Vishvarupa ("Universal-form”), is an iconographical form and theophany of the Hindu godVishnu.Itis considered the supreme form of Vishnu, where the whole Multiverse is described as contained in him. In the climactic war in the Mahabharata, the Pandava prince Arjuna and his brothers fight against their cousins, the Kauravas with Krishna as his charioteer. Faced with the moral dilemma of whether or not to fight against and kill his own family, Arjuna has a crisis of conscience. To appease him, Krishna discourses with Arjuna about life and death as well as dharma (duty) and yoga in form of the Bhagavad Gita. Krishna reveals himself as the Supreme Being and finally displays his Vishvarupa to Arjuna. Unable to bear the scale of the sight and gripped with "sacred terror", Arjuna requests Krishna to return to his four-armed Vishnu form, which he can bear to see. The literary sources mentions that Vishvarupa has "multiple" or "thousand/hundred" (numeric equivalent of conveying infinite in literary sources) heads and arms, but do not give a specific number of body parts that can be depicted. Vishvarupa has innumerable forms, eyes, faces, mouths and arms. All creatures of the universe are part of him. He is the infinite universe, without a beginning or an end. He contains peaceful as well as wrathful forms. Sculptors through out Indian history were faced with difficulty of portraying infiniteness and multiple body parts in a feasible way.
