Narasimha and Hiranyakasipu
1835
paint
From the collection of Victoria and Albert Museum
1835
paint
From the collection of Victoria and Albert Museum
Narasimha and Hiranyakasipu is a 1835 paint by Unknown, a Patna School of Painting work, depicting Kalighat, held at Victoria and Albert Museum.
A man with a lion’s head tears open a king’s chest on a red couch. Blood sprays across white robes. The king’s crown flies off as he falls. This scene shows Vishnu’s fourth avatar, Narasimha. He’s half-lion, half-man, killing the demon king Hiranyakashipu. The artist mixes bright colors with dark shadows. Look for more dramatic god scenes at the Victoria and Albert Museum.
The painting depicts Narasimha, the fourth incarnation of Vishnu as a man-lion, tearing open the belly of the demon king Hiranyakasipu, whose body rests across Narasimha’s thighs. Both figures are adorned with jewelry in the Kalighat style, reflecting the regional artistic tradition. The scene illustrates the myth in which Hiranyakasipu, challenged by his devotee son Prahlada, is destroyed by Vishnu to affirm divine power. Produced in Calcutta during the 1830s, the work belongs to a broader movement of Kalighat paintings that blended local mythology with colonial-era cultural shifts.
Read the full account in the museum source.
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