VISHNU CHATHUSHTIKA - THE YADAVA CULT

This is a paper explaining a very highly rare Iconography of Bhagavan Vishnu found in an idol, sculptured in a sitting position with four faces and body’s facing four directions in the Bhagavata Sampradaya or tradition of Vaishnava Hinduism in the same Idol. In Shaivism lingams of various proportions and faces like an EkMukha Lingam, Chaturmukha or even an Ashthamukha Lingam are very popular and common in the northern part of Bharat and represent the Pashupatha Cult of traditional Shaivism. However Bhagavan Vishnu is almost always sculpted with one face in a full human proportion, irrespective of the posture of Sthanaka (Standing), Asana (Sitting) or Sayana (Sleeping), with minimal and again rare exception of Vaikuntha Vishnu (three or four headed) or Vishwaroopa Vishnu (Multiple or eleven headed including Dashavatar) or the two headed wrathful roopam of Gandaberunda in south of Bharath, as per the Puranic tradition from the Sharabha Upanishad.