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Rig Veda · 156 of 1027
Mandala 1: HYMN CLVI. Viṣṇu
1.FAR-SHINING, widely famed, going thy wonted way, fed with the oil, be helpful. Mitra-like, to us. So, Viṣṇu, e’en the wise must swell thy song of praise, and he who hath oblations pay thee solemn rites.
2.He who brings gifts to him the Ancient and the Last, to Viṣṇu who ordains, together with his Spouse, Who tells the lofty birth of him the Lofty One, shall verily surpass in glory e’en his peer.
3.Him have ye satisfied, singers, as well as ye know, primeval germ of Order even from his birth. Ye, knowing e’en his name, have told it forth: may we, Viṣṇu, enjoy the grace of thee the Mighty One.
4.The Sovran Varuṇa and both the Aśvins wait on this the will of him who guides the Marut host. Viṣṇu hath power supreme and might that finds the day, and with his Friend unbars the stable of the kine.
5.Even he the Heavenly One who came for fellowship, Viṣṇu to Indra, godly to the godlier, Who Maker, throned in three worlds, helps the Āryan man, and gives the worshipper his share of Holy Law.
Asked of Guide
Why is Viṣṇu praised as both a walker 'going thy wonted way' and a cosmic ruler here?
The hymn presents Viṣṇu as a deity who moves through the world in a regular, beneficent manner — “going thy wonted way” — while also holding sovereign functions: ordaining, guiding the Marut host, and opening the “stable of the kine.” Those images combine a personal cultic presence (the worshipper feeding him with oil and oblations) with cosmic authority over order and law.
This blending matches other Vedic passages that link Viṣṇu’s three-step motif and close association with Mitra and Varuṇa; see Hymn 1.154 where companionship with cosmic regulators appears. The chapter treats ritual attention to Viṣṇu as a practical way to access his mighty, world-ordering role.
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