© Richard Randall

Caribbean

Sundries

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Varaha

Varaha is the third avatar of Vishnu, a boar sent to defeat Hiranyaksha, a horrible demon who had taken the Earth (prthivi) and carried it to the bottom of the ocean. The battle took a thousand years, but Varaha won.

Varaha is depicted in art as either purely animal or as being anthropomorphic, having a boar's head on a man's body. In the latter form it has four arms, two of which hold the wheel and conch-shell and the other two hold a mace, sword or lotus or form a blessing posture. The earth is held between the boar's tusks.

The avatar symbolizes the resurrection of the earth from a pralaya (deluge) and the establishment of a new kalpa (cycle), and can thus be considered to constitute a creation myth.

The Varaha purana is a purana in which the form of narration is a recitation by Varaha.

A very ancient temple lies in Tamil Nadu goes by the name of Sri Mushnam, and is considered a svayambhu murthi like Tirupati and Badrinath.

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