Shankha - in Hindu Iconography and Art

In Hindu Iconography and Art

Shankha is one of the main attributes of Vishnu. Vishnu's images, either in sitting or standing posture, show him holding the shankha usually in his left upper hand, while Sudarshana Chakra (chakra - discus), gada (mace) and padma (lotus flower) decorate his upper right, the lower left and lower right hands, respectively.

Avatars of Vishnu like Matsya, Kurma, Varaha and Narasimha are also depicted holding the shankha, along with the other attributes of Vishnu. Krishna - avatar of Vishnu is described possessing a shankha called Panchajanya. Regional Vishnu forms like Jagannath and Vithoba may be also pictured holding the shankha. Besides Vishnu, other deities are also pictured holding the shankha. These include the sun god Surya, Indra - the king of heaven and god of rain the war god Murugan (Skanda), the goddess Vaishnavi and the warrior goddess Durga. Similarly, Gaja Lakshmi statues show Lakshmi holding a shankha in the right hand and lotus on the other.

Sometimes, the shankha of Vishnu is personified as ayudha-purusha ("weapon-man") in the sculpture and depicted as a man standing beside Vishnu or his avatars. This subordinate figure is called the Shankha-purusha who is depicted holding a shankha in both the hands. Temple pillars, walls, gopuras (towers), basements and elsewhere in the temple, sculpted depictions of the shankha and chakra - the emblems of Vishnu - are seen. The city of Puri also known as Shankha-kshetra is sometimes pictured as a shankha or conch in art with the Jagannath temple at its centre.

Shaligrama or Shalagrama stones are iconographic fossil stones, particularly found in Gandaki River in Nepal, which are worshipped by Hindus as representative of Vishnu. Hence, a shaligrama - which has the marks of a shanka, chakra, gada and padma arranged in this particular order – is worshipped as Keshava. Twenty four orders of the four symbols defined for Shaligrama are also followed in worship of images of Vishnu with different names. Out of these, besides Keshava the four names of images worshipped starting with Shankha on the upper hand, are: Madhusudana, Damodara, Samkarshana and Upendra.