Vamana is the fifth avatar of the Hindu deity Vishnu. As the God of Preservation, Vishnu is responsible for maintaining the dharma, the cosmic order, and the universe. He descends to the human realm in different forms, human or animal, to restore balance when evil forces threaten it. Vishnu notably appears as his dwarf avatar Vamana during the reign of the daitya King Bali. Although he was reputed as a compassionate ruler beloved by his subjects, King Bali grew immensely powerful, and the prolific expansion of his kingdom to the heavens exiled the gods from their very own. To bring the universe back to order, Vishnu appeared to Bali as the Brahmin dwarf Vamana, appealing to the king’s generosity and good will, and asked for land that can be covered in three paces. Once King Bali granted Vamana the gift, the dwarf transformed into his giant form as Trivikrama, whose first two steps covered the entirety of the earth and the heavens. For his third and last pace, there are different accounts of where Vishnu landed; some accounts say that he stepped on King Bali’s head, sending him to the netherworld, while others say that the king was given a portion of the universe to reign as a token for his good deeds and sacrifices. Regardless, the world and the universe returned to a state of peace and balance.
In this 10th-11th century sandstone sculpture of Vamana, he is a pot-bellied portly figure with a slight smile and soft arching eyebrows, a varying depiction from Vishnu as the tall and slender Trivikrama with an outstretched leg ready to step. Here, the avatar stands on a lotus throne, accompanied by one female attendant and three male attendants. One of attendants holds a sankha, a conch shell used as a religious ritual object, one of the standard attributes of Vishnu. Vamana wears a short dhoti, a trouser-like garment, a meditation string, and a necklace. The statue has snail-shell curled hair, a small ushnisha, and a lotus halo. On his chest is a diamond-shaped mark in relief, a shrivatsa, meaning “beloved of Shri”. It is an auspicious symbol in Hinduism that is associated with Vishnu because it is the mark of his consort Lakshmi, also known as Shri, and where she resides. Two kneeling followers with their hands in prayer, Brahma, and another four-armed god carved in relief accompany the incarnation of Vishnu along the sides of the stele.
A comparable 10th century buff sandstone figure sold at Christie’s, New York, September 2007, lot 273 for $97,000. The work bears near identical iconographical depictions of Vamana and his surroundings, as well as a stylistically similar manner of carving. A slightly smaller stele of Vamana is in the collection of the Walters Art Museum, Baltimore (acc. no.25.260). The Walters example is not as intricately carved as the present lot, though an interesting comparison in which the figure is presented, for scale, between large architectural columns.