Vaishnava Deities

The Preserver

The preserver of the Trimurti and, for Vaishnavas, the supreme reality — the deity who descends into the world as an avatar whenever dharma falters. Worshipped directly and through his descents, of whom Rama and Krishna are the most beloved.

The All-Attractive One

The eighth avatar of Vishnu and, for many traditions, the complete descent rather than a partial one — the cowherd of Vrindavan, the statesman of Dwarka, and the charioteer who speaks the Bhagavad Gita.

The Ideal King

The seventh avatar of Vishnu and the hero of the Ramayana — the prince of Ayodhya whose exile, search for Sita and war with Ravana became the template for kingship, duty and devotion across South and Southeast Asia.

The Devoted One

The vanara who crossed the ocean to find Sita, and the tradition's model of devotion as service. Among the most widely worshipped deities in India — invoked for courage, protection and steadiness, honoured on Tuesdays and Saturdays, and praised in the Hanuman Chalisa, very likely the most recited devotional text in the world.

Goddess of Fortune

The goddess of fortune, abundance and wellbeing, and the consort of Vishnu. Worshipped at Diwali in nearly every Hindu household, and understood in Sri Vaishnavism not as an attendant of the supreme but as inseparable from it.

The Daughter of the Furrow

The wife of Rama and the heart of the Ramayana — found in a ploughed furrow, married at Mithila, carried off to Lanka, and in the end returned to the earth she came from. Worshipped as Lakshmi's descent and as a goddess of the earth in her own right.

Lord of the Universe

The deity of Puri, worshipped in a wooden form unlike any other Hindu image, alongside his brother Balabhadra and sister Subhadra. Identified with Krishna, and the origin of the Rath Yatra — and of the English word 'juggernaut'.

Lord of the Seven Hills

The form of Vishnu worshipped at Tirumala — among the most visited religious sites on earth, and the wealthiest temple in India. Known as Balaji, Srinivasa and Govinda, and approached with the distinctive vows of tonsure and hair offering.

The Beloved of Krishna

Krishna's beloved, and in several traditions the personification of devotion itself. A relatively late arrival in the textual record who became, within a few centuries, inseparable from him — her name spoken first in the greeting Radhe Krishna.

The Ten Descents of Vishnu

The ten principal avatars of Vishnu — fish, tortoise, boar, man-lion, dwarf, axe-bearer, Rama, Krishna, the ninth over which the lists disagree, and Kalki who has not yet come. A set that is later, more contested and more interesting than the popular version of it suggests.

He Who Waits on the Brick

Krishna standing on a brick at Pandharpur with his hands on his hips, waiting — because a devotee asked him to wait while he finished serving his parents. The deity of the Varkari movement, of the Wari pilgrimage, and of some of the finest devotional poetry in any Indian language.

The Only Female Avatar

Vishnu as a woman — the single female descent in the whole avatar scheme. She distributes the nectar so the gods get it, makes a demon burn himself, and overcomes Shiva, and every one of those is accomplished without a weapon.

The King Who Is Allowed Back Once a Year

The asura king whose reign Kerala remembers as the time when everyone was equal and nobody lied — dispossessed by Vishnu in three steps, and granted one visit a year. Onam is his homecoming, and Maharashtra wishes openly for his kingdom to return.

The Brother Who Followed

Rama's younger half-brother, who went into exile without being asked and killed Ravana's most dangerous son. Traditionally an incarnation of Shesha, the serpent Vishnu rests upon — and the figure who does the things Rama will not.

The Man-Lion

The fourth avatar of Vishnu — half man, half lion — who appears from a pillar at twilight to destroy Hiranyakashipu without breaking the terms of his boon. The tradition's great parable about the letter and the spirit of a promise.

The Boar

The third of Vishnu's ten avatars — the boar who dives into the cosmic ocean to raise the drowned earth on his tusks. One of the most powerfully rendered images in Indian sculpture, and an emblem of Gupta imperial art.

The Fish

The first of Vishnu's ten avatars — the fish who warns Manu of the coming flood and tows his boat to safety, preserving the seeds of life and the Vedas. India's flood narrative, and the oldest of the avatar stories.

The Tortoise

The second of Vishnu's ten avatars — the tortoise who bears Mount Mandara on his back so the gods and asuras can churn the ocean of milk. The avatar whose entire act is to hold still and take the weight.

