Idol Found on Malpe Beach in Karnataka Sparks Debate Over Identity

Social media has been buzzing after a group of devotees from Bengaluru discovered an idol on Malpe beach while visiting Udupi for a religious programme. 

Videos circulating on Instagram claim that the devotees, reportedly associated with ISKCON, were touring various religious sites in the region when they noticed the idol partially submerged in the water at Malpe beach. The footage suggests that the group later took the idol back to



Bengaluru.

The idol is shown holding a chakra and shankha in its upper right and left hands, while the lower right hand is in abhaya mudra and the lower left holds a gada. 

Based on these features, several social media users identified it as an idol of Lord Krishna. However, historian T Murugeshi has challenged this claim, stating that the iconography more closely matches Vijaya, one of the Dwarapalakas (gatekeepers) of Lord Vishnu.