Vishnu, God of Preservation, is one of the three principal deities of Hinduism, alongside Brahma, God of Creation, and Shiva, God of Destruction. Together, the three supreme beings form the Trimurti, the divine trinity. As the Preserver, Vishnu is responsible for maintaining the dharma, the cosmic order, and the universe. He descends to the human realm in different incarnations, human or animal, to restore balance when evil forces threaten it. With his benevolent and compassionate nature, Vishnu is a deity beloved by practitioners.
The Great Maintainer is readily recognizable through the two attributes held in his upper hands. He holds a chakra, a war discus and symbol of the wheel of time, in his upper right hand. In the upper left hand, the god holds a foliate gada, a mace and a symbol of the god’s power and knowledge. Not seen in this 11^th/12^th century sandstone stele are Vishnu’s lower hands which typically hold his sankha, a conch shell and symbol of the five elements, and padma, a lotus flower and symbol of purity. Vishnu is also identifiable through the accompaniment of the first four of his ten avatars along either side of the stele: Matsya, the fish avatar; Kurma, the tortoise avatar; Varaha, the boar avatar; and lastly, Narasimha, the lion avatar. Behind the smiling Vishnu is an ornate openwork nimbus carved with alternating flowerheads and florets. He is adorned with decorative armlets, necklace, earrings, and a festooned headdress. Above his head are two apsaras, female spirits or nymph-like celestial beings, who hold garlands, flanking the three seated deities on the lotus throne. The trio of gods establishes that it is Brahma, with the faint outline of his three heads, and Shiva, holding possibly his trident, on either side of a divine form of Vishnu, the primary figure of the sculpture.
See a comparable carved 10^th century red sandstone stele of a full-bodied Vishnu sold by Christies, New York, 16 September 2014, lot 237. Note the similarities in the composition and the depiction of Vishnu and his iconography. Like the present lot of the bust of Vishnu, the 10^th century stele also possesses a foliate gada, chakra, and accompanying apsaras and gods, with an additional pair of columns with conical capitals.