Before you go any further, please see the full and expanded view of the above photo to get more out of this blog. I follow the adage ‘one picture is worth a thousand words’. There are four pictures here.

Krishna is identified by the pinched hair-bun, nakedness (discrete in this case) and the waist belt with bells. There is a faint mark of Srivatsa on his right chest.

Unusual posture for Krishna. The legs position is more like Venugopala but his hands are stretched out as if he is holding butter balls. When you see an elegant Vigraha like this one, why let iconography come in the way?

Features to note include the hair arrangement, the decoration just below the bun, the bells in the wrist band, the patterns on the wait band and the way the right leg is positioned. A real class Vigraha.

This is a post-Vijayanagar Vigraha and may not be earlier than the seventeenth century. The hair style is typical of Krishna from Kannada-speaking areas. It is most likely from the border areas of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. The Vigraha is about 17.5 cm in height.

The smooth surface of this Vigraha is quite unusual as it was made that way and the surface was not smoothened by ritual wear. The detailing and the smooth surface suggest this was made by a goldsmith.

Note: Some have interpreted this Vigraha as Sambandar. One of the most popular iconographies of Sambandar (and closest to this one) is with his right-hand fingers pointing up and his left hand holding a milk cup. That is not so in this example.