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The Development of Hindu Iconography c19: Chapter XII: Miscellaneous and Syncretistic Icons

The Development of Hindu Iconography c19

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Chapter XII: Miscellaneous and Syncretistic Icons

Brahmā

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To the first member of the orthodox Brahmanical triad, Brahmā, is assigned the act of creation in Hindu mythology. His position in the pantheon is, however, inferior to that of any of the principal cult deities like Viṣṇu, Sūrya, Śiva and Durgā, nay, even Gaṇapati. The very act of creating this universe and peopling it, which is supposed to have been his main duty, is primarily attributed by the followers of these cults to the respective divinities of their choice. The picture that we get of Brahmā from the Purāṇas, or sections of them associated with one or other of these cults, is usually an inane and helpless god, having very little practical initiative of his own. The initiative almost invariably rests with the principal cult deities, Brahmā being at best represented in the role of a mediator with the more important among them on behalf of other deities and persons of lesser importance approaching him for help and advice in times of distress and danger.

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Such was, however, not his position, when the concrete concept about him and gods allied to him began to take shape and develop in some of the late Vedic texts. Many sections of this literature contain passages about creation, and the creator is described there by various names like Viśvakarman, Brahmaṇaspati, Hiraṇyagarbha, Prajāpati, Brahma and Brahmā. Viśvakarman is characterised in the 81st and 82nd hymns of the tenth maṇḍala of the Ṛgveda; in the first of them he is described as the one god who has produced the sky and earth and shaped them with his hands (Saṃ bāhubhyāṃ dhamati saṃ patatrair dyāvā-bhūmiṃ janayan devaḥ ekaḥ). Brahmaṇaspati, another god of allied nature, is said to have shaped all these (created things) like a blacksmith (R.V., X. 72, 2: Brahmaṇaspatir-eta saṃ karmāraḥ ivādhamat). Hiraṇyagarbha is assumed to have been the first to be born, and is said to have established the earth and the sky in their proper position (ibid., X. 121, 1). In the last verse of the same hymn Prajāpati is described as the lord of all the created beings. In the Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa (XI. 2, 3, 1) Brahma (neuter) is said to have existed alone in the beginning and to have been the creator of the gods and the original source of all things. Another passage of the same text (X. 6, 5, 9), tells us that Prajāpati originated from Brahma who is self-existent (Prajāpatir-Brahmaṇaḥ, Brahma svayambhū). Both these gods along with Puruṣa Nārāyaṇa are described in the different sections of this Brāhmaṇa as having sacrificed themselves for acquiring superiority over gods, men and all created things. Prajāpati is also the supporter (bharataḥ) of this universe, a function invariably assigned to Viṣṇu in the epic and Purāṇic literature. The same god is also identified in some passages with the presiding deity of sacrifice with which Viṣṇu is also identified in one passage of the Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa (III. 2, 2, 4; XIV. 1, 1, 6). The more concrete concept of Brahmā took some time to develop and one of the earliest allusions to this god is to be found in the first verse of the Muṇḍaka Upaniṣad. He is described there as the first of the gods, who was the creator of the universe and the preserver of the world (Brahmā devānāṃ prathamaḥ sambabhūva viśvasya kartā bhuvanasya goptā). Lastly, we find in the first canto of the Manusamhitā how the irresistible self-existent (svayambhū) Lord was born in the golden egg (haimam aṇḍam) as Brahmā, the progenitor of all the worlds (tasmin jajñe svayaṃ Brahmā sarvalokapitāmahaḥ). It is also interesting to note that the appellation Nārāyaṇa is applied in this context to Brahmā and not to Viṣṇu. There is no doubt that this part of the great Smṛti text is based on passages of the much older texts like the Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa and others in which it is said how Prajāpati assumed the forms of fish, tortoise and boar for the attainment of particular ends.

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The concept of the concrete god Brahmā, also known by such names as Prajāpati, Dhātā, Vidhātā, Pitāmaha, etc., was further developed in the epic literature, though it does not necessarily mean that his position *vis-à-vis* that of the other great cult gods was made more prominent.¹ But it is at the same time apparent that he was enjoying some importance in the period during which the earlier sections of the epics were composed. The various mythologies associated with him there invest him with some power which he undoubtedly inherited from his late Vedic and Brahmanic prototypes. He is regarded as the creator, preserver and destroyer, all at the same time, and it is in the later sections of the two epics that his position is gradually weakened and his honours and activities become more or less of a titular character. One of the causes of this gradual decline may be traced to the fundamental weakness of his character, which led him to be equally susceptible to the ascetic practices not only of the gods, but also of the demons who on many occasions bring disaster to the universe with the power acquired by propitiating Brahmā by the practice of severe austerities. In fact, the epic and Purāṇic tales about the great cult gods Viṣṇu and Śiva exerting themselves to set matters right on these occasions emphasise in a way the greatness of these gods in comparison with that of Brahmā. The latter now gets subservient to them; he is born from the lotus issuing forth from Viṣṇu's navel, he worships the horse-headed form of Viṣṇu and receives the law from him, and he becomes the demiurge of the great cult god. In some epic passages Śiva is described as creating the creator, Brahmā praises the greatness of Śiva, and reveals to Indra the great power of Mahādeva. The Mandasor Stone Inscription of Yaśodharman Viṣṇuvardhana of the Mālava Samvat 589 (A.D. 533-34) refers, it is true, to Brahmā as creator, preserver and destroyer, but in all these acts Svayambhū is employed by Śambhu (Śiva) and is obedient to Śiva's commands, and Śiva is described in the same context as *bhavasṛj*, i.e., ‘the creator of the universe’ (C.I.I., III, p. 152-55). Thus, Brahmā is merely a figurehead in these matters. This decline in Brahmā's position is persistent, and some of the Purāṇas take advantage of many of the vaguely allegorical, deprecatory myths associated with Prajāpati in the later Vedic texts and the Brāhmaṇas, and cast all sorts of opprobrium on him.¹ One of the early Purāṇas, the Mārkaṇḍeya, paints him as helpless to defend himself from the demons Madhu and Kaiṭabha, from whose clutches he is saved by Viṣṇu's timely intervention.

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¹ The following are some of the names of Brahmā collected by Hopkins from the two epics :-Viśveśa, Sraṣṭṛ, Lokaguru, Lokavṛddha, Suraguru (a confusion with Bṛhaspati, the preceptor of the gods), Lokabhāvana, Lokeśvareśvara, Lokādinidhaneśvara, Ādideva, Bhūtātman, etc.; *Epic Mythology*, p. 192.

