Cleveland Museum of Art

Das Avataras, Ten Incarnations of Vishnu (verso), from a Kalighat album

Shri Gobinda Chandra RoyLinkedCulture matchlcp-08d1993023f6

Date: c. 1890
Medium: Woodcut, hand colored with gum tempera
Culture: Eastern India, Bengal, Kolkata, Kalighat
Department: Indian and Southeast Asian Art
Institution: Cleveland Museum of Art
Object ID: 162453

From the Cleveland Museum of Art record

This hastily hand-colored woodcut depicts a set of ten avatars, or incarnations, of the Hindu god Vishnu as recognized in 1800s Bengal. In each avatar, Vishnu descended to earth in order restore balance and order to the world. In the top register, from left to right, are Vishnu’s avatars as fish, tortoise, boar, man-lion, and Brahmin. Below are Parashurama, Rama, Krishna, Jagannath, and Kalki. The image of Rama shows him after his victory over the demon Ravana. He sits with Sita, crowned, holding bow and arrow. His monkey general Hanuman stands before him in a gesture of adoration. The hero Rama is can be seen in the lower register, second from left, with his wife Sita and devotee Hanuman.

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Provenance & credit

As published by the source institution. Coverage varies — not every institution's open-data feed includes ownership history.

Credit line: Gift of William E. Ward in memory of his wife, Evelyn Svec Ward
Provenance: ?–2003: William E. Ward [1922–2004], Solon, OH, given to the Cleveland Museum of Art | 2003–: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH

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