Shaligram
fossilized shell, typically in the form of spherical, black-coloured Ammonoid fossils of the Devonian-Cretaceous period, used in Vaishnava Hinduism as aniconic representations of Vishnu, usually collected from river-beds or banks
A shaligram, or shaligrama shila (Devanagari: शालिग्राम शिला; IAST: Śāligrāma-śilā), is a fossilized stone or ammonite from the prehistoric Tethys sea, collected from the riverbed or banks of the Kali Gandaki, a tributary of the Gandaki River in Nepal and India. It is also considered a form of Vishnu within Hinduism. The Kali Gandaki River flows through sacred places such as Muktinath and Damodar Kunda, enhancing the spiritual significance of these shaligrams. There are numerous different types of shaligrams.
Legends
According to the Devi Bhagavata Purana, Brahmavaivarta Purana, and Shiva Purana, shilagrama shilas originated due to the following chain of events.
A king named Vrishadhvaja had been cursed by Surya to endure poverty, due to his reluctance to worship any deity other than Shiva. To regain their lost prosperity, his grandsons Dharmadhvaja and Kushadhvaja performed austerities to appease Lakshmi, the goddess of prosperity. Pleased with the austerities, she granted them prosperity and blessed them by being born as their respective daughters, Tulasi and Vedavati. Tulasi went to Badarikashrama to perform austerities as she desired Vishnu as her husband, but was told by Brahma that she would not get Vishnu as her husband in that life, and would have to marry the danava (demon) Shankhachuda.
In his previous birth, Shankhachuda was Shridhama, a supreme devotee of Krishna, an incarnation of Vishnu.
“Shaligram” enters the record as fossilized shell, typically in the form of spherical, black-coloured Ammonoid fossils of the Devonian-Cretaceous period, used in Vaishnava Hinduism as aniconic representations of Vishnu, usually collected from river-beds or banks. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Shaligram, fossilized and shell can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“Shaligram” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Shaligram, fossilized and shell provides the most credible route into that argument.
Maps, plans, fabric surveys and administrative records can establish how the site’s name, extent and function changed over time. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 22, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1916552. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference.
A single description cannot reconcile every naming convention, rebuilding phase or administrative transfer associated with a place. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
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Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
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Three-step research path
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Questions for further research
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This entry incorporates text from “Shaligram” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.