This seated icon is Ramanuja who sits cross-legged on the lotus pedestal. His hands are joined together in the anjalimudra of obeissance to the God. He holds the dhvaja, flag of the Shri Vaishnava sect to which he belongs. The most obvious identification of this saint is the initiation marks etched on his shoulders representing the Vaishnava attributes, shanka (conch) and chakra (discus). His head is clean shaven while the forehead bears the "U" mark of Vaishnava namam. Images such as these would be worshipped in Shri Vaishnava temples all over south India. Ramanuja was a very important Tamil acharya (master) saint-philosopher and temple organizer of the Shri Vaishnava cult.
