him; and that worshipping the best of brāhmaṇas is worshipping Janārdana, for Śrī Hari declared, “The brāhmaṇas are my body; my devotees must worship them.” Those who trust in Jagannātha, Ananta, Acyuta meet no hardship, and worshipped through kriyā-yoga, Murāri will do good in every way.

(Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapters 51, 67, 68)

Vratas, pūjā and dāna for Vishṇu

Rising in the morning. In the morning stotra of auspicious names Murāri is named second, after Brahmā; on rising from bed one should remember Śrī Hari’s name and then begin the day’s duties. (Chapter 14)

The Aśūnya-śayana Dvitīyā. In Śrāvaṇa, on the dvitīyā when Viśvakarmā sleeps, one places on a bed the four-armed Mahāvishṇu bearing the Śrīvatsa, together with Mahālakshmī, worships him with fragrance and flowers, places fragrant fruits on the bed, and prays to Madhusūdana: “Trivikrama, Ananta, Jagannivāsa, as you remain with Lakshmī and never leave her even for a moment, so by your grace may our beds never be empty; Acyuta, Varada, Amitavīrya, Vishṇu, may there never be any loss of our household life.” That day one eats only at night, food without oil and salt; the next day one gives a fruit with dakshiṇā to a good brāhmaṇa, saying “May Lakshmīnātha be pleased.” This is kept as a cāturmāsya until Sūrya enters Vṛścika, and at its end an image of Lakshmī-Nārāyaṇa with its bed is given away. One who keeps it never suffers separation from anyone. The devotees of Vārāṇasī said they had kept this vrata for four months from Śrāvaṇa, and Śriyaḥpati had granted them the happiness of a bed never empty. For Vishṇu’s sleep itself, on Āshāḍha śukla ekādaśī a man in yellow cloth prepares a bed of Śesha, invests Keśava with the sacred thread, worships him with arghya and pādya, and on the dvādaśī worships brāhmaṇas and lays Keśava down to happy sleep. (Chapters 16, 17)

The year-long vrata to Keśava. On the śukla ekādaśī of Āśvayuja, when the lotus rose from Jagannātha’s navel, one who seeks wealth worships Vishṇu to remove his wants: until autumn one worships Śriyaḥpati with flowers, fruits and sandal, and offers Keśava ghee, sesame, rice, barley, gold, silver, gems, pearls, corals, cloths and things of the six tastes, whole and unbroken. When the year is done, after a fast, one bathes with a paste of white mustard or sesame, bathes Vishṇu with ghee, performs homa with ghee, gives ghee as dāna, worships Padmanābha with flowers from his feet to his whole body, offers fragrant dhūpa, adorns Jagannātha with gold, gems and fine silks, offers sweet food and havishya, and prays: “Padmanābha, of great radiance, with eyes like the petals of a blossomed lotus, as you are complete and fill all things, so grant, Keśava, that my dharma, artha, kāma and moksha be complete.” Every prosperity rains down on that house, the householder gains completeness in every matter, all the devatās are pleased, and the four purushārthas are fully gained. (Chapter 18)

Flowers, leaves and offerings. Flowers of fine colour, form, fragrance and honey are fit for his pūjā: jāji, hundred-petalled lotuses, double mallikā, bāṇa, campaka, aśoka, karavīra, navamallikā, pāribhadra, pāṭala, vakula, giriśālinī, tilaka, japā, pītaka and nāgara. Only the ketakī must not be used. The leaves of bilva, śamī, bhṛṅga, mṛgāṅka, tamāla and āmalaka are best for Keśava’s pūjā, with the leaves of the flowers above, creepers, tender sprouts, darbha shoots, water-flowers, lotuses and soft dūrvā. His mūrti is anointed with candana, kuṅkuma and aguru and offered the ten-part dhūpa; his naivedya is well-cooked barley, wheat and śāli rice and dishes of sesame, green gram and black gram. Gifts of cows, land, cloth, food and gold are very dear to Madhusūdana. (Chapter 68)

The dāna of each month. In Māgha, sesame, a sesame cow and firewood, for Mādhava; in Phālguna, paddy, green gram, cloth and deer skin, for Govinda; in Caitra, pictures, cloth, beds and seats given to brāhmaṇas, for Vishṇu; in Vaiśākha and Jyeshṭha, fragrant candana and flower garlands, water vessels, cows made of water vessels, palm-leaf fans, sandal and vetiver, given often to sādhus, for Trivikrama Deva; in Āshāḍha, footwear, umbrella, salt and āmalaka, for Vāmana Deva; in Śrāvaṇa, pots of ghee and milk, a ghee cow and fruits, for Śrīdhara; in Bhādrapada, pāyasa of milk, ghee, honey and jaggery, and salt, for Hṛshīkeśa; in Āśvayuja, a horse and a bull made of sesame, curd, copper and iron, for Bhagavān Vishṇu; in Kārtika, lamps in gold and silver cups, gems and pearls, for Dāmodara; in Mārgaśira, swords, horses, elephants, carts, goats and sheep, for Keśava; in Pushya, mansions, cities, houses and doorways, for Keśava. At any time, gifts of servants, ornaments and food of the six tastes greatly please Purushottama, and one should give Cakrapāṇi the thing one loves most, the purest of what one has. One who builds a temple of Vishṇu wins eternal puṇya-lokas and carries across eight generations before his grandfather and eight after himself; King Jyāmagha of the Yadus built such a temple when his pitṛs longed for a devotee of Hari in their line, and went to Vishṇuloka. (Chapter 68)