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¹ The myth of Brahmā's incestuous love for his own daughter as noticed in the Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa (I. 7, 4, 1ff.) can be traced to the Ṛgveda passage (X. 61, 4) which seems to refer to some atmospheric phenomenon; this story is further elaborated in the Matsya, Bhāgavata and other Purāṇas to the detriment of this god. Brahmā's passion for telling lies is to be noted in the sectarian story explaining the Liṅgodbhavamūrti of Śiva whose Bhairava form is sometimes described as Brahmāśiraśchedakamūrti (the form in which he cut off one of the superfluous heads of Brahmā).

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Brahmā appears to have enjoyed no success as a cult god. It is true that he illustrates in a way an aspect of Vedism, one of the constituent elements of the composite Hinduism of the epic and Purāṇic times, but if any attempt was ever made by an orthodox Vedic section of the Hindus to formulate his cult in imitation of those of Viṣṇu and Śiva, it was destined to failure. Reference has already been made in a previous chapter of this book (Ch. VI, p. 230) to Varāhamihira's injunction that Brahmā's images could only be installed by those who were well-versed in the Vedic lore (*Viprān vidur-Brāhmaṇaḥ*). The analogous references by the same author to the Bhāgavatas, the Pāśupatas, the Magas, etc., being only entitled to instal the images of Viṣṇu, Śiva and Sūrya, may suggest that these persons, ‘well-versed in the Vedas’, were the exclusive worshippers of Brahmā. But if there were such a sect at all, they did not enjoy any great importance. This hypothesis is substantiated by the Purāṇic stories connected with such Śaiva icons as the Liṅgodbhavamūrti; Brahmā was cursed by Śiva for telling a lie not to have any cult of his own. Separate temples enshrining Brahmā are very few and far between, and mention may be made here of the early mediaeval and later Brahmā shrines found at Dudahi and Khajuraho (Madhya Bharat), Vasantgaḍh (Rajputana), Unkal (near Hubli, Dharwar district), and Kheḍ Brahmā (Mahi Kantha). The Dudahi temple was well-built having many artistic carvings;

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the presence of a three-headed figure of the bearded Brahmā with his swan mount on the centre of the sanctum doorway and the evidence of an inscription found there recording that the writer paid his adoration to Caturmukha (an appellation of Brahmā) and his wife Sāvitrī, led Cunningham to ascribe this shrine to Brahmā with certainty (A.S.R., Vol. X, pp. 93-4, Pl. XXXI). A small square temple of the god was noticed by the same scholar at Khajuraho, which he thought to have been the oldest of the extant shrines at the place (Ibid., Vol. XXI, p. 57). The Vasantgaḍh (Rajputana) brick temple of the god is as old as the 7th century A.D., which faces east and has a standing life-size image of Brahmā with three faces and a nimbus behind him; the figure is two-armed, the hands holding an akṣamālā and kamaṇḍalu. The interest attaching to the temple of the god at Kheḍ Brahmā (Idar, Mahi Kantha) is great, for it was still functioning in 1906-07, when it was visited by Henry Cousens. Cousens writes that there is a community of Brahmans at the place who have been there for generations, who devote themselves exclusively to the worship of Brahmā; they are Audīcya Brahmans (Brahmans of the north), are followers of the Śukla Yajurveda, and are entrusted with the ritual worship of the shrine deity.

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Another interesting feature of this Brahmā temple is its three Pārśvadevatās which are three images of Brahmā (or three aspects of the god), one placed on each of the three principal niche of the temple. Brahmā on the western niche has the usual symbols in his hands (sruk, pustaka, akṣamālā and kamaṇḍalu), but he has a bull (Nandin) as his mount; a similar figure on the northern face has a horse below him, and the small figure with wings beneath another similar figure on the south side may be Garuḍa. These traits of the Pārśvadevatās would appear to associate Brahmā with Śiva, Sūrya and Viṣṇu, for the mounts are connected with the latter. An interesting exhibit in the collection of the Indian Museum, Calcutta (No. Gr. 18), may be noted in this connection. It is a carved door-lintel in stone (hornblende schist) from Gauḍ, District Malda (Bengal), showing the figure of standing Brahmā, three-faced and four-armed, flanked by his two consorts, Sarasvatī and Sāvitrī, and other attendants dancing and playing on musical instruments. The figure of Brahmā in the centre of the composition proves that the small shrine, over the doorway of which the slab rested, was dedicated to this god. Its size can be guessed from that of the carved lintel which measures 5′ 10″ × 1′ 8″. It is very likely that it originally belonged to a Pañcāyatana temple of about the middle of the tenth century A.D., in which the shrine of Brahmā was a subsidiary one.

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Another temple of Brahmā, that is still functioning, is at Pushkar near Ajmer; the big temple there is linked up with the shrine of his consort Sāvitrī on a hill about a mile distant from it. This sacred Tīrtha is frequented by Hindus of different cult affiliations, and its existence does not necessarily mean the existence of any Brahmā cult there in modern times. The present shrine of the god at the place is not more than 160 years old, for Tod writes in 1806-07 that it was built about four years ago; but it was built on the site of older religious establishments. The temple priests, however, belong to the community of Puri Gosains unlike those at Khed Brahmā.¹ Pushkara is a very old Tīrtha; reference is made to it in the Nasik inscription of Uṣabhadāta, Nahapāna’s son-in-law, but there is no clear proof whether it was associated with Brahmā worship at that early age.²

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¹ For the Vasantgaḍh Brahmā temple, see *Progress Report of the Archaeological Survey of India, Western Circle*, 1905-06, p. 50. For the Khed Brahmā shrine, see *A.S.I.A.R.*, 1906-07, pp. 176-77.

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² T. P. Bhattacharya has recently published two articles on ‘The Cult of Brahmā’ (*J.B.R.S.*, Vol. XL, pp. 364-94, and Vol. XLI, pp. 13-58). He tries to prove in them that 'the Brahmā cult is non-Vedic and pre-Vedic', and he infers 'the antiquity of the Rātra cults of Brahmā from their existence in the period when the ancient Sumerians, Cretans and Egyptians lived on this world'.

