Description
Opaque watercolour painting of Shri Viraraghavasvami, a form of Viṣṇu worshipped at Tiruvallur, a town in the Tiruvallur district, west of Chennai. The image in the sanctuary shows the two-armed Viṣṇu, from whose navel sprouts a lotus, reclining upon the coils of the serpent Śeṣa. Unusually, Viṣṇu’s crown and the lotus beneath his feet ‘spill out’ of the sanctuary. A small image of seated, four-handed Lakṣmī is placed below the image of the god. On the left of the main temple, in a separate shrine is his consort goddess Kanakavalli, referred to in the inscription by the respectful title Nachchiyar. On the right, aligned with the superstructure of the temple, is the holy tank Hrittapanashini, ‘destroyer of all grief’. To the left a priest performs arati with a five-tiered lamp in his right hand and a bell in his left.
Image Licence
CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
Image Credit
© Trustees of the British Museum
Location
Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India
Country
India
Medium
Watercolour
Tags
Category
People & Society