Avatāra as Embodied Practice: Narrative, Performance, Image

This article examines the concept of divine embodiment by bringing the textual tradition of the early Skandapurāṇa into conversation with the ritual performance of Bhūtakola in the Tulu region of South Karnataka. While avatāra is conventionally understood as the descent of divinity, this study explores how it can be understood as embodiment and functions as a process of divine permeation rather than a simple binary of heavenly and earthly realms. By analyzing the Varāha avatāra narrative in the early Skandapurāṇa alongside the performative possession of Bhūtakola, this article highlights the fluidity of divine presence, which is mediated through objects, gestures, and ritual and social structures. Both traditions illustrate how divine agency is constituted through networks of material and ritual actors rather than a singular act of incarnation.