At Kurukshetra. One who fasts on Jyeshṭha śukla ekādaśī, has darśana of Vāmana on the dvādaśī, bathes in the Vishṇupada lake and gives dāna according to his means gains the paramapada. Bathing in the Vishṇupadī tīrtha and worshipping Vāmanadeva frees from all pāpas and gives Vishṇuloka; anyone of the four varṇas devoted to Vishṇu-bhakti who bathes at the Kulottāraṇa tīrtha, which Vishṇu made long ago to lift up people of all varṇas and āśramas, sees Vishṇupada; and even those far away who remember Kurukshetra together with Vāmanadeva with bhakti attain mukti. (Saro Māhātmya, Chapters 10, 15)

(Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapters 14, 16, 17, 18, 68; Saro Māhātmya, Chapters 10, 15)

His deeds in the Vāmana Purāṇa

The Purāṇa’s narratives carry the full accounts; here each is told in brief, in the Purāṇa’s order.

Nara born of Nārāyaṇa’s arm. When Bhagavān Śiva came to Badarikāśrama as a Mahākāpālika seeking bhikshā, Nārāyaṇa, the son of Dharma, asked him to strike his left arm with the triśūla. From the wound came three streams, and a dark, radiant youth with bow and arrows, born from Nārāyaṇa’s arm, whom Śiva named Nara; after a battle of a thousand divine years with the man made by Brahmā, Śiva placed the victorious Nara back into Nārāyaṇa’s body. (Chapter 2)

Daksha’s yajña. When Vīrabhadra and the gaṇas broke into Daksha’s yajña, the ṛtvijas took refuge in Nārāyaṇa. Vishṇu gave abhaya to the maharshis and rained fire arrows from the Śārṅga on Vīrabhadra, then his divine astras, his gadā, the plough and the musala, and last the Sudarśana, which Vīrabhadra, in the body of a fish, swallowed; Vishṇu came at him with the speed of lightning, threw him down and crushed him with his arms until the cakra came out, took it back and let him go. When Bhagavān Śiva himself entered the yajñaśālā, Vishṇu left the assembly and withdrew into a kubjāmra (dwarf mango tree). (Chapters 4, 5)

The liṅga in Dārukāvana. When Śiva’s liṅga fell by the śāpa of the ṛshis and the earth shook under its weight, Brahmā went to Mādhava on the ocean of milk; Vishṇu mounted Garuḍa and searched the seven Pātālas for its base and could not find it, and with Brahmā he praised Mahādeva and prayed him to take back his liṅga. (Chapter 6)

Nārāyaṇa Ṛshi and Urvaśī. Dharma and Dākshāyaṇī had four sons, Hari, Kṛshṇa, Nara and Nārāyaṇa, and Nara and Nārāyaṇa performed great tapas at Badarikāśrama for the welfare of the worlds. When Indra sent Kāma, Vasanta and the apsarās against them, Nārāyaṇa smiled, welcomed them, and from a cluster of flowers on his thigh made a woman beautiful in every limb, Urvaśī, and sent her to Indra. When the muni Cyavana was seized by a serpent, he remembered Vishṇu with all his heart, and the serpent at once lost its poison. (Chapters 6, 7)

Prahlāda’s battle with Nārāyaṇa. When Prahlāda, coming to Naimisha to have darśana of Acyuta, fell upon Nara, Nārāyaṇa took up the fight himself and fought Prahlāda for a thousand divine years, cutting down his arrows, bows, parigha, mudgara, prāsa and śakti, until Prahlāda learned from Vishṇu that bhakti alone conquers him (see the stotra above). (Chapters 7, 8)

Kātyāyanī. When the devas, defeated by Mahisha, came to Nārāyaṇa and found Śiva and Keśava together, a fire of tejas blazed out of Śrī Hari like the kālāgni, and out of Śaṅkara, Pitāmaha, Indra and all the devas; it gathered in the āśrama of Kātyāyana Maharshi, and from it Kātyāyanī Devī came forth. Her eighteen arms came from the tejas of Vishṇu, and Śrī Hari gave her the cakra. (Chapters 19, 21)

Kurukshetra and King Kuru. When the devas, defeated by Mahishāsura, took refuge in Śrī Hari in Śvetadvīpa, he smiled and told them to worship the pitṛs at Pṛthūdaka on the Mahātithi, so that Menā would be gracious and marry Himavān and Pārvatī would bear a son of Śaṅkara’s tejas to slay Mahisha; and he told them the account of Kurukshetra. King Kuru was ploughing the land with a golden plough to sow the eight-limbed dharma, tapas, truth, forbearance, compassion, purity, giving, yoga and brahmacarya; Vishṇu came and asked where the seed was, and Kuru said it was in his own body. Vishṇu cut his right arm, his left arm and his two thighs into a thousand pieces with the cakra, and when Kuru offered his head, Vishṇu, greatly pleased, offered a vara. Kuru asked that the land be a dharmakshetra named after him, where every act of fasting, dāna, bathing, japa, homa and yajña gives imperishable fruit and where all the devas with Śiva and Puṇḍarīkāksha always dwell; Vishṇu granted it, told Kuru he would take a divine body again, and appointed the yaksha Candra, the serpent Vāsuki, the vidyādhara Śaṅkukarṇa, the rākshasa lord Sukeśī, King Ajāvana and Pāvaka Mahādeva to guard it. By the saṅkalpa of the mighty-armed Vishṇu all oceans, tīrthas, rivers and lakes are gathered at Pṛthūdaka. (Chapters 22, 23, 24)

