The Development of Hindu Iconography c19.s2.7

c19.s2.7

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.