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Etienne Alexander Rodriguez, The Religion of Vishnoo. The History of the Most Remarkable Events of the Ten Avatars or Incarnations of Vishnoo, the Preserving Power of India, Printed for the Author, Madras, 1849

vi, 92 pp; with 11 (of 12) hand-coloured lithographed plates depicting the Ten Avatars of Vishnu, each captioned and executed in the provincial South Indian lithographic idiom; half-leather binding with marbled paper-covered boards; smooth spine with gilt title “THE RELIGION OF VISHNOO” and author “RODRIGUEZ” stamped in gilt between double gilt fillets, and gilt floral motifs at head and tail. Marbled endpapers; modern replacement free endpapers noted.
27 x 20 cm

A MADRAS VISION OF VISHNU: THE DASHAVATARA RENDERED IN ENGLISH AND LITHOGRAPH, 1849

Privately printed in Madras in 1849, Rodriguez’s rare and visually arresting account of Vishnu’s avatars presents South Indian lithography at its devotional peak. With eleven vivid hand-coloured plates and narrative prose styled for European readers, this work blends piety, pedagogy, and provincial artistry in a unique Anglo-Indian offering on divine incarnation.

This rare and provincial Madras imprint by Étienne Alexander Rodriguez represents a remarkable example of cross-cultural religious publishing in colonial India. Combining devotional intent with popular narrative structure and lithographic illustration, The Religion of Vishnoo offers an English-language account of the ten incarnations (Dashavatara) of Vishnu—the sustaining deity in the Hindu trimurti. Self-published by the author in 1849, the work was clearly intended for both the British colonial and Indian educated classes, blending South Indian visual traditions with a scriptural and mythic overview suited to Anglophone readerships.

Rodriguez’s text presents the avatars from Matsya (the fish) to Kalki (the future warrior) in accessible prose, each originally paired with a vividly coloured lithographic plate. The illustrations, likely printed in Madras using locally available stone lithographic techniques, exhibit stylistic influences from Tanjore painting and popular devotional prints. The palette, ornamentation, and figural rendering suggest a vernacular artistic lineage, adapted for printed reproduction in modest editions.

The subtitle—“The Preserving Power of India”—is particularly telling. It evokes Vishnu not merely as a theological figure but as a civilisational constant, implicitly positioning Hindu cosmology within a framework of continuity amid colonial disruption. Whether a reflection of Rodriguez’s own faith or a strategic articulation for a colonial readership sympathetic to ‘native’ religion, the phrase underscores the text’s role in cultural mediation.

Copies of this edition are exceptionally scarce. There is little to no record of institutional holdings, and it remains largely absent from bibliographies of South Indian printing. Its rediscovery in the Starr collection and subsequent appearance at auction in 2025—where it exceeded expectations—has renewed scholarly interest in lithographic publishing outside the dominant Calcutta-Bombay circuits.

A rare survival of vernacular devotional literature rendered in hybrid format—combining local visual languages, lithographic innovation, and cross-cultural religious interpretation—this volume is of considerable interest to collectors of Indian illustrated books, religious history, and the print culture of the British Raj.

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