The institutes of Vishnu (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1880)

I, 52. VISH2VU AND THE GODDESS OF THE EARTH. 9
49. ‘ I desire to learn them from thee; for thou
art my chief stay. Adoration be to thee, O brilliant1
chief of the gods, who annihilatest the power of the
(Daityas and other) enemies of the gods.
50. ‘ O Naraya/za (son of Nara), O Gagannatha
(sovereign of the world); thou boldest the shell, the
discus, and the mace (in thy hands); thou hast
a lotus (Brahman) springing from thy navel; thou
art the lord of the senses ; thou art most powerful
and endowed with conquering strength.
51. ‘Thou art beyond the cognisance of the
senses ; thy end is most difficult to know; thou art
brilliant; thou boldest the bow .Sarriga; thou art
the boar1; thou art terrible ; thou art Govinda2 (the
herdsman); thou art of old ; thou art Purushottama
(the spirit supreme).
52. ‘Thy hair is golden; thy eyes are every-
where ; thy body is the sacrifice ; thou art free from
stain ; thou art the “ field ” (the corporeal frame);
thou art the principle of life ; thou art the ruler

49. 1 This is Nand.’s interpretation of the term ‘deva,’ but it
may also be taken in its usual acceptation of ‘ god.’
51.1 This is the third of the three interpretations of the term
varaha, which Nand. proposes. According to the first, it would
mean ‘one who kills his worst or most prominent foes according
to the second, ‘ one who gratifies his own desires.’ But these two
interpretations are based upon a fanciful derivation of varaha from
vara and a-han. Of many others among the epithets Nand. proposes
equally fanciful etymologies, which I shall pass over unnoticed.—
2 This epithet, which literally means ‘ he who finds or wins cows/
is usually referred to Vishzzu’s recovering the ‘ cow,’ i.e. the earth,
when it was lost in the waters: see Mahabh. XII, 13228, which
verse is quoted both by Nand. and by -Sankara in his Commentary
on the Vishwu-sahasranama. It originally refers, no doubt, to
Vishzzu or Kzzshzza as the pastoral god.