Narayana

Quick Facts

About Narayana

The elder deity to whom the epic bows in its first line, the Rishi of Badari who is also the supreme person, without beginning, middle or end. He calls the Sudarsana discus to his hand out of the sky in the battle for the Amrita, is worshipped in his own White Island by men who need no food and have no senses, and is inseparable from Nara, with whom he takes birth age after age. Even Indra and Brahma, he tells Mandhata, do not get to see that face.

In Their Words

Neither I nor the Grandsire obtains a sight of that god. Ask instead what a man may be given.

Narayana

Traits

• Ancient
• Hidden
• Supreme
• Inseparable

Story Appearances

• The Twin SagesThe younger half of the eternal pair❧ 9 min
• The White IslandThe god worshipped where no image is needed
• Three Balls of MudThe Boar who raises the drowned earth❧ 16 min

Stories Featuring Narayana

39 further tales on this site name Narayana, in canonical reading order.

• The Age After the AxeHow the warrior caste came back, and how it was spoiled againAdi Parva ‧ 16 min
• The King Who Made Fire SickTwelve years of butter and the appetite it ruinedAdi Parva ‧ 18 min
• The Bow Out of the WaterWhat Varuna kept until two men needed itAdi Parva ‧ 16 min
• The Lineages of Gods and DemonsVaishampayana recites the descent of every creature from Brahma and the daughters of DakshaAdi Parva ‧ 22 min
• Kunti's BlessingA mother-in-law names seven wives, a throne nobody owns yet, and a son not yet bornAdi Parva ‧ 12 min
• The Lake Called BinduWhere Maya found Bhima's club and Arjuna's conchSabha Parva ‧ 18 min
• The Map of the WorldsA priest naming the four quarters of the cosmos from a mountain shoulderVana Parva ‧ 17 min
• Sakamvari and the Ford of GoldThe goddess who fed the sages on herbs, and the tirtha where Vishnu knelt to RudraVana Parva ‧ 21 min
• The Goddess on the Road to MatsyaA king with nothing left prays walkingVirata Parva ‧ 17 min
• The Choice at DwarakaTen crore soldiers on one side of the bed, one unarmed man on the otherUdyoga Parva ‧ 16 min
• Garuda's Map of the WorldThe four directions described from a bird's backUdyoga Parva ‧ 18 min
• The Hymn Before the ConchesKrishna sends Arjuna down from the chariot to praise the goddessBhishma Parva ‧ 18 min
• The Grandsire Names the GodDuryodhana asks why he keeps losing and gets a theology insteadBhishma Parva ‧ 18 min
• Sanjaya Describes the EarthThe blind king asks what the earth is worth, and his charioteer answers with the whole of itBhishma Parva ‧ 24 min
• The Islands Beyond JambudvipaSanjaya measures the seven islands, the world elephants and the sunBhishma Parva ‧ 17 min
• Kurukshetra Day 15: The Day the Teacher DiedFrom the Dawn Prayers to the Half-Truth at NoonDrona Parva ‧ 21 min
• The Weapon That Would Not Burn ThemAshwatthama's fire, and why it left two men standingDrona Parva ‧ 21 min
• How Drona Won the Narayana WeaponAshwatthama tells the Kauravas where his father's last astra came from, and the one rule that came with itDrona Parva ‧ 15 min
• The One Who Walked Before the CarVyasa tells Arjuna whose lance was breaking the ranks in front of himDrona Parva ‧ 24 min
• The King Falls Out of His SeatDhritarashtra hears that Drona is dead, faints in his hall, and wakes to ask who was supposed to be guarding himDrona Parva ‧ 20 min
• The Road to JayadrathaArjuna breaks through the head of Drona's array on the fourteenth morning, from the omens at dawn to the river of bloodDrona Parva ‧ 23 min
• Bhima Carried From the FieldAshwatthama's afternoon after the Narayana weapon, and the shaft that took Bhima's charioteerDrona Parva ‧ 21 min
• Portents Before the Fourteenth DayThe night the sky and the rivers answered Arjuna's vow, and the morning ritual of a kingDrona Parva ‧ 21 min
• Arjuna Cuts His Way to KarnaAn army ordered to tire one man before Karna kills himKarna Parva ‧ 21 min
• The Age Before KingsHow men who protected one another stopped, and what had to be writtenShanti Parva ‧ 18 min
• Mandhatri Asks to See GodThe emperor got an answer instead of a visionShanti Parva ‧ 17 min
• The Day the Rod VanishedWhat happened to the world when Chastisement disappearedShanti Parva ‧ 20 min
• The Guest Nobody Could SeeBrihaspati throws down the ladle at a sacrifice where no animal was killedShanti Parva ‧ 19 min
• The Horse-Headed Voice in the DeepHow the Vedas were sung back out of the hands of thievesShanti Parva ‧ 17 min
• The Road of WorksBrahman and the first Rishis stand a thousand years on the shore, and sacrifice is foundedShanti Parva ‧ 22 min
• The Practices That Overcome DifficultyBhishma on when a truthful man may lie, and the long list of habits that carry a person throughShanti Parva ‧ 22 min
• The Fourth Portion of VishnuSanatkumara tells the defeated Vritra what holds up the universe, and Bhishma tells Yudhishthira who Krishna isShanti Parva ‧ 23 min
• Does Consciousness SurviveYudhishthira asks whether anyone is left awake in the emancipate state, and Bhishma answers out of the Sankhya of KapilaShanti Parva ‧ 22 min
• The Curses of the RishisKrishna names the marks that Brahmanas left on gods, seas and mountainsShanti Parva ‧ 19 min
• The Gold Mountain in the Ocean of MilkBrahma tells Rudra of the one Purusha whom neither of them can seeShanti Parva ‧ 17 min
• Upamanyu's PenanceThe boy who refused every god but Shiva, and the god who came disguised as Indra to hear him do itAnushasana Parva ‧ 24 min
• The Departure of BhishmaThe sun turns north, and the grandsire lets goAnushasana Parva ‧ 17 min
• The Return of the PortionsWho everybody turned out to have beenSvargarohana Parva ‧ 17 min
• The Rewards of the Eighteen ParvasVaishampayana prices each stage of hearing the Bharata against a sacrifice, from the Agnishtoma to twenty-one thousand years with IndraSvargarohana Parva ‧ 17 min

Character Arc

1. 1The DiscusSudarsana comes to his hand as soon as it is thought of
2. 2The Answer to MandhataAppears wearing Indra's shape and withholds his own
3. 3The Human BirthWalks the earth as Krishna beside Nara

Key Relationships

• Eternal Companion➝Nara
• Born as Him➝Krishna
• Same Being➝Vishnu

Places in Narayana's Story

Drawn from the stories Narayana appears in.

• Mahendra Parvataमहेन्द्र पर्वत
• Brahmalokaब्रह्मलोक
• Takshashilaतक्षशिला
• Forest Hermitageवन आश्रम
• Amaravatiअमरावती
• Kurukshetraकुरुक्षेत्र
• Banks of the Yamunaयमुना तट
• Khandava Forestखाण्डव वन
• Mount Kailasaकैलास
• Hastinapurहस्तिनापुर
• Banks of the Gangaगङ्गा तट
• Gandhamadanaगन्धमादन

Related Characters

Others counted among the Divine Beings.

• ❉Krishna
• ◭Hanuman
• ❧Kacha
• ≈Goddess Ganga
• ★The Eight Vasus
• ॐSage Vyasa