Friday, October 24, 2008

1000 names of Vishnu

Hindus have a unique tradition of eulogy. Every god is appeased with flattering name-calling. The supreme god Vishnu was showered with a thousand names by the wise old men of vedic times. To a novice, the Vishnu Sahasranama (Vishnu's thousand names) might seem like one more nama-sutra like compilation. But in the eyes of a giant like Adi Shankara it was something more profound. Since we are mercenary namers, we shall just stick to the literal meaning of the name list. And leave the interpretation to the masters. The reason why I've posted the Sahasranama is some of us are Sanksrit-challenged. The names can give us a hint of how a new Sanskrit name can be welded together. Before you pore over the list, say a big thank you to this site for painstakingly putting it together...