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Vishnu: Difference between revisions
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== Iconography == | == Iconography == | ||
{{CSS image crop|Image=Scuola di bilaspur, vishnu e lakshmi, 1810 ca.jpg|bSize=250|cWidth=213|cHeight=240|oTop=120|oLeft=17|Description=Miniature painting of Vishnu and Lakshmi in the [[Salar Jung Museum]], circa 1810|Location=left}}Vishnu iconography shows him with dark blue, blue-gray or black coloured skin, and as a well-dressed jewelled man. He is typically shown with four arms, but two armed representations are also found in Hindu texts on artworks.<ref name="KossakWatts2001p30" /><ref name="Rao1993p73" /> | {{CSS image crop|Image=Scuola di bilaspur, vishnu e lakshmi, 1810 ca.jpg|bSize=250|cWidth=213|cHeight=240|oTop=120|oLeft=17|Description=Miniature painting of Vishnu and Lakshmi in the [[Salar Jung Museum]], circa 1810|Location=left}} | ||
[[File:Lord Narayana.jpg|thumb|Vishnu holding Sudarshana Chakra Conch Lotus and Mace]] | |||
Vishnu iconography shows him with dark blue, blue-gray or black coloured skin, and as a well-dressed jewelled man. He is typically shown with four arms, but two armed representations are also found in Hindu texts on artworks.<ref name="KossakWatts2001p30" /><ref name="Rao1993p73" /> | |||
The historic identifiers of his icon include his image holding a conch shell ([[shankha]] named [[Panchajanya]]) between the first two fingers of one hand (left back), a [[chakra]] – war discus named [[Sudarshana]] – in another (right back). The conch shell is spiral and symbolizes all of interconnected spiraling cyclic existence, while the discus symbolizes him as that which restores dharma with war if necessary when cosmic equilibrium is overwhelmed by evil.<ref name="KossakWatts2001p30"/> One of his arms sometimes carries a ''gada'' (club, mace named [[Kaumodaki]]) which symbolizes authority and power of knowledge.<ref name="KossakWatts2001p30"/> In the fourth arm, he holds a lotus flower (''[[Padma (Vishnu)|padma]]'') which symbolizes purity and transcendence.<ref name="KossakWatts2001p30">{{cite book|author1=Steven Kossak|author2=Edith Whitney Watts|title=The Art of South and Southeast Asia: A Resource for Educators |year= 2001 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=orBAYzCRJhIC |publisher= Metropolitan Museum of Art|isbn= 978-0-87099-992-5|pages= 30–31, 16, 25, 40–41, 74–78, 106–108}}</ref><ref name="Rao1993p73">{{cite book|author=T. A. Gopinatha Rao|title=Elements of Hindu iconography|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MJD-KresBwIC|year=1993|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass |isbn=978-81-208-0878-2|pages=73–115}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author=James G. Lochtefeld|title=The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Hinduism|year=2002|publisher=The Rosen Publishing Group|pages=[https://books.google.com/books?id=5kl0DYIjUPgC&pg=PA137 137], 231 (Vol. 1), 624 (Vol. 2)}}<br />{{*}}{{cite book|title=Vol. 1|isbn=978-0-8239-3179-8 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5kl0DYIjUPgC|via=Google Books|last1=James g. Lochtefeld |first1=PhD |date=15 December 2001 }}<br />{{*}}{{cite book|title=Vol. 2|isbn= 978-0-8239-2287-1 |url=https://archive.org/details/illustratedencyc0000loch |url-access=registration |via=Internet Archive|last1= Lochtefeld |first1= James G. |year= 2002 }}</ref> The items he holds in various hands varies, giving rise to twenty four combinations of iconography, each combination representing a special form of Vishnu. Each of these special forms is given a special name in texts such as the ''Agni Purana'' and ''Padma Purana''. These texts, however, are inconsistent.