An ancient Vishnu idol and a Shivling, most probably dating back to 1,000 years, were recovered from Krishna River in Karnataka’s Raichur district located close to Telangana border.
Construction workers retrieved the Hindu deities, including the Dashavatar of Lord Krishna, safely while working on the river near Raichur district’s Devasugur village and quickly notified the local authorities. Subsequently, the Archaeological Survey of India or ASI took possession of the Vishnu idol and the Shivling for its evaluation.
“This idol exhibits numerous distinctive features,” mentioned ancient history and archaeology lecturer Dr Padmaja Desai adding the sculpture, crafted on a pedestal with a radiant aura surrounding it, displays Lord Vishnu’s 10 incarnations – Matsya, Kurma, Varaha, Narasimha, Vamana, Rama, Krishna, Buddha, and Kalki – except for Garuda, which was replaced by two fan-bearing women.
Few among eyewitnesses felt the discovered deities are akin to the Ayodhya temple’s Ram Lalla idol while Dr Padmaja Desai stated these idols looked similar to descriptions on Venkateshwara as narrated in the scriptures.
Further elucidating on structures, the lecturer accentuated idol displaying smiling Vishnu, adorned with ornaments and garlands, was most probably placed inside a temple’s sanctum sanctorum. To evade its demolition during a probable attack on the worship place in that time, people must have thrown it in the river. Except for the damaged nose, the deity structure is intact.
The beautifully-crafted representation of “the standing posture of the idol” is the outcome of following the guidelines intricately which were set forth in the Agamas, added the lecturer.
