Editing Varaha (section)

=== Vedic origins ===
[[File:WLA lacma Varaha the Boar Avatar of Vishnu Mathura.jpg|thumb|left|A 3rd century CE sandstone statue of Varaha holding his consort Bhumi, [[Art of Mathura]], housed in [[Los Angeles County Museum of Art|LACMA]].]]

The origin of Varaha is found in the [[Vedas]], the oldest Hindu scriptures.<ref name="macdonell" /><ref name=":11">{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.283974|title=Vedic Index Of Names And Subjects Vol.ii|last=Arthur Anthony Macdonell|date=1912|pages=[https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.283974/page/n248 245]}}</ref><ref name="keith" /><ref name=":10" />{{sfn | Roy | 2002 |p=91}} Varaha is originally described as a form of [[Prajapati]] (who is equated to the god [[Brahma]]), but on evolved into the avatar of Vishnu in later Hindu scriptures.<ref name="Dalal2011"/> Two other avatars of Vishnu - [[Matsya]] (the fish) and [[Kurma]] (the tortoise) were also equated with Prajapati, before being shown as forms of Vishnu in later traditions.<ref name="keith"/>

[[Arthur Anthony Macdonell]] traces the origins of the Varaha legend to two verses (1.61.7 and 8.66.10) of the [[Rigveda]], the oldest Veda. Vishnu, aided by the god [[Indra]], steals hundred buffaloes from a boar (identified [[Vritra]] by Macdonell based on verse 1.121.11); and then Indra - shooting across a mountain slays the ''emusha'' ("fierce") beast.<ref name="macdonell">{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/vedicmythology00macd_0|title=... Vedic mythology|last=Macdonell|first=Arthur Anthony|date=1897|publisher=Strassburg : Karl J. Trübner|others=Princeton Theological Seminary Library|pages=[https://archive.org/details/vedicmythology00macd_0/page/41 41]}}</ref><ref>1.61.7: {{Cite web|url=https://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/rigveda/rv01061.htm|title=Rig Veda: Rig-Veda Book 1: HYMN LXI. Indra.|website=www.sacred-texts.com|access-date=2019-11-25}}</ref><ref>8.66.10:{{Cite web|url=https://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/rigveda/rv08066.htm|title=Rig Veda: Rig-Veda, Book 8: HYMN LXVI. Indra.|website=www.sacred-texts.com|access-date=2019-11-25}}</ref><ref>1.121.11: {{Cite web|url=https://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/rigveda/rv01121.htm|title=Rig Veda: Rig-Veda Book 1: HYMN CXXI. Indra.|website=www.sacred-texts.com|access-date=2019-11-26}}</ref> [[Arthur Berriedale Keith]] also agrees with Macdonell; interpreting the mountain as a cloud and the slaying a retelling of the killing of the ''[[asura]]'' Vritra by Indra.<ref name="keith"/> The 14th century Vedic commentator [[Sayana]] states the ''[[Taittiriya Shakha|Taittiriya Samhita]]'' (6.2.4) elaborates the Rigveda version.{{sfn|Aiyangar|1901|p=183}} However, the Rigveda does not hint at the classical legend of the rescue of the earth by the boar.{{sfn|Roy|2002|p=92}} In the scripture, the god [[Rudra]] is called the "boar of the sky". Even Vishnu has killed a boar. The hunting and butchering of a boar using dogs is also referred to.<ref name=":11" />{{sfn|Roy|2002|p=92}}

The ''Taittiriya Samhita'' (6.2.4) mentions that the boar, "the plunderer of wealth", hides the riches of the asuras, beyond the seven hills. Indra kills the boar by striking it a blade of [[Desmostachya bipinnata|sacred ''kusha'' grass]], piercing the mounts. Vishnu, "the sacrifice" (''[[yajna]]''), brings the killed boar as a sacrificial offering to the gods, thereby the gods acquiring the treasure of the asuras.<ref name="macdonell"/><ref name="keith"/><ref name=":17">6.2.4:{{Cite web|url=https://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/yv/yv06.htm|title=Yajur Veda Kanda VI|website=www.sacred-texts.com|access-date=2019-11-26}}</ref> Vishnu is both the sacrifice as well as the "bringer of sacrifice"; the boar being the sacrifice.{{sfn | Aiyangar | 1901|p=185}} The tale is also recalled in ''Charaka [[Brahmana]]'' and ''Kathaka Brahmana''; the latter calls the boar Emusha.{{sfn | Aiyangar | 1901|p=186}}<ref name="macdonell" />

