India, Orissa

Narasimha, the fearsome man-lion incarnation or avatar of the Hindu god Vishnu, sits cross-legged on a lotus base, with his wife, the goddess Lakshmi, on his lap. He holds Vishnu’s symbols: the conch shell (associated with the origin of life) and the disk (associated with the power of creation and destruction) in two of his four hands. Vishnu’s fourth avatar, Narasimha came to earth to defeat the demon king Hiranyakashipu (HEER-ahn-yah-kah-SHEE-poo), who forbade worship of anyone but himself. The demon could not be killed by man or beast, inside or outside of his home, during day or night. Narasimha cleverly solved this problem by killing him on the threshold of his palace, at dusk, in the form of a creature half-man, half-beast.

This sculpture originally formed part of the exterior decoration on the porch of a temple, where its open back could let in light.

Sandstone, about 1250
Purchased with funds from the Libbey Endowment, Gift of Edward Drummond Libbey, 1987.176