[1] Historical records also indicate that the Nandodhbahav feudatory rulers, under the Bhaumakara kings, who were followers of Vaishnavism (the Hindu sect which worships Vishnu as the Supreme God), were instrumental in getting the carvings of two large rock-cut images of Vishnu - the one at Saranga and the other at Dankal, in the upper Brahmani River valley.

[6] The Bhaumakara kings asserted their association with Vaishnavism in the grants that they provided to carve the rock-cut sculptures and temples as recorded on the occasion of the celebrations of Vishuvazakranthi and Devtesvaduadasi.

[3] The image is of the Hindu god Vishnu in a reclining position (Anantashayana in Sanskrit, literally sleeping on the serpent Ananta).

[3] A lotus design shown sprouting from his navel has the creator god Brahma, sitting in meditation.

[2] The sculptor has imagined the river bank conceptually to represent the Kshirasagara (cosmic ocean) from which Brahma created the world.