Śiva’s wedding. Brahmā, Vishṇu, Indra and Bhāskara went to Śiva’s house to have his darśana, and Nārāyaṇa set out with Lakshmī Devī on Garuḍa for the wedding of Śiva and Pārvatī; Maheśvara rose and embraced Śrī Hari, and Śiva said that the good fortune of Madhusūdana, clothed in yellow and bearing the śaṅkha, is what he gives as his gotra. (Chapters 26, 27)

Skanda. Vishṇu gave Skanda the gaṇas Saṅkrama, Vikrama and Parākrama and a flower garland, and with Hara, Brahmā and Indra consecrated him leader of the deva armies. When Pārvatī told Skanda to bow to Acyuta, Vishṇu performed the svastivācana for his victory: may Brahmā give you well-being; may Vishṇu, the unborn, the bearer of the cakra, give you well-being; may Śiva with his wife, Agni, the grahas, the ṛshis and all beings protect you; may the guardians of the directions guard you; in the intermediate spaces may Saṅkarshaṇa and Vāsudeva, bearers of the musala, plough, cakra and bow, protect you; in the ocean waters Prabhu Vārāha, in places of danger Narasiṃha Deva, and Mādhava whose form is the Sāmaveda. When Skanda raised his śakti against his maternal uncle Sunābha, Śrī Hari held him back, and afterwards took him on Garuḍa to svarga. (Chapters 31, 32)

The slaying of Mura. The dānava Mura, by Brahmā’s vara, could kill anyone he touched with his hand. Yama went to Keśava and was told to send Mura to him. When Mura came to the four-armed Keśava on the ocean of milk and said he had come to fight, Madhusūdana asked why his heart was pounding, since he did not fight those who tremble; as Mura put his hand to his chest, Hari gently released his cakra and split Mura’s chest together with his hand. The devas praised Kamalanābha with cries of “Jaya,” and from that slaying by yukti Vishṇu is called Murāri. (Chapters 34, 35)

Kujambha and Andhaka. In the war against Andhaka, Śrī Hari released the Sudarśana at Kujambha, who died in its flames; Cakrapāṇi Janārdana told the devas to make Andhaka chariotless so that Hara could burn him, and in the blink of an eye killed Andhaka’s thousand horses with his gadā. (Chapters 43, 44)

Kālanemi. When Bali’s armies marched on the devas, Vishṇu came on Garuḍa and took the rear of the deva army. Seeing the devas fall back, Śrī Hari strung the Śārṅga and cut down the enemy on every side; by his glance alone the enemies lost their tejas, and his half-moon arrows were like the staffs of death. Kālanemi, grown huge by māyā, came at him with a raised gadā, taunting him; Madhusūdana put down his bow, took up the cakra, broke the gadā, cut off Kālanemi’s arms and then his head like a ripe palm fruit. Knowing that Bāṇa could not be conquered, Vishṇu withdrew from the field, and Bali conquered the devas. (Chapters 47, 48)

The four women. Jayaśrī told Bali that Janārdana created four young women: the white one of sattva on a white elephant, who is Sarasvatī; the red one of rajas on a red horse, whom Hari gave to Indra and Manu, called Jayalakshmī; the yellow one of tamas on a golden chariot, given to the prajāpatis, Śukra and the vaiśyas, called Lakshmī; and the blue one of all three guṇas on a black bull, taken by the dānavas, called Śrīdevī. Jayaśrī came to Bali because the bearer of the cakra and gadā had left Indra. Brahmā told the devas that no one in the three worlds but the thousand-headed Śrī Hari could check Bali’s rise. (Chapter 49)

Gadādhara at Gayā. At Gayā, where King Gaya performed the Mahāmedha yajña, Vishṇu, of the form of ākāśa, the crusher of Mura, manifested as Gadādhara; piṇḍadāna there even once gives the imperishable fruit of the Mahāmedha. Indra did tapas to Gadādhara for a year on the bank of the Mahānadī, and Gadādhara Deva told him that his pāpas were gone and he would soon regain his kingdom. (Chapter 50)

Dhundhu and Trivikrama. When the daitya Dhundhu began a great yajña and the devas begged Vishṇu to stop it, Hari resolved to bind him by māyā. He took a dwarf form and fell like a log into the Devikā, sinking and floating; Dhundhu’s priests drew him out, and he told them he was Gatibhāsa, a brāhmaṇa’s son thrown into the river by his brother Netrabhāsa. Refusing wealth, he asked Dhundhu for three steps of land matching his body; as soon as it was given, he of infinite power took the form of the three steps, covered the earth with the first, Bhuvarloka, svarga and the sky with the second, and, with no room for the third, fell with his body like Meru on Dhundhu’s back. Where he fell a pit thirty thousand yojanas wide was formed; he tore Dhundhu’s body apart, threw it in and filled the pit with sand; Indra regained svarga; and Bhagavān Nārāyaṇa took the form of the river Kālindī there and withdrew from sight. So Vishṇu was Trivikrama before the binding of Bali. (Chapter 52)

Purūravas. In the birth before he was Purūravas, a learned brāhmaṇa of Śākala, grieving at his ugliness, worshipped Vishṇu on the bank of the Irāvatī and gained a beautiful form; keeping the Śravaṇa Dvādaśī vratas by the impressions of former births, by Vishṇu’s grace he became of a form like Manmatha, and after death he was born as Purūravas. (Chapter 53)

