the Chalukyan kings, and the great art centre which created the Kailāsa at Ellora.
Vishnu as the Pillar of the Universe or personification of the sacred mountain Meru,[1] which stands in the centre of the world, is finely given in the monumental statue from Java (Pl. LXII, a). Here he has the usual four arms holding the discus, mace, war-trumpet, and sword. One of the ten Avatars, or incarnations of Vishnu, the Vāraha or Boar Avatar, has been alluded to above. This is the subject of a very powerful rock-sculpture at Udayagiri, in the Bhopal State (Pl. LXII, b), which shows a colossal figure of the Avatar standing upon the serpent of eternity and lifting up the earth, a small female figure, from the depths of ocean, while the assembled gods and sages stand by to welcome her.
The ten Avatars of Vishnu are, first, the Fish which saved the progenitor of the human race, Manu, from the Flood. Second, the Tortoise, the dome of heaven which he placed at the bottom of the cosmic ocean to serve as a pivot for the great churning which brought to earth the lovely goddess Lakshmi, or Srī. Third, the Boar. Fourth, the Man-lion, Narasimha, who rescued Vishnu's faithful worshipper, Prahlāda, from the persecution of his impious father, the King of the Asuras, who attempted to usurp the sovereignty of the Lord of the Universe. This is the subject of a fine sculpture at Ellora. Fifth, the dwarf Vāmana, a form Vishnu assumed when he appeared before another demon king, Bali, who, like Prahlāda's father, tried to usurp Vishnu's throne, and begged of him as much land as he could cover in three steps. When Bali
- ↑ The Meru of the human body is said to be the spinal column.
