This sculpture is in the Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena. The Museum's website (
visit link) describes the piece:
"Vishnu with Personified Attributes, c. 9th century or earlier
India: Madhya Pradesh, 775-900
Sandstone
66 x 27 in. (167.6 x 68.6 cm)
The Norton Simon Foundation
F.1975.15.5.S
© 2012 The Norton Simon Foundation
On view
In this sculpture, the Hindu god Vishnu stands upright, gripping two figures beneath him as if they were inanimate objects. They are, in fact, the animate or personified forms of two of his attributes, the club, on his right, and the wheel (chakra), on his left. Images of Vishnu typically depict him with four arms, holding his attributes: the club, wheel, conch and lotus flower. The club is a symbol of Vishnu’s divine power, and the wheel, a symbol of the sun. The conch symbolizes primordial sound, and the lotus, purity and perfection."
As to the asteroid, Wikipedia (
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"4034 Vishnu (provisional designation: 1986 PA) is an Apollo asteroid, 0.4 kilometers in diameter. It completes one revolution around the Sun almost once every year. It was discovered by Eleanor F. Helin at the Palomar Observatory in San Diego County, California on August 2, 1986. It is an O-type asteroid, meaning it is similar to the asteroid 3628 Boznemcová, which is the best asteroid match to the spectra of L6 and LL6 ordinary chondrite meteorites. L and LL chondrites have lower iron and metal content, but higher iron oxide content in the silicates.
Its highly eccentric orbit crosses the orbits of Venus, Earth, and Mars. From 1800 to 2200 the asteroid passes within 30 Gm of Venus 71 times, Earth 29 times, and Mars 7 times."