NARRATOR:
This impressive sculpture in near perfect condition depicts the Hindu god Vishnu, preserver and maintainer of the cosmic order. Carefully avoiding all extremes, this god stands for law and order.
Here Vishnu’s firm upright posture connotes stability. He wears a tall crown befitting a deity who embodies many regal qualities. His two front hands hold a fruit, possibly a lemon, and a conch shell. His rear hands rest on personifications of his attributes, the club and the wheel, or discus. He uses them as weapons to restore order to the universe. You can see the club at the right behind the female, who is named Club-woman. The discus forms a halo behind Wheel-man’s head, on the left.
Vishnu wears a typical garland of wild flowers that hangs to his knees. A string of pearls representing a sacred cord falls vertically from his shoulder. This cord, a standard attribute of all Hindu gods, is also worn by members of the high-ranking Brahmin caste traditionally responsible for the performance of rituals.
Vishnu with Personified Attributes
750-800
Asia: India, Uttar Pradesh
Not on View
Details
- Title: Vishnu with Personified Attributes
- Date: 750-800
- Medium: Sandstone
- Dimensions: 45 1/4 x 19 1/2 x 6 1/4 in. (114.9 x 49.5 x 15.9 cm)
- Credit Line: The Norton Simon Foundation
- Accession Number: F.1975.17.48.S
- Copyright: © The Norton Simon Foundation
Object Information
- Pal, Pratapaditya, Asian Art at the Norton Simon Museum, Volume 1: Art from the Indian Subcontinent, 2003, no. 73 pp. 112-113
- Campbell, Sara, Collector Without Walls: Norton Simon and His Hunt for the Best, 2010, cat. 1264 p. 388
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