Consorts of Vishnu
Vishnu sustains the universe, while Lakshmi, as his wife, provides wealth to support life. According to the Panchratra tradition, Vishnu is often portrayed with three wives, Sridevi (Lakshmi), Bhudevi, and Niladevi. Bhudevi is associated with the Varaha avatar of Vishnu, while Niladevi is a regional goddess popular in South India. She is the daughter of Krishna’s maternal uncle, Kumbagan, who becomes the consort of Vishnu in his avatar as Krishna. Both goddesses are considered manifestations or incarnations of Lakshmi. The Vaishnavas of Bengal have a popular legend where Saraswati and Ganga are the wives of Lord Vishnu, along with Goddess Lakshmi.
Vishnu incarnated into several forms to protect and restore Dharma. Accompanying him, Lakshmi has also been born in various forms. Some significant incarnations of Vishnu are Matsya, Kurma, Varaha, Narasimha, Vamana, Parashurama, Rama, Krishna, Buddha, and Kalki, called Dashavatara.
Earth was submerged in a celestial ocean by Hiranyaksha, a demon. Vishnu incarnated as a boar, called Varaha, and lifted the Earth on his tusk out of the celestial ocean. The earth is personified as the goddess Bhudevi, who is regarded as the consort of Varaha. She bore him two sons, Narakasura and Mangala. While, Narasimha, a ferocious half-lion and half-man incarnation, killed Hiranyakashipu, the brother of Hiranyaksha. Narasimha is often portrayed with Lakshmi sitting on his lap, called Lakshmi Narasimha. Parashurama, the immortal incarnation of Vishnu, is associated with Dharani, an incarnation of Lakshmi or Bhudevi.
Rama, one of the major incarnations of Vishnu, is briefly cited in Hindu Epics, about his slaying of the demon-king Ravana who kidnapped his wife, Sita, an incarnation of Lakshmi. Sita is portrayed as an exemplary wife, who was devoted to her husband. She is also described as the daughter of Bhudevi and is associated with fertility and abundance. After being rescued by Rama from Ravana, Sita undergoes Agnipariksha to prove her purity. According to some texts, Agni replaced Maya Sita with the real Sita and was abducted by Ravana. At Agni Pariksha, they switched their places again. Maya Sita is considered to be an incarnation of Vedavati, an earlier manifestation of Lakshmi. Ravana mocked Vedavati for her devotion to Vishnu. This provoked her and she jumped into the blazing fire. Later she was born again as Sita or Maya Sita and became the cause of Ravana’s death.
Krishna is one widely known Hindu deity associated with spiritual essence, love, and compassion. He is also considered to be the supreme being who created every living being and the gods, as per Vaishnava tradition, and a central character in Hindu texts like the Mahabharata and the Bhagavad Gita. He is often shown with Gopis, maidservants or milkmaids, as his companions. The Gopis were known for their genuine love and devotion to Krishna. They are a metaphorical representation of the antaranga shaktis (internal energy) of him or divine-human relationship. Krishna Charit Manas specifies 16,000 Gopis while Gaudiya Vaishnavism has 108 Gopis. Although Radha was the chief gopi, portrayed as the lover of Krishna. She is considered a supreme goddess, or an incarnation of Lakshmi or Krishna himself, and adored as the goddess of love and devotion. Krishna never married Radha and their relationship is defined without any social foundation.
There are eight other primary Gopis, called Astashakti, who serve Radha as her foremost companions, as mentioned in Ramayan and Bhagavad Gita. They are regarded as the eight principal Shaktis of Krishna or Radha. Their names are Lalita, Vishakha, Champakalata, Chitra, Tungavidya, Indulekha, Rangadevi and Sudevi.
Krishna also had eight principal wives, called Ashtabharya. They were Rukmini, Satyabhama, Jambavati, Kalindi, Mitravinda, Nagnajiti, Bhadra and Lakshmana, as per Bhagavata Purana. They all were the princesses of different kingdoms. Rukmani was the chief consort, described as an incarnation of Lakshmi, and her co-wife, Satyabhama, is considered as an incarnation of Bhudevi. Kalindi, also called Yamuna, is a personification of the river Yamuna as the consort of Krishna. She was the daughter of Surya, the sun god.
Apart from the eight principal wives, Krishna is described to have married 16,000 women he rescued from the Narakasura, according to the Bhagavata Purana and Mahabharata. The Vishnu Purana mentions 16,100 wives and includes Rohini replacing Bhadra, as one of the Ashtabharya. But other texts consider Rohini to be the head of the 16,000 non-principal wives.
Kalki, a prophesied incarnation of Vishnu, will marry Padma, an incarnation of Lakshmi, as his first wife and Ramaa as his second wife.
According to Bhagavata Purana, Prithu was a king, considered to be an incarnation of Vishnu. He married Archi, an incarnation of Lakshmi. He is associated with his legend of chasing Prithvi, to get her to agree to yield vegetation on the earth.
Vishnu is worshipped in many other forms and names throughout India accompanied by the different forms of Lakshmi. As Ranganatha, his wife is Lakshmi in the form of Ranganayaki. As Kurmanathaswamy, his wife is Kurmanayaki, as Maayapiran, his wife is Porkodi Nachiyaar, and so on. Venkateshwara is a form of Maha Vishnu, Vishnu at the highest level. His consort is Padmavathi, an avatar of Lakshmi as Mahalakshmi. Godadevi a regional goddess of Tamil Nadu, is also considered to be an incarnation of Lakshmi. She is known for her love and devotion to Vishnu. It is believed that she married Vishnu in his form, Ranganatha. (Read: Regional Goddesses)
Jagannath is another popular form of Vishnu or Krishna, who is sometimes replaced with Buddha, as the ninth avatar of Vishnu. Outside of the Vaishnava tradition, he is considered a form of Shiva, and his wife is Vimala, a form of Shakti. (Read: Regional Goddesses)
Tulsi Devi is a personification of the Holy Basil, a sacred plant in Hinduism. She is acknowledged to be a consort of Vishnu in his Shaligram form. The Devi Bhagavata Purana considers her as a manifestation of Lakshmi. In a legend, Tusli was a woman named Vrinda, who married Jalandhara, an asura. Vishnu, disguised as Jalandhara, destroyed Vrinda's chastity which leads to the death of Jalandhara. Vrinda cursed Vishnu to become a stone, Shaligram, and she got incarnated into holy basil.
Daughters of Vishnu
Sundaravalli and Amirtavalli are two Tamil deities worshipped as the daughters of Vishnu. According to the legend, they were born from the tears of Vamana, a dwarf manifestation of Vishnu. They prayed to Vishnu for a spouse and Vishnu advised them to marry Kartikeya, son of Shiva. They commenced penance to please Kartikeya. Kartikeya appeared before them and said that Amirtavalli would be born as Tevayanai and Sundaravalli would be born as Valli and then he would marry them both in their next life.
