{
"data": {
"id": 147449,
"accession_number": "1973.187",
"share_license_status": "CC0",
"tombstone": "Yoga Narashimha, Vishnu in his Man-Lion Avatar, c. 1250. South India, late Chola period (900\u20131200s). Bronze; overall: 57 x 31 x 23 cm (22 7/16 x 12 3/16 x 9 1/16 in.); base: 18.8 x 32 x 22.5 cm (7 3/8 x 12 5/8 x 8 7/8 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of Dr. Norman Zaworski, 1973.187",
"current_location": "243 Indian and Southeast Asian",
"title": "Yoga Narashimha, Vishnu in his Man-Lion Avatar",
"creation_date": "c. 1250",
"creation_date_earliest": 1250,
"creation_date_latest": 1250,
"artists_tags": [],
"culture": [
"South India, late Chola period (900\u20131200s)"
],
"technique": "bronze",
"support_materials": [],
"department": "Indian and Southeast Asian Art",
"collection": "Indian Art",
"type": "Sculpture",
"measurements": "Overall: 57 x 31 x 23 cm (22 7/16 x 12 3/16 x 9 1/16 in.); Base: 18.8 x 32 x 22.5 cm (7 3/8 x 12 5/8 x 8 7/8 in.)",
"dimensions": {
"overall": {
"height": 0.57,
"height_inch": 22,
"height_inch_fraction": 0.4375,
"width": 0.31,
"width_inch": 12,
"width_inch_fraction": 0.1875,
"depth": 0.23,
"depth_inch": 9,
"depth_inch_fraction": 0.0625
},
"base": {
"height": 0.188,
"height_inch": 7,
"height_inch_fraction": 0.375,
"width": 0.32,
"width_inch": 12,
"width_inch_fraction": 0.625,
"depth": 0.225,
"depth_inch": 8,
"depth_inch_fraction": 0.875
}
},
"state_of_the_work": null,
"edition_of_the_work": null,
"copyright": null,
"inscriptions": [],
"exhibitions": {
"current": [
{
"id": 302145,
"title": "Traditions and Revisions: Themes from the History of Sculpture",
"description": "Traditions and Revisions: Themes from the History of Sculpture. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 24-November 16, 1975).",
"opening_date": "1975-09-24T04:00:00"
},
{
"id": 309885,
"title": "Sacred India",
"description": "Sacred India. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 5, 1985-January 12, 1986).",
"opening_date": "1985-11-05T05:00:00"
},
{
"id": 213005,
"title": "The Sensuous and the Sacred: Chola Bronzes from South India",
"description": "The Sensuous and the Sacred: Chola Bronzes from South India. National Museum of Asian Art, Washington, DC (November 10, 2002-March 9, 2003); The Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, TX (April 4-June 15, 2003); The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (July 6-September 14, 2003).",
"opening_date": "2002-11-10T00:00:00"
},
{
"id": 222425,
"title": "Chola: Sacred Bronzes of Southern India",
"description": "Chola: Sacred Bronzes of Southern India. Royal Academy of Arts, London, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (organizer) (November 11, 2006-February 25, 2007).",
"opening_date": "2006-11-11T00:00:00"
},
{
"id": 219866,
"title": "Yoga: The Art of Transformation",
"description": "Yoga: The Art of Transformation. National Museum of Asian Art, Washington, DC (organizer) (October 19, 2013-January 26, 2014); Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, San Francisco, CA (February 21-May 25, 2014); The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (June 22-September 7, 2014).",
"opening_date": "2013-10-19T04:00:00"
}
],
"legacy": []
},
"provenance": [
{
"description": "Sander L. Feldman, Washington, DC",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": [],
"date": null,
"sortorder": 1
},
{
"description": "Dr. Norman Zaworski [1920\u20132013], Cleveland, OH, given to the Cleveland Museum of Art",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": null,
"date": "?\u20131973",
"sortorder": 2
},
{
"description": "The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": null,
"date": "1973\u2013",
"sortorder": 3
}
],
"find_spot": null,
"related_works": [],
"former_accession_numbers": [],
"did_you_know": "The two posts on either side are for holding a halo that once encircled the figure.",
"early_education_description": null,
"artlens_description": null,
"description": "Narasimha means \u201cman-lion\u201d in Sanskrit, and is the name of one of the ten main avatars, or incarnations, of the Hindu god Vishnu. For devotees, the man-lion form recalls a myth that describes his superhuman defeat of a seemingly invincible demonic foe.
