Elements of Hindu Iconography v1.c11.18

v1.c11.18

The *Agni-purāṇa* informs us that there was a chief of the Asuras, named Hiraṇyāksha, who vanquished the gods and took possession of their heavenly capital, and that the gods had recourse to Viṣṇu, who, to help them, assumed the form of a boar and slew the demon Hiraṇyākṣa. In the later writings, this boar *avatāra* is treated exclusively as one assumed by Viṣṇu; and the *āgamas* and *tantras* also attribute this incarnation to Viṣṇu. Let us now turn our attention to the description of this *avatāra* of Viṣṇu as found in the various other works. These sculptured figures comprise three different conceptional types of the *avatāra*, namely, (i) Bhūvarāha, Ādivarāha or Nṛivarāha, (ii) Yajñavarāha and (iii) Pralayavarāha. These will be dealt with in order.