A bronze Narasimha, the half-lion incarnation of the Hindu deity Vishnu, wears a yoga strap (yogapatta) and meditates. From the stable base of crossed legs held tautly by the horizontal strap, the god’s tapered waist rises smoothly toward broad shoulders. A leonine ruff encircles his neck and a mane curls down his shoulders. Together they seamlessly connect the powerful, conical mass of his crowned head to the long diagonal of his frontal arms, which are relaxed in meditation. This iconographic type can also signify Narasimha teaching bhakti (devotional)yoga to his devotee Prahlad.

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Yoga Narasimha, Vishnu in His Man-Lion Avata
India, Tamil Nadu
ca. 1250
Bronze
The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of Dr. Norman Zaworski 1973.187