On Wednesday, an ancient three-headed sculpture of Lord Vishnu was recovered by some laborers during sand extraction from the river Jhelum in the Kakapora area of Pulwama district in South Kashmir. The sculpture was taken under possession by Pulwama Police and was later handed over to the Directorate of Archives, Archaeology, and Museums of Jammu and Kashmir.
According to the reports, the sculpture dates back to the ninth century. On March 30, some laborers were extracting sand from the river Jhelum in Lelhara village of Kakapora area when they found the Vishnu murti shaded in black and green in the river. They contacted the local police, who reached the spot and took the sculpture into their possession.
A Chaturvyuha Vishnu murti was recovered by some labourers during sand extraction from river Vitasta (Jhelum). The sculpture was taken under possession by Pulwama Police & later handed over to Directorate of Archives, Archaeology & Museums of J&K: Pulwama Police.@LostTemple7 pic.twitter.com/8kuoC51Aao
— Monidipa Bose – Dey (মণিদীপা) (@monidipadey) March 31, 2022
Mushtaq Ahmad, the Deputy Director of the Department of Archives, Archaeology, and Museums of Jammu and Kashmir said that the sculpture is a unique three-headed Vaishno of the ninth century. “It is a green stone sculpture which is very rare and its art is highly decorated. However, a few parts of the sculpture are missing,” Mushtaq added.
The recovered sculpture is a unique three-headed idol of Lord Vishnu and represents him as the supreme being. Reportedly, the frontal human face is that of ‘Vasudeva’, the right face is of a lion and is called ‘Samkarsana’, the left one boar is north facing and of ‘Aniruddha’. The small idol on Vishnu’s left is that of ‘Chakrapurusha’ which personifies his battle mace.
Ancients will rise again ?
— Kashmiri Hindu (@BattaKashmiri) March 31, 2022
Ancient Murti of Bhagwan Vishnu found in Vitasta river near Kakapora village in Kashmir. pic.twitter.com/FzyZH6lTmD
The sculpture is now housed in SPS Museum, Srinagar, for further studies, officials said.
It is pertinent to note that several ancient, Indian old sculptures have been recovered from various places in recent times. Last year in September 1200-year-old sculpture of Goddess Durga was found in Jammu and Kashmir by the local police. The sculpture was found from the Jhelum river in Budgam district’s Khan Sahib area as some laborers were mining sand from the river bed.
Also, in January this year, the 10th century goat-headed Yogini idol was recovered from a garden of a private residence in London and was handed over to the Archaeological Survey of India. The ancient idol had gone missing from a temple in Uttar Pradesh’s Lokhari village 40 years ago.
