50 Fun Facts About Vishnu

Within the Hindu Trimurti, Vishnu is known by which title?

Brahma creates and Shiva destroys; Vishnu presides over sattva, the quality of goodness and maintenance.

Vishnu is the Supreme Being of which major Hindu tradition?

In that tradition he is the supreme Lord who creates, protects and transforms the universe, not merely one of three.

Vishnu's skin is traditionally shown in which colour?

In Sri Lanka he is called Upulvan, meaning blue-lotus coloured, and Buddhists there venerate him as the island's guardian.

What is the name of the conch shell Vishnu holds?

It is named after a demon who lived in the sea; in tradition its blast opened and closed the Kurukshetra war.

The Sudarshana Chakra held by Vishnu is what kind of weapon?

Legend says the divine architect Vishvakarma made it from the trimmed-off splendour of the Sun, along with Shiva's trident.

Kaumodaki, another of Vishnu's four attributes, is what?

In some sculptures it is personified as a woman, Gadadevi, on whose head Vishnu rests a hand.

Which flower does Vishnu hold in his fourth hand?

It stands for purity and transcendence; the mace symbolises authority and the power of knowledge.

The gem worn in a necklace by Vishnu is called what?

He also wears Vaijayanti, a garland of forest flowers.

Vishnu is traditionally shown reclining on the coils of which serpent?

The serpent represents time and floats on the ocean of milk while Vishnu dreams the universe into being.

Vishnu's serpent is believed to have incarnated on Earth as Lakshmana and as which brother of Krishna?

The plough-wielding elder brother is himself counted as the eighth avatar of Vishnu in some lists.

What is the name of Vishnu's mount, the king of birds?

When not carrying Vishnu he holds a jar of amrita, and he appears on the coats of arms of both Indonesia and Thailand.

Vishnu's bird mount appears in the state insignia of India, Thailand and which other country?

The Indian Army also uses him on its Guards Brigade regimental insignia.

Who is Vishnu's consort, the goddess of wealth and fortune?

When he came to earth as Rama and Krishna, she came too, as Sita and as Radha or Rukmini.

In one popular image type, Vishnu's consort is shown flanked by two of which animal?

They stand for fertility and royal authority; she herself sits or stands on a lotus.

What is the name of Vishnu's heavenly abode?

It is guarded by the twin gatekeepers Jaya and Vijaya, and lies above the fourteen worlds.

The two gatekeepers of Vishnu's heavenly abode are named what?

Vishnu's army stationed there is led by Vishvaksena.

How many of the Rigveda's 1,028 hymns are dedicated to Vishnu?

He was a minor solar deity in Vedic times and only rose to prominence in the following centuries.

The Vishnu Sahasranama, recited in the Mahabharata's Anushasana Parva, lists how many names of Vishnu?

The Padma Purana adds that chanting one name of Rama earns the same benefit as all of them.

The Dashavatara are Vishnu's ten primary what?

The word combines dasha, ten, with avatara, incarnation; the lists vary by region over whether the Buddha or Balarama gets a seat.

Matsya, usually counted as the first avatar, took what form to rescue Manu from the great flood?

The tiny creature Manu found in his palm kept growing until it revealed itself and warned him to build a boat.

In later versions of the legend, Matsya slays which demon for stealing the Vedas?

That earned the fish avatar the title of saviour of the scriptures.

As Kurma the tortoise, Vishnu bore the weight of which mountain during the churning of the ocean?

The devas and asuras were using it as a churning shaft to win amrita, the nectar of immortality, when it began to sink.

How did Varaha, the boar avatar, carry the earth out of the cosmic ocean?

The battle is said to have lasted a thousand years, and the earth goddess Bhumi is often shown perched on his tusk.

Narasimha, the man-lion avatar, killed which demon king to protect that king's own devout son?

The victim was the elder brother of the demon Varaha had slain, and had been made almost invulnerable by a boon from Brahma.

To get around the demon's boon, Narasimha killed him at twilight, on his lap, using his claws, and where?

The boon barred death by man or beast, indoors or out, by day or night, on earth or in the sky, and by any weapon, so every condition had to be dodged at once.

The dwarf avatar Vamana asked the king Bali for how much land?

The dwarf then grew into the giant Trivikrama and covered the three worlds in his strides.