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One of the earliest iconographic descriptions of the god is to be found in the *Bṛhatsaṃhitā* (Ch. 57, v. 41). The passage says that the four-faced god holds a ritual water-vessel (*kamaṇḍalu*) in one of his hands and is seated on a lotus (*Brahmā kamaṇḍalukaraścaturmukhaḥ paṅkajāsanasthaśca.*) In this summary description, there is no reference to the number of hands, and the attribute of one of these only is mentioned; the lotus-seat is there, but the god’s swan mount is not. In the line quoted by Utpala from Kāśyapa in the last part of his commentary on this chapter, Brahmā is described as four-faced having a staff, the hide of a black antelope and a ritual water-vessel (*Brahmā caturmukho daṇḍī kṛṣṇājinakamaṇḍalī, Bṛhatsaṃhitā*, Dvivedi’s edition, p. 785). This account seems to emphasise the character of the god as a Brahmacārin wearing a black antelope skin as his upper garment, his two hands holding a staff and a ritual water-vessel. If we compare these somewhat sketchy descriptions of a presumably earlier date with texts about Brahmā images quoted by Rao from *Aṃśumadbhedāgama, Suprabhedāgama, Śilparatna, Viṣṇupurāṇa*, and *Rūpamaṇḍana*, we can at once see the great elaboration that has taken place in the iconic representation of the god. The following are some of the additional details : his hands are invariably four in number, the attributes in them being a rosary, sruk, sruva (sacrificial implements), the Vedas etc. ; he rides on a swan or on a chariot drawn by seven swans (this is evidently adopted from the seven-horsed chariot of Sūrya) ; having Sāvitrī on his left and Sarasvatī on his right side, he wears white garments, *jaṭāmukuṭa*, jewelled ear-rings, is white in colour, etc. Yet it is curious that in none of these elaborate accounts there is an explicit reference to his face or faces being bearded, though the Ṛṣis who accompany him in a Brahmāyatana (? a Brahmā shrine) are described as bearded (*śmaśrula*, Rao, *op. cit.*, Vol. II, App. B. pp. 243-47). It is true, however, that all the later images of Brahmā have bearded faces, most of the earlier ones being shown without this trait. The evidence of the Navagraha reliefs on the Bhauma-Kara and Gaṅga shrines at Bhuvanesvara (Orissa) should be cited in this connection. The two spiritual preceptors of the Devas and Daityas, Bṛhaspati and Śukra, are shown invariably without beards in the earlier shrines of the Bahuma-Kara period there, while the same Deva- and Daitya-gurus in the later Gaṅga shrines have always been endowed with beards and moustaches (*cf. supra*, p. 444).¹

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¹ K. D. Bajpai refers to some Brahmā figures of the third-fourth centuries A.D. in the collection of the Mathura Museum, which have four or three bearded faces (in the case of the four-faced one where three faces are shown in one line and the fourth face is placed over the central face, the fourth super-imposed face does not show any beard); *Baroda State Museum Bulletin*, No. 5, p. 18.

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Some of the earliest representations of Brahmā are found in the Buddhist reliefs of Gandhāra; his figure is used there either in the Nativity scene of Buddha or as one of Buddha's acolytes. He is invariably shown in them as having profuse dishevelled hair, beard and moustache, being dressed in the garments of a Brahman, one of his two hands holding a water-vessel. Such figures are, however, not hieratic, for they are presented from the unorthodox Buddhist point of view. The later Jaina representations of Brahmā, either as a Yakṣa attendant of the Jina Śītalanātha or as one of the Dikpālas are endowed with a great deal of hieratism, even perhaps more pronounced than in their originals in the Brahmanical pantheon. The earliest ones of these originals are mostly two-armed and three- or four-faced, the faces being usually shown without a beard; the four-armed images are, as a class, of a later period. The stone image of Brahmā in the collection of the Mathura Museum (No. 382) shows the four-faced god with faces arranged in a peculiar manner. Three of them are put in one line, the fourth one being placed over the central head; none of the faces, however, is shown bearded (the figure is of the Kushan period).² The standing Brahmā image of the Gupta period in the same Museum (No. 2481) shows him three-faced, its middle face only being bearded; the god is two-armed, the right hand being in the *abhaya* pose.

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An image of the god belonging to the early Chālukya period hailing from Aihole is illustrated by Rao. The god is seated astride on the back of his swan mount (an unusual sitting posture) his four hands holding a rosary, a manuscript and two other indistinct objects; he is surrounded by a number of Ṛṣis in bowing and praising poses, who are all shown bearded (Rao, *op. cit.*, Vol. II, p. 506, Pl. CXLIV). The other Brahmā relief from the same place illustrated by him shows some variations; the three beardless faces are there, but the god is seated in *lalitāsana* on a lotus-seat, and his four hands show a rosary, a noose, a water-vessel and *varamudrā* (ibid, Pl. CXLVI). The Kumbakonam and Halebidu reliefs of Brahmā of the early Chola and late Hoysala schools, reproduced by Rao (ibid, Pl. CXLVII) are *Sthānakamūrtis* of the god, the latter showing his two consorts, Sāvitrī and Sarasvatī; but the faces of the god have no beards. One of the most remarkable and earliest figures of the god is the metal image found at Mirpur Khas in Sindh (it is now in the Karachi Museum). It is of great iconographic interest, for it does not correspond to the usual mode of representation of the deity. As the image is fully in the round, all four beardless faces of the god are shown;

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it is two-armed, the right hand being bent with the palm turned inwards as if holding a book (this pose is not described in the texts), the left hand holding probably a water-vessel (it is broken, its handle only being shown). Clad in diaphanously treated garments, and probably wearing a deer skin in the *upavītī* fashion, this bronze figure of the god presents to us a fine specimen of the Indian metallurgists' art of the late Gupta or early mediaeval period (Pl. XLV, Fig. 3). Brahmā in the lintel piece from Gauḍ (Malda) previously noted has three beardless faces, the left hands carrying a water-vessel and a sacrificial ladle, the two right ones being broken; both Sarasvatī and Sāvitrī are four-armed, the former showing *varamudrā*, *akṣamālā*, *vīṇā* and *kamaṇḍalu* in her four hands, while the latter holds *caurī*, *akṣamālā* and *pustaka* by three of her hands, the lower left one being in the *kaṭihasta* pose. An elaborately carved image of Brahmā seated on a *viśvapadma* in the *lalitākṣepa* pose in the Rajshahi Museum collection is interesting. Though it is of the late mediaeval period, the carving is not indifferent, and such details as the pot-bellied character of the god, the two-armed standing female attendants holding *caurī* in their hands, the swan mount, the donor couple, the garland-bearing flying Vidyādharas, etc. are all systematically displayed (*DHB*, Vol. I, p. 439, Pl. V, Fig. 15).

