Not merely in the body gesture or the state of mind of Lord Vishnu, the artist has made the figure of his mount, the Great Bird Garuda, his subtlest instrument for revealing such force. The Great Bird’s wide-spread wings unfurling on either side spanning a large space, legs and arms gesticulated as swimming while floating against the current of wind, anxiety on face for accomplishing its errand as fast as possible and the readiness of mind and bow and arrow holding hands to assist its Master, all contribute to the depiction of force. The three colours the body of the bird has been composed of, red of the beak, crest and costume, green of the body and blue of the wings, red symbolising energy and force, green, fertility and sustainability, and blue, the ocean’s vastness, depth and power to storm and sweep, are highly symbolic. The Bird has been conceived with a broad back as not only afforded to its Master comfortable but also the most secured sitting space.
Though the Rig-Veda, the earliest known text to allude to Vishnu, does not talk of him as the Cosmic Commander or even one of the supreme divine power, but merely as a god subordinate to Indra, it however lauds him as the fastest moving divinity. The Rig-Veda uses for Vishnu two terms, ‘Urugaya’, the one who moves with long strides, and ‘Urukrama’, one who moves with wide steps, both suggesting his fast pace. The Rig-Veda sometimes seems to club Vishnu with Surya, the sun-god; it however specifically mentions its power to span with its long strides the zodiac in twenty-four hours, and as every day doing it. In his Puranic elevation to Trinity status this aspect of Vishnu is only further magnified. In his effort to sustain not only the universe but also the cosmic order, righteousness and balance between good and evil, besides rectifying individual ills, injuries and injustices, he is often required to rush from one place to other, that is, universally and always. Not only among Trinity gods but in the entire Hindu pantheon Vishnu is only god on constant move, and it is perhaps from such aspect of Vaishnava mythology from which the artist has derived this image of Vishnu.
A contemporary work rendered in characteristic miniature art style as it prevailed in mid eighteenth century at Kota in Rajasthan, a ruling seat dedicated to Vishnu as the state deity, and Garuda, as the state emblem, this miniature abounds in rare medieval flavour. A brilliant masterpiece with finest possible strokes of brush, it represents Lord Vishnu seated on a lotus cushion laid on the back of his mount Garuda with his consort Lakshmi seated on his left thigh. The four-armed Vishnu is holding in his right and left upper hands a bow and arrow, in the normal right, his usual ‘chakra’ – disc, and with the normal left, supporting Lakshmi. Not only that the crown that he is putting is unlike a towering Vaishnava crown, even his usual attributes mace, conch and lotus are missing. He has been represented as blue-bodied and as wearing ‘pitambara’ – yellow garments and a golden sash and waistband. The centre of the canvas where the astonishing act is staged has been extremely simplified, and whatever the forms : vegetation, rocks, animals …, they have been painted either on the top or on the bottom.
This description by Prof. P.C. Jain and Dr Daljeet. Prof. Jain specializes on the aesthetics of ancient Indian literature. Dr Daljeet is the chief curator of the Visual Arts Gallery at the National Museum of India, New Delhi. They have both collaborated on numerous books on Indian art and culture.
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