Vaikuntha Chaturmurti

rdf:langString Vaikuntha Chaturmurti

rdf:langString Vaikuntha Chaturmurti

rdf:langString Vaikuntha Chaturmurti

rdf:langString Form of Vishnu

rdf:langString right

rdf:langString Fragment of a statue of Vishnu with the three faces, mid-5th century. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

rdf:langString Full figure of four-armed, three-faced Vishnu. 5th century CE. Brooklyn Museum.

rdf:langString Vaikuntha Chaturmukha, 9th century, Kashmir in Los Angeles County Museum of Art

rdf:langString The God Vishnu in three incarnations : Vishnu himself or Krishna in human form, Varaha as a boar, Narasimha as a lion. Art of Mathura, Gupta period.

rdf:langString The three front faces: lion, human and boar and the demonic face

rdf:langString center

rdf:langString Vaikuntha Chaturmurti in Mathura

rdf:langString The God Vishnu in Three Incarnations. Northern India , Gupta period, mid-5th century AD. Boston Museum.jpg

rdf:langString The Hindu God Vishnu LACMA M.69.13.2 .jpg

rdf:langString The_Hindu_God_Vishnu_LACMA_M.69.13.2__.jpg

rdf:langString WLA brooklynmuseum Vishnu Caturanana Four Armed red sandstone.jpg

rdf:langString Hindu

rdf:langString Vaikuntha Chaturmurti or Vaikuntha Vishnu is a four-headed aspect of the Hindu god Vishnu, mostly found in Kashmir (northern part of the Indian subcontinent). The icon represents Vishnu as the Supreme Being. He has a human head, a lion head, a boar head and a fierce head. Sometimes, even three-headed but aspects of Vishnu where the fierce rear head is dropped are considered to represent Vaikuntha Chaturmurti. Though iconographical treatises describe him to eight-armed, he is often depicted with four. Generally, Vaikuntha Chaturmurti is shown standing but sometimes he is depicted seated on his vahana (mount) Garuda. The concept of a four-headed Vishnu first appears in the Hindu epic Mahabharata, but the complete iconography was first found in a 5th-century Pancharatra text. The icon reflects influences from the Gupta period and the Gandhara architectural tradition. While as per one interpretation, the animal heads represent Vishnu's avatar Narasimha (lion-headed man) and Varaha (boar), another theory based on Pancharatra texts relates the four heads to the Chaturvyuha: Vasudeva (Krishna), Samkarshana (Balarama), Pradyumna and Aniruddha – four vyuhas (manifestations) of Vishnu. A cult centered on Vaikuntha Chaturmurti developed in Kashmir in the 8–12th century, when the deity also enjoyed royal patronage in the region. The Lakshmana Temple of Khajuraho suggests his worship in the Chandela kingdom (Central India) in the 10th century.