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² K. D. Bajpai, *Ibid.*, p. 18.

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Many of the images of Brahmā that have been just discussed are of a subsidiary character, having been used either as *Āvaraṇadevatās* or as accessory figures in the shrines of the major cult deities. His figure also appears in ‘relief compositions’ associated with Vaiṣṇavism and Śaivism, some of which have already been noted. The god is seated on a lotus, the stalk of which issues from Nārāyaṇa-Viṣṇu’s navel, in the Anantaśayana reliefs; in the Liṅgodbhavamūrtis of Śiva, Brahmā is shown first as soaring upwards along the side of a ‘columnar Śivaliṅga’, and then as standing by its side with his front hands in the *namaskāra mudrā*; in the Tripurāntakamūrti of Śiva, he is shown as the charioteer of the great god, and in Śiva’s Kalyāṇasundaramūrti, Brahmā is shown as the officiating priest in the marriage ceremony of Śiva and Umā. In the Ekapāda-Trimūrti of Śiva or its Vaiṣṇava counterpart, Śiva or Viṣṇu occupies the central position, Brahmā being invariably shown as a lateral accretion in the attitude of bowing to the central deity.

Aṣṭadikpālas

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The Hindu concept about the Dikpālas or Lokapālas, the guardians of the quarters or the worlds, is very old. In the well-developed Purāṇic mythology the names of the deities, and those of the major and subsidiary quarters over which they had their respective jurisdiction, are the following:—Indra is the lord of the east, Yama of the south, Varuṇa of the west and Kubera of the north; Agni, Nirṛti, Vāyu and Īśāna are the respective guardians of the south-east, south-west, north-west and north-east. We do not, however, find this stereotyping in far earlier texts, where there is a great variety in the enumeration of the protectors of the various quarters or the worlds. Early Buddhist and Jaina texts also differ from one another in their characterisation of this group of divinities. Sūrya, Candra, Vāyu, Agni, Yama, Varuṇa, Indra and Kubera, the eight great Devas of the early epic literature, are grouped in some later texts as the guardians of the four chief and four minor quarters, or simply as ‘Lokapālas’. Thus, Manu tells us that ‘a king embodies in his self all the eight Lokapālas, Soma (Candra), Agni, Arka (Sūrya), Anila (Vāyu), Indra, Vittapati (Kubera), Āpapati (Varuṇa) and Yama’.¹ The first list, which is later in point of date, differs from the second one in substituting Nirṛti and Īśāna for Sūrya and Candra in the latter.

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The number, the names and associations of these Dikpālas or Lokapālas are not always constant in the epic literature, and it appears that their regular number was at first four. It is expressly laid down in the Mahābhārata (VIII. 45. 31 f.) that ‘the gods living in the East have Agni as their leader; Yama of noble deeds guards the Pitṛs (manes) in the South; the West is guarded by Varuṇa who also guards other gods; the North is guarded by Bhagavat Soma and the priests’. Hopkins correctly observes that ‘the grouping of Agni, Yama, Varuṇa and Indra seems older than when Kubera is substituted for Agni’.² Four Lokapālas are recognised in the Rāmāyaṇa, and Indra, Yama, Varuṇa and Kubera, respectively imparting greatness, restraint, beauty and wealth to the ideal first king, are the respective guardians of the eastern, southern, western and northern quarters. A comparison may be made of the epic and Purāṇic lists of these gods with the names of the regents of the quarters as given in the later Vedic texts.

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The Gobhila Gṛhyasūtra, while describing the rites connected with the building of a house (vāstuśamana), mentions that ‘ten offerings (bali) are to be made to the regents of the ten regions (diśas)—namely, to Indra (E.), Vāyu (S.E.), Yama (S.), Pitaras (S.W.), Varuṇa (W.), Mahārāja (N.W.), Soma (N.), Mahendra (N.E.), Vāsuki (downwards), and Brahmā (upwards in the sky, i.e., throwing the bali into the air)’.¹ The Atharvaveda, however, enumerates only six quarters (four major ones, the two other ones being the ‘fixed quarter’ and the ‘upward quarter’), and associates with each particular groups of divinities as ‘regents’ and ‘wardens’ (adhipati and rakṣitā). The gods—Agni, Indra, Varuṇa, Soma, Viṣṇu and Bṛhaspati—are the respective regents of the eastern, southern, western, northern, fixed and upward quarters, while the Nāgas—Asita, Tiraścīrāji, Pṛḍāku, Svaja, Kalmāsagrīva and Śvitra—are the wardens of these quarters respectively.² The Kṛṣṇa Yajurveda (Taittirīya Saṃhitā, V. 5-10) also mentions the six quarters with their six regents and wardens, the names of which are the same as quoted from the Atharvaveda; there is, however, a little difference, Viṣṇu being substituted by Yama as the regent of the fixed quarter in this list. There is no doubt that the concept about the fixed group of four or eight Lokapālas (Dikpālas) of later Hindu mythology originated from these later Saṃhitā texts.

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In Buddhist mythology too we find a group of four divine beings associated with the four principal quarters, and the Sanskrit Buddhist texts give us a stereotyped list of four; they are Dhṛtarāṣṭra, the Gandharva king (east), Virūḍhaka, the king of the Kumbhāṇḍas (south), Virūpākṣa, the Nāga monarch (west) and Vaiśravaṇa, the Yakṣa king (north). They are the Catur-Mahārājas of some Buddhist texts, and Pāṇini seems to have had them in his mind when he referred to their bhaktas in one of his sūtras (cf. supra, p. 85). The Jaina literature refers to a group of the Dikpālas, most of whose names and associations being similar to the stereotyped list of the later Hindu mythological texts.¹

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¹ Manusmṛti, v. 96: Somāgnyarkānilendrānāṁ vittāpapatyoryamasya ca || Aṣṭānāṁ lokapālānāṁ vapurdhārayate nṛpaḥ ||

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² Epic Mythology, p. 149.

