This is Lakshminarayana, identified by Garuda, his vahana, and the attributes, Gada and Chakra, in his rear hands. The attributes in his front hands are too worn for recognition. We will come back to the wear a bit later. Lakshmi, Vishnu’s consort, is sitting on his left lap.

The fanning of Garuda’s wings, the pilasters, the ‘hallowed’ back, the lotus-like mandala behind his head are some of the features that indicate this Vigraha is from Himachal.

The book Antiquities of Himachal has several Vigrahas with similar iconography.

The most intriguing part is the oval pattern on the face. See the image below. It does not look like an inlay. It defies explanation. I do not have any hypothesis either.

Some of my friends commented on the degree of wear and observed that the attributes are worn. Their point is that when cleaning, people tend to focus more on the face, and that is where the wear should be. Yes, that is correct. It is possible that over several years, in this case centuries, all portions of the Vgraha are affected. The fact that the proper right of the Vigraha is more worn than the left suggests the wear is natural.

The Vigraha is from Himachal, and it is about 15 cm tall. This may be dated to the thirteenth century.