De Sainson. Funerals of a followers of Vishnu. India. 1834.

Print of steel engraving titled „Funerailles d‘un sectateur de Vichnou“.

Author De Saison.

Engraved by Beyer.

From „Voyage pittoresque Autour du Monde, resume general des voyages decouvertes, public sous la direction de M. Dumont D’Urville, a Paris, chez L. Tenre, Libraire-Editeur, 1834.

Vishnu is a central god and one of the three deities of the trimurti in Hinduism. He is the Supreme god Svayam Bhagavan of Vaishnavism (one of the principal denominations of Hinduism). He is also known as Narayana and Hari. As one of the five primary forms of God in the Smarta tradition, he is conceived as "the Preserver or the Protector"In Hindu sacred texts, Vishnu is usually described as having dark complexion of water-filled clouds and having four arms. He is depicted as a pale blue being, as are his incarnations Rama and Krishna. He holds a padma (lotus flower) in his lower left hand, the Kaumodaki gada (mace) in his lower right hand, the Panchajanya shankha (conch) in his upper left hand and the discus weapon considered to be the most powerful weapon according to Hindu Religion Sudarshana Chakra in his upper right hand.

Approx. image size 12, 8 x 9, 1/17, 4 x 13, 9 cm. Condition: good.