"Matsya, the Fish Incarnation of Vishnu, Slays the Conch Demon," Folio from a Vishnu Avatara (The Incarnations of Vishnu)

Matsya, or the fish avatara (incarnation), of Vishnu, is usually considered the first of the great
god’s earthly rebirths. In this incarnation he took the form of a great fish to save mankind from
the Great Deluge and to recover the ancient Vedas, the rather abstruse yet beautiful texts that
are the cornerstone of the Hindu religion. These texts had been stolen from heaven by a
demon and buried beneath the primordial ocean.
In this painting Vishnu emerges from a great fish to tear open the demon’s stomach, thereby
releasing four diminutive crowned figures, each holding a manuscript symbolizing the Vedas
under his arm. (1) This action takes place in a body of water “depicted as a great expanse of
transparent fabric”, decorated with a triangular three dot motif, “of the sort often worn by Indian
women as an overgarment”. (2) Three stylized trees, of a type seen in seventeenth century
Basohli painting, appear against a chocolate­color background on the far shore. The
conventional blue and white sky also appears in cat. nos. __, __, __.
For another painting from this same series, see cat. no. 42. For two other paintings from a
Vishnu Avatara series, see cat. nos. __ and __.
(1) Lerner 1984, pg. 166
(2) Ibid

Spink 1983 (Sotheby's London 1981-2)

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Divine Pleasures: Painting from India's Rajput Courts—The Kronos Collections," June 13–September 11, 2016.