This rare iconic form also embodies royal power and yogic discipline. The intensity of his concentration is apparent in the expression of his face over the ruff of mane, the taut posture, symmetry, and perfect proportions of his four-armed body. The yoga band holds the crossed legs up in equilibrium. In his upper right hand he holds the flaming discus that, when thrown, cuts through ignorance and its demonic personifications.",
"external_resources": {
"wikidata": [
"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q60740873"
],
"internet_archive": [
"https://archive.org/details/clevelandart-1973.187-yoga-narashimha-vish"
]
},
"citations": [
{
"citation": "\"The Year in Review for 1973.\" The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 61, no. 2 (February 1974): 31\u201378.",
"page_number": "Mentioned: no. 188, p. 79; Reproduced: no. 188, p. 60",
"url": "https://www.jstor.org/stable/25152513"
},
{
"citation": "The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: p. 300",
"url": "https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1978/page/n320"
},
{
"citation": "Connell, Timothy C., and Jackson J. Spielvogel. World Art Transparencies, to accompany World History The Human Odyssey and Modern World History by Jackson J. Spielvogel. Cincinnati: West Educational Pub, 1998.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: Acetate 18",
"url": ""
},
{
"citation": "Dehejia, Vidya, Richard H. Davis, Ira\u0304 Na\u0304kaca\u0304mi, and Karen Pechilis. The Sensuous and the Sacred: Chola Bronzes from South India. New York: American Federation of Arts, 2002.",
"page_number": "Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. 45, pp. 1\u20132, 170 and 186\u2013187",
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Branfoot, Crispin. \"Processions and Presence: Bronze Sculptures from the Temples of Southern India.\" Arts of Asia Vol. 36, No. 6 (November/December 2006): 61\u201371.",
"page_number": "Mentioned and Reproduced: p. 68, fig. 8",
"url": ""
},
{
"citation": "Dehejia, Vidya. Chola: Sacred Bronzes of Southern India. London: Royal Academy of Arts, 2006.",
"page_number": "Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. 22, pp. 120\u2013123",
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Locke, Adrian K. \"Divine Beauty: Sacred Medieval Bronzes from Southern India.\" Minerva Vol. 18, No. 1 ( January-February 2007): 22\u201324.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: p. 23, fig. 6",
"url": ""
},
{
"citation": "Diamond, Debra, and Molly Emma Aitken. Yoga: The Art of Transformation. Washington, DC: Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, 2013.",
"page_number": "Mentioned: p. 141, Cat. 8A",
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Dorfman, John. \"Good Posture.\" Art & Antiques 37, no. 6 (June 2014): 52\u201356.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: p. 56",
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Eiland, Murray. \"The Art of Transformation\". Minerva. 25, no. 4 (July/Aug. 2014): 32\u201335.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: p. 35, fig. 8",
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Quintanilla, Sonya Rhie. \u201cYoga: The Art of Transformation.\u201d Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine 54, no. 3 (May/June 2014): Cover, 6\u20137.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: Cover; Mentioned: p. 6\u20137",
"url": "https://archive.org/details/CMAMM2014-02"
},
{
"citation": "Dehejia, Vidya. The Thief Who Stole My Heart: The Material Life of Sacred Bronzes from Chola India, 855-1280. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 2021.",
"page_number": "Mentioned and Reproduced: pp. 254\u2013255, fig. 9.7",
"url": ""
}
],
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"creditline": "Gift of Dr. Norman Zaworski",
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"alternate_titles": [
"Narasimha",
"Narasimha, Lion Incarnation of Vishnu"
],
"is_highlight": false,
"updated_at": "2026-07-22 11:09:13.352000"
}
}