The Development of Hindu Iconography c19.s2.1.2

c19.s2.1.2

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.