Vishnu and the divine serpent (Shesh Narayana)

Vishnu aroused from his slumber on the divine serpent is one of the great creation myths of Brahmanism. Here, the artist has reinvented the narrative, displaying Vishnu seated regally alongside his two consorts, Lakshmi and Bhudevi, on the coiled snake’s golden body; its multiple heads form a royal parasol. The divine ensemble is depicted as youthful, beautiful, and bejeweled. Vishnu holds his four insignia—discus, conch, club and lotus—and gazes intently upon his devotees, while his consorts have eyes only for him. The work’s title, Shesh Narayana, combines the name of the serpent (Shesha) and an epithet of Vishnu (Narayana). The heightened realism seen here consolidated Ravi Varma’s position as the leading artist of religious prints in the early twentieth century.