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Religions of the World I: Hinduism

Vishnu the Preserver
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Vishnu preserves the universe, incarnating (Avatars) from time to time as needed. The term avatar (avatara) literally means "descent". It is a reference to the descent of a god from the spiritual to physical realm of existence - a physical manifestation (incarnation) of deity.

Rama and Krishna are the two most popular (and semi-historical) human forms of Vishnu but Vishnu has at least 10 incarnations including a fish (associated with an ancient flood story) and other animal forms, the Buddha and a future expected incarnation known as Kalkin (cf., future Messiah, Second Coming, etc.)

• The stories of Vishnu in his various incarnations appear in the great Epic tales of India: the Ramayana (stories about Vishnu’s incarnation as Rama) and the Mahabharata (stories about Vishnu’s incarnation as Krishna). The popular and familiar Bhagavad Gita is a small part of the Mahabharata where Krishna appears as a wise sage giving instruction to the hero, Arjuna. Additional stories about Krishna are also found in the Puranas where he appears as a mischievous boy and a young lover of the Gopis (the cowherd girls).

Visit the on-line galley of images of Krishna

• These epic texts are the Smriti (remembered) texts in contrast to the Shruti (heard) texts of the earlier Vedas and Upanishads. This is the difference between classic cultural, semi-historical writings and more ancient sacred scripture. It is Shruti (e.g., the Vedas) that is more authoritative (due to its antiquity).