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¹ Gobhila Gṛhyasūtra, xiv iv. 7, 37-41 (S.B.E., Vol. XXX, p. 123); cf. also Vogel, Indian Serpent-Lore, p. 198. The Sāmavidhāna Brāhmaṇa mentions the same thing in connection with its description of the Vāstupraśamana ceremony (iii. 3, 5).

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² Atharvaveda Saṃhitā, English Translation by W. D. Whitney, First Half, pp. 133-34.

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¹ They are Indra (east), Agni (south-east), Yama (south), Nairita (south-west), Varuṇa (west), Vāyu (north-west), Kubera (north), Īśāna (north-east), Brahmā (upper region) and Nāga (nether region). In this Śvetāmbara list of the Dikpālas, Brahmā and Nāga are additional ones, the Digambaras leaving them out in their list, and accepting the stereotyped list of the later Hindu mythology; B. C. Bhattacharya, Jaina Iconography, pp. 147-57.

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Rao, in connection with his description of the images of the Dikpālas wrongly observes that ‘all these eight deities held prominent positions in the Vedic period’ (op. cit., Vol. II, p. 515). Two at least among them, Kubera and Īśāna, did not do so, and it has already been pointed out by the present writer that even Patañjali knew Śiva and Vaiśravaṇa (Īśāna and Kubera) as laukika devatās or folk gods (cf. supra, p. 338). The six others are all Vedic deities, some among them being more important than the others. Indra was originally the most prominent of all the Vedic gods, and now in this context he had to be satisfied with the much more modest position of the guardian of the eastern quarter. Indra had really no cult of his own in the proper sense of the term, but the orthodox section of the Indian people undoubtedly paid their homage to him. In the story of the uplifting of the Govardhana mountain by Kṛṣṇa, the worship of Indra by the upper classes of the Indians is alluded to, but this does not necessarily mean that he had his exclusive worshippers. Annual festivals in honour of Indra were sometimes in vogue, and Rao refers to such festivals in Southern India in the early mediaeval period. The Silappadigaram (c. 8th century A.D.) states that Indra festival beginning on the Vaiśākhī Pūrṇimā was continued for 28 days at Kāvirippumpaṭṭinam, the metropolis of the Choḷas. Some details about the manner of celebrating such a festival are recorded in an inscription of Parantaka Chola I (Rao, *op. cit.*, Vol. II, p. 518). The homage that was paid to him, however, was mostly in his capacity as a Dikpāla, and his images were chiefly meant to be placed in a particular part of the shrines of the principal cult deities. Varāhamihira describes his figure in this manner: ‘The elephant (mount) of Mahendra (Indra) is white and has four tusks; (the god) has a thunderbolt in his hand, and has as his cognisance the third eye placed horizontally on his forehead’.¹ The Viṣṇudharmottara gives us an elaborate description of the four-armed Śakra (Indra) in which are not only mentioned his third eye and the four-tusked elephant mount, but is also mentioned his four-armed consort Śacī seated on his lap; the symbolism underlying all his other iconographic traits are also elaborated there (Bk. II, ch. 50, vv. 1-13). The Amśumadbhedāgama and a few other south-Indian texts describe the image of Indra in more or less identical terms, the god being two-armed, his hands carrying either śakti and aṅkuśa, or, vajra and aṅkuśa (or a nīlotpala); he has usually two eyes, but some enjoin that he should be shown as four-armed and three-eyed, the third eye placed horizontally on the forehead.

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¹ Bṛhatsaṃhitā, Ch. 57, v. 42: *Śuklaścaturviṣāṇo dvipo Mahendrasya vajrapāṇitvam | Tiryaglalāṭasaṃsthaṃ tṛtīyamapi locanaṃ cihnam ||*

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Some of the earliest representations of Śakra or Indra are to be found in the Buddhist relief compositions of Gandhāra and Mathura. He and Brahmā are the two acolytes of Buddha, and his iconography has some fixed character in these reliefs. His so-called ‘basket-like’ head-dress is nothing but an alien adaptation of the kirīṭa, and vajra is one of his constant emblems there. In the red sandstone relief from Mathura illustrating the scene of the visit of Indra to Buddha residing in the Indraśālaguhā, the god is accompanied by his mount, the elephant Airāvata. Some of the stone reliefs in the Paharpur basement illustrate a few of the Dikpālas, and one of them shows two-armed Indra standing, facing east, before his mount, holding an indistinct object (? a citrus) in his left hand, his right hand being in the varada pose; he has a jewelled kirīṭamukuṭa on his head with a halo behind it and the horizontally placed third eye on the forehead (K. N. Dikshit, *Paharpur*, p. 46, Pl. XXVIId). The four-armed figure of Indra seated astride on the back of his elephant from the Chidambaram temple has its front hands in the *varada* and *abhaya* poses, the back ones carrying the *aṅkuśa* and *vajra* (Rao, *op. cit.*, Vol. II, p. 520, Pl. CL).

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Agni, the lord of the south-eastern quarter is not described in the *Bṛhatsaṃhitā*. The *Viṣṇudharmottara* gives us an elaborate and characteristic description of the god, in which he is bearded, four-armed, four-tusked, three-eyed, riding a chariot with smoke standard drawn by four parrots and driven by wind, having his consort Svāhā on his left lap, holding flames, trident and rosary in his hands. (Bk. III, Ch. 56, vv. 1-10). The *Mahābhārata* describes him as having seven red tongues (*saptajihva*), with smoke for his standard and head-gear, holding a flaming spear, riding on a chariot drawn by seven red horses, the winds being the wheels of his chariot; the god has seven faces, a huge mouth, red neck, tawny eyes, bright gleaming hair and golden steed (*Epic Mythology*, p. 97; these descriptions of Agni are collected by Hopkins from the various sections of the Great Epic). The Āgamas characterise the god as having four arms, three eyes, red *jaṭās*, with the front hands showing *varada* and *abhaya* poses, the back ones holding *sruk* and *śakti*. The figure of Agni (of the mediaeval period) reproduced here (Pl. XLV, Fig. 4) does not correspond to any of the descriptions just quoted. It shows the pot-bellied two-armed god seated on the back of his mount (a ram or a goat) in the *paryaṅkāsana* (so-called ‘European fashion’) holding a rosary in his right hand and a water-vessel in his left; he has beard, an angry stare, long waving flames emanating from his body, sacred thread and a few ornaments. The Paharpur basement figure of Agni of an earlier date shows the two-armed god standing holding a rosary and a water-vessel in his two hands; flames issue forth from his sides, but his mount is not shown (K. N. Dikshit, *ibid.*, p. 48, Pl. XXXII, Fig. b). The figure of Agni from the Śiva temple at Kandiyur (Travancore) described and illustrated by Rao (ibid., p. 524, Pl. CLII) is very interesting. The god has two goat-heads (according to some Purāṇic texts, Agni has a goat as his mount) seven arms and three legs. It has some affinity with the Chidambaram sculpture described as Agni by Rao; but in it the god stands in front of a bull (ibid., Pl. CLIII, Fig. 2). It has, however, been pointed out by the present writer, that the Chidambaram figure may really represent Yajñapuruṣa, one of the minor manifestations of Viṣṇu (J.I.S.O.A., Vol. XIV, pp. 46-7).

