Vishnu

On the surface of a boundless cosmic ocean, a god lies asleep on the back of a thousand-headed serpent. His skin is a deep blue, like the depths of the sky. His four arms rest gently, and each hand holds a sacred treasure. Beneath him, the serpent Ananta Shesha coils into a bed that floats upon the waves. This is the image of Vishnu, the Preserver in Hinduism.

In the Hindu view of the universe, there is a trio of gods known as the Trimurti. The three are Brahma, who creates the universe. Vishnu, who keeps and preserves it. And Shiva, who destroys so that the universe can be reborn. Three gods and three roles, yet all are one single Reality. Among the three, Vishnu stands in the middle. He is the one who holds the balance, who makes sure that life keeps flowing steadily and that every living thing is sheltered.

The figure of Vishnu is beautiful, and full of meaning. His blue skin is the color of the endless sky and the vast ocean. His four arms stand for two realms. The two in front reach toward the material world, and the two behind reach toward the sacred realm. On his chest is the Srivatsa mark, the symbol of his beloved wife, the goddess Lakshmi.

Each of the four treasures in his four hands has its own meaning. The conch shell Panchajanya stands for the source of creation. The divine discus Sudarshana is the wheel of truth, turning without end. The mace Kaumodaki stands for strength of body and of spirit. And the lotus, Padma, blooms out of the mud without being stained by it. It stands for liberation and wisdom.

Vishnu does not travel alone. He rides on the back of Garuda, the divine eagle, a symbol of light. Always at his side is his wife, Lakshmi, the goddess of prosperity and beauty.

But what people remember longest about Vishnu are his ten avatars, called the Dashavatara. These are the ten times Vishnu came down to earth in different forms to save all living beings.

He became Matsya, a giant fish, and saved the ancestor Manu from the great flood. He also brought back the Vedas, which a demon had stolen. He became Kurma, the cosmic turtle, and held up the whole of Mount Mandara on his back when the gods churned the ocean in search of the nectar of immortality. He became Varaha, a mighty wild boar, who dove to the bottom of the sea and lifted the earth out of a demon's grasp. He became Narasimha, half man and half lion, to protect his devotees and punish evil. He became Vamana, a Brahmin dwarf, who covered all three worlds in three strides.

Each time Vishnu comes down to earth, all living beings are saved once more.

Then he became Parashurama, a warrior priest with an axe, who rose up to restore order. He became Ramachandra, the hero of the Ramayana, an ancient Indian epic composed in Sanskrit. With his younger brother Lakshman, he fought the demon king Ravana to rescue his beloved wife Sita. The story of Rama is one of the most retold stories in human history. After that he became Krishna, one of the most beloved of the avatars. In the Bhagavad Gita, he passed on deep teachings to the warrior Arjuna.

In many Hindu lists, the ninth avatar is the Buddha. This is a Hindu view. Buddhists honor the Buddha in their own tradition. In Hindu belief, the tenth avatar, Kalkin, is still to come. Hindu tradition holds that at the end of time, Vishnu will ride a white horse and carry a blazing sword. He will destroy the last of evil before the universe is reborn.

The story of Vishnu does not belong to India alone. The image of Vishnu spread across Asia. In Cambodia, in Indonesia, in Thailand and in Laos, his stories have been woven into architecture, dance and art over many centuries.

And in Vietnam, over many centuries, the Cham carved his image on their brick towers, beside Shiva, the god they worshipped most. The Cham are a people of south-central Vietnam whose ancestors lived in the ancient kingdom of Champa. Cham sculptures are kept at the Museum of Cham Sculpture in Da Nang. Towers still stand at Mỹ Sơn, at Nha Trang and in the former province of Ninh Thuận. Together they are the traces of a civilization that once honored the Preserver.

Vishnu is mentioned 93 times in the Rig Veda, the oldest scripture of Hinduism. The same scripture keeps a saying: "Reality is one, though the wise call it by many names."

A thousand years have passed, and India lies far away, yet the image of the blue-skinned god still lives in every carved line on the stone of the Cham towers. It lives on in the stories told and retold through so many generations. The Preserver is still here.