This beautiful bronze statue presents a unique image of Lakshmi-Varaha in the classic iconography of Swamimalai bronzes. Sri Varaha carrying goddess Lakshmi on his lap is enthroned on Adishesha, balanced on the back of a turtle or Kurma.
Hindu tradition associates Vishnu with a turtle in his Kurma (turtle) avatar, where the Lord carries the cosmic mountain on his back, supporting the great churning of the ocean or Samudra-Manthan by gods and demons. As the base or support on which the celestial event rested, Kurma or turtle came to be linked with the eternal balance of the Universe, the carrier of cosmic order, an aspect which is also associated with Vishnu’s boar or Varaha form.
Becoming the cosmic boar, Vishnu is believed to have rescued the Earth goddess from the depths of the ocean and restore order in the Universe.
Ordering the Universe, preservation of cosmic balance, and ocean being common motifs in both the incarnations, Varaha and Kurma have been depicted in the Panchaloha simultaneously.
Holding the Universal abundance and auspiciousness as Sri Lakshmi, Varaha becomes the abode of eternal auspiciousness, who is sitting on the coils of Adi Shesha (symbolic of all that is left or Shesha after the deluge and at the beginning of creation), and supports this perfection of orders as the Kurma or turtle, from whose back sprouts a lotus- a symbol of the beginning of creation.
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