The preserver of the worlds — resting on Shesha in the ocean of milk, descending age after age as the avatars — worshipped on every Ekadashi and in every Satyanarayan puja.
Other names: Narayana, Hari, Vasudeva, Madhava, Keshava, Janardana, Padmanabha
Consort: Lakshmi; his abode is Vaikuntha
Vahana: Garuda, the divine eagle; his rest is the serpent Shesha (Ananta)
Attributes: Shankha (Panchajanya), chakra (Sudarshana), gada (Kaumodaki), padma — conch, discus, mace, lotus
Principal mantra: ॐ नमो भगवते वासुदेवाय; ॐ नमो नारायणाय
Worship days: Ekadashi of both fortnights; Thursdays; Purnima (Satyanarayan puja)
Principal texts: Vishnu Sahasranama, Srimad Bhagavata, Bhagavad Gita
Who is Vishnu?
Vishnu is the sustainer in the Trimurti — the divine care that keeps the cosmos in order between creation and dissolution. His icon is a complete teaching: cloud-dark and serene, he rests on the coiled serpent of time afloat on the causal ocean, awake within sleep (yoga-nidra), while a lotus rises from his navel bearing Brahma — creation itself blossoming from his repose. The conch is the primal sound, the chakra the wheel of time and mind, the mace strength, the lotus grace. To his devotees he is Hari, “the one who takes away” — sorrow, sin and the endless round — and Narayana, the refuge of all beings, whose name is enough where ritual is impossible.
The Avatars
Vishnu's signature is the avatar — “whenever dharma declines and adharma rises, I send myself forth” (Gita 4.7). The classical ten: Matsya the fish who saved the Vedas from the deluge; Kurma the turtle who upheld the churning mountain; Varaha the boar who lifted the earth from the depths; Narasimha the man-lion who burst from the pillar for Prahlada; Vamana the dwarf who measured the three worlds in three strides; Parashurama; Rama, dharma embodied as king; Krishna, the complete avatar of the Bhagavata and the Gita; Buddha (in most Puranic lists); and Kalki, yet to come at this age's end. The dashavatara is also read as compassion adapting to every era — the Lord meeting each age in the form it can receive.
Worship in Practice
Ekadashi — the eleventh of each fortnight — is Vishnu's own tithi, kept as a fast from grains with japa and jagran; its origin is told in the Utpanna Ekadashi katha, and Nirjala Ekadashi carries the whole year's merit. Purnima is the classic day of Satyanarayan puja, worship of Vishnu as Truth. Thursdays honour him with yellow — clothes, chana dal, besan sweets. Tulsi is inseparable from his worship: her leaves crown every offering, and Tulsi Vivah after Devutthana Ekadashi weds her to Shaligram. His four months of cosmic sleep, from Devshayani to Devutthana Ekadashi, form the Chaturmas of vratas, after which the wedding season wakes with him.
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Questions
Why is tulsi offered to Vishnu but not to Shiva?
Tulsi is Vrinda, Vishnu's supreme devotee, wedded to him as Shaligram — no offering to Vishnu is complete without her leaf. Shiva's tradition instead reserves bilva; each deity's worship keeps its own grammar of offerings.
What is the Vishnu Sahasranama?
The thousand names of Vishnu taught by Bhishma in the Mahabharata — recited especially on Ekadashi and Thursdays. Tradition holds that reciting or even hearing it with faith grants the fruit of all worship.
Source: Vishnu Purana, Srimad Bhagavata, Vishnu Sahasranama (Mahabharata). Regional versions may vary — this text follows the version most widely used in community worship.
