Vishnu is the Lord of protection, sustenance & maintenance. His consort Lakshmi is the possessor of wealth, which is a necessity for maintenance. Goddess Lakshmi represents not only material wealth, but the wealth of grains, courage, offspring, success, luxurious life, eternal bliss. Vishnu and Lakshmi thus help the souls introduced into the life cycle by Brahma to survive in the cycle of life; 

Vishnu has four hands, each holding a sankha (conch shell), chakra (the discus that destroys evil), gada (mace) and padma (lotus) respectively. Garuda, the mighty eagle that disseminates Vedic knowledge, is his vehicle. Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth and prosperity, is Vishnu's consort. He is always represented as dark in color, lying on Adisesha or Anantha, the huge serpent, which indicates sleeping universe. Lord Vishnu is also hailed by the name Anantha Padmanabha. The avtars (incarnations) Vishnu adopted for the destruction of evil are Matsya (fish), Kurma (turtle), Varaha (boar), Narasimha (the man-lion), Vamana (the dwarf), Parashurama (the warrior-priest), Rama (the prince), Krishna (the cowherd), Buddha-Mayamoha (the sage) and Kalki (the horseman). Instead of Buddha-Mayamoha, sometimes Balarama is also considered an incarnation.

The tradition of Vishnu worship (Vaishnavism) has been prevalent in India since very early times. Jayadeva and Surdas were two major Vaishnavite saints.