World's Greatest Vishnu Temple? Somnathpura Temple

Hey guys, today we're going into an ancient temple called the Keshava temple at Somnathpura. This is an amazing temple and it's also quite famous for its insane carving sand architecture. So let's go inside and see what we can find here. What is this? Can you take a guess at what this is? This is an avatar of Vishnu and you can see that it's an animal. But what animal is it? It is the fish. The very first avatar of Vishnu called Matsya. Look at the lips of the fish. There's no doubt that this is a fish. And fish don't have eyelashes and they do not have eyelids. This is why the sculptor has not carved the eyelids and eyelashes. If you extend the face here, it will look exactly like a fish. This is a very unorthodox carving of Matsya because in all the carvings of Matsya, you will see Vishnu with the lower body of a fish. But the carvings of Somnathpura are maverick in style. They completely deviate from the norms. This is why they've carved the fish here with full legs. According to the sculptors, this form of Vishnu merely had the head of a fish. Everything else was human. The next carving is even more difficult to decode. This shows something very similar and you're bound to dismiss it as a fish or a boar if you don't know ancient Indian texts. But this is Lord Kurma, the turtle or the tortoise. It looks very similar to the fish, but the mouth is shaped differently than a fish. What once had almost round puffy lips has now turned into a sharp line. And look at how the nostrils are sharp and are pointing up. This is the detail that really reveals it is a turtle. If you have trouble remembering the avatars and their order, remember the theory of evolution. First came the fish and then the turtle, which is an amphibian. So what's the third avatar? The third one is Varaha. It is like a rodent. Most people call it a boar, but this is a rodent, which is the next step in evolution. Unfortunately, the face has been damaged a little bit, but he is holding the earth. This is a geoid shape. The earth is not perfectly round. It is certainly not this deviated, but it's not perfectly round either. So ancient builders knew the earth was not perfectly round. But Varaha has now developed eyelashes. Look at the eyes. They are not round. They have become shaved and they have eyelashes. Do turtles have eyelashes? No. Eyelashes are in general kind of a mammal thing. The Kurma's eyes are round in the center, but you see this shape beginning to form outside. In the fish, it was completely round. In the turtle, it's still round, but a shape is beginning to form. But does it have eyelashes and eyebrows? No. Why? Because it hasn't yet become a mammal. The eyebrows, eyelashes and eyelids are a mammalian thing. In Varaha, see what has happened to the eyes. The eyes are now completely shaved. Their eyelids, probably eyelashes and even eyebrows. The nose of Varaha has been deliberately destroyed, so we have lost some valuable details because of this. And there are not only 10 avatars of Vishnu carved here, but 24 forms of Vishnu are carved in this temple. But how many carvings of Shiva are found in this temple? Zero. Yes, in this ancient temple, not one carving of Shiva or his avatars is carved. It's very rare to find a temple like this. But this Vishnu here, this is a masterpiece hiding in plain sight. This shows the actual size of Lord Vishnu. How? You can see Lord Vishnu sitting with one leg like this, and on his lap, you can see his wife Lakshmi, who is letting one of her legs hang below. But her leg is resting on a flower, and because of her weight, the flower is bending. And is about to fall off. But here's the beauty, an elephant has come and is supporting the flower with its trunk to make sure the flower doesn't fall. Now, you can compare the size of Lord Vishnu and the size of the elephant and understand the real size of Vishnu. He is a giant. But no matter how big he is, he needs help, because if the flower falls, his wife will lose balance, and if his wife loses balance, he might lose balance. This is one of the best temples of Lord Vishnu. It's not the best, but most people do not know that. It has some of the strangest statues of Vishnu. Here, you can see Lord Buddha sitting in meditation. No, this is actually Lord Vishnu in deep meditation. It is so rare to see Vishnu with his eyes closed and his hands in this position. You are immediately reminded of Buddha because this is a typical pose of him. But look carefully, you can see the conch on one side and the chakra on the other side. This form is called Yoga Vishnu, a very rare carving of him sitting in meditation. And here you can see a cowboy carved in India. It might even be the oldest cowboy carving in the world. Where is the cowboy? This guy, this form is known as Gopala, which literally means cowboy. So the name Gopal, which is still a popular Indian name, actually means cowboy. And instead of controlling the cows with ropes, he just plays his flute. You can see how all the cows are mesmerized by his music. He doesn't need ropes, he will just drag the cattle with his music. And his music is so good, even a cobra has opened its hood and is dancing to his tunes. Okay, you've seen Vishnu being a musician, but have you ever seen a dancing Vishnu? Think about it, I've shown you so many statues of dancing Shiva, right? But I've not shown you one carving of dancing Vishnu because they are so rare to find. But here in the Somnathpura temple, we can see dancing Vishnu. Not one, but two different carvings of dancing Vishnu. This one is called Chaturbhuja Vishnu and this one is called Ashtabhuja Vishnu. And even more strange, you can see Lord Vishnu in a female form, dancing. It's extremely rare. Now remember, Lord Vishnu is known for taking a female form called Mohini and is capable of mesmerizing everyone. Here you can see him in this form. How do we know this is Vishnu? Look at his hands, you can see a conch on the right side and a chakra on the left side. A classic symbol of Vishnu. And this is not only limited to these big carvings, you see these miniature carvings all over the walls of the temple. They are also filled with stories of Vishnu and his avatars. For example, here you can see Krishna stealing butter from hanging pots right in front of his And here you can see him climbing on his brother and stealing butter. There are thousands of miniature carvings like this and they tell stories of Lord Vishnu. In reality, I have shown you less than 1% of Vishnu carvings in this temple. The sculptors of Somnathapura were complete mavericks. They portrayed him in a totally unconventional way, from fish to turtle to other forms, showing Vishnu dancing, meditating and as a female. This is quite extraordinary, but this is just the tip of the iceberg. So, if you are a Vishnu lover, please come to the Somnathapura temple. You will be amazed at these incredible carvings of Vishnu.