Sudarshana Chakra

Vishnu's spinning discus. The Ramayana credits Vishvakarma with making it; the Puranas add that it was shaped from the radiance shaved off the sun so that Sanjna could bear her husband; Shaiva tradition says Shiva gave it to Vishnu at Kashi after the thousand-lotus offering. In South India it is worshipped as a deity in its own right, a development of the Nayak period with images and inscriptions from the 13th century onward.