The Development of Hindu Iconography c19.s6.8

Language: English

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Before some notice is taken of the other extant composite Hindu icons in which Mahāyāna Buddhist influence is clearly discernible, it will be useful to discuss the iconographic features of some syncretistic images where the constituent elements are all Brahmanical Hindu in character. Features of the Sun god are traceable in the representations of many of the cult deities. This is naïvely explained by the myth-maker by saying that from the ‘parings’ of the resplendent body of the Sun (the effulgent body of the god had to be trimmed by his father-in-law Viśvakarmā in order that his daughter Saṃjñā, the principal consort of Sūrya, could bear her husband's company) many characteristic traits by way of weapons, attributes, etc. were made for the other Brahmanical Hindu deities. The Gāyatrī mantra itself is conceived by orthodox Brahmans as Brahmā, Viṣṇu and Siva, in the morning, midday and evening respectively, each of which deity shines resplendent within the flaming solar orb. The close connection of Sūrya with Viṣṇu, or Viṣṇu as Nārāyaṇa, has already been commented on in Chapter X of this book. Images of Sