To explore the many forms of Vishnu represented across South and Southeast Asia, the Art Gallery of New South Wales has organised an exhibition with works depicting the myriad forms of the Hindu deity who preserves order in the universe. Avatar, meaning ‘descent’ in Sanskrit, describes the many forms Vishnu takes to descend from the heavens to restore balance on earth. In sculpture, painting, textiles, photographs, and film, the show traces the various ways artists have envisioned Vishnu’s avatars.
Belonging to the Hindu Trimurti alongside Brahma and Shiva, Vishnu is the divine force who maintains cosmic order, protects humans, and restores dharma (social and moral order). When the world falls into chaos, Vishnu resides in a sacred cosmic world often portrayed as a universe sustained by his presence in the timeless realm of Vaikuntha – a world of balance, protection, and mercy rather than destruction. He is often shown reclining with the cosmic serpent Ananta or with the Goddess Lakshmi, which also suggests stability, abundance, whilst experiencing divine rest between acts of protecting the world. Hindus believe that Vishnu has appeared nine times in different forms and is yet to appear for the last time – the final avatar will be Kalki, who is believed to ride a white horse and will come to destroy all the evil in the world.
Vishnu’s Descent Into the World
Avatars manifest Vishnu’s descent into the world in different forms to show the different approaches needed to combat the evil that threatens the cosmic order. The many forms of Vishnu can be confusing and vary from country to country and even region to region. The best-known avatars are the group called Dashavatara, the 10 principal avatars, whose forms range from animal to human – all portray Vishnu’s ability to protect the world. They are Matsya (the fish), who rescued the first man, Manu, from a cosmic flood. Kurma (the tortoise), who supported Mount Mandara during the Churning of the Ocean of Milk. Varaha (the boar), who rescued the Earth (Bhu-devi) from the ocean by defeating the demon Hiranyaksha. Narasimha (the man-lion), who destroyed the demon Hiranyakashipu to protect his devotee, Prahlada. Vamana (the dwarf), who tricked the demon king Bali to reclaim the heavens. Parashurama (the warrior with an axe), who destroyed arrogant Kshatriya rulers to restore order. Rama (the Prince of Ayodhya), the hero of the Ramayana; Krishna (the divine statesman/strategist), the protector of the Pandava clan, who played a crucial role in the Mahabharata. He also addressed this conflict in the related story, the Bhagavad Gita. Buddha or Balarama, who is often depicted as Buddha (representing peace/non-violence) or as Balarama (Krishna’s brother). Finally, there is Kalki (the Future Warrior), who is predicted to arrive at the end of the current age (Kali Yuga) to destroy evil.
Heroism, Love, and Devotion
This makes Vishnu’s world one filled with tales of heroism, love, and devotion. To non-Hindus, perhaps the first encounters with the deity might be through the Hindu Indian epics. The Ramayana, which is not only hugely popular in India and the Himalayas, but is also well-loved throughout Southeast Asia, features the eighth avatar, Rama, the Prince of Ayodhya – the hero who defeated the demon, King Ravana.
Krishna is another well-known avatar, who can take countless forms, recognisable as the dark-skinned (ghanashyam, dark as monsoon clouds), or as blue-skinned boy with a flute connected to Radha (a divine couple representing love), or as Govinda, the young boy portrayed with the gopis (cowgirls). However, artists from across South and Southeast Asia have portrayed Vishnu in many other styles and media. This exhibition features works from India and Cambodia, ranging from the 5th century to contemporary works created in 2026.
As the subject is complex, vast, and often confusing, and the scope of this exhibition is broad, this article focuses on just the better-known forms of Vishnu – as Rama and Krishna. Melanie Eastburn and Chaitanya Sambrani, co-curators of the exhibition, explain the breadth of the exhibition in related essays and in their introduction: ‘Our own contributions consider two strands within this broad historical framework. One examines how images and understandings of Vishnu have been shaped through the layering of new meanings and interpretive approaches onto older beliefs and practices (by Chaitanya Sambrani). The other considers the essential power of female presences in the manifestations of Vishnu and his avatars (by Melanie Eastburn)’.
In the catalogue, Caroline Widmer writes about ways in which artists have actively directed the creation of narrative images rather than simply illustrating scenes as described in well-known texts. She investigates paintings associated with Vishnu’s Rama and Krishna avatars through case studies from the Mughal and Bundelkhand workshops of the late 16th and early 17th centuries. These works are highlights of the exhibition and are some of the earliest paintings made to illustrate the Ramayana and Mahabharata. Made in 1594, during the reign of Mughal Emperor Akbar (1542-1605), they highlight the engagement of the Islamic Mughal court with Hindu literature and mythology. In her essay ‘Painting the Divine: Imagining Rama and Krishna through Diverse Sources’, she observes, ‘Paintings of Vishnu and his avatars have given visual form to sacred narratives for centuries’.
Illustrations of Vishnu in Art
In South Asia, in particular, images were often created for manuscripts, albums, or painted series, embedding them within rich literary traditions. These interpretations are diverse and versatile, with stories shared across multiple texts, languages, and narrative forms. Through adaptation and retelling, they have also changed over time and geography. This fluid textual landscape provides an essential context for understanding how painters engaged with their sources, not simply as illustrators of known texts, but as interpreters who selected, combined, and reimagined legendary tales.
