The Development of Hindu Iconography c19.s6.11

c19.s6.11

Clear connection of the individual members of the triad with the Sun god can be demonstrated by many more interesting image types of a composite character of the mediaeval period hailing from different parts of India. The Mārkaṇḍeyapurāṇa invokes Sūrya in this manner: ‘Brahma’s, Śiva’s and Viṣṇu’s bodies are the same as the body of the resplendent Sun whose real nature is three-fold indeed, may he be gracious’ (Ch. 109, v. 71: Brāhmī Māheśvarī caiva Vaiṣṇavī caiva te tanuḥ | Tridhā yasya svarūpantu Bhānorbhāsvān prasīdatu). The Pīṭhamantra of one aspect of Sūrya described in the Śāradātilakatantra means ‘Adoration to Saura (an unusual way of calling Sūrya) who is the base of meditation, and who is one with Brahmā, Viṣṇu and Śiva’; this mantra also emphasises the syncretic character of the worship of the Sun god.¹ The three-headed and eight-armed standing Sūrya in the Chidambaram temple illustrates this syncretism in an interesting manner. Its natural hands are in the abhaya and varada poses, the rest holding a discus, a noose, a trident and a stone mason’s chisel. It stands barefooted (it is a south-Indian sculpture) on a pedestal on which are carved Aruṇa and seven horses and is attended by two of his consorts.² A somewhat similar composition, but a seated one, is carved on the west face of the small shrine dedicated to the Sun god in the south-eastern corner of Limboji Mata’s temple at Delmal (Northern Gujrat). Of the three faces, that on the proper right may be of Brahmā, the one on the proper left, of Śiva, the central face being that of Sūrya (Viṣṇu or Sūrya-Nārāyaṇa); two hands (partially broken) hold two lotuses, the other hands, partly preserved, showing a trident, a triple-headed cobra, a water-vessel and varadamudrā. These emblems are peculiar to Sūrya, Śiva and Brahmā, the remaining two hands of the image, which are totally gone must have carried the emblems of Viṣṇu. The figure is seated on Garuḍa below which are marked the swan and bull (not ‘ a seven-headed horse ’ as alternatively suggested by Burgess), the respective vehicles of Brahmā and Śiva. Though the seven horses and their driver Aruṇa are not carved in the pedestal, the boots on the legs of the main figure, its prominent waist-girdle (*avyaṅga*) and the two lotuses typify its solar character. Burgess’s remarks about this interesting sculpture are worth-quoting :—‘ in one figure the four divinities, Viṣṇu, Śiva and Brahmā, or the Trimūrti—with Sūrya, appear blended; or shall we rather say it represents a Vaiṣṇava Trimūrti, with Sūrya-Nārāyaṇa as the central figure, seated on his *vāhana* Garuḍa.’¹ There can be no doubt that syncretistic ideology was fully at work in the construction of this image. Another eight-armed seated image of this type is carved on the western side of the central *Bhadra* (structure) of the Śiva temple called Dula Deo at Khajuraho. Some of its hands are broken, but the two full-blown lotuses, the trident, the rosary, the water-vessel, emblems of Sūrya, Śiva and Brahmā, are discernible, those of Viṣṇu being lost. The god is seated in the *vaddha-padmāsana* with the mutilated figure of Aruṇa and three of the seven horses carved on the pedestal; his body is partially covered by a coat of mail.²