Vishnu

11th century AD, Pala
E. India
Delhi National Museum, India.

Vishnu holds his inevitable attributes of club and chakra. In addition, he is accompanied by smaller female figures representing Sarasvati (photo right, holding a vina) and Lakshmi (photo left). Sarasvati is supposed to be the consort of Brahma, but as devotional interest in Brahma decreased, she seems to have transferred her favors to Vishnu. The resulting triangle became a popular iconographic type, of which this stela is an example.