An extremely rare sculpture of a 9th century 4 headed Bhagwan, Kashmir.
This sculpture form of Vishnu Ji, first referred to by the name #Vaikuntha in the 7th century Vishnudharmottarapurana, is four-faced (chaturmurti), with the heads of a lion (right) and a boar (left) flanking a human head.
He is also identifiable in this form by the epithet Para-Vasudeva, “the highest god.” The lion & boar represent Vishnu’s Varaha & Narasimha avatars. Carved in low relief on the back of the halo is the 4th face, a demonic, grimacing representation with fangs & a vertical 3rd eye on the forehead. The small attendant on Vishnu’s left is Chakrapurusha, the personification of his war discus, originally balanced on his right by Gadadevi, the female personification of his battle mace. The earth goddess Prithvi, stands between Vishnu’s legs.
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