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Known as the preserver, Vishnu is one of three supreme Hindu deities,god or goddess along with Brahma and Shiva. Vishnu's role is to protect humans and to restore order to the world. His presence is found in every object and force in creation, and some Hindus recognize him as the divine being from which all things come. Vishnu appears in a number of Hindu texts, including the Rig-Veda, the Mαhabharata, and the Ramayana.

Early Roles. In the Vedas, a collection of ancient sacred texts that includes the Rig-Veda, Vishnu is only a minor god. Associated with the power of light, he floated on the surface of the primevalfrom the earliest times ocean on top of a thousand-headed snake called Shesha. Vishnu's most famous feat in the Vedas was to take the three steps...