According to J. L. Brockington, there are two distinct boar mythologies in Vedic literature. In one, he is depicted as a form of Prajapati, in other an asura named Emusha is a boar that fights Indra and Vishnu. The section 14.1.2 of the ''Shatapatha Brahmana'' harmonizes the two myths and Emusha is conflated into Prajapati.{{sfn|Brockington|1998|p=280}}

The earliest versions of the classical Varaha legend are found in the ''Taittiriya Samhita'' and the ''[[Shatapatha Brahmana]]''; scholars differ on which one is the core version.{{sfn|Nanditha Krishna|2010|pp=54–55}}{{sfn|Roy|2002|p=92}}<ref name=":10">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rfgkCrumMfYC&q=rig+veda+emusa&pg=PA187|title=Legend of Ram: Antiquity to Janmabhumi Debate|last=Ghose|first=Sanujit|date=2004|publisher=Bibliophile South Asia|isbn=978-81-85002-33-0|pages=187–188|language=en}}</ref> The ''Shatapatha Brahmana'' narrates that the universe was primordial waters. The earth which was the size of a hand, was trapped in it. Prajapati in the form of a boar (''varaha'') plunges into the waters and brings the earth out. He also marries the earth thereafter. The ''Shatapatha Brahmana'' calls the boar as Emusha, which Keith relates to the boar's epithet ''emusha'' in the Rigveda.{{sfn|Nanditha Krishna|2010|pp=54–55}}<ref name="keith">{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/TheReligionAndPhilosophyOfTheVedaAndUpanishads01|title=The Religion And Philosophy Of The Veda And Upanishads 01|last=Keith|first=Arthur Berriedale|pages=[https://archive.org/details/TheReligionAndPhilosophyOfTheVedaAndUpanishads01/page/n131 111]}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite web|url=https://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/sbr/sbe44/sbe44118.htm|title=Satapatha Brahmana Part V (SBE44): Fourteenth Kânda: XIV, 1, 2. Second Brâhmana (see also note 451:1)|website=www.sacred-texts.com|access-date=2019-12-04}}</ref> In the ''Taittiriya Samhita'' (7.1.5), Prajapati - who was roaming as the wind - acquires the form of a "[[Cosmogony|cosmogonic]]" boar lifting the earth goddess from the primeval waters. As [[Vishvakarma]] (the creator of the world), he flattened her, thus she - the earth - was called [[Prithvi]], "the extended one". They produce various deities.<ref name="macdonell"/><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/yv/yv07.htm|title=Yajur Veda Kanda VII|website=www.sacred-texts.com|access-date=2019-11-26}}</ref><ref name="Daniélou"/>

The ''[[Aranyaka|Taittiriya Aranyaka]]'' (10.1.8) states the earth is lifted by a "black boar with hundred arms".<ref name="Daniélou">{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/mythsgodsofindia00dani|url-access=registration|title=The Myths and Gods of India: The Classic Work on Hindu Polytheism from the Princeton Bollingen Series|last=Daniélou|first=Alain|date=1991|publisher=Inner Traditions / Bear & Co|isbn=978-0-89281-354-4|pages=[https://archive.org/details/mythsgodsofindia00dani/page/n201 168]|language=en}}</ref> The ''[[Taittirīya Brāhmaṇa|Taittiriya Brahmana]]'' (1.1.3.6) expands the ''Taittiriya Samhita'' narrative.<ref name="macdonell" /> The "Lord of creation" was pondering on how the universe should be. He saw a lotus leaf and took the form of a boar to explore under it. He found mud and outstretched it on the leaf, rising above the waters. It was called the earth - [[Bhumi (goddess)|Bhumi]], literally "that which became (spread)".<ref name="Daniélou"/><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_8sBtAEACAAJ|title=Taittirīya Brāhmaṇa: Text in Devanāgari and Translation|date=2017|publisher=Sri Aurobindo Kapāli Sāstry Institute of Vedic Culture|isbn=978-81-7994-166-9|page = 107 (Volume 1)|language=en}}</ref>