Kurma, (Sanskrit: “Tortoise”) one of the 10 avatars (incarnations) of the Hindu god Vishnu. The Kurma avatar of Vishnu is usually represented in painting and sculpture in a mixed human-animal form. The human half, which is the upper half, is depicted wearing the same ornaments and holding the same weapons as in the usual images of Vishnu. Kurma is also represented zoomorphically, as a tortoise.