Viṣṇu- Nārāyaṇa

Abstract

The contributions collected in this volume deal with the complex history of the Indian deity Viṣṇu-Nārāyana. This conception of God evolved in various traditions in India, especially in South India, during the first millennium CE. The history of this development is reconstructed here by various means, including philological exegesis, the history of ideas, and iconographic evidence. In their respective discussions, the contributors examine a range of textual material in Sanskrit, Tamil, and Maṇipravāḷa, including the early Caṅkam literature of the 3rd to 6th century CE; the Vaiṣṇava text corpus, in particular the Nālāyiradivviyapirabandham (6th–9th century. CE); Purāṇic literature, especially the Viṣṇupurāṇa (5th–6th century. CE); Pāñcarātra literature; and the later (10th–14th cent.ury CE) literature of the philosophical and theological tradition of theistic Viśiṣṭādvaita Vedānta, in which Viṣṇu-Nārāyaṇa plays a central role. Also examined is how Viṣṇu-Nārāyaṇa came to be seen as a solitary supreme God, with a reconstruction of the theological arguments supporting this monotheism.