or Mahadevi, though she has many forms and aspects, is most commonly represented as a terrible goddess who demands offerings of blood.  The worship of this goddess or goddesses, for it is hard to say if she is one or many, is treated of in a separate chapter.  Though in shrines dedicated to Siva his female counterpart or energy (Sakti) also receives recognition, yet she is revered as the spouse of her lord to whom honour is primarily due.  But in Saktist worship adoration is offered to the Sakti as being the form in which his power is made manifest or even as the essential Godhead.

3

Let us now pass on to Vishnu.  Though not one of the great gods of the Veda, he is mentioned fairly often and with respect.  Indian commentators and comparative mythologists agree that he is a solar deity.  His chief exploit is that he took (or perhaps in the earlier version habitually takes) three strides.  This was originally a description of the sun’s progress across the firmament but grew into a myth which relates that when the earth was conquered by demons, Vishnu became incarnate as a dwarf and induced the demon king to promise him as much space as he could measure in three steps.  Then, appearing in his true form, he strode across earth and heaven and recovered the world for mankind.  His special character as the Preserver is already outlined in the Veda.  He is always benevolent:  he took his three steps for the good of men:  he established and preserves the heavens and earth.  But he is not the principal solar deity of the Rig Veda:  Surya, Savitri and Pushan receive more invocations.  Though one hymn says that no one knows the limits of his greatness, other passages show that he has no pre-eminence, and even in the Mahabharata and the Vishnu-Purana itself he is numbered among the Adityas or sons of Aditi.  In the Brahmanas, he is somewhat more important than in the Rig Veda,[354] though he has not yet attained to any position like that which he afterwards occupies.

Just as for Siva, so for Vishnu we have no clear record of the steps by which he advanced from a modest rank to the position of having but one rival in the popular esteem.  But the lines on which the change took place are clear.  Even in his own Church, Vishnu himself claims comparatively little attention.  He is not a force like Siva that makes and mars, but a benevolent and retiring personality who keeps things as they are.  His worship, as distinguished from that of his incarnations, is not conspicuous in modern India, especially in the north.  In the south he is less overshadowed by Krishna, and many great temples have been erected in his honour.  In Travancore, which is formally dedicated to him as his special domain, he is adored under the name of Padmanabha.  But his real claim to reverence, his appeal to the Indian heart, is due to the fact that certain deified human heroes, particularly Rama and Krishna, are identified with him.