If we are to believe the votaries of Vishnu and those who have written in praise of him, we must believe that he stands alone as the incom]iarable chief of the liiadil pautheoii. He is presented to us under almost
ol \ishuu.
innumerable aspects. As the supreme deity he formed heaven and earth. He is the indefinable omnipotent, and the comrade of the gods of fire and the spacious firmament. He reclines on the lotus; is as fierce as the long-tusked boar; is sliaded and guarded by the serpent of many heads; is the lord of innumerable hosis of the monkey-warriors of Hanmiian; the primal fish of the ocean of births; the eternal tortoise who can bear on his back the weight of the universe ; the man-lion ; the fuUiller of all space, who can take upon him the form of a dwarf. Brahma, with his four heads, springs from his navel. He is the husband of the peerless Sita, who is so pure that even the flames of a furnace cannot take effect on her person; and is the loved of the Gojiis, the thousand shepherdesses whom he divinely seduced ; while the lovely Lakshmi, goddess of prosperity, sits at his feet and fondles her lord. He rides on Garuda, a creature partially man, partially bird. He wields the axe, drives the plough, or sits on the throne. He is the hero of the liamaydna, and is lauded in the Muhabhd- rala under a thousand names.
But the most remarkable thing about Vishnu as a god is his A vatars (q. v.), or incarnations, in which he is presented to us as the champion of gods and men. The myths concerning these arose from the idea tliat when- ever a great physical or moral disorder disturbed the world, Vishnu descended in a small portion of his essence to set it right, and thus preserve creation. Such descents of the god are called A ratdrus (Sanscrit, ava, from, and tri. to descend), and consist in Vishnu's being su])posed to have either assumed the form of some wonderful ani- mal or superhmnan being, or to have been born of hu- man parents in a human form, but possessed of miracu- lous powers. Some of the avatars are of an entirely cosmical character, while others are probably based on historical events, the leading personage of which was gradualh- endowed with divine attributes, until he was regarded as the incarnation of the deity itself. They are ten in number, and, with the exception of the last, belong to the past; the tenth is yet to come. The usual enumeration is as follows: 1. Matsya (q. v.), or fish ; 2. Kilrma (q. v.), or tortoise; 3. Variiha (q. v.), or boar; 4. Narasingha (q. v.), or man-lion; 5. Vamana (q. v.), or dwarf; 6. Parasurama (q. v.) ; 7. RAma (q.v.), or Pumachandra ; 8. Krishna (q.v.) and Balarama; 9. Buddha (q.v.); and, 10. Kalki. This number and enumeration, however, were not at all times the same. The Mahahhdntta mentions ten, but with names differ- ing somewhat from those given. The Bha</arata-Pu- rdna mentions twenty-two, while other works speak of twenty-four, or even call them numberless. It is be- cause of the peculiar attractiveness to the Hindii mind of many of the avatars that Vishnu sprang up to such sudden popularity, and has maintained his position so long. The sensuality connected with many of the leg- ends is the greatest attraction to his votaries. It will be admitted by all who have read the Puranas that Brahma is represented as a liar who lusts after his own daughter: that Siva is an adulterer, and abominably vicious and ferocious; and that Vishnu is a fornicator as well as a thief from his cradle. It is difficult to choose the object of worship from such a triad. But the Brahman feels that he has no authority to judge the gods by any mortal standard. All terres- trial matters, good or evil, are only regarded as affording sport to the idle gods, who arc, by virtue o( their divinity, above all resi)onsibility.
Vishnu's wife is Sri or Lukshvii (q. v.), and his paradise Vaikuntha. AVhen represented he is of a dark hue, with four hands, in which he holds (1) a conch-shell blown in bat-
VISIBLE CHURCH
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YISITATIO
tie, the Pancliajani/a ; (2) a disk, the Sudcusana, an emblem of sovereign power; (3) a mace, the Kamno- daki, as a symbol of punishment; and (4) either a lotus, as a type of creative power, or a sword, the Nandaha. Various other representations are men- tioned under tlie different avatars.
See Wilson, Translatwn of the I'ishiui-F'urdiia (Lond. 18tj4) ; Burnouf, La Bhagavdta-Ptndna (Paris, 1840- 47); Langlois, Harivansa (ibid. 1834-35); Lassen, In- dische A Iterthumskunde (Bonn and Leipsic, 1852-66); jMuir, Original Sanscrit Texts (Lond. 1858-63) ; Moor, Hindu Pantheon; '^IWWer, Chips from a German Woi-k- shop (N. Y. 1872); Williams, Hindidsm (Lond. 1877).
Visible Church designates the whole body of the professed believers in divine truth united in one body, as distinguished from those who are true believers, united with tiie former, j'et not to be distinguished from them, and hence called the invisible Church. See Chuhcii.
Vision (some derivative of tntH, to behold, opaio ; or of nx"i, to see, oirTOfiai), a supernatural presentation of certain scenery or circumstances to the mind of a person while awake. See Dueam. When Aaron and Miriam murmured against Moses (Numb, xii, 6-8), the Lord said, " Hear now my words : if there be a prophet among you, I the Lord will make myself known unto him in a vision, and will speak unto him in a dream. i\Iy servant jMoses is not so, who is faithful in all mine house. With him will I speak mouth to mouth, even apparently, and not in dark speeches; and the simili- tude of the Lord shall he behold." The false prophet Balaam, whose heart was perverted by covetousness, says of himself, that he had seen the visions of the Al- mighty (Numb, xxiv, 15, 16). \n the time of the high- priest Eli, it is said (1 Sam. iii, 1), "The word of the Lord was precious in those days; there was no open vision ;" literally, " the vision did not break forth ;" that is, there was no public and recognised revelation of the divine will. With this we may compare the passage in Prov. xxix, 18, " There is no vision, the people per- ish." See UntM. Vision is also sometimes used to sig- nif}' the ecstatic state of the prophets when they were favored with communications from Jehovah. See Pkophet.