CHARACTERISTICS:

Visual description: diagonal lines, figures not facing out (in profile), they point up, multiple figures, relief.

Composition: movement, action, asymmetrical.

QUESTION:

Can you stand or pose like Varaha? Could you hold it for a while?

CHARACTERISTICS:

Composition: Varaha is standing in the warrior pose, one knee bent, the other leg stretched back, torso straight. Look at how many angles there are. This pose is active, not one you would hold for a long time. His arms and legs are stretched in different positions.

QUESTION:

What is he holding in his hands? Who holds these things?

ATTRIBUTES:

He is holding a club, a conch shell, and a discus. Varaha is holding two of Visnu’s attributes, the conch shell and discus. Anytime we see these two symbols, we know Visnu is present. Varaha is a form of Visnu.

NARRATIVE:

The sculpture we already saw reminds us of stories. But with its movement, this object actually shows a scene from a story (Why Does V Change into a Boar?), that tells us why Visnu took the head of a boar to become Varaha. Shown here is the end of the story.

COMPARISON:

With the previous Standing Visnu for poses and gestures and to identify attributes. Standing Visnu is like a formal portrait. Visnu as the Boar Varaha is like a scene in his life.