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Varaha avatar: the Boar avatar of Vishnu in combat with the demon Hiranyaksha Pahari, probably Kangra, circa 1835 image 1
Varaha avatar: the Boar avatar of Vishnu in combat with the demon Hiranyaksha Pahari, probably Kangra, circa 1835 image 2
Lot 184

Varaha avatar: the Boar avatar of Vishnu in combat with the demon Hiranyaksha
Pahari, probably Kangra, circa 1835

12 November 2024, 11:00 GMT
London, New Bond Street

£5,000 - £7,000

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Varaha avatar: the Boar avatar of Vishnu in combat with the demon Hiranyaksha
Pahari, probably Kangra, circa 1835

gouache and silver on paper, dark blue border (probably trimmed)
270 x 355 mm.

Footnotes

Provenance
With Arthur Tooth & Sons Ltd., London, circa 1970s-80s.
Private UK collection.


Vishnu appears here in his third incarnation as Varaha the boar. He assumed this avatar to save the earth goddess from the cosmic ocean where she had been captured and was being held by the demon Hiranyaksha. He fought the demon for a thousand years before striking him with his mace and killing him. He then rescued the earth by lifting it from the ocean with his tusks and returning it to its rightful place.

Additional information