This is venugopala, Lord Krishna in the act of playing flute. A timeless and classic pose with his flute (now missing) to the right, with his right leg crossed over and resting on his right toe.

Nicely worn due to ritual use. This Vigraha is richly ornamented and clothed. Venugopala is wearing a tiara, earrings, two necklaces, arm bands, wrist bands, waist belt, anklets and a long vanamala. Venugopala is adorned with a short lower garment with tassels. Most of the Venugopala vigraha, from Bengal and Orissa, are naked allowing the devotees to decorate the Vigraha for the occasion and the season.

Another curious aspect of this Vigraha is his wearing Paduka (footwear). One of the very few ‘mainstream’ deities to wear footwear.

Venugopala is standing on a layered circular pedestal with the middle layer showing a inverted lotus. The lowermost level’s edge is beaded. A typical feature of Vigrahas from Orissa.

This Vigraha is about 12 cm in height. This probably dates to the eighteenth century or so.

For comparison purposes, I have included the group photo below. They all are a part of this blog site.