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You must be knowing that Lord Vishnu is having thousand names by which he is praised; Who has not heard of Vishnusahasranaama! Its given in the Anushashanaparva of Mahabharata. Of these thousand names, 24 names are very important and used in the daily prayers. For each of these 24 names, there is a sculpture for Vishnu which is predominantly found in most of the Hoysala Temples. How these 24 sculptures can be identified is given here…
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All the twenty four images are the standing figures having four hands and dressed with normal other ornaments along with Kireeta (Crown). All these four hands at any point of time hold Shankha, Chakra, Gada and Padma. The difference between any two of these Vishnu idols (uniquely identified the respective names) can be identified by the way these four hands hold Shankha, Chakra, Gada and Padma. They are distributed among the upper right arm, upper left arm, lower right arm and lower left arm.
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Sl. No.
Name of the Murti
Back right hand
Back left hand
Front left hand
Front right hand .
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1 Keshava Sankha Chakra Gada Padma
2 Narayana Padma Gada Chakra Sankha
3 Madhava Chakra Sankha Padma Gada
4 Govinda Gada Padma Sankha Chakra
5 Vishnu Padma Sankha Chakra Gada
6 Madhusudhana Sankha Padma Gada Chakra
7 Trivikrama Gada Chakra Sankha Padma
8 Vamana Chakra Gada Padma Sankha
9 Sridhara Chakra Gada Sankha Padma
10 Hrishikesa Chakra Padma Sankha Gada
11 Padmanabha Padma Chakra Gada Sankha
12 Damodara Sankha Gada Chakra Padma
13 Samkarshana Sankha Padma Chakra Gada
14 Vasudeva Sankha Chakra Padma Gada
15 Pradyumna Sankha Gada Padma Chakra
16 Anirudha Gada Sankha Padma Chakra
17 Purushottama Padma Sankha Gada Chakra
18 Adhokshja Gada Sankha Chakra Padma
19 Narasimha Padma Gada Sankha Chakra
20 Achyuta Padma Chakra Sankha Gada
21 Janardhana Chakra Sankha Gada Padma
22 Upendra Gada Chakra Padma Sankha
23 Hari Chakra Padma Gada Sankha
24 Sri Krishna Gada Padma Chakra Sankha