The Development of Hindu Iconography c10.37.2

c10.37.2

Śivaḥ Skandaḥ Viśākha iti | kiṃ kāraṇam | Mauryairhiraṇyārthibhirarcāḥ prakalpitāḥ | bhavet tāsu na syāt | yāstvetāḥ sampratipūjārthāstāsu bhaviṣyati*. This passage is highly important, because it throws a flood of light on our problem. He mentions a few of the gods, viz., Śiva, Skanda, Viśākha whose images were being made for worship at his time (*sampratipūjārthā*); again, his assertion that the Mauryas devised the expedient of replenishing their royal coffer by the selling of images shows that images were in great demand among their subjects; lastly, it is significant that none of the three gods mentioned above can be described as Vedic in character. Such texts as the Arthaśāstra and the Manusaṃhitā also supply us some valuable data about the subject. Kauṭilya, in his chapter on Dūrganiveśa (Buildings within the Fort) says, ‘In the centre of the city, the apartments of gods, such as Aparājita, Apratihata, Jayanta, Vaijayanta, Śiva, Vaiśravaṇa, Aśvina, and the abode of Goddess Madirā shall be situated. In the corners, the guardian deities of the ground shall be appropriately set up.’¹ These are evident allusions to the shrines of the above-named gods, and it is presumable that the images of the latter were enshrined in them; an analysis of the names shows that only one among them (or possibly two, if Vaijayanta be taken to be a synonym of Indra), viz., Aśvi (the twin gods Aśvins) is distinctively Vedic in character.