Vishnudham Mandir, Siwan

Vishnudham Mandir lies where the villages of Bherwania and Sadiha meet, in Siwan district, Bihar. Its building is recent, though its main image is not: in 1998 a carpenter came across an idol of Vishnu beneath a tree, and villagers and local authorities then raised a temple in the Dravidian style to house it.

The idol, placed in the garbhagriha, belongs to the Gupta period and is one of the largest images of Vishnu in North India. Of black granite, it is 7.5 feet (2.3 m) in length and 3.5 feet (1.1 m) in width. Its four arms hold a sankh, chakra, gada and lotus, and a male and a female figure appear below the left and right arms. An idol of Laxmi turned up at the same spot but was stolen.