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Yama, the guardian of the south, is described in the Bṛhatsaṃhitā simply as ‘having a staff in his hand and riding on a buffalo’ (daṇḍī Yamo mahiṣago; Ch. 57, v. 57). The Viṣṇudharmottara gives us an elaborate description of the four-armed god seated on a buffalo with his consort Dhumrorṇā on his left lap, his right hands holding a staff and a sword and the left ones a trident with flames and a rosary, a face with flames issuing from it being shown on the top of the staff (it might thus stand for a khaṭvāṅga); Citragupta dressed as a Northerner (udīyaveśa) holding a pen and a leaf in his hands on his right and the fierce-looking Kāla (Time, the destroyer) holding a noose in his hand on his left are his characteristic attendants reminding us of the companions of Sūrya, Kuṇḍi or Piṅgala and Daṇḍī. Sculpture No. 39 on the south basement wall of the Paharpur temple has been identified by Dikshit as Yama. The two-armed god stands erect holding a long noose passing over his head with the ends hanging down; a male and a female attendant stand on his either side, perhaps standing for Citragupta and Dhumrorṇā; but his characteristic iconographic traits (staff in his hand and buffalo as his mount) are missing here. Besides, pāśa (noose) is almost invariably described in the texts as an emblem of Varuṇa. The Chidambaram figure of Yama illustrated by Rao (ibid., Pl. CLII, Fig. 1) shows the two-armed god standing erect in front of his mount, his right hand holding a noose, the left one resting on a club.

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Nirṛti, the lord of the south-west, is a Vedic deity like Yama, Agni and Indra, and is conceived there as a god of evil. The description of Virūpākṣa, the lord of the Rakṣas (Rakṣodhipa), given in chapter 57 of Book III of the Viṣṇudharmottara, has been taken by Hemādri as the characterisation of Nirṛti. But Nirṛti is described by the Purāṇakāra in the same context as the wife of Virūpākṣa (bhāryā ca tasya kartavyā devī Nirṛtitastathā, Nirṛtitā, should be Nirṛti, the metre is corrupt), and Virūpākṣa is of a terrific nature; the author says that Kāla (Time) is Virūpākṣa, and Mṛtyu (death) is Ninṛti or Nirṛti (Kālo prokto Virūpākṣo Mṛtyurhi Nirṛtisathā). Sculptures showing Nirṛti are extremely rare, and so the one from Ahobilam illustrated by Rao is very interesting. It shows the Dikpāla riding on the shoulders of a man who seems to be carrying him forward, and he holds a staff in his right hand (ibid., p. 529, Pl. CLIV, Fig. 2). A relief depicting Nirṛti is in the collection of the Rajshahi Museum; the god is shown here riding on the back of a man (naravāhana) and holds in his two hands a sword and a shield; it hails from North Bengal (DHB, Vol. I, p. 463).

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Varuṇa, the lord of the western quarter, holds a pāśa and rides a swan (haṃsārūḍhaśca pāśabhṛd-Varuṇaḥ; Bṛhatsaṃhitā, Ch. 57, v. 57). He is elaborately described in the Viṣṇudharmottara (Bk. III, Ch. 52, vv. 1-21) where he is called ‘the lord of waters’ (yādasāṃpati). According to it, the slightly pot-bellied god (kiñcitpralambajaṭhara) rides a chariot drawn by seven swans, is four-armed (his right hands holding a lotus and a noose, and the left ones, a conch-shell and a jewel-box); his consort Gaurī should sit on his left lap, and Gaṅgā and Yamunā on their respective mounts should be shown on his right and left. Varuṇa and his consort Gaurī are respectively identified with Pradyumna (Kāmadeva) and Rati, and the seven swans drawing his chariot stand for the seven seas of salt, milk, clarified butter, curdled milk, rice-gruel, sugarcane-juice and wine. This elaborate description is not substantiated by actual sculptures which usually show the two-armed god either standing or seated, not on a swan, but on a Makara. The beautiful figure of standing two-armed Varuṇa illustrated here is a side-piece of the Rajarani temple of Bhuvanesvara. It shows the god standing in a very graceful pose, holding a looped noose by its end in his right hand, the left hand being in the *varadamudrā*; the jewelled head-gear, the ear-ornaments, the necklaces, the waist-girdle, the pearl *yajñopavīta*, etc., are all very tastefully displayed (Pl. XLVI, Fig. 1).

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Vāyu, the lord of the north-west in the Purāṇic list of Dikpālas, is described as the father of Bhīma, the second Pāṇḍava, and of Hanumān, the monkey-god, respectively in the *Mahābhārata* and the *Rāmāyaṇa*. The *Viṣṇudharmottara* (Ch. 58, vv. 1-6) describes him as two-armed, his two hands holding the two ends of the scarf worn by him, his garment being inflated by wind (*vāyyāpurita-vastra* emphasising his swift motion), his mouth being open and his hair dishevelled (this also indicates his swift movement).¹ This description follows to a great extent the representation of the Zoroastrian wind-god, Vāta (OA Δ O) on the coins of Kanishka and Huvishka. Rao quotes several other characterisations of Vāyu from such texts as *Amśumadbhedāgama*, *Suprabhedāgama*, *Śilparatna*, *Pūrvakāraṇāgama* and *Rūpamaṇḍana*, all of which, except the last, describe him as two-armed. According to the first of these texts he has a banner in his right hand and a staff in his left, and a ‘lion throne’ (*siṃhāsana*); according to the second he holds a banner and an elephant-goad in his hands, and has a stag mount; the third lays down that he has a flag in the left (the right hand being in the varada pose) and a stag mount; the fourth endows him with an elephant-goad and a stag mount (the emblem in the other hand is not clearly mentioned). The Rūpamaṇḍana describes the god ruling over the north-western quarter as four-armed, his four hands showing a varamudrā, a banner, a flag and a water-vessel; he rides on an antelope, his colour being green (Varaṃ dhvajaṃ patākā ca kamaṇḍalukarairdadhat | Mṛgārūḍho haritvarṇaḥ Pavano vāyudikpatiḥ). In early mediaeval temples of prominent cult gods, Vāyu shown as riding on a stag and hoiding a flag in his hand occupies his allotted corner in the outer side of the structure.

