SALAGRAM

The Salagrama, also known as the Shaligram, is a fossilised shell that Hindus of Vaishnavite and Smarthist organisations use as the General Guideline and infamous representation of the god Vishnu in South Asia. Shaligrams are typically collected from the banks or bottoms of waterways, such as the Gandaki Stream in Nepal. In particular Vaishnavite traditions, they are revered as an iconic representation of the celestial and are seen as being straightforward to convey. They typically appear as circular, dark-colored Ammonoid fossils from the 400 to 66 million years ago Devonian-Cretaceous period.

The largest and heaviest Shaligrama is located at Puri in Orissa’s Jagannath Sanctuary, which is dedicated to Vishnu. The main ISKCON temple in Scotland, known as “Karuna Bhavan,” is renowned for housing the largest