English: The Varaha panel at the Hindu Udayagiri Caves is one of the most studied examples from the Gupta Empire era. It narrates the Hindu mythology about a man-boar avatar of Vishnu (Varaha) rescuing goddess earth (Bhudevi, Prithivi) from the depths of cosmic ocean. The panel embeds many characters from the ancient legend. These appear to the all around Varaha and the delicately hanging goddess. The characters are marked above as follows:

1: Vishnu as Varaha

2: Goddess earth as Prithivi

3: Brahma (sitting on lotus)

4: Shiva (sitting on Nandi)

5: Adityas (all have solar halos)

6: Agni (hair on fire)

7: Vayu (hair airy, puffed up)

8: Ashtavasus (with 6&7, see Vishnu Purana)

9: Ekadasa or eleven Rudras (ithyphalic, third eye visible in some cases)

10: Ganadevatas

11: Rishis (Vedic sages of Hindu texts, each wearing barks of trees, a beard, carrying water pot and rosary beads for meditation)

12: Samudra

13: Gupta Empire minister Virasena

14: Gupta Empire king Chandragupta II

15: Nagadeva

16: Lakshmi

17: More Hindu sages (incomplete photo; these include the Vedic Saptarishis)

18: Sage Narada playing guitar

19: Sage Tumburu playing Vina

This is a derivative work on the following wikimedia commons file:

005 Varaha Relief (32851921924).jpg