Consensus identifies the Ramayana as being composed by the Indian sage Valmiki in the year 400, who based his epic work on stories, songs, and prayers connected to Rama and Sita. Rama, the seventh avatar of Vishnu, is primarily known as the embodiment of dharma and the ideal man (Maryada Purushottama). As the central figure of the Ramayana, he is renowned for upholding his duties as a son, husband, and king. Whilst the Ramayana’s origins are in Hinduism, it has since been retold in many different languages and art forms, and is celebrated in cultures across South and Southeast Asia. The epic tells the journey – both geographic and spiritual – of the dutiful Lord Rama, Prince of Ayodhya.
Rama was exiled from his father’s kingdom for 14 years along with his wife Sita and his brother Lakshmana. His wife, the beloved Sita, is later abducted by Ravana, the demon king of the island of Lanka as an act of revenge, and imprisons her in his island kingdom. Rama then besieges Ravana’s fabled fortress, with the help of a monkey army (Vanara Sena) burns the capital city of Lankapura (believed to be in Sri Lanka) to rescue his wife. Through this ancient story, rooted in universal themes such as love, valour, duty, and human frailty, the Ramayana lives on in our present through illustrations and manuscripts, architecture, and the retelling of the tale through plays and puppet shows, especially in Indonesia, Thailand, and Cambodia.
Krishna as a Guiding Character
In other art forms, Krishna features as a central guiding character and is the divine architect of events in the Mahabharata. This epic has been adapted many times into popular television series, comics, and films in India, as well as the more traditional theatre and dance forms found in Indonesia. Here, Lord Krishna is the central pivot of the Mahabharata and acts as the divine guide, strategist, and protector of the Pandavas. It chronicles a dynastic struggle between two groups of cousins for the throne of Hastinapura: the Pandavas (five virtuous brothers) and the Kauravas (100 ambitious brothers) in which he shifts the narrative from a mere familial power struggle to a profound battle for righteousness (dharma). The epic is considered the longest poem in the world with over 100,000 stanzas and is believed to have been written sometime in the 4th century BC. The earliest illustrated manuscripts that have survived date to the Mughal period in the 16th and 17th centuries, however, the epic was recorded earlier on reliefs and other stone works during the Khmer dynasty in Cambodia.
Vishnu Forms in Ancient Hindu Kingdoms Outside India
Various forms of Vishnu took a central place in the ancient Hindu kingdoms outside India, for example, they held a central place in the Khmer Empire (802-1431), particularly during the Angkorian period (9th–15th centuries), where the deity was venerated as a divine protector of the empire and its kings. Khmer art depicts Vishnu not only as a supreme deity but also through his various avatars, with a distinct emphasis on his role as the ‘preserver’. Seang Sokha’s contribution to the exhibition’s catalogue tells us that across the Khmer world, Vishnu was more than a guardian of cosmic order, he was also an element of political language and power allowing the Khmer kings to claim their sovereignty as ‘saviour-kings’.
Sokha continues, ‘This capacity to embody both divine and worldly authority made Vishnu enduringly popular in ancient Cambodia. Because Vishnu is the god who descends when the world falters, he offered Khmer rulers a ready-made model of kingship – a theology of salvation translated into royal imagery. In Khmer art and inscriptions, the avatars of Vishnu became metaphors of rulership. From Varaha the boar lifting the earth to Vamana the dwarf measuring the worlds, each form mapped divine intervention onto royal power. This theology of descent evolved into a visual language of sovereignty across Khmer art and history’.
An insight into the role of Krishna during the Khmer Empire is offered by Thierry Zephir in his essay ‘Note on Representations of Krishna in the Angkorian Period’, who writes, ‘Although little precise epigraphic data can be decisively linked to the first developments of Krishna worship in Cambodia, notably in his appearance as the god lifting Mount Govardhan (govardhanadhara in Sanskrit), the very existence of the images at Phnom Da attests to the importance of Vaishnavism in the southern Khmer countries where pancharatra (or bhagavata) sectarian worship has been well documented since the 5th century. While developing conjointly with Shivaism and Mahayana Buddhism, Vaishnavism remained important in Cambodia until the end of the Angkorian era and even beyond, as seen in some sculptures that can be attributed to the 14th century or slightly later. All eras combined, Khmer art has bequeathed to us a great number of representations of Vishnu. In his most common depictions, the god is shown with four arms (caturbhuja in Sanskrit), holding his distinctive attributes in his hands: a conch shell (san ‘kha in Sanskrit), a mace (gada), a discus (cakra), and a small sphere representing the Earth (Bhumi), variously referred to as dharani or mahi in Cambodian epigraphy’.
Included in the exhibition, there is a Cambodian representation of Krishna, from the 6th century, holding up Mount Govardhana, as well as a recently restored 7th-century sculpture of a horse-headed avatar of Vishnu. Khmer bronzes, stone sculpture, and reliefs also depict Vishnu as a warrior riding his mount, Garuda, showcasing his martial prowess and role as a combatant against evil, known as Garuda-Vahana.
Alongside the historical representations of Vishnu, the exhibition presents modern interpretations in contemporary art from collections in Australia, India, Cambodia, Switzerland, and the UK. It also introduces new works created especially for the exhibition by artists Desmond Lazaro, Gitanjali Das, Kalam Patua, and Sumakshi Singh.
• 20 June to 5 October, Art Gallery of New South Wales, artgallery.nsw.gov.au