<ref name=bidyabinod>P.B.B. Bidyabinod, Varieties of the Vishnu Image, Memoirs of Archaeological Survey of India, No. 2, Calcutta, pages 23-33</ref> Rarely, Vishnu is depicted bearing the bow [[Sharanga]] or the sword [[Nandaka]]. He is depicted with the [[Kaustubha]] gem in a necklace and wearing [[Vaijayanti]], a garland of forest flowers. The [[shrivatsa]] mark is depicted on his chest in the form of a curl of hair. He generally wears yellow garments. He wears a crown called the [[Kiritamukuta]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Blurton |first=T. Richard |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xJ-lzU_nj_MC&dq=kiritamukuta&pg=PA114 |title=Hindu Art |date=1993 |publisher=Harvard University Press |isbn=978-0-674-39189-5 |pages=114 |language=en}}</ref> | The historic identifiers of his icon include his image holding a conch shell ([[shankha]] named [[Panchajanya]]) between the first two fingers of one hand (left back), a [[chakra]] – war discus named [[Sudarshana]] – in another (right back). The conch shell is spiral and symbolizes all of interconnected spiraling cyclic existence, while the discus symbolizes him as that which restores dharma with war if necessary when cosmic equilibrium is overwhelmed by evil.<ref name="KossakWatts2001p30"/> One of his arms sometimes carries a ''gada'' (club, mace named [[Kaumodaki]]) which symbolizes authority and power of knowledge.<ref name="KossakWatts2001p30"/> In the fourth arm, he holds a lotus flower (''[[Padma (Vishnu)|padma]]'') which symbolizes purity and transcendence.<ref name="KossakWatts2001p30">{{cite book|author1=Steven Kossak|author2=Edith Whitney Watts|title=The Art of South and Southeast Asia: A Resource for Educators |year= 2001 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=orBAYzCRJhIC |publisher= Metropolitan Museum of Art|isbn= 978-0-87099-992-5|pages= 30–31, 16, 25, 40–41, 74–78, 106–108}}</ref><ref name="Rao1993p73">{{cite book|author=T. A. Gopinatha Rao|title=Elements of Hindu iconography|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MJD-KresBwIC|year=1993|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass |isbn=978-81-208-0878-2|pages=73–115}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author=James G. Lochtefeld|title=The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Hinduism|year=2002|publisher=The Rosen Publishing Group|pages=[https://books.google.com/books?id=5kl0DYIjUPgC&pg=PA137 137], 231 (Vol. 1), 624 (Vol. 2)}}<br />{{*}}{{cite book|title=Vol. 1|isbn=978-0-8239-3179-8 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5kl0DYIjUPgC|via=Google Books|last1=James g. Lochtefeld |first1=PhD |date=15 December 2001 }}<br />{{*}}{{cite book|title=Vol. 2|isbn= 978-0-8239-2287-1 |url=https://archive.org/details/illustratedencyc0000loch |url-access=registration |via=Internet Archive|last1= Lochtefeld |first1= James G. |year= 2002 }}</ref> The items he holds in various hands varies, giving rise to twenty four combinations of iconography, each combination representing a special form of Vishnu. Each of these special forms is given a special name in texts such as the ''Agni Purana'' and ''Padma Purana''. These texts, however, are inconsistent.<ref name=bidyabinod>P.B.B. Bidyabinod, Varieties of the Vishnu Image, Memoirs of Archaeological Survey of India, No. 2, Calcutta, pages 23-33</ref> Rarely, Vishnu is depicted bearing the bow [[Sharanga]] or the sword [[Nandaka]]. He is depicted with the [[Kaustubha]] gem in a necklace and wearing [[Vaijayanti]], a garland of forest flowers. The [[shrivatsa]] mark is depicted on his chest in the form of a curl of hair. He generally wears yellow garments. He wears a crown called the [[Kiritamukuta]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Blurton |first=T. Richard |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xJ-lzU_nj_MC&dq=kiritamukuta&pg=PA114 |title=Hindu Art |date=1993 |publisher=Harvard University Press |isbn=978-0-674-39189-5 |pages=114 |language=en}}</ref> | ||