Vishnu As Varha The Cosmic Jar Analysis

This piece is titled Vishnu as Varaha, The Cosmic Boar. It tells the story of the the Hindu god, Vishnu and how he took the form of a boar to rescue the world from a demon who imprisoned the earth beneath the cosmic ocean. This piece depicts Vishnu as having an entirely human body with a boar’s head, not unlike the shape of a minotaur. Though the color and texture of this sculpture would have me to believe it has nothing to do with an ocean. This piece is entirely a sand like color and has a chunk taken out of the right corner, that I presumed eroded away in a large sandstorm. Ew, I think I got a grain of sand in my mouth just by looking at it! The piece stands about twenty-two inches tall and eighteen inches wide, and from front to back its length is about six inches. If …show more content…
The piece relates to Hinduism as it depicts Vishnu in this story, but it is also an architectural piece as well. Think of the piece as a picture. The main painting is that of Vishnu, in a triumphant pose, like George Washington crossing the Delaware. Vishnu’s left foot is placed on a lotus pedestal held up by two humans. His right foot faces abruptly outwards towards the bottom left corner of the piece. Vishnu’s right hand is placed on his hip, and his left hand is holding a jug, though he may have two left arms as it seems a hand is holding the jug, and another hand is pouring liquid from another jug near his raised knee, the erosion makes the original deliberation of the piece foggy. Vishnu’s left elbow is parallel with his snout, both pointing towards the top right corner of the piece. Perched on his arisen elbow is a woman who pets his snout he looks upon her in the same way we imagine the gravedigger looking upon the skull of Yorick in Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Vishnu’s human body is slender and shows no signs of