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Anantashayi Vishnu, also known as Anantashayana Vishnu (both literally "sleeping on the serpent Ananta"), is a symbolic representation of the cosmic balance of finite within infinity. There are many rocks and other material sculptures and paintings of this cosmic visualization.

The image was carved during the first quarter of the 9th century CE when the Bhauma-Kara that ruled in central part of Orissa. It has been analysed on the basis of its "idiom and crown" and dated to belong to later part of the Bhaumakara reign. 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. 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.

It is also reported that the urge to create these carved sculptures with deep expressions of "vigour and vitality" was inspired from the expressions depicted in the rock cut temples at Ellora and Elephanta in Maharashtra, and Mahabalipuram temples in Tamil Nadu. 

Elevation : 61m

The Vishnu image, under the open sky, occupies an area measuring 15.4 meters (51 ft) in length and 7 meters (23 ft) in width with a thickness of 0.7 meters (2 ft 4 in). The image is of the Hindu god Vishnu in a reclining position (Anantashayana in Sanskrit, literally sleeping on the serpent Ananta). The image is carved out of the natural rock of sandstone formation. He has four arms, holding a Chakra in his upper right hand, a Shankha in his upper left hand, a Gada, and a symbolic lotus in his lower left hand. The hoods of the serpent Shesha (Ananta) covering the head of Vishnu. The Vishnu image has a sharp chin, distinctive nose and wears a crown on its head, called kiritamukuta (a tall conical crown, typically worn by Vishnu). A lotus design shown sprouting from his navel has the creator god Brahma, sitting in meditation.

 Another image in the same district also carved in sandstone in a reclining posture is in Khamkanaga Subdivision, in Angul district of 41.5 feet (12.6 m) length (as against the length of 15.4 meters (51 ft) image in Saranga village. The sculptor has imagined the river bank conceptually to represent the Kshirasagara (cosmic ocean) from which Brahma created the world. The shrine is regularly worshipped by local people. The Archaeological Survey of India is renovating this sculpture regularly and has kept it in a good condition. Floods in Brahmani River is the only threat to the image as this is built by sandstone in the river bed, which could erode.