Vishnu is identical to the metaphysical concept called Brahman, who takes various avatars as “the preserver, protector” whenever the world is threatened with evil, chaos, and destructive forces. His avatars most notably include Rama in the Ramayana and Krishna in the Mahabharata. He is also known as Narayana, Ananta, Keshava, Trilokinath, Ishtadeva, Jagannath, Vasudeva, Vithoba, and Hari. Agama scripture Pancharatra describes mode of worship of Vishnu. Anushasana Parva of Mahabharata provides a list of 1,000 names of Vishnu known as Vishnu Sahasranama. He is one of the five equivalent deities worshipped in Panchayatana puja of the Smarta Tradition of Hinduism