Kalki (Vishnu)
India
Lost wax cast bronze
2 3/8" (6 cm) high
18th century
#5163

Kalki is the tenth and future avatar of Vishnu; his name is a metaphor for eternity or time. The origins may lie in the Sanskrit word kalka, which means foulness or filth. Hence, the name translates to the "destroyer of foulness," "destroyer of darkness," or “destroyer of ignorance.” Religious texts foretell that Kalki will arrive atop a white horse with a drawn blazing sword. Here he is triumphantly holding a sword (khadga) and a conch shell (shanka), the harbinger of the end time.

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