ANDORRA AUSTRIA BELGIUM DUBAI EGYPT ENGLAND FRANCE GERMANY GIBRALTAR INDIA ISRAEL ITALY JORDAN KENYA LESOTHO LIECHTENSTEIN LUXEMBOURG MADAGASCAR MALAWI MOZAMBIQUE THE NEATHERLANDS NEW ZEALNAD PORTUGAL SOUTH AFRICA SPAIN SRI LANKA SWAZILAND SWITZERLAND TANZANIA TUNISIA TURKS AND CAISCOS ISLANDS U.S.A. ZIMBABWE

Varaha

Varaha is the third avatar of Vishnu, a boar sent to defeat Hiranyaksha, a horrible demon who had taken the Earth (prthivi) and carried it to the bottom of the ocean. The battle took a thousand years, but Varaha 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 considered a svayambhu murthi like Tirupati and Badrinath.