Shesha Narayana

Vishnu, here referred to by his epithet Narayana, aroused from his slumber on the divine serpent Shesha is one of the great creation myths of Brahmanism. Here the artist Ravi Varma has reinvented the narrative, displaying an enthroned Vishnu, seated regally with his two consorts, Lakshmi and, depending on the tradition being followed, the Earth goddess Bhudevi, or Sarasvati. All are depicted as young and beautiful, and richly dressed and bejeweled, the colors of their robes reflected in the shimmering waters before them. The throne that they share is formed by the body of the serpent Sesha and the five-hooded head arching behind to form a royal canopy. Vishnu displays his four insignia, the discus, conch, club and lotus. This is one of a series of large scale images of divinities that the artist Ravi Varma produced at his lithographic press studio near Karla, Lonavla in the Western Ghats that consolidated his position as the leading artist in this genre at the beginning of the 20th century.