The Development of Hindu Iconography c19.s2.13

c19.s2.13

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).