Elements of Hindu Iconography v1.c11.7

v1.c11.7

Early references to the avatāras of Vishnu. There are here and there references to the *avatāras* of Vishṇu even in the ancient literature of the Hindus; for instance, in *Śatapatha-Brāhmaṇa* it is stated that Prajāpati took the form of a tortoise; similarly the *Taittirīya-Āraṇyaka* mentions that the earth was raised from the waters by a black boar with a hundred hands. All the *avatāras* are more or less directly referred to in the later Saṃskṛit works like the *Rāmāyaṇa*, the *Mahābhārata*, *Bhāgavata-purāṇa* and the *Vishṇu-purāṇa*.