An unusual Yoga Lakshminarasimha. All along I have read Chakra and Shankha are among the identifying attributes of Narasimha. Here is an exception. In his rear left hand, Narasimha is holding a bow and not a Shankha. See the second photo below, one showing the view from the right.

Narasimha’s front hands are in Abhaya and Varada mudra and his right upper hand is holding a well-crafted Chakra. Lakshmi is sitting on Narasimhas’s left thigh with a lotus in her left hand. The Yogapatta is holding Narasimha’s legs in Utkutika asana.

On this blog site, there are some Vigrahas of Narsimha holding a bow and arrow in addition to the normal Shankha and Chakra. One such example is shown on the right.

In my research on this unusual Narasimha, I came across Karanja Narasimha, one of the Nav-Narasimhas of Ahobilam, with Chakra and bow only. The photo below is from the Internet. There are obvious differences between the subject of this blog and the Karanja Narasimha. But the Karanja Narasimha’s iconography assured me the sculptor of this Vigraha did not let his imagination overshadow Dhyana slokas.

One other style feature worth noting is the diadem. There are a few other Vigrahs in my collection with a similar diadem. It seems to be influenced by Hoysala’s styling.

The Vigraha is about 9 cm in height and it is from Karnataka. There is some wear and softening of sharp edges. This Vigraha may be dated to the nineteenth century.