Four-armed Vishnu is sitting on the five-hooded Cobra, Sesha. Vishnu is holding a lotus, a Chakra (wheel) and Shankha (conch shell) in his hands. Clockwise, starting from the lower right hand.

Vishnu’s sitting posture is Rajalalitasana, with his right hand resting on his right knee and his left hand placed behind him with him leaning back.  A relaxed but regal pose. The cobra’s long body coiled serves as his throne. In this form, he is also referred to as Para Vasudeva or Adimurthi.

Features worth noting are the Satkona (two interlocking triangles) on his Chakra, his chubby features and the intricate engraving (see the hood – back view), the patterns on the edge of his lower garments and the Makara Kundalas. The  Halo is noteworthy and we will come back to that later.

Seated Vishnu is rare and a bronze Vishnu seated on Sesha is rarer.

What is special about this Vigraha is, it is a representation of the deity in Poornathrayeesa temple in Thirupunithura, Kerala. The photo of the deity from the temple is from the Facebook pages of Tripunithura Sree Poornathrayeesa Temple. Please note the halo and the similarity to the subject of this blog is compelling. Thanks to Krishna, my go-to person for Kerala Vigrahas,  for identifying the deity.

This Vigraha is from Kerala and it is about 12.5 cm in height. The Vigraha may be dated to the nineteenth century.