Jalodbhava. The daitya Jalodbhava, made unslayable by devas and asuras and by anyone’s own weapons, in water like water and in fire like fire, troubled the worlds. Vishṇu took the devas and kings to Hara in the Himālaya; Hari and Hara exchanged their weapons, took fierce forms, waited unseen on the two banks of a river of sweet water, and when Jalodbhava climbed a peak of the Himādri, pierced him so that he fell like a falling star. Vishṇu told this ancient account to the Manu who is to come, and this is why Prahlāda, bathing in the Madhunandinī, saw Śiva holding the cakra and Vishṇu the śūla. (Chapter 55)

Gajendra moksha. On Mount Trikūṭa, son of Meru, in a lake of golden lotuses, a crocodile seized the leader of an elephant herd. Losing strength, Gajendra remembered Hari with all his heart, and by the bhakti of former births took refuge in Garuḍadhvaja and praised him with a golden lotus in his trunk. Vishṇu-deva, pleased with his bhakti, came to the lake with great speed on Garuḍa, drew both the elephant and the crocodile out of the water and cut the crocodile’s throat with the cakra; the crocodile was the gandharva Hūhū, freed from Devala’s śāpa, and Gajendra took a divine body at the touch of Vishṇu’s hand. Madhusūdana, loving to those who take refuge, then gave two varas: those who with a pure mind praise Gajendra, Vishṇu, the lake, its shrubs and bamboos, the mountain, the slaying of the makara, the aśvattha, Bhāskara, Gaṅgā and Naimishāraṇya, and hear this account, lose bad dreams and have good ones; and those who every day at dawn remember the avatāras Matsya, Kūrma, Varāha, Vāmana, Garuḍa and Nārasiṃha and their deeds are freed from all pāpas and go to the puṇya-lokas. He stroked the elephant and the grāha with his own hand and freed Gajendra from his pāpas as well; Indra and the devas bowed to the bhakta-vatsala (one who loves his devotees), and Brahmā said that those who hear the account every morning gain the highest siddhi. Whoever reads it is freed from all bonds of pāpa, as the king of elephants was. (Chapter 58)

(Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapters 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 19, 21, 22, 23, 24, 26, 27, 31, 32, 34, 35, 43, 44, 47, 48, 49, 50, 52, 53, 55, 58)

The Vāmana avatāra

Aditi’s refuge. When Bali ruled the three worlds and Indra had lost his kingdom, Aditi took refuge in Vishṇu, without beginning or end. On Māgha śukla saptamī, at sunrise, keeping silence and taking no food, she prayed to the rising Sun as Nārāyaṇa who dwells in the orb of the sun: the treasure of beauty, the axe that cuts the tree of saṃsāra, the fire that burns the firewood of pāpa, the root of all the moving and unmoving world, Sarveśvara, Viśvamūrti; she worshipped his mūrti with red sandal, karavīra flowers, dhūpa, lamp and rice with ghee, kept a fast without water, and the next day gave the brāhmaṇas gold, sesame and amṛta. Sūrya-Nārāyaṇa, pleased, came forth from the sun’s orb and promised to be born from her womb and destroy the daityas. Aditi, trembling, asked how she could bear in her womb him who holds all creation in his belly. Bhagavān Vishṇu answered that by the power of yoga, joining himself, the worlds and the mountains with her and Kaśyapa, he would be born from her without hardship to her, and that the moment he was conceived the whole rākshasa world would lose its life; and, comforting her, Śatrumardana entered her womb with a subtle portion of all his tejas. (Chapter 50)

Prahlāda’s darśana. As soon as he entered the womb in Vāmana form, all the daityas lost their tejas. Prahlāda, in dhyāna, saw Mādhava in Aditi’s womb, holding the śaṅkha, cakra and gadā, surrounded by suras and asuras, pervading all, and by yoga taking the dwarf form, and bowed to him in his mind. When Bali scorned Vishṇu, Prahlāda pronounced a śāpa that Bali would fall from his kingdom, made true by the truth that Keśava is dearest to him, that nothing in the fourteen worlds is not his form, and that there is no refuge for beings but Śrī Hari; then he counselled Bali to take refuge in Hari and set out on tīrtha-yātrā. (Chapter 51)

His birth and upanayana. When Sūrya entered Mithuna, while the daityas were at their height, Aditi gave birth to Vāsudeva as her son in the form of Vāmana, and Brahmā with the brahmarshis praised him (see the stotras above). At his own asking, Bharadvāja Maharshi of the gotra of Bṛhaspati performed his jātakarma and other rites and gave him the brahmacarya dīkshā. At the upanayana Pulaha gave him the sacred thread, Pulastya a white garment, Agastya the black antelope skin, Bharadvāja the girdle, Marīci the palāśa staff, Vasishṭha the rosary, Aṅgiras a bunch of darbha, Raghu an umbrella, Nṛga sandals and Bṛhaspati the water pot. He studied the Vedas and their aṅgas while the maharshis praised him, and learned the Sāmaveda with gāndharva from Bharadvāja; an ocean of the Vedas and śāstras, he mastered the śruti in one month only to set the custom of the world going by his own conduct. (Chapter 62)

