The Androgynous Form of Viṣṇu and the Yet Unpublished Vāsudevakalpa

Abstract

Although the androgynous form of Viṣṇu is little known, some stone and metal sculptures as well as painted scrolls of the deity have been discovered in Nepal, Kashmir, Rajasthan and Himachal Pradesh. This paper discusses literary and epigraphical references to this deity starting from the ninth century CE. It then presents additional materials from Nepal which suggest that this deity has been continuously worshipped in Nepal from at least the eleventh century down to modern times. It also gathers information to show that this composite form of Lakṣmī and Viṣṇu is still worshiped in Bengal, Odisha, and Rajasthan. Even more importantly, it reports on a Tantric text surviving in a palm-leaf manuscript dated to Nepal Saṃvat 372 (equivalent 1252 CE) that focusses exclusively on the eight-armed androgynous form of Viṣṇu, and narrates some selected themes from this text.