Indian Art: A History of Indian Art from the Earliest Times up to the Third Century A.D. c17.36

c17.36

The Kailāsa mountain representing the conception of Sumeru, the Mountain of Gold from which the world rivers take their flow and which was the abode of Devas, became the residence of Śiva as the god of the mountain (Giriśanta Deva); +snakes, taking the various aspects of Nāga iconography, which are now twisted in his matted locks and limbs of the body; +moon, an ancient cult (Candramaha) now worshipped as the dizit on Śiva’s head and also representing of tradition of Vedic Soma, the power of immortality and refregeration; + Gaṅgā, river of the immortal heaven flowing as the symbol of the eternal life impulse (Prāṇa) and movement (Gati) which inhabits the forest of Śiva’s matted locks; + the Nandī Bull, a prominent member of the cult of the four animals, making Śiva’s vehicle standing as the symbol of Kāma vanquished by him; +Triśūla, another version of Indra’s Vajra and standing for the three cities and three Guṇas.