About this piece

The Nar Varaha sculpture is a narrative panel that describes the Puranic story of the rescue of Bhudevi, the Earth Goddess. Varaha, the third incarnation of Vishnu, is visualized as a boar's head on a human body, lifting the Earth from the cosmic ocean. When Hiranyaksha hid Bhudevi in the depths of cosmic water, Vishnu took the form of a boar to save her. It was an act of restoring the balance of the universe. He saved the world from chaos and darkness and re-established dharma. One of the interesting facts behind the growing importance of Nar Varaha sculpture could be a political message. The period after the Gupta rule was full of turmoil and political instability. In such situations, kings used Nar Varaha to compare themselves, suggesting that just as Varaha rescued the Earth, the king was also a savior of his land and custodian of Dharma. Thus, the depiction of Nar Varaha became common. The Pratihara king, Mihir Bhoja, used the Nar Varaha symbol on his coins. Currently at the Bhopal State Museum, this Nar Varaha sculpture is from Kanwal, dating back to the 10th century.