The king humbled by Vamana was the grandson of which famous devotee of Vishnu?

Bali had won heaven from Indra through devotion and penance, which is why the gods begged Vishnu to intervene.

The sixth avatar, Parashurama, is named for the weapon he carries. What is it?

He won it as a boon after penance to Shiva and used it to wipe out the kshatriya kings twenty-one times over.

According to legend, Parashurama created the coast of Kerala and Karnataka by doing what?

The sea gave up the land where the weapon fell; he is also counted among the Chiranjivi, the immortals.

In the Mahabharata, Parashurama was the guru of Drona, Karna and which grand old warrior?

He is prophesied to return at the end of the Kali Yuga to be the teacher of Kalki, the tenth avatar.

Which two avatars of Vishnu are the most widely worshipped, with temples across India and beyond?

One is the hero of the Ramayana, the other the charioteer of the Bhagavad Gita.

In the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna reveals his universal form, the Vishvarupa, to which warrior?

The vision comes in chapters 10 and 11, after Arjuna's crisis of conscience about fighting his own family.

In the Vaishnava Puranas, which religious founder is treated as the ninth avatar of Vishnu?

The texts say he deluded the asuras with his teachings; other lists give the seat to Balarama instead.

Which is the only avatar of the Dashavatara that has not yet appeared?

He is due at the end of the Kali Yuga, when only chaos and persecution remain, to restart the cycle with a Satya Yuga.

Kalki is described as riding a white horse named what?

The horse is a manifestation of Garuda; Kalki wields a fiery sword and, in the Kalki Purana, is born in a village called Shambala.

Which is the only female avatar of Vishnu?

The enchantress appeared after the churning of the ocean to hand the amrita to the gods and keep it from the demons.

The Ekadashi fast observed in Vishnu's honour falls on which day of each lunar fortnight?

The name means eleventh; strict observers take no food or water until sunrise the next day.

The English word 'juggernaut' comes from the name of which form of Vishnu?

The wooden idol has huge round eyes and no hands or legs, and shares its temple with brother Balabhadra and sister Subhadra.

The Ratha Yatra chariot festival takes place in Puri, in which Indian state?

The temple, over 66 metres high, is one of the Char Dham pilgrimage sites and a showpiece of Kalinga architecture.

What do the seven peaks of Tirumala's Temple of Seven Hills represent in local tradition?

The temple sits on the seventh peak, Venkatadri, and offers dedicated facilities for pilgrims who shave their heads in thanks.

The Tirumala Venkateswara temple is in which Indian state?

It is run by the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams, whose head is appointed by the state government.

The Padmanabhaswamy Temple, whose reclining Vishnu shows Brahma on a lotus from his navel, is in which city?

The name Padmanabha means lotus-navel; the deity lies in yogic sleep on the serpent Anantha.

Angkor Wat was built in the 12th century as a temple dedicated to which god?

King Suryavarman II's state temple was originally called Vrah Vishnuloka, the sacred dwelling of Vishnu, before becoming Buddhist.

Angkor Wat appears on the national flag of which country?

The complex covers 162.6 hectares and its layout is read as a model of Mount Meru.

In Indonesian wayang puppetry, Vishnu appears under what spelling?

There he is the god of justice or welfare, the fifth son of Batara Guru, with the familiar four arms and dark-blue skin.

Theravada Buddhists in which country revere Vishnu as the island's custodian deity?

The chronicles say the Buddha himself handed the island's guardianship to Vishnu.

The sacred plant Tulasi, or holy basil, is identified with which pious devotee of Vishnu?

In one telling she is the daughter of an asura whose chastity shielded her demon husband from defeat until Vishnu intervened.

Some read the ten avatars' order, fish to tortoise to boar to man-lion to man, as foreshadowing which idea?

Bhaktivinoda Thakura even mapped the avatars onto geological eras, from Matsya in the Paleozoic upward.

In the Garuda Purana, Garuda carries Vishnu to rescue which elephant?

The demigod eagle is also described as the Vedas on which Vishnu travels, and is a sacred bird in Vaishnavism.

Which Tamil poet-saints, 'those immersed in God', travelled singing Vishnu's praises?

The Alvars established temple sites such as Srirangam and spread Vaishnava ideas that fed the later Bhakti movement.