Large Indian Hindu Vishnu Anantashayana Creation Story Shrine Group

This form of Vishnu’ known as Anantasayana is uncommon. The bronze is relatively large and complex, and essentially shows the Creation of the Universe.

It shows Vishnu asleep, dreaming, and reclining on the body of the serpent Ananta (also known as Sesha), with Ananta’s hood of seven heads rearing over his head, and with the serpent’s thick, fleshy body coiled around four times. Vishnu has four arms. One holds a conch and another the cakra. Another supports his head, and another rests on his left knee. This last one has a hole for an attribute but that is now missing.

A leafy lotus stem rises from Vishnu’s naval and seated cross-legged atop this is Brahma, with four arms and four faces – Brahma has essentially just been born out of Vishnu’s naval.

Vishnu’s consort Lakshmi (Bhu Devi), kneels at his feet where she is massaging them. Hanuman with his long, twisting tail, stands over Vishnu with his hands in anjali mudra, and Garuda with outstretched wings similarly stands nearby. Between them, seated on a stool, is Durga. She holds a trident.

Vishnu and all the attendant deities wear high crown, anklets, armbands, earrings and other jewellery.

The shrine shows the scene of Creation of the Universe. At the dawn of creation, Vishnu floats in yogic sleep (Yoganidra) in the infinite cosmic ocean and upon the coils of Ananta. The entire material cosmos is a dream in Vishnu’s mind. A lotus sprouts from his navel carrying Brahma, the creator god, and it is Brahma who then builds the physical world within that divine dream. The Universe dissolves however, as soon as Vishnu wakes.

This is a large, complex bronze with a seldom-encountered subject.