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According to Iconography, the Varaha images have two forms. It can be either anthropomorphic or zoomorphic. The Visnu dharmottara Purana describes various forms of Varaha as follows. "Varaha should be represented on Sesa, having four hands with beautiful jewelled hood, his eyes full of sonder looking at the goddesses. In his natural hands should be placed the ploughshape and the club and his other two hands should be held in the anjalimudra. He should be adorned with snakes. In another form he is seen in the alidha, pose on sesa. On his left arm rests the goddess earth, with both of her hands engaged in salutation. He holds the club in his upper lefts hand. The other holding the disc, may be raised in order to kill the demon Hiranyaksha. There is another way of representing Varaha where he is seated in meditation like the sage Kapila. He may also be shown holding a pinda, symbolizing the earth, with his two hands. The fourth type represents his amongst many demons as the very personification of anger. He may either have a human form or the form of a boar while uplifting the earth. None of these forms described in the Visnu dharmottara Purana appear in iconography. The earliest image so for found is unique from the iconographical point of veiw. It is an inscribed image belonging to the Kushana period,

385 preserved in the Mathura Museum. The four-handed Varaha with his lower arms akimbo, holdes in his upper hand a sun disc. The earth goddess is supported on his shoulders and seems to be touching his mutilated snout. The Srivatsa mark appears on his chest. To the right of the main image a gandharva and the figure knocked down on the floor may be the demon Hiranyaksa whom Varaha had defeated as mentioned in the Visnudharmottaram. To the left is a devotee standing in the anjali-mudra. The two sun discs in the hands of Varaha signify his connection with the sun. Several images of Varaha belonging to the Gupta period testify to the strong prevalence of Varaha worship in that period. The Mudraraksasam a drama supposed to have been written in the Gupta period, also refers to it. It concluding verse compares the great victory of Chandragupta with Varaha's conquest of the Earth. Caturbhani refers to Sukara-Siddhi and indicates that the wrestlers propitiated him for strength. Mahavaraha holds the lotus and the mace in his hands. The gooddess, whom he has brought up by his pointed tusk, is seated on his left arm holding a lotus. Her eyes are full of wonder gazing at her lord. The right hand of the god is placed on his waist. One of his legs on the Kurma and the other one rests on the hood of the serpent Sesa. Generally the four-handed Varaha holds either three or sometimes four emblems in his hands, however, it is also possible

386 to find the four-handed Varaha without any of the Vaisnava emblems, for instance, the Varaha image found from Rajim has four hands, the front two clasped near the chest, the lower right is handing down and the lower left is placed on the folded left knee. The left leg of Varaha is placed on the hand of a naga in human form seated below with the hooded head. The Earth goddess is seen as in the other images, seated on the below of the god. In the adjacent slab are carved many naga figures in the anjali-mudra paying their reverence to the god. The post-Gupta and mediaeval period have produced innumerable Varaha images all over Northern India. The most common type is the image with four hands, the right hands holding the mace and/or the lotus, and the left hands holding the disc and the conch. Sometimes the disc is held in the right hand instead of the left. One of the distinguishing features of some of the Eastern Indian images of Varaha is that between his legs, there appears a small figure of the boar and the goddess Prithvi by its side indicating Varaha's dive into the primaeval waters to rescue the earth, and the principal image indicating his emergence out of the waters. A small shrine at Devangana near Abu contains an image of Varaha belonging to about the eighth century A.D. The god seizes with his lower hands two nagas by their tails. They are worshipping the god with folded hands. The upper right hand of Varaha holds

387 the disc the upper left arm, supporting the goddess on the elbow is mutilated. The lower right hand, besides holding the tail of the nagas is in katihasta-mudra and the lower left hand holds the tail of the naga as well as the conch. Below on the left side stand two figures with folded hands. The leg of the god is supported on the hood of the naga couple who are also seen paying their respect to the god. This peculiar feature of seizing the Nagas by their tails may indicate the conquest of Varaha over the demigods of the nether world whom he had subdued. A verse in the Agni Purana describe the image of Varaha holding the serpent Sesa in his hand. But expecting this stray reference, no other text on iconography has any reference to this particular feature of Varaha's iconography. A very elegant image of Varaha belonging to the 9 th century is in the Jhalawar Museum. In one of the right hands he holds the mace whereas the other holds the tails of the nagas one of whom makes an appearance under the mace, passing behind the leg of Varaha. The goddess is standing in the dvibhanga pose on a small lotus held in his left hand, Sankha Purusa and Cakra Purursa flank the main image. There is an unidentifiable female figure sitting above Sankha Purusa. The image of Varaha is fully adorned and has a dagger attached to the belt. An almost identical image of Varaha is in the shrine of the Sachia Mata temple at Osian, near Jodhapur. Here, the god has

