Visnu-Narayana. The becoming and changing form of a deity

The contributions collected in this volume deal with the complex history of the Indian deity Viu- Narayana. 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 Maipravaa, including the early Cakam literature of the 3rd to 6th century CE; the Vaiava text corpus, in particular the Nalayiradivviyapirabandham (6th9th century CE); Puraic literature, especially the Viupuraa (5th6th century CE); Pañcaratra literature; and the later (10th14th century CE) literature of the philosophical and theological tradition of theistic Visiadvaita Vedanta, in which Viu-Narayaa plays a central role. Also examined is how Viu-Narayaa came to be seen as a solitary supreme God, with a reconstruction of the theological arguments supporting this monotheism.