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¹ The Venkatesvara Press edition of this text is full of errors, and these have been responsible for strange mistakes in the rendering of passages from its sections on Painting and Image-making by Kramrisch. Thus, *vyādhitāsya*, in verse 3 of Chapter 58 of Book III is translated by her as ‘having a diseased face’. But the word can be easily and correctly emended as *vyāditāsya* and translated into English as ‘having his mouth open’. Hemādri's extracts from this section of *Viṣṇudharmottara* as they appear in *Caturvargacintāmaṇi*, Vol. II, Part I (edited in the Bibl'otheca Indica series of the Asiatic Society) are also very corrupt. Rao's extracts about the description of Vāyu from the *Viṣṇudharmottara* contain also strange errors; thus, *kāṣṭhapūritacakrastu* (should be emended as *vāyyāpūritavastraśca*) in line 2 has no meaning. Again, there is no doubt that *gṛhītacakrāṅkaḥ* in line four of the extract is to be emended as *gṛhītavastrāntaḥ*.

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Much has been said about Kubera, the lord of the northern quarter in Chapter IX of this book. It will be of interest here to note some of his descriptions given in the mediaeval iconographic texts, quoted by Rao. The Aṃśumadbheda describes the god as two-armed, the hands being in the varada and abhaya poses (a club also being shown in the left hand), having a sheep for his mount, attended by his consort and the two Nidhis, Śaṅkha and Padma, in the form of two powerful spirits (bhūtākāraṃ mahābalam). The Suprabheda lays stress on the terrific features of the two-armed god holding a club in one of his hands. The Śilparatna (or a work associated with it) characterises him as a friend of Hara (Śiva), riding a chariot drawn by men, holding a mace in one of his hands, as pot-bellied and long-armed, accompanied by Aṣṭanidhis and Guhyakas on all sides. The Pūrvakāraṇa says that the god rides on a man, is accompanied by the two Nidhis, Śaṅkha and Padma, and holds a club. The Rūpamaṇḍana describes in the first line of one couplet that the god is four-armed, the hands holding a club, a nidhi, a citrus and a water-vessel; the last line of this verse is corrupt, for in it he is described both as gajārūḍhaḥ (elephant-rider) and naravāhanaḥ (riding on a man). The Viṣṇudharmottara description of this Dikpāla has already been commented on earlier (supra, p. 339), and it has been shown how it partly reminds us of the Pañcika and Hārīti reliefs of Gandhāra, the tundila (pot-bellied) feature of the earlier Yakṣas is emphasised in this and some other texts, and a few other traits like the two fangs in his mouth, his bearded face, Riddhi (the goddess of prosperity) seated on his left lap, etc. are added.

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Īśāna, the lord of the north-eastern quarter, is, as his name indicates, a particular aspect of Śiva. The texts endow him generally with such iconographic features as jaṭāmukuṭa, śveta yajñopavīta (white sacred thread), three eyes, a śūla and a kapāla in his right and left hands, a bull mount, a tiger-skin garment, etc. All these are the characteristic traits of Śiva. The Viṣṇudharmottara description of this Dikpāla is, however, very interesting. In Chapters 55-58 of Book III of this text are described the images of Śiva (Īśāna, called also Gaurīśarva in this context), Agni, Nirṛti and Vāyu, one after another, and it can be presumed that they are no other than the lords of the minor quarters in this juxtaposition (though the text does not expressly define their character in this way). Gaurīśarva (Sarva is one of the eight names of Śiva) standing for Śiva (Īśāna) is nothing but another name of Ardhanārīśvara-Śiva, and the description in the text fully proves it. It will be presently noted in connection with the syncretistic icons, but it is curious that this conjoint aspect of Śiva and Umā should stand for one of the Dikpālas.

Garuda

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It has already been shown in Chapter X of this book that Garuḍa or Garutmān, the mount of Viṣṇu (in the Sātvata list of the 39 incarnations of the god he appears as Vihaṅgama and Amṛtaharaṇa, the god's 9th and 18th Avatāras; Amṛtaharaṇa may also stand for Indra, for he stole the nectar from the Nāgas) was originally the Sun conceived as a bird. The Ṛgvedic hymn (I. 164, 46) describes the celestial Garutmān as endowed with beautiful wings (divyaḥ sa suparṇo Garutmān). Garuḍa's another name is Tārkṣya in the epic and Purāṇic literature; the latter name, occurring twice in some late verses of the Ṛgveda (I. 89, 6 and X. 178, 1), denotes a horse. In many passages of the Great Epic, Garuḍa is formally identified with the Vedic Garutmān, and is described as the brother of Aruṇa, the forerunner of Sūrya; in the developed mythology of the epic and Purāṇic period, he is the son of the sage Kaśyapa and Vinatā (one of his names is Vainateya), and is thus the half-brother of the Nāgas, sons of Kaśyapa by his other wife. Garuḍa's enmity with the Nāgas is proverbial (he is called bhujagāri, pannagāśana, pannaga-bhojana, etc.), and the texts ascribe it to the ill-treatment of his mother by her co-wife and stepsons. The Mahābhārata (Ādiparva, Chs. 43-50) narrates the story of the stealing of Amṛta or the nectar (Amṛtaharaṇa) by Garuḍa who undertook this task for the Nāgas in order that they would release Vinatā from Kadru's bondage. While on his way to secure the nectar for his half-brothers, he lifted up an elephant named Supratīka and a tortoise called Vibhāvasu with his talons from the lake Ālamba. He later ate up his two prizes, and proceeding to Indra's capital vanquished the divine guards of the nectar and flew with it to the Nāgas. Vinatā was set free as stipulated, but the Nāgas were deprived of Amṛta which was stolen by the crafty Indra in disguise. The tongues of the Nāgas were cleft asunder, and remained so ever afterwards, because they licked up the sharp-edged kuśa grass on which the pot of ambrosia was placed by Garuḍa; this is also the reason why the kuśa grass is so sacred to the Hindus (for various other epic stories about the Sun-bird, refer to Hopkins, Epic Mythology, pp. 21ff.).

