page_title: Vaikuntha Chaturmurti
section_title: Iconography
hierarchical_section_title: Vaikuntha Chaturmurti / Iconography
caption_attribution_description: English: India, Jammu and Kashmir, Kashmir region, 11th century Sculpture Phyllite From the Nasli and Alice Heeramaneck Collection, Museum Associates Purchase (M.72.53.1) South and Southeast Asian Art
context_page_description: Vaikuntha Chaturmurti or Vaikuntha Vishnu is a four-headed aspect of the Hindu god Vishnu, mostly found in Kashmir. The icon represents Vishnu as the Supreme Being. He has a human head, a lion head, a boar head and a demonic head. Sometimes, even three-headed aspects of Vishnu where the demonic rear head is dropped are considered to represent Vaikuntha Chaturmurti. Though iconographical treatises describe him to eight-armed, he is often depicted with four. Generally, Vaikuntha Chaturmurti is shown standing but sometimes he is depicted seated on his vahana Garuda.
  The concept of a four-headed Vishnu first appears in the Hindu epic Mahabharata, but the complete iconography was first found in a 5th-century Pancharatra text. The icon reflects influences from the Gupta period and the Gandhara architectural tradition. While as per one interpretation, the animal heads represent Vishnu's avatar Narasimha and Varaha, another theory based on Pancharatra texts relates the four heads to the Chaturvyuha: Vāsudeva, Saṃkarṣaṇa, Pradyumna and Aniruddha – four vyuhas of Vishnu.
context_section_description: The Pancharatra text Jayakhya-Samhita mentions that Vaikuntha Chaturmurti has four faces: Vaikuntha, Narasimha, Varaha and Kapila and four arms holding the usual attributes of Vishnu: shankha (conch), chakra, gada (mace) and padma (lotus). In the Vishnudharmottara Purana, Vaikuntha Chaturmurti is described as having eight arms and four faces, human (nara – human or saumya – mild or purusha – man) facing the East (front), lion (Narasimha – the lion-headed avatar of Vishnu) on the South (his right head, left), boar (Varaha – the boar avatar of Vishnu) on the North (his left head, right) and demonic (kapila or raudra – fierce/wrathful or rakshasa – demon) facing the west (rear).
  In one of earliest Vaikuntha Chaturmurti images dating from the Gupta era – c. 6th century (now housed in Mathura Museum), the positions of the boar and lion heads are reversed, though this is a rare aberration. The central front face may be smiling. Sometimes, the back face may be omitted. The fourth head may be replaced by a horse (Hayagriva, another avatar of Vishnu) or a Chakrapurusha (the personified Sudarshana Chakra – the discus weapon of Vishnu). The kapila head may have a moustache, bulging large eyes, a third eye, grinning teeth, fangs, a short chin, broad eyebrows and a ferocious, grim or sad expression. His hair are generally tied up in a large knot – a jata (matted hair) like a sage; rarely he may wear a crown.
  The name of the fourth head as Kapila is interpreted in two ways. Taking the literal meaning of kapila as red, it is interpreted as meaning fierce or angry. The epithet kapila is associated with the fire god Agni and the solar deity Surya in early canonical texts. Another theory relates to Vishnu's sage avatar and founder of Samkhya philosophy, Kapila, who is described as having a wrathful nature and cursing the sons of Sagara to turn into ashes for insulting him. The head-dress jatajuta is typical of Brahmin sages like Kapila. The Agni Purana also describes the icon having four heads, without describing the nature of each. The iconographical treatises Aparajitapriccha and the Rupamandana mention that the fourth head is Shri (Lakshmi – the wife of Vishnu) and Stri (female) respectively, however no sculptures with a fourth female head have been discovered. The back face may be carved on the halo behind the central three heads in low relief or in a space between the halo.
  In the iconography of Kashmir, during the 8th and 9th centuries, the gods of Hindu Trimurti – Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva – each are depicted with three heads. In a sculpture displayed in the Metropolitan Art Museum of New York, the four-headed Brahma as well as Shiva are shown with three visible heads. Vishnu is depicted as Vaikuntha Chaturmurti in this configuration, with three visible heads.
  Vaikuntha Chaturmurti is generally depicted standing. He wears rich clothes (generally in sculpture, only a dhoti) as well as various ornaments like a crown, armbands, necklaces etc., symbolic of royalty and the yagnopavita (sacred thread). In his eight arms, he is prescribed in the texts to carry gada (mace), sword, arrow and the Sudarshana Chakra in his left hands and shankha (conch), shield, bow and lotus in his right hands. However, in sculpture, he is often four-armed and in two of his hands, he holds a lotus and a conch, while his other hands rest on the heads of his personified weapons (ayudhapurusha) – Gadadevi or Gadanari (gada as a female) on his right and Chakrapurusha on his left, who stand as small figures besides his legs. They both look upwards towards him and hold fly whisks. A tiny figurine of the earth goddess Prithvi (who associated with Varaha and Vishnu as his consort) rises from the pedestal in between his feet, as though supporting the deity. A short dagger or sword may be tucked up in the waist belt of the god near the right hip, a peculiar feature of Kashmir icons. Attendants or devotees may be also shown besides or below Vishnu. Sometimes, Brahma and Shiva and the ten avatars of Vishnu may be depicted in the background.
  As prescribed in the Jayakhya-S
caption: Lakshmi-Vaikuntha riding his vehicle (vahana) Garuda, 11th century Kashmir
exif: {}