Boar Incarnation of God Vishnu (Varaha)

CC0 Public Domain Designation

c. 10th century

India
Madhya Pradesh

When cosmic order is imperiled, Vishnu descends to earth in different avataras (incarnations) to restore it. Varaha, Vishnu’s boar incarnation, is the third of ten such avataras. After the demon Hiranyaksha hides the earth in the primeval ocean, Varaha bores beneath the waters and rescues her, emerging triumphantly with the earth goddess Bhudevi on his tusk. Varaha’s porcine body is covered with rows of sages, animals, and other beings indebted to his beneficence. Vishnu’s signature attributes—the chakra (discus), shankha (conch), and gada (mace)—appear by the boar’s feet. Boar images of Varaha made across central India were often housed in independent shrines facing the main entrance of temples dedicated to Vishnu.

Status: On View, Gallery 141
Department: Arts of Asia

Title: Boar Incarnation of God Vishnu (Varaha)
Place: Madhya Pradesh (Object made in)
Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.: 901 CE–1000
Medium: Phyllite
Dimensions: 56 × 79.5 × 29.7 cm (22 1/16 × 31 5/16 × 11 11/16 in.)
Credit Line: James W. and Marilynn Alsdorf Collection. Gift of Marilynn Alsdorf
Reference Number: 2021.200
IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world. Learn more.: https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/153539/manifest.json

Two Thousand Years of Indian Art, exh. cat. (London: Spink & Son Ltd., 1982), 74 (ill), cat. 51.
Pratapaditya Pal, A Collecting Odyssey: Indian, Himalayan, and Southeast Asian Art from the James and Marilynn Alsdorf Collection, exh. cat. (Chicago: The Art Institute of Chicago in association with Thames and Hudson, 1997), 43 (ill), 281–82, cat. 44.
Joan Cummins, Vishnu: Hinduism’s Blue-Skinned Savior, exh. cat. (Nashville/Ahmedabad: Frist Center for the Visual Arts, Mapin, 2011), 139, cat. 57.

London, Spink & Son, Two Thousand Years of Indian Art, Apr. 6–23, 1982, cat. 51.
Art Institute of Chicago, A Collecting Odyssey: Indian, Himalayan, and Southeast Asian Art from the James and Marilynn Alsdorf Collection, Aug. 2–Oct. 26, 1997, cat. 44.
Memphis, TN, The Memphis Brooks Museum of Art, Realm of the Gods: Masterpieces of Indian Sculpture from The Art Institute of Chicago and The Alsdorf Collection, Apr. 30–July 23, 2000, no cat. no.
Nashville, TN, Frist Center for the Visual Arts, Vishnu: Hinduism’s Blue-Skinned Savior, Feb. 20–May 29, 2011, cat. 57; Brooklyn Museum of Art, June 24–Oct. 2, 2011.

With Spink & Son, London, by 1982 [London 1982]; James W. Alsdorf (1913–1990) and Marilynn B. Alsdorf (1925–2019), Winnetka, and Chicago, IL, by 1982 [according to the collecting practices of the Alsdorfs]; by descent to Marilynn B. Alsdorf, Chicago, 1990 [on long-term loan at the Art Institute of Chicago, July 15, 1997; publicly promised as a gift to the Art Institute of Chicago, 1997; signed a promised gift agreement for the work, 2002]; given to the Art Institute of Chicago, 2021.

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Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

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IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world.

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