Vishnu’s avatar Rama as depicted by official character profile art in the video game Smite

(10) HINDU MYTHOLOGY – HERO: VISHNU

‘Whenever righteousness wanes and unrighteousness increases I send myself forth.

For the protection of the good and for the destruction of evil,

and for the establishment of righteousness,

I come into being age after age.’

One of two deities from Hindu mythology I rank as heroes in my top ten, Vishnu is the more conventionally heroic figure, but I just have an idiosyncratic preference for the other deity – a running theme for two other pantheons in my top ten.

“Whenever the world is threatened with evil, chaos, and destructive forces, Vishnu descends in the form of an avatar (incarnation) to restore the cosmic order.”

Hindu gods can be incredibly complex figures, even more so to me as I do not have the same familiarity with Hindu mythology as I do with European mythologies.

In broad strokes, Vishnu is known as the Preserver within the Trimurti or trinity of supreme divinity that includes Brahma as the Creator and Shiva as the Destroyer. However, there are a few major strands of Hinduism, one of which is Vaishnavism which elevates Vishnu as the sole supreme deity “who creates, protects, and transforms the universe”.

Vishnu is usually depicted as blue with four arms, although there are two-armed depictions. Each of his arms holds one of his iconic symbols – a conch shell, a discus, a club or mace, and a lotus flower.

“There are both benevolent and fearsome depictions of Vishnu. In benevolent aspects, he is depicted as an omniscient being sleeping on the coils of the serpent Sesha (who represents time) floating in the primeval ocean of milk called Kshira Sagara with his consort, Lakshmi”.

Which sounds pretty chill, being a cosmic milker.

Ultimately, it’s his avatars that are his most heroic manifestations, being expressly for the purpose of saving the world as quoted above. In particular, there’s the Dashavatara or his ten primary world-saving avatars, elevated above his lesser avatars. The ten primary avatars vary “across sects and regions” – some include Buddha – but typically include his greatest avatars Rama and Krishna. There’s also Kalki, the tenth or final avatar as a messianic millennial figure similar to the Second Coming of Christ.

SUPERMAN-BATMAN SCALE

Definitely on the divine Superman end of the scale.

PUNCHING OUT CTHULHU RANKING

Well, he certainly spent a fair bit of time in his avatar as Rama punching out demons led by the demon king, Ravana.

PARTY ROCK RANKING

Vishnu scores pretty highly for rocking out at parties, particularly in his youth as Krishna where he embodied the concept of lila – the ludic universe or “playing for fun and enjoyment rather than sport and gain” – and banging the local milkmaids or gopi. Which brings us back to Vishnu as chill cosmic milker.

RATING:

A-TIER (TOP TIER)