Colossal figure of Vishnu Narayana in the Ranganathaswami Temple at Sivasamudram- 1800

Watercolour drawing of the colossal figure of Vishnu Narayana in the Ranganathaswami Temple at Sivasamudram in Karnataka, from an album of 56 sheets of drawings (60 folios) mainly of miscellaneous architecture and sculpture in the Deccan and S. India, dated 1793-1806. Some drawings are by MacKenzie himself, others by his draftsmen, including C. Ignatio.

Sivasamudram on the Kauveri River, is a famous centre of Vaishnava worship. At this site the river forms two streams that plunge about 125 metres forming picturesque rapids. This drawing depicts a figure of Vishnu Anantasayin from the Ranganathaswami Temple. At the end of a cosmic cicle Vishnu is reclining on the cosmic serpent Shesa or Ananta, floating on the cosmic waters which symbolise the unmanifest reality. After a period of rest the process of creation starts again.

Source : British Library