At Bali’s yajña. As Bhagavān Vishṇu set out, the earth shook, the mountains moved, the oceans were stirred and the stars lost their courses; Yajña cried out, “Will Vāsudeva burn me as Maheśvara did?”, and the fires of Bali’s yajña would not accept the havis. Śukra told Bali that Vāsudeva was coming and that he should give him nothing; Bali, absorbed in dhyāna of Nārāyaṇa bearing the cakra, gadā and sword, the slayer of Kaiṭabha, chose to give. Vāmana came to the yajñaśālā and spoke in a voice deep as a cloud, praising the aśvamedha as the crown of yajñas; Bali and Bharadvāja honoured him with arghya and pādya, and Bali asked what he should give. Vāmana laughed aloud, said that Bharadvāja, his guru’s guru, had taken up the sacred fire, which must not be set on another’s land, and asked for three steps of ground matching his body. Bali laughed at the smallness of the gift and offered elephants, horses, land, gold and the three worlds; Vāmana wanted only three steps, and Bali gave them with water poured on his hand.

The Viśvarūpa. As the water of the gift fell on his hand, Vāmana took a many-formed form made of the world. His feet and calves covered the sky, his knees the Satya and Tapo lokas, his thighs Meru and Mandara; in his waist were the Viśvedevas, the Maruts in his head, Manmatha in his liṅga, the Prajāpatis in his testes; the seven oceans in his kukshi, the yajñas, the worlds and all Vedic rites in his belly, the rivers in the three folds of his belly; the Vasus on his back, the Rudras in his shoulders, the ten directions in his arms, the eight Vasus in his hands; Brahmā in his heart, and in the bones of his heart the vajra, Lakshmī and the oceans; the Moon in his mind, Aditi in his neck, the vidyās in the three folds of his throat; the vipras with their fires in his mouth, the saṃskāras in his lips, and on his forehead, with Lakshmī, the śāstras of dharma, artha, kāma, moksha and purity; the Aśvins in his ears, Mātariśvan in his thighs, the Maruts in all his joints, all the sūktas in his teeth, Sarasvatī on his tongue; the Moon and Sun in his eyes and the nakshatras from Kṛttikā in his eyelids; Dhruva on his śikhā, the stars in the pores of his skin and the maharshis in his hairs. With one step he took the whole earth; with the first half of the second he covered Svarga, Mahar, Jana and Tapo lokas, with the other half Vairāja, and with the middle part the sky. The toes of his second foot broke the upper shell of the brahmāṇḍa, and the water that poured from it, flowing crookedly, became Kuṭilā, famed as Vishṇupadī.

Finding no room for the third step, Bhagavān Vishṇu came near Bali and declared that a remaining debt brings bondage: show ground for the third step, or be bound. Bāṇa laughed and reasoned that his father had given all the worlds that Bhagavān Vishṇu had created and that all this was his līlā; Janārdana answered that Bali knew his measure and had promised three steps by it, and that he could have measured all the worlds in one step but measured them in three for Bali’s good. With sweet words moist with love, Trivikrama told Bali to go with his wife to Sutala and live there free from disease until the dakshiṇā for his gift was complete. Taking Yajña with him, he went with the devas to Indra’s city, gave Indra Trivishṭapa, restored the devas’ yajña portions, and vanished. He took the form of Vāmana and bound Bali to accomplish the devas’ work, for Indra’s good, and for the welfare of cows and brāhmaṇas. (Chapters 64, 65)

In Brahmā’s house and at Bali’s gate. As soon as he vanished he gave up the dwarf form, took his own form and went on Garuḍa to Brahma-sadana, where Brahmā embraced him and worshipped him; he showed Brahmā the Viśvarūpa and was praised (see the stotras above), and stays for ever in Brahmā’s house in the Vāmana form. In Sutala, Bali built a temple with a mūrti of Vāsudeva made by the best of Indra’s craftsmen, served it with Vindhyāvalī, and worshipped Keśava with barley, sugar and every service. As Bali walked the path of dharma, Janārdana himself took charge of his protection: the Lokeśvara stood guard at Bali’s main gate, holding a gadā shining like a thousand suns, letting no enemy in, while within the house Bali worshipped him with every upacāra. (Chapters 66, 68)

(Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapters 50, 51, 62, 64, 65, 66, 68)

In the Saro Māhātmya

The Saro Māhātmya, the glory of the sacred lake of Kurukshetra, opens with Romaharshaṇa bowing to Brahmā on the lotus, to Nārāyaṇa with Lakshmī and to Rudradeva. Vishṇu performed tapas at the lake to carry out the sustaining of the worlds. The brāhmaṇas asked to hear, with the lake’s glory, of Vāmana’s birth, greatness and dwelling in Kurujāṅgala, and how he subdued Bali and gave his kingdom to Indra. In it the Vāmana avatāra is told as follows.