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It will be of interest now to study the development of the Garuḍa motif in early Indian art, before its iconographic descriptions in the mediaeval texts are noted, and some mediaeval Garuḍa images are described. In the earliest period he is represented as a huge parrot-like bird with emphasis on some of his physical features. One such extant figure of Garuḍa is carved on the inner side of the middle architrave of the eastern gateway of Sanchi. The entire relief composition here shows the animal world paying homage to Buddha symbolised by the Bodhidruma with Vajrāsana beneath it. It contains, along with animal figures in their natural form, such hybrid figures as lions with the heads of a dog or a bird (griffin). In its right corner is carved a big parrot-like bird with ear-rings and a bushy tuft by the side of a five-headed snake. Grünwedel correctly recognised in these two motifs, Garuḍa and Nāga, and remarked, ‘The native parrot type on the one hand and the west Asian griffin on the other, are the bases upon which modern iconography developed its Garuḍa.’¹ In the Hellenistic art of Gandhāra, Garuḍa appears as a huge eagle decked with the same ear-ornaments, but the wings are treated more naturalistically. He is often depicted as carrying up to the sky a Nāga and a Nāginī either with his long beak, or his big talons. Early Buddhist texts contain stories which are connected with this exploit of Garuḍa (*cf.* the Bauddha drama of Nāgānanda ascribed to king Śrī Harṣa).² The intermediate stage in the evolution of the hybrid Garuḍa figure of mediaeval Indian art from these early forms can be traced with the help of Gupta coins. On most of the gold coins of the imperial Guptas, Garuḍa invariably appears in the form of a plump bird with beautiful wings, as the capital piece of a column (Garuḍadhvaja). Vincent Smith suggested that the Garuḍa of the standard was copied from the Roman eagle; but Allan has rightly observed that there is no reason for this suggestion, and the resemblance is quite a coincidence, and Garuḍadhvajas were common objects in India.¹ On the reverse side of Chandragupta II’s silver coins Garuḍa stands facing with outspread wings as a full-fledged bird, but on some varieties of his copper coins, he is endowed with novel features. Thus on the *Chatra* type (Type No. II) of this Gupta king’s copper issues, he is shown with outspread wings and long human arms adorned with bracelets; on Types V, VI and VII of the same issues, he is figured with outstretched wings, though without human arms, holding a snake in his mouth (*cf.* his epithet *pannagāśana*).² The hybridity in the representation of Garuḍa marked by Type No. II (copper coins) noted above was not emphasised in the other silver and copper coins of this Gupta monarch and his successors, and it was left for the regular iconographers of Brahmanical art to develop the type in the late Gupta and the mediaeval periods. An inscribed terracotta seal of Kumāragupta I found at Nalanda and now in the collection of the Indian Museum, Calcutta, emphasises in a very striking manner the hybridity of the motif. The plump bird stands facing on a sort of pedestal, but it has the face of a man (Pl. XXVIII, Fig. 1).

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¹ Buddhist Art, p. 51. Grünwedel considers the Sanchi motif as a purely Indian one, but observes at the same time that the wings here ‘show the artificial forms of west-Asian art’.

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² Grünwedel thinks that such Hellenistic compositions of Gandhāra as Garuḍa lifting up Nāga youths were direct copies ‘with Buddhist import’ of the ‘Rape of Ganymede’, a famous work of the Hellenistic sculptor Leochares; *Ibid.*, pp. 109-10, Figs. 61, 62. The epic mythology about Garuḍa’s taking off Supratīka and Vibhāvasu, already noted, may have some connection with these Gandhāra reliefs; it is significant that the myth occurs in the Ādiparva, and it may be an interpolation.

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¹ J. Allan, *op. cit.*, Introduction, p. LXX.

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² *Ibid.*, pp. 52 ff. and plates. On type I of the copper coins of Chandragupta II, Garuḍa is nimbate, and on Type V, he is placed on an altar; all these features imply his divine character.

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Textual descriptions of the developed motif may now be noted. The *Śritatvanidhi* and *Śilparatna*, as quoted by Rao, describe a two-armed image of Garuḍa; but the latter text also refers to another variety of Garutmān which is endowed with eight arms, the hands holding such objects as a water-vessel, a mace, a conchshell, a discus, a sword and a snake, the feet of his rider Viṣṇu-Kṛṣṇa resting on the two front hands; the two-armed image of Garuḍa is designated as Tārkṣya in the *Śilparatna*. The *Agnipurāṇa* (Ch. 49, vv. 19-21) describes the images of Trailokyamohana and Tārkṣya as eight-armed, with *cakra*, *khaḍga*, *muṣala* and *aṅkuśa* in the right hands, and *śaṅkha*, *śārṅga*, *gadā* and *pāśa* in the left; Lakṣmī and Sarasvatī holding *padma* and vīṇā respectively are to be placed on either side of this type of image. The Viṣṇudharmottara enjoins that Tārkṣya should have a nose like the beak of a bird, four arms, a face with round eyes, the breast, knee and legs like those of a vulture, and two wings; his back hands should hold an umbrella and a jar full (of nectar), and his front hands should be in the añjali pose. When lord Viṣṇu is riding on him, the back hands of Garuḍa (or Tārkṣya, as he is named here) instead of holding an umbrella and an ambrosia-pot support the legs of his master; he should be shown slightly pot-bellied (kiñcillambodara) and should be decorated with all ornaments (Book III, Ch. 54, vv. 1-9). It is curious that it is only according to the Śilparatna description of the eight-armed variety of Garuḍa that he holds a snake in one of his hands; the Śrītattvanidhi, however, tells us that his head should be adorned with snakes (mūrdhnā ca phaṇimaṇḍitaḥ), and one of his epithets according to the lexicons is phaṇiphaṇabhṛt (‘holder of the hood of a snake’). The association of Garuḍa with snakes is emphasised in the epic and Purāṇic myths, and is also illustrated in his earlier and mediaeval representations.

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