Hinduism reveres Garuda, the magnificent bird mount (vahana) of Sri Vishnu, as an extension of his Lord's heavenly aura and as his "Amsha-avatar" (half incarnation). The Garuda is worshipped as "Garudalavara" among the Alavaras (Vishnu devotees in Southern India), evoking the Garuda who has become lost (al) in Vishnu's bhakti (devotion).
Garuda holds a deific status in the Vaishnava tradition as a result of his devotion to Sri Vishnu, the protector of the cosmos. Artists create brilliant iconographic renderings of Garuda and are a required component of Sri Vishnu shrines. This handmade copper statue depicts Vishnu's vahana, in an anthropomorphic form, seated cross-legged, with his hands joined in Namaskara mudra paying obeisance to the blue-skinned Narayana.
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