The Dwarf

The fifth of Vishnu's ten avatars — the dwarf brahmin who asks the generous asura king Bali for three paces of ground and takes the universe in two. The oldest of the avatar narratives, and the one in which the defeated king is the more admired figure.

Rama with the Axe

The sixth of Vishnu's ten avatars — a brahmin who took up arms, destroyed the kshatriya order twenty-one times, and remains in the world as one of the immortals. The most troubling figure in the avatar sequence, and the tradition does not resolve him.

The Avatar Still to Come

The tenth and final avatar of Vishnu, who has not yet appeared. Prophesied to come at the end of the Kali Yuga on a white horse with a blazing sword, to end the age and begin the next cycle.

The Strong One

Krishna's elder brother, wielder of the plough, and in several traditions an avatar of Vishnu in his own right. Worshipped at Puri beside Jagannath, and the deity of agriculture, strength and wrestling.

Physician of the Gods

The figure who rose from the churned ocean carrying the pot of nectar, counted an avatar of Vishnu, and honoured as the presiding deity of Ayurveda. Dhanteras is his day, and India's National Ayurveda Day is kept on it.

King of Birds, Mount of Vishnu

The eagle who flew to heaven, fought the gods, and took the nectar to buy his mother out of slavery — and then refused to drink it. Vishnu's mount and banner, the enemy of serpents, and the national emblem of Indonesia.

The Goddess Who Is a Plant

Holy basil, growing in a raised planter in the courtyard, watered every morning and given a lamp every dusk — and married to Vishnu once a year in a full wedding with guests, music and a canopy. The most-worshipped goddess in India by number of households, and the one with no temple.

The Horse-Necked, Who Keeps the Vedas

Vishnu with the head of a white horse, worshipped as the source of all learning — and not to be confused with the demon of the same name whom Matsya killed. The deity a Sri Vaishnava or Madhva child is introduced to before their first lesson.

The Sister in the Middle

Krishna and Balarama's sister, Arjuna's wife, Abhimanyu's mother — and the third deity on the platform at Puri, smaller than her brothers and without arms. The one member of India's most famous triad whom almost nobody can name.

What Remains

The thousand-hooded serpent Vishnu sleeps on, who carries the worlds on one hood and finds them the size of a mustard seed. Named for what is left over when everything else has gone — and born twice as somebody's brother.

She Who Wore the Garland First

The only woman among the twelve Alvars, and the only one worshipped as a goddess. She tried the garland on before giving it to God, wrote the thirty verses recited at every Margazhi dawn, and refused to marry anyone else.

The One Who Carries the News

The sage who travels between all the worlds with a vina and no fixed address, chanting Narayana, and who sets almost every major story in the tradition in motion by telling someone something. Popular culture makes him a mischief-maker; the texts make him something more useful.

The Eight Kinds of Having Enough

Lakshmi in eight forms — grain, courage, offspring, victory, knowledge, wealth, elephants and the primordial. A late set with an enormously popular hymn, and the clearest statement Hinduism makes that prosperity is not only money.

The Discus, Personified

Vishnu's discus, given a body, a consort, a temple and a festival calendar. In the Srivaishnava temples he stands back to back with Narasimha on a single slab, and his yantra is the commonest protective diagram in South India.

The Boy Who Would Not Stop Saying the Name

An asura child who would not stop repeating Vishnu's name, survived every attempt his father made to kill him, and asked for his father's forgiveness afterwards. The bonfire on the eve of Holi is his.

The Woman Who Wrote the Letter

Krishna's chief queen, who chose him herself, wrote to him to come and take her, and arranged the escape. At Pandharpur she is Rakhumai, standing in her own shrine a little apart from his.

The Fixed Point

A five-year-old turned off his father's lap went into the forest and would not stop until God came. He was given the pole star, and the whole sky turns around a child's stubbornness.

Nara, and the Man Who Put the Bow Down

The archer who sat down on his chariot and refused to fight, and so occasioned the Bhagavad Gita. Worshipped at Badrinath as Nara, the human half of the eternal pair Nara-Narayana.

The Brother Who Left

Ravana's youngest brother, who told him to return Sita, was thrown out of court for it, and walked over to Rama. Crowned king of Lanka — and called a traitor ever since by some.