Brahmā’s counsel and Kaśyapa’s stotra. Aditi said that Bali, whom Indra could not conquer even with the Maruts, could be conquered by Vishṇu alone. Brahmā told the devas, Aditi and Kaśyapa that a mahātmā who would conquer Bali would be born: the maker of the whole universe, Īśvara, Sanātana, who existed before creation, whom neither Brahmā nor the devas nor the Vedas know, though he knows them all. North of the ocean of milk is his dwelling called Amṛta; there they should keep a vrata and perform tapas, and at its end they would hear from the Purushottama’s mouth a voice smooth and deep as the first rain-clouds, auspicious and granting fearlessness, asking who wanted which vara; Aditi and Kaśyapa should ask him to be born as their son, and he would say “tathāstu”. They travelled to Śvetadvīpa and the ocean of milk, through a darkness without sun or living beings, and at Amṛta kept a thousand-year vrata in silence, in brahmacarya and yoga, seated in vīrāsana. To please the Purushottama, Kaśyapa sang a stotra in the Vedic manner. Its first group of names: Ekaśṛṅga, Vṛshārci, Sindhupati, Vṛshākapi, Suraśreshṭha, Anādisambhava, Rudra, Kapila, Vishvaksena, Sarvabhūtapati, Dhruva, Dharmādharma, Vaikuṇṭha, Vṛshāvarta, Anādimadhyanidhana, Dhanañjaya, Śuciśravas, Pṛśnitejas, Nijajaya; its second: Amṛteśaya, Sanātana, Tridhāman, Tushita, Mahātattva, Lokanātha, Padmanābha, Viriñci, Bahurūpa, Akshaya, Akshara, Havyabhojī, Khaṇḍaparaśu, Śakra, Muñjakeśa, Haṃsa, Mahādakshiṇa, Hṛshīkeśa, Sūkshma, Mahāniyamadhara, Viraja, Lokapratishṭha, Arūpa, Agraja, Dharmaja, Dharmanābha; its third: Gabhastinābha, Śatakratunābha, Candraratha, Sūryatejas, Samudravasana, Aja, Sahasraśīrsha, Sahasracaraṇa, Adhomukha, Mahāpurusha, Purushottama, Sahasrabāhu, Sahasrarūpa, Sahasramukha, Sahasrasambhava, Sahasrasattva. He is Pushpahāsa, whose smile is a flower, and Carama, the last; the vashaṭ and vaushaṭ; the first, the enjoyer of yajña, the form of the three lokas, known by the Vedas, dear to brāhmaṇas; antariksha, wind and dharma; the hotā, the purohita, the mantra and the cause of homa; the samidhs, understanding, the way and the giver; moksha, yoga, the creator and Dhātā; the soma, the dīkshita, the dakshiṇā and the universe; Sthavira, Hiraṇyanābha, Nārāyaṇa, Trinetra, Ādityavarṇa, Ādideva, Suvikrama, Prabhākara, Śaṅkara, Svayambhū; the origin of all beings and protector of the universe; Pavitra, Amṛta, Divaspati, Vācaspati, Ghṛtārci and Prāgvaṃśa, the root of all lineages; the Varada who rains desires on those in distress; Hotrātmā, whose form is yajña, worshipped with four, again four, two, five and again two homas. (Saro Māhātmya, Chapters 1–5)

The vara and Aditi’s stotra. Pleased with Kaśyapa’s stotra, Nārāyaṇa offered a vara. Kaśyapa asked him to be born as Indra’s younger brother and Aditi’s son, Aditi asked him to be born in her womb, and the devas took refuge in him as their lord and protector. Vishṇu, here called Maheśvara and Prabhavishṇu, promised to destroy their enemies in a muhūrta, to restore the havyas to the devas and the kavyas to the pitṛs, and sent them home. Aditi then praised him: namaskāra to him who removes the distress of those afflicted by kṛtyā and abhicāra; to Padmamālādhara, the first Brahmā; to Padmanetra, Padmanābha, father of the lotus-born, Lakshmīpati, Cakradhara, Padmapāṇi, Khaḍgadhārī, Hiraṇyaretas; to Śrī Hari, the yajña of self-knowledge, meditated on by yogīs, Nirguṇa, of the form of Brahman; to him who is in the world yet unseen by it, gross and most subtle, Śārṅgapāṇi; to him whom those who look on the world cannot see, and whom those who turn from the world see in their hearts; to him who is not seen in outer light, beyond all lights, in whom and from whom the universe spreads; to Śrī Kṛshṇa, the first of all, Prajāpati, lord of the pitṛs, Devanātha; to Gadādhara, untouched by the karma of action and of withdrawal, giver of svarga and apavarga; to Śrī Hari who removes all pāpas by mere remembrance; to the support of all, unborn and imperishable, by whose darśana people are freed from birth and death; to Vishṇu, the Yajñapurusha; to the eternal Vishṇu known by the Vedas; to him from whom the universe is born, in whom it stands and into whom it dissolves; to Upendra, who by his māyā envelops all from Brahmā to a blade of grass, who destroys the tamas in the daityas as the sun destroys darkness, and who sees the good and bad karma of beings day and night with the Sun and the Moon as his eyes; to Vishṇu, Viśvarūpa, who, abiding in the form of the waters, holds and protects the universe. “It is true that all is contained in Sarveśvara. Janārdana, if all I have said is true, by that truth may all my wishes be fulfilled.” Bhagavān Vāsudeva appeared to Aditi alone, unseen by others, and said that his darśana cannot be fruitless and that the wish in her mind would come true: he would be born from her womb with his aṃśa through Kaśyapa and destroy the whole host of enemies. When she said she could not carry the one who holds all the worlds in his belly, he said, “Do not fear, Devī; I can carry both you and myself. I go, and I will come,” gave her abhaya and withdrew from sight. When she conceived, the earth shook, the mountains moved, the oceans were stirred, the earth sank wherever Aditi stepped, and the daityas gradually lost their tejas. (Saro Māhātmya, Chapters 6, 7)

