Varaha

The boar avatāra of Viṣṇu, who dives into the cosmic ocean to lift the drowned earth-goddess Bhūmi on his tusks and slays the daitya Hiraṇyākṣa — the cosmogonic rescue that re-founds the world at the start of the present kalpa.

Domains

• cosmic rescue

Powers

• Raise the drowned earth from the cosmic ocean on his tusks
• Slay the daitya Hiraṇyākṣa
• Plunge to the floor of the cosmic ocean

Epithets

• वराह sanskrit · Varāha · epithetThe cosmic Boar avatāra who raised the earthVarāha Purāṇa; Viṣṇu Purāṇa 1.4 (lifting of the earth-goddess) (primary)
• यज्ञवराह sanskrit · Yajñavarāha · epithetThe sacrificial Boar; the cosmic rite embodiedŚatapatha Brāhmaṇa (Emūṣa the boar); Bhāgavata Purāṇa 3.13 (primary)

Relations

• avatar of: VishnuThird of the daśāvatāra in the standard list.Bhāgavata Purāṇa 3.13; Viṣṇu Purāṇa 1.4 (primary)

Sources

• existence: Bhāgavata Purāṇa 3.13-3.19 (primary); Taittirīya Saṃhitā 7.1.5 (early boar-rescue kernel) (primary)