Parāśara says, "Know that Kṛṣṇa Dvaipāyana Veda Vyāsa is none other than Nārāyaṇa himself."  In each Manvantar, Viṣṇu took the form of Vyāsa in order to segregate the Vedas for the welfare of the world. The form Viṣṇu takes in order to divide the Vedas is known as Veda Vyāsa.  Viṣṇu did this in each Dvāpara Yuga, and therefore appeared 28 times to classify the Vedas, which would merge into an unidentifiable whole after each pralaya. In each of his Vyāsa incarnations, Viṣṇu had different names such as Swayambhu Manu, Prajāpati Manu, Uśamā, Bṛhaspati, Bharadwāj, Gautama, Mṛtyu, Ṛkṣa (better known as Vālmikī), Parāśara, Jātukarṇa etc. The 28^th Vyāsa is Parāśara’s son, Kṛṣṇa Dvaipāyana. The next Vyāsa is slated to be Aśvathāmā, the son of Droṇa.