388 seized the nagi with folded hands, by her tail. In the upper right hand the god holds the mace while in the left hands are placed the conch and the disc. On the folded upper left arm of the god is seated the goddess Prithvi holding lotuses in her hands. The bent left leg. of the god is placed on the full-blown lotus which is supported by naga couple. There is probably a dagger attached to the belt of the god. The image is a beautiful specimen of the western Indian art of the late ninth century. It is evident from the few images described above that this particular representation of Varaha holding the naga or nagas in the hands, is a peculiar feature of western India. The Gwalior Museum has in its collection two peculiar images of Varaha, both belonging to about the 9 th century. One fourhanded Varaha holds the mace in his upper right hand the lower right is in the Katihasta-mudra. In the upper and the lower left hands he holds the disc and the conch. The goddess Earth is seated cross-legged on the folded upper left arm of the god, with one of her hands touching the snout of the boar and the other resting on a long stalk, on the either side of which is seen a naga and a nagi. The second image is almost identical with the one described above, except for the order of the conch and the wheel in the left hands of the god. A very noteworthy feature of these images is the small dagger attached to the belt of the god on the right side. According to the Matsya the Matsya Purana, Silparatna and

389 Devatamurtyprakarana, etc., one of the legs of Varaha is to be supported by the Kurma and the other by the nagas, but all the images referred to so far place the naga or the naga-couple below his left foot, the Kurma below the right leg remaining absent. Fortunately, a couple of images have come to light in that tally exactly with the descriptions given the Silpasastras. One in the collection of the Allahabad Museum found from Khajuraho is a fine specimen of this type. Varaha with the Earth goddess on his upper left arm, has one of his legs resting on a lotus held by a naga couple and the other is placed on the back of the Kurma. His lower right hand is in the Katihasta-mudra, upper right hand holds the mace, the upper left hand holds the disc and the lower left is broken. Below on the either side are seen the devotees. This richly-ornamented figure of Varaha has the small dagger attached to his belt. One notable feature in this image is the presence of Dhyani Visnu on the top of the panel. He is seated on a lotus farming the canopy over the head of Varaha. His two front hands are in the dhyana-mudra, the other two probaly hold the lotuses. A much mutilated figure of Varaha preserved in the State Museum, Lucknow, also has a Kurma below his right leg. One may question the propriety of Kurma who is one of the incarnations of Visnu, appearing as a subsidiary figure under the foots of Varaha. But in this class of images, it seems to signify,

390 like the naga figures associated with the god, the nether world which the god had entered to rescue the goddess Earth. It is unlikely that the tortise below Varaha represents Kurma incarnation of Visnu. The Sanskrit sources describe some other forms of Varaha which, however, have not been sculpturally represented in Northen India. The Skanda Purana describes the image of Varaha having four hands, two of which hold the conch and the disc and other two are in the abhaya and the Varada-mudra. Though no such image has come to light from Northen India, this form is not unknown in the south. The Iconography of Varaha prescibed by the Trantic texts is more elaborate. According to them Varaha is endowed with multiple hands, holding the disc, the conch, the sowrd, the dagger, the mace and the lance, whike two of his hands are required to be in the abhaya and the varada-mudra. He should be accompaniedby the Earth goddess. Besides these, according to the Meru tantra he is to be flanked by the goddess Bhumi and Laxmi. The classification of the Varaha images in the south Indian texts is in three forms, viz. Bhuvaraha, Yajnavaraha and Pralayavaraha. Bhuvaraha has the human body and the boar's face. Two of his four arms hold the conch and the disc. One of his left arms supports the legs of the Earth goddess, seated on the god's bent right leg, while the right one embraces the goddess round her waist.

391 Yajnavaraha should be seated on the throne, with Laksmi to his right and Bhumi to his left, both of them holding the lotuses. The god should hold the conch and the disc in two of his four hands. So far the anthropomorphic representations of Varaha have been dealt with. The zoomorphic form of Varaha is not discussed in detail by the Silpasastra texts but the sculptors have tried to carve him profusely in this form. The representation of this form of Varaha does not seem to be very popular in the Gupta period. It seems to have become favourite in the mediaeval period only. An image of Mahavarha, the earliest of this kind, is found at Earn in the Sagar District.3 It is huge figure of the boar with the figures of rsis and deities; carved on its body. On one side of his neek is seen the Earth goddess hanging by the tusk of the boar, with her left arm, excactly in the way the goddess accompanying Nrvaraha from Earn referred to above. In front of the boar is a naga in human form. There are several rows of devotees. In the ear of the boar appears a flying figure. Near his neck is a belt with some unidentifiable figures carved on it. Brahma is seen on its head. The image is datable to the 5 th century A.D. It is clear from the iconographic representations of Varaha that the cult had a wide prevalence right from the time of the Guptas. Individual temples, dedicated to Varaha, are noted in some inscriptions. The stone pillar inscription from Earn, Central India, belonging to about the 5 th century, mentions a temple of Varaha.

392 The copper plate inscription of the time of Budhagupta, found from Damodarpur in Bengal, records the erection of Sweta Varaha Temple, somwhere in Nepal. The shrine of the Varaha temple of Gupta period still exists at Deogarh. The king Bhoja Deva of Kanauj had issued the Mahavaraha coins. Thus, it is evident that the Varaha cult had attained the royal partonage and was able to maintain its high position continually till the late mediaeval period.