Viṣṇu

Viṣṇu (Vishnu)
Relationships
Siblings	Parvati, Ganga,
Consorts	Lakshmi,Prithvi,Saraswati,Alakshmi,Ganga
Children	Kama, Brahma (Creation)
Languages
English	Vishnu Visnu
Sanskrit	विष्णु (Viṣṇu)
Equivalents
Zoroastrian equivalent	Verethragna

Vishnu ((/ˈvɪʃnuː/; Sanskrit: विष्णु, lit. 'All Pervasive', IAST: Viṣṇu, pronounced [ʋɪʂɳʊ]) is the Hindu god of Preservation, His wife is Lakshmi and his mount is Garuda and he created Lord Brahma from a lotus flower from his navel when he slept. Vishnu the Preserver is one third of the Trimurti, along with Brahma the Creator and Shiva the Destroyer.

Vishnu

Vishnu is depicted and called in different names such as Narayana, Hari, Madhava, Janardhana, Keshava, Achyutha, Govinda and many more. He is the supreme being within Vaishnavism, one of the major traditions within contemporary Hinduism

• Lord Vishnu is sometimes seen with three wives - Lakshmi, Ganga, and Saraswati

• Lord Vishnu is sometimes seen with two wives - Lakshmi and Alakshmi

Vishnu have been seen with two or three wives are because the twisted stories that lies within Bhagavata, Vishnu Purana and other more Puranas.

In some accounts, Vishnu sent Saraswati to Brahma because he couldn't live with the quarrels between his wives, Ganga was taken by Lord Shiva and was placed on his head.

Avatars

The concept of the avatar (or incarnation) within Hinduism is most often associated with Vishnu, the preserver or sustainer aspect of God within the Hindu Trimurti. The avatars of Vishnu descend to empower the good and to destroy evil, thereby restoring Dharma and relieving the burden of the Earth. An oft-quoted passage from the Bhagavad Gita describes the typical role of an avatar of 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.

— Bhagavad Gita 4.7–8

Vedic literature, in particular the Puranas and Itihasa, narrate numerous avatars of Vishnu. The most well-known of these avatars are Krishna (most notably in the Vishnu Purana, Bhagavata Purana, and Mahabharata; the latter encompassing the Bhagavad Gita), and Rama (most notably in the Ramayana). Krishna in particular is venerated in Vaishnavism as the ultimate, primeval, transcendental source of all existence, including all the other demigods and gods, such as Vishnu.

Dashavatara

Vishnu took on ten major forms called the Dashavatars to preserve humanity and balance. 

1. Matsya, a fish that saved the life of Manu, the first man.
2. Kurma, a turtle that helped the gods and demons churn the ocean for the nectar of immortality.
3. Varaha, a boar that kills Hiranyaksha, who stole Prithvi (the earth goddess) in the form of a cow.
4. Narasimha, a lion-man who kills Hiranyakashipu, the brother of Hiraniyaksha.
5. Vamana, a dwarf who regains the three realms (Heaven, Earth and Hell) from the demon king Bali.
6. Parashurama, a sage who killed the Ksatriyas.
7. Rama, a prince who defeats Ravana, the demon king of Sri Lanka.
8. Krishna, who fought in the Kurukshetra War.
9. Buddha, who founded Buddhism.
10. Kalki, whose coming will signal the end of our time period and the destruction of evil.

Other avatars include his only female avatar, Mohini.

In Popular Culture

Comic books

• Vishnu appears in the complete comic series God Is Dead (comics), published by Avatar Press.

Films and Television

• In an initial teaser trailer of Godzilla (2014), J. Robert Oppenheimer speaks of Vishnu and the Bhagavad Gita. As he speaks, an undetermined location that has been damaged with large casualties is shown, along with the corpse of an unidentifiable monster shown lying on the ground, looking similar to a centipede. "Vishnu takes on his multi-armed form and says, "Now, I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds"."
• Vishnu appears in How Murray saved Christmas.
• Vishnu has appeared in Record of Ragnarok Manga
• Vishnu has been in Marvel Comics - Thor #300