Hosakote Krishna Sastri

“ The worship of the creative energy of God, interpreted by the sense-perception of man and represented by the symbols yōni and linga in union, has apparently been as old as man himself. Whatever may be the origin of linga-worship, there is no doubt that it has come to be recognized like the Vaishnavite Sāligrāma described above, a perfect symbol of the formless, all-pervading Divine Being, unlimited by time and space. The Skānda-Purāna says:—"The sky is the shaft and the earth its pedestal; all gods dwell in the linga ”

“ As such, his images do not, like those of the avatārs so far described, avatārs which were sudden outbursts of divine energy exhibit either the four arms of the gods or the distinguishing Vaishnavite symbols of conch, discus, club and lotus. Human in form, but god in essence, Rāma is always represented as a royal personage of bewitching beauty, well developed in body, having broad eyes, long arms, curly tresses, ornaments and auspicious marks that indicate high birth and noble character. ”

“ Vārāhī has the face of a sow, [10] is black in colour, has a big protruding belly and rides on a buffalo. [11] Māhēndrī (Indrānī) has a thousand eyes, like her consort Indra, is of pleasing appearance and of golden hue, and rides on an elephant. She has apparently also six arms and displays the symbols varada, noose and thunderbolt in her right arms and the abhaya, vessel and lotus in her left. Chāmundā [12] is black and fearful with protruding teeth, long tongue, erect hair, emaciated body, sunken red eyes and a withered belly. It is stated that she can change her appearance at will. ”

“ According to other Agamas the figure may have only four arms. It has a fierce face, knitted brows over its three eyes, and hair red like flames of fire, bristling erect on the head. The god holds in his right hand a trident pointing downwards and in the boon-giving palm of the left he also holds a skull (kapāla) . Sometimes the handle of the trident is lightly held by both the lower arms, which do not then show the varada and the abhaya postures. ”

“ The goddess Pārvatī, the consort of Siva, who receives all kinds of fanciful names and surnames according to local traditions, is also enshrined separately. Sometimes it is found that every important subordinate deity has a separate shrine for itself, smaller, of course, in size than the sanctum. ”

“ Pradyumna, which is mentioned among the twenty-four general names of Vishnu, occurs in the Sanskrit lexicon Amarakōsa as a synonym of the god Kāmadēva or Manmatha,who is recognized as a son of Krishna- Vishnu. His consort is ' Love ' (Rati) . This god of Love was reduced to ashes by Siva. His form that was thus destroyed is still alive but is visible only to Rati. The metaphysical meaning of the story is more or less clear- Rati and Manmatha are often found among the sculptures in a temple. ”

“ The Kārānagama describing a form of Siva called Vishāpaharamūrti, " the destroyer of poison " says that he has one face, three eyes, braided hair and four arms holding in the two upper the antelope and the axe. He is in the posture of drinking the poison which is held in the right lower hand. The left lower shows the boon-giving posture. On the left side of the god is the goddess with two arms. She shows an anxious countenance and holds the neck of Siva as if to prevent the poison from going down. ”

“ The serpent represents the embodiment of all that is vile and wicked in this world; the dance of Krishna represents the fight with evil and its final conquest by the Divine Spirit. Kāliya-Krishna is found only as a decorative figure in temples but not as the object of worship in the central shrine. As in the case of Bāla-Krishna, miniature figures of Kāliya-Krishna are often found among the images of worship in a Brāhmana's house. ”

“ In another mandapa at Mahābalipuram is a sculpture evidently of the same goddess with the lion and the deer, pairs of demi gods on the sides and devotees at the feet, one of whom is in the act of either cutting off his hair or his neck. The goddess has only four arms and stands on an ordinary pedestal but not on the buffalo's head (fig. 125) . At Sri-mushnam in the South Arcot district is an image of Durgā with eight arms showing almost the same symbols as those of the figure at Mahābalipuram described above, the only exception being that instead of the bell in one of the right ”

“ By her side stands the lion, her vehicle. The most famous of these milder deities, however, are Lalitā-
Tripura-
Sundarī and
Rājarājes-
VarīLalitā, Tripura-Sundarī and Rājarājesvarī (fig. 137) . All are highly beautiful and of dazzling brilliance. They have four hands each and hold the symbols : noose (or, fruit) , goad (or, conch) , sugarcane-bow (or, mirror) and five arrows (or, a lotus or a cup of collyrium) . Their worship is directly
connected with the mystic geometrical drawings known as chakras and pīthas. ”

“ The Kāsyapa-Silpa sets down that the image of Skanda may be made of two, four, six or twelve hands and may have either six faces or only one. The symbols generally are the sakti, arrow, sword, discus, noose, a bunch of peacock's feathers, shield, bow, plough, rosary and the postures abhaya and varada. When the image has two hands, the left hand holds a cock (kukkuta) and the right hand a sakti (the Tamil vēl) [77] Hēmādri speaks of him as wearing a red cloth and riding on a peacock. ”

