Thread by @imBiswa_95

.What is Shaligram/Salagrama?

Salagrama or Shaligram refers to a fossilized shell used in South Asia as an iconic symbol and reminder of the God Vishnu.
Shaligrams are usually collected from river-beds or banks.(1/n)
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(2/n)They are considered easy to carry and popular in certain traditions of Vaishnavism, as an aniconic representation of the divine. They are typically in the form of spherical,black-coloured Ammonoid fossils which existed from 400 to 66 million yrs ago.
@AhmAsmiYodha

(3/n)worship can be traced to the time of Adi Sankara through the latter's works. Specifically, his commentary to the verse 1.6.1 in Taitritya Upanisad and his commentary to the verse 1.3.14 of the Brahma sutra suggest that the use of Saligrama in the worship of Vishnu.

(4/n)The largest and heaviest Shaligrama can be seen at the Jagannath Temple, dedicated to Vishnu, at Puri in Orissa. The main ISKCON temple in Scotland, called 'Karuna Bhavan' is famous for housing the largest number of Shaligram Shilas outside of India. @DharmikSonal

(5/n) It is believed that the floor of the anta griha(inner sanctum) where ratna sinhansana is there, the floor is fully packed of salagrama so no one must go inside that chamber stepping on the silas except the Bada panda( prime sevayat).
@govardhanmath

(6/n)Shaligrama which has the marks of a shankha, Chakra, gada and padma arranged in a particular order is worshiped. With the change in the order of the four symbols, the name of the Shaligrama stone is also different and the images of such deities also have similar setting.

(7/n)The various versions of the Saligrama Shilas or stones vis-a-vis the order of the four symbols are:-

Shanka, chakra, gada and padma – Keshava

Padma, gada, chakra, shanka – Narayana

Chakra, shanka, padma and gada –Madhava
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(8/n)
.Gada, padma, shanka and chakra – Govinda

Padma, shanka, chakra and gada – Vishnu

Shanka, padma, gada, chakra – Madusudhana

Gada, chakra, shanka and padma – Trivikrama

Chakra, gada, padma, shanka – Vamana

Chakra, padma, shanka, gada – Shridhara

@NileshOak

(9/n)
Padma, gada, shanka, charka – Hrishikesh

Padma, chakra, gada, shanka – Padmanabha

Shanka, chakra, gada, padma – Damodara

Chakra, shanka, gada, padma –Sankarshana

Shanka, chakra, padma, gada – Pradyumna

Gada, shanka, padma, charka – Aniruddha

@OGSaffron

(10/n)
Padma, shanka, gada, chakra – Purushottama

Gadha, shanka, chakra, padma – Adokshaja

Padma, gada, shanka, chakra – Narasimha

Padma, chakra, shanka, gada – Achyuta

Shanka, chakra, padma, gada – Janardana

Gada, padma, shanka, chakra – Upendra

@Sanjay_Dixit

(11/n)
Chakra, padma, gada and shanka – Hari

Gada, padma, chakra and shanka – Krishna

Shanka, chakra, padma, gada – Vasudeva
All 24 permutations of silas.
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