Caturvyūha

Caturvyūha or Chatur-vyūha (Sanskrit: चतुर्व्यूह, romanized: Caturvyūha, lit. 'four emanations'), is an ancient Indian religious concept initially focusing on the four earthly emanations (Vyūhas) of the Supreme deity Nārāyaṇa, and later Viṣṇu. The first of these emanations is the hero-god Vāsudeva, with the other emanations being his kinsmen presented as extensions of Vāsudeva himself. From around the 1st century CE, this "Vyuha doctrine" (Vyūhavāda) developed out of the earlier Vīravāda cult of the Vrishni heroes, in which the five heroes Saṃkarṣaṇa, Vāsudeva, Pradyumna, Samba and Aniruddha had remained mostly human in character. Still later, around the 4th century CE, it evolved into the Avatāravāda system of incarnations of Vishnu, in which Vishnu was the primordial being and the Vrishni heroes had become his avatars.

Caturvyūha
The "Four emanations"

The Caturvyūha, showing the four emanation of Nārāyaṇa, or later Vishnu. 2nd century CE, Art of Mathura, Mathura Museum.
Front: Vāsudeva (center) and his kinsmen emanating from him. Vāsudeva is four-armed, and is fittingly in the center with his decorated heavy mace on the side and holding a conch, his elder brother Balarama to his right under a serpent hood, his son Pradyumna to his left (lost), and his grandson Aniruddha on top.

Back: Kadamba tree and branches showing their relationship. The back of the statue shows the trunk of a tree with branches, thus highlighting the genealogical relationship between the divinities.

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