Prahlāda’s stotra to the child in the womb. In dhyāna Prahlāda saw the child in Vāmana form in Aditi’s womb, and within the infant the whole universe: the Vasus, Rudras, Aśvins, Maruts, Sādhyas, Viśvedevas, Ādityas, gandharvas and uragas; Virocana, Bali, Jambha, Kujambha, Naraka and Bāṇa; himself; the elements, the earth with its oceans, rivers, dvīpas, humans, animals and birds; Brahmā, Rudra, the grahas, Daksha and the prajāpatis. He praised Vāsudeva as Ayoni and Jagadyoni, born before the world, without beginning, the beginning of the universe, the best of givers of varas, lord over the lords of the fourteen worlds, the measure of all measures, who to restore the order of the universe entered the womb like an ordinary being with a sixteenth portion of himself to give the three worlds a protector; whom Rudra, Brahmā, Indra, the Sun and Moon cannot know; into whom those whose pāpas are burned by jñāna are absorbed, not to be born again; from whom endless beings rise like waves in the ocean and into whom they dissolve; who gives the eye, skin, tongue and nose their powers while himself without senses; who lifted the earth on one tooth, holds all creation, draws the world into himself and rests in yoganidrā; the axe that cuts down the tree of saṃsāra. When Bali asked who this Hari was and named Vipracitti, Śibi and other daityas as stronger, Prahlāda said that all of them, Bali, himself and the whole world arose from a small portion of the Paramātmā; that Kṛshṇa is dearer to him than his body and life; that Nārāyaṇa, guru of the whole world, is his guru; that there is no boat but Kṛshṇa to cross the ocean of saṃsāra; and that for reviling the guru of all gurus Bali would fall from his position. (Saro Māhātmya, Chapter 8)

His birth. After the vara the Devadeva grew in Aditi’s womb, and in the tenth month Bhagavān Govinda was born in Vāmana form. At once the sorrows of the devas and of Aditi vanished, the winds blew pleasantly, the sky was clear, love of dharma grew in all beings, and the bodily pains of humans left them. Brahmā came at once, performed the jātakarma, and praised him: Sarvādhīśa, Sarvājeya, Viśvaguru; Śrī Hari beyond birth and death, Acyuta; Aśesha, Avyaktarūpa, Sarvajña, Paramārtharūpa, Jagatsākshī, Jagatkāraṇa, Jagadguru, sustainer of the world; dweller in the hearts of all beings, of beginning, middle and end, Jñānamaya; not to be pointed out even to those who seek moksha, ever joyful, adorned with compassion, most subtle and gross, hard to know, all-pervading; the form of the senses and beyond the senses, abiding in the yoga of his own māyā, Śeshaśāyī; the one who held the earth on the tip of his tusk, the Nṛkesarī who tore open the chest of the enemy of the devas, now in a feigned Vāmana form, Keśava; Janārdana, the one principle shining in many forms; the root support of dharma; one whom neither Brahmā, nor Īśa, nor Indra and the devas, nor Sanaka and the munis, nor yogīs can know, who stays behind the curtain of his own māyā and is known only by one who worships him and receives his grace; Īśāna, Īśvareśvara, Bhūtabhāvana, Viśālanetra, Viśvātmā. Hṛshīkeśa in the form of Vāmana smiled and said that he had given his word to Brahmā, Indra, Kaśyapa and Aditi to give Indra the three worlds, and that Indra would surely be king. Brahmā gave the vaṭu the black antelope skin, Bṛhaspati the sacred thread, Marīci the staff, Vasishṭha the water pot, the Aṅgirasas a silk garment, Pulaha a seat and Pulastya the yellow garment; the Oṃkāra, the Vedas with their svaras, the śāstras and the vidyās of Sāṅkhya and Yoga took refuge in him. With matted hair, staff, water pot and umbrella, Vāmana, made of all the devas, walked to Bali’s yajña very slowly, as if at play, while the earth gave way and shook under his little feet and Bṛhaspati showed him an auspicious path; and the great nāga Śesha came up from Pātāla to be the companion of the Devadeva, the Cakrī. (Saro Māhātmya, Chapter 9)

The three steps and the virāṭ form. Śukra told Bali that Śrī Hari, the cause of the world, had taken avatāra in Kaśyapa’s house and was coming; by his presence the rākshasas had lost their fitness for yajña, and he would surely make Bali a captive. Bali answered that no fortune could exceed Govinda, reached only by many vratas, coming himself to beg; that his dāna falling into the hand of Janārdana, the most worthy receiver, was the greatest prosperity; and that even death at his hand would be auspicious. Janārdana arrived in his disguised Vāmana form, the daityas lost their tejas at the sight of him, and all worshipped him. Vishṇudeva, pleased, praised the yajña, its fires, its yajamāna and its priests; Bali worshipped Govinda with arghya and pādya and offered gold, gems, elephants, villages and his whole kingdom; Vāmana, smiling, asked only three steps of land for his sacred fires. As soon as the water of the gift fell into his hand, the short Vāmana was no longer short and showed his virāṭ form, made of all the devas: his eyes the Moon and Sun, his head dyuloka (the heavens), his legs the earth, his toes the piśācas, his fingers the yakshas, his knees the Viśvedevas, the lines of his hands the apsarās, his glances the nakshatras, his hair the rays of the sun, the pores of his skin the stars, the maharshis dwelling in the hairs of his body, his arms the intermediate directions, his ears the directions, his outer ears the Aśvins, his nose the winds, his grace Candra, his mind Dharma, his speech satya, his tongue Sarasvatī, his throat Aditi, his eyebrows Tvashṭā and Pūshā, his mouth the Vaiśvānara fire, his heart Parabrahma, his manhood Kaśyapa, his back the cattle, his joints the Maruts, his chest Rudra, his steadfastness the great oceans, his belly the gandharvas, and his hips Lakshmī, wisdom, steadfastness, beauty and all the vidyās. The rākshasas leapt on him like moths into flame; Cikshura seized his big toe in his teeth, and Hari cut his throat with the tip of his nail and crushed the rest with his palms and soles. As he covered the earth with a step, the Sun and Moon stood between his breasts; as he covered the sky, they came down to his hips; and as he covered the region higher still, they stood below his knees. He gave the three worlds to Indra and granted Bali, the supreme giver, Sutala below the earth: because Bali received the water of the gift with his own hand he would live for a kalpa, and in the Sāvarṇi manvantara he would be Indra; in Sutala he would have mansions, gardens and every enjoyment so long as he did not act against devas and brāhmaṇas, and he would receive the fruit of dānas given without rule, homas without śraddhā, yajñas without dakshiṇā and the like, while the asuras have no share in the havis of karmas done at Kurukshetra. Then Śrī Hari withdrew with his viśvarūpa. Those who hear this māhātmya of Vishṇudeva in Vāmana form are freed of pāpas; those who remember the dialogue of Bali and Prahlāda, Śukra’s counsel and the account of Bali and Vāmana are free of mental pains, diseases and griefs; they regain lost power and kingdom, and the separated are reunited; brāhmaṇas gain Vedic learning, kshatriyas victory, vaiśyas wealth and śūdras happiness. (Saro Māhātmya, Chapter 10)