“ VajraprastārinīVajraprastārinī [20] is stated to be seated on a lotus, in a boat of blood floating in an ocean of blood. The limbs of her body as well as her head are also bathed in blood.
SurāSurā, wine personified, is represented as a terrible unmarried goddess of eighteen arms and of three eyes. She is tall of form and is as dangerous as destructive fire. She is a terror to the demons and a blessing to angels. In plain language Umā herself is described to be the goddess of wine and Siva (her consort) to be the power of intoxication thereof. ”

“ His principal function is creation. Independent shrines dedicated to him are rather rare. Still, figures of this god are commonly found decorating one of the niches in the north wall of the central shrine in a Siva temple. Images of Brahmā may sometimes also be seen on pillars, ceilings or other parts of a temple; but the one point that deserves to be noted is that though often pictured the god is not worshipped [1] as the chief deity in a temple, like the two other members of the Triad, Vishnu and Siva. ”

“ In South India pictures of Krishna with a pot of butter under his left arm and eating out of a ball of it placed in the palm of his right hand are not uncommon. On either side of him are represented shepherd girls of Brindāvana. [13] This form of Krishna, though very often meditated upon and sung about even in nursery rhymes, is rarely worshipped as the chief figure in temples-a famous exception to this being Udipi in the South Canara district, where a big temple, richly endowed, is maintained for the worship of the god Bāla Bala-
Krishna.Krishna. ”

“ It is only up to this limit that foreigners are allowed to enter the temples by the orthodox Hindu.
In temples of any importance there will be a separate shrine for the goddess, but generally on a smaller scale than that of the chief deity. There are separate places for the kitchen where the offerings are prepared with scrupulous regard to ceremonial purity ”

“ Tradition has it that years ago a king from the north, called Simhavarman, came south on a pilgrimage. All this part of the country was then one huge forest. The king happened to bathe in a well, and immediately found himself transformed into a bright golden figure. ”

“ Lakshmī.Jyēshthā or Jyēshthā-Lakshmī, so called on account of her being supposed to be the elder sister of Lakshmī, [26] is a black goddess with hanging lips, stunted nose, pendant breasts and a big belly. She revels in blood. In one hand she holds a lotus made of iron while the other hand rests on her seat. But sometimes she is seen holding lotuses in both her hands. The legs of the goddess are stretched and hang down from the seat, in the so-called European fashion. ”

“ On rare and auspicious occasions, within this pond, are produced the Sāligrāma stones, which, after remaining for 1,000 years in water, become the abode of Vishnu, who then assuming the form of a brilliant little insect called vajrakita enters into them and bores a hole with his mouth, forming therein a discus (chakra) of numerous varieties. The stones are of many colours and sizes and are distinguished by these chakras to represent either Vāsudēva (white colour) , Hiranyagarbha (blue) , Pradyumna (red) , Vishnu (black) , Srī-Nārāyana (dark-green) , Narasimha (tawny) , or Vāmana (deep-blue) . ”

“ His symbols are the trident, sword, noose and the kettle-drum. He is naked and is represented as being followed by all kinds of demons and spirits and riding on a dog (fig. 97) . Hēmādri describes Bhairava as a pot-bellied god with round red eyes, terrible face, protruding teeth and wide nostrils. He wears a garland of skulls and ornaments of snakes, [57] thus frightening even his consort who stands by his side. The upper half of his body which is dark in colour is covered with the elephant's hide. He has many arms and holds all destructive weapons. ”

“ Rāmēsvaram.
are always presumed to be standing on a chakra imbedded in the earth and hence the worship is offered at the feet of the goddesses. In exceptional cases, however, as in the Kāmākshi-amman temple at Conjeeveram, the chakra is placed in front of the goddess. Bālā-Sakti, holding a book, rosary, goad and noose, is the presiding goddess of the six chakras as stated in the Silpasāra. ”

“ Some with braided hair and beautiful tilakas of kunkumam on their foreheads are as sharp as fire and hold bows, arrows, swords and shields of flames. They are the personifications of almost every beneficent activity in the universe and are engaged in putting down the Evil Principle. Lalitā is said to have fought and killed, with the aid of these deities, several demons named Bhandāsura, Sumbha, Nisumbha, Chanda-Munda and Mahishāsura. ”

“ The ornaments of Krishna in this picture are very sparing. They are the usual large ear-rings peculiar to the sculpture of the Pallava period, bracelets,armlets and the waist-band. The high crown on the head is also a noticeable feature. This representation differs, however, from the description given in the Silpasāra where the god is described as having one hand with flute resting on his waist and the other supporting the hill. ”

“ Saktis may be found depicted in temples in any one of the three aspects, the calm, the terrible or the ugly, as distinguished by the particular positions in which they are placed or the circumstances under which they are worshipped. When merely represented as the consorts of the gods they are mild and pleasing in appearance and have only two hands, in one of which is held the lotus bud. More often, however, the goddesses have independent existence. ”