Legend
It is said in Vishnu Pur?na that at the start of the present kalpa , Vishnu turned himself into a boar and descended to the bottom of the ocean to rescue the earth which had been abducted and hidden there by a demon (Hiranyaksha) . He then brought it to the surface and made it ready to support life. Var? was first mentioned in the Ved?s , as an act of Brahm? who becoming wind, moved on the primeval water and then becoming a boar raised the world aloft.
There are two main groups of Var?ha avat?r images – those entirely in animal form and those having a boar’s head on a human body.
At the beginning of each kalpa, that is, the day of Brahm?, Brahm? emerges from his cosmic sleep out of a lotus growing from Vishnu’s navel.