His presence at Kurukshetra. Sarasvatī is the tongue of Vishṇu. In Aditi-vana the Devamātā performed severe tapas and gained Vāmana as her son; Savana is a famous Vishṇu-sthāna where Hari is ever present, and seeing Śrī Hari and Balarāma seated together there frees one from the faults of Kali and gives mukti; at Pañcanada, where all the devas installed Vāmanadeva, bathing in his presence gives the fruit of the agnishṭoma; plunging into the Vārāha tīrtha, praised by Vishṇu, a man of śraddhā attains the paramapada; Lokoddhāra is where vipras and all beings were lifted up by Vishṇu; at the Vāmana kshetra the Vāmana-mūrti took Bali’s kingdom and gave it to Indra; at Jyeshṭhāśrama Vishṇu established pure brāhmaṇas devoted to vratas and dīkshā; around the Anaraka tīrtha Padmanābha stands on the north, with Brahmā on the east, Maheśvara on the south and Rudrapatnī on the west. Nārada addresses him as Vishṇudeva, Prabhavishṇu, Viśvarūpī and Kṛshṇa, the giver of jñāna. The Parama Purusha who pervades all beings is beyond all guṇas, the eternal one called Brahmā, Īśvara and Govinda; by merely hearing the Vāmana Purāṇa, mukti comes by the grace of Śrī Vāmanadeva. (Saro Māhātmya, Chapters 11, 13, 14, 15, 20, 21–22)

(Vāmana Purāṇa, Saro Māhātmya, Chapters 1–11, 13–15, 20, 21–22, 25–26)

What pleases Vishṇu most: Deva-rahasya in the Mahābhārata

In the Rahasya-Dharma cycle of the Anuśāsana Parva, Indra asks Vishṇu what pleases him most. Vishṇu answers that above all he does not accept nindā (speaking ill) of brāhmaṇas, and that when brāhmaṇas are worshipped, he himself is worshipped.

He says he is personally pleased by pūjā offered to these:

• the cakra placed on a maṇḍala plastered with cow dung (gomaya), which stands for his cakra used against the asuras;
• a vāmana brāhmaṇa seen with respect, which stands for his Vāmana steps that covered all the worlds;
• the varāha risen from the waters, which stands for his Varāha form that killed Hiraṇyāksha;
• earth taken up by the hand and carried on the head, which stands for his taming of King Bali.

He also takes as his own pūjā the daily honouring of the aśvattha tree and the kapila cow, because the whole of the three worlds is set within these forms. He does not accept any other, empty pūjā.

At the close of the whole Rahasya-Dharma cycle (Chapter 134), Vishṇu says that whoever recites these dharma-rahasyas (secrets of dharma) every day, free of vighna (obstacles) and fear, free of envy, full of śraddhā and pure of mind, is freed from every pāpa except the mahāpātakas (the great sins). But they must never be told to one without śraddhā, to the nāstika (one who denies the Vedas), to one who ruins dharma, to one who only chops logic for no cause, or to one who hates his guru. (Mahābhārata, Anuśāsana Parva, Chapters 126, 134)

Sources

• Varāha Mahā Purāṇa, Chapters 1–4, 9–10, 31
• Mārkaṇḍeya Mahā Purāṇa, Chapters 4, 80
• Agni Mahā Purāṇa, Chapters 21, 23, 25, 44, 48, 270
• Liṅga Purāṇa, Pūrvārdha (Chapter 24 for the Śivaliṅga pūjā)
• Brahma Vaivarta Mahā Purāṇa, Brahma Khaṇḍa (Chapters 13–21, 28)
• Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapters 1–8, 11–12, 14, 16–19, 21–24, 26–27, 31–32, 34–36, 41, 43–44, 47–69
• Vāmana Purāṇa, Saro Māhātmya, Chapters 1–11, 13–15, 20, 21–22, 25–26
• Mahābhārata, Anuśāsana Parva, Chapters 126, 134