What did Lord Vishnu do in his incarnation of Varah?
Varaha is the third avatar of Vishnu, a boar sent to defeat Hiranyaksha, a demon who had taken the Earth (prthivi) and carried it to the bottom of what is described as the cosmic ocean in the story. The battle between Lord Varaha and Hiranyaksha is believed to have taken place for a thousand years, which the former finally won. Varaha is depicted in art as either purely animal or as being anthropomorphic, having a boar’s head on a man’s body. In the latter form it has four arms, two of which hold the wheel and conch-shell and the other two hold a mace, sword or lotus or form a blessing posture. The earth is held between the boar’s tusks. The avatar symbolizes the resurrection of the earth from a pralaya (deluge) and the establishment of a new kalpa (cycle), and can thus be considered to constitute a creation myth. The Varaha purana is a purana in which the form of narration is a recitation by Varaha. A very ancient temple lies in Tamil Nadu goes by the name of Sri Mushnam, and is consi
