Vishnu and Lakshmi

The Hindu god Vishnu is shown in this painting in the form he takes between the destruction of one universe and the creation of the next, an episode that repeats in the unending cycle of creation and destruction in Hindu thought. He reclines on the giant serpent Shesha, floating on the primeval waters, with his wife Lakshmi at his feet. From his navel there rises a lotus stalk crowned by a flower, from which Brahma, the god associated with creation, will appear and re-create the universe. The purity of the lotus flower as a fitting vehicle for the birth of a god is a theme found elsewhere in Hinduism and Buddhism. This painting may have been made for the enjoyment of a local ruler and was probably the work of local artists.