Amongst the trinity of Brahma, Vishnu and Mahesh, Lord Vishnu is the one who protects. He has incarnated himself from time to time to save the mankind. Some stories are here.

When Lord Vishnu borrowed from Lord Kubera

Yes, this is true, not only he had to borrow, but he is still in debt. In Indian mythology, there is an interesting story of Lord Vishnu borrowing from Lord Kubera.

Sage Bhrigu getting angry : It happened that Sage Bhrigu was once entrusted with the task of selecting the most deserving god from the trimurti of Brahma, Vishnu and Mahesh for a particular offering.Bhrigu visited Lord Brahma and Lord Shiva and did not find them suitable. When he visited Lord Vishnu, he found that Lord was resting with his consort Laxmi. Seeing this, Sage Bhrigu got enraged and hit Lord Vishnu on his chest with his foot.

Laxmi leaves Lord Vishnu : Lord Vishnu immediately understood his mistake and he apologized sage. Sage realized that Lord Vishnu is the most deserving deity out of all these. But Goddess Laxmi got angry with this behaviour as Lord Vishnu’s chest was her abode. She left Lord Vishnu and went to earth. Lord Vishnu searched for her but could not find.

He is reborn on earth : Then Lord Vishnu took birth by the name of Srinivasa as the son of Vakula Devi. Vakula Devi was an incarnation of Mata Yashoda. She was Lord Krishna's foster-mother and was unhappy in that life for not seeing his marriage. She received a boon from Krishna, and was reborn as Vakula Devi. Laxmi also took birth in the form of Padmavati.

Goddess Laxmi also reborn on earth : Padmavati grew up into a beautiful maiden and once she met Saint Narada. He told that she was destined to be the spouse of Lord Vishnu himself. In due course, Lord Srinivasa on a hunting trip was chasing a wild elephant in the forest.

The marriage is fixed : The elephant led him into a garden where Princess Padmavati and her maids were present .The sight of the elephant frightened them and their Princess. When Lord Srinivasa appeared in front of the Elephant, it immediately turned round, saluted the Lord and disappeared into the forest. Lord Srinivasa noticed princess Padmavati and enquired about her from her maids. He soon developed a desire to marry Padmavati and told this to Vakula Devi, along with his identity of Lord Vishnu.Soon, Vakula Devi approaches the father of Padmavati with the proposal to marry her son, Lord Srinivasa. Her father, a king himself agreed and his advisor Bhrihaspati wrote the invitation for the wedding between the two avatars.

Lord Vishnu borrows from Kubera

Lord Srinivasa called for a conference of the Gods to win their consent for His marriage with Princess Padmavati. He obtained a heavy loan from Lord Kubera, god of wealth in Hindu Mythology towards expenses for the wedding as well as provide proof of his wealth. He agreed to Kubera that his loan will be repaid by the end of Kaliyuga with interest. So, when a devotee presents and offering at Balaji temple, he tries to help Lord in his quest of repayment of the loan and he is never sent back empty handed. Sage Bhrigu was also pardoned by Devi Laxmi.

Marriage of Padmavati and Lord : Soon Mahalaxmi descended from heaven and when she discovered that Lord has remarried, she was horrified. On seeing her, Lord becomes a stone. Later on, this stone was recovered and the site became the temple of Lord Venkatesheara. This site is associated with Varaha avatar of Lord Vishnu, and there is a varaha shrine, which holds great importance in Tirupati.The intent behind this whole story is that Lord Vishnu wanted Tirumala hills as his abode in Kaliyuga and to help the humankind. He is adorned with Mahalaxmi and Padmavati.

Vamana Avatar (Fifth incarnation of Dashavatara)

Vishnu decided to be born as Aditi and Kashyap's son. The son was a dwarf. This was the Vamana avatara (dwarf incarnation) of Vishnu dashavatara which was taken to save Indra's kingdom.

There was a king of the daityas named Bali. He was powerful and invincible. He was also righteous and truthful. The gods cold not bear to see Bali's prosperity and began to plot how Bali might be foiled. So well did Bali rule that disease, drought and evil disappeared throughout the three worlds. Bali was the grandson of Prahlada, the son of Hiranyakshyap.

Bali had organised a horse sacrifice. Many sages came to the sacrifice and Shukracharya was the chief priest. The dwarf (Vamana) also arrived at yajna.

Shukracharya, the guru of Daityas, realised that the dwarf was none other than Vishnu. He warned Bali not to promise anything to the Vamana (The Dwarf), who was an incarnation of Lord Vishnu ( a dashavatara).

Bali replied that it would be his honour to serve Lord Vishnu. Bali went to the dwarf and asked what he had wanted. Vishnu expressed the wish that he might be given as much of land as might be covered in three of the dwarf's steps. This boon Bali readily granted. But no sooner than the boon had been granted, the dwarf adopted a gigantic form.

In two steps, the Dwarf covered the whole kingdom of Bali, from heaven to earth to netherworld and demanded where he should place his third step. Bali offered himself.

Vishnu was charmed at Bali's generosity.He then appointed Bali king of the underworld and Indra's kingdom was returned back to him.

Vamana avatar is instantly recognizable with the short frame having a wooden umbrella.

Narsingh Avatar - fourth incarnation of Lord Vishnu

The fourth of incarnation of Vishnu is Narsingh avatar (half man-half lion). There was a demon king Hiranyakashyap who did severe penance of Brahma. Brahma became pleased with him and asked for a boon. Hiranyakashyap demanded immortality. Brahma replied that this is not possible as everyone who takes birth has to die, so ask something else.

Hiranyakashyap then asks “no one created by you can kill me; I cannot die inside the house or outside, during the day or the night. I cannot be killed by any weapon by any human or beast, living or non living, any demi-god or demon. ” Brahma granted him this boon.

Thus Hiranyakashyap became very strong and he started asking people to treat him as god. But his own son, Prahlad was a great devotee of Lord Vishnu. He was initiated by Sage Narada and he belived in none other than Narayan.

Knowing this, Hiranyakashyap became very angry and tried to dissuade Prahlad from worshipping Vishnu.

He tried to kill him by burning him in fire, by giving him poison, by crushing him under elephants’ feet, by rolling down from high hills, by snake bites, by many kinds of weapons, but because of his devotion, Prahalad could not be killed by any means.

Hirankashyap's sister Holika, offered a solution. She sat with Prahalad on a pyre, thinking that the flames would burn Prahalad and she would be saved by a cloth which was immune from fire. But by god's grace, Holika was burnt and Prahalad was saved. This is still celebrated as Holika dahan which is followed by, a prominent Indian festival.