The passionate Narasimha with the delicate Lakshmi, His wife, seated on His lap. The divine creature that is neither man (‘nara’) nor beast (‘simha’), slayer of the supremely powerful King Hiranyakashipu and hands-down the most wrathful avatara (incarnation) of Lord Vishnu. Only the tender serenity of Devi Lakshmi may calm the ardour of such a deity as Narasimha.
In this fine bronze composition, they are depicted in divine proximity to each other. He is chaturbhujadhari, while She is dvibhujadhari. Upon the ample coils of the gigantic Sheshanaga they sit, whose multitudinous hoods rise above the crowns on their heads.
From the presence of Sheshanaga to the shankha va chakra in the posterior hands of Narasimha, indications of Vishnu are indispensable to any dashavatara iconography. This one in particular borrows heavily from the aesthetics and iconography of Hoysala architecture, which explains the wealth of detail, the medium of pure bronze, and the high-precision handiwork.
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