Figures of Lakshmi Narasimha, the man-lion incarnation of Vishnu, copper alloy casting, South India, 18th to early 19th century.

This is a cast figure of Narasimha, the fourth incarnation (avatara) of Vishnu. Vishnu assumed this man-lion appearance in order to vanquish a demon king who could be overcome by neither man nor beast. Usually, the avatara is shown killing the demon Hiranyakashipu, but this example emphasises the lion-like aspects of the deity, who is seated cross-legged supported by a yoga strap across his knees. His consort, Lakshmi, sits in lalitasana on his left knee. His upper hands carry a conch and chakra as usual but the lower left with the palm facing upwards rests on a club (gada) and his lower right may hold a small lotus bud. The couple are topped by a seven-headed naga (perhaps Shesha, the serpent on whose body |Vishnu lies between periods of creation). The serpoent's tail is elegantly knotted around and behind the pedestal. The broad flat bottom of the base could have fitted a larger shrine. It has lotus petals engraved on it top. It is of a dark brass colour, and shows substantial wear.

Given to the India Museum, London, by Colonel Colin Mackenzie (1754- 1821), who may have acquired it some time around 1800-10. It was transferred from the India Museum to the South Kensington Museum (now V&A) in 1879. It is numbered 292 in the India Museum Slips

The India Museum Slip Book entry, number 292, states that it was presented by 'McKenzie Collection'. Colonel Colin Mackenzie was a British antiquarian who completed a major survey of the Mysore kingdom in southern India and became the first Surveyor General of India in 1815. Born in Stornoway on the Isle of Lewis, Outer Hebrides, Scotland, Mackenzie travelled to India in 1783 as an Infantry cadet in the 78th Seaforth Highlanders but in 1786 transferred to become an Engineer in the Madras Army. He spent the remainder of his life in Asia, much of it in southern India, where he carried out a survey of the Nizam of Hyderabad's Dominions (1792-8) and the Mysore Survey (1799-1810), although he also worked in other parts of India and in Java (1811-13). Further information can be found in Howes, J. Illustrating India: the Early Colonial Investigations of Colin Mackenzie (1784-1821), Oxford University Press, 2010 and other publications. Mackenzie's serious research into antiquities began after his return from an expedition to Ceylon (Sri Lanka) in 1796 and was made possible by his association with Kavelli (or Cavelly) Venkata Boria, a Brahmin whose talents as a translator of Indian languages were of great importance to Mackenzie and some of whose family members continued to work with Mackenzie after Boria's death in 1803.

The Slip Book entry for this figure describes it as 'Idol (Bronze)...Vishnu as Narasinha with his consort (or 'Sakti)... Vishnu as man-lion and Lakshmi.' The 1880 Inventory of objects transferred from the India Museum to the South Kensington Museum gives the same identification as the latter.

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