The Development of Hindu Iconography c19.s1.6.3

c19.s1.6.3

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.