Sofia states developments that occur in the general character of Visnu in the Brahmana literature have far-reaching influence on the growth and moulding of avataric Visnu... Probably the single most important development, which is first found in the Brahmanas and exerts the most influence over all other factors, is the identification of Vishnu with the sacrifice'. Vishnu is explicitly stated to be sacrifice repeatedly throughout the Shatapatha Brahmana (e.g. SB 1.7.4.20, 1.1.4.9, 3.2.1.38, 3.6.3.3, 5.2.3.6, 5.4.5.1, 5.4.5.18, 11.4.1.4, 12.5.4.11, 14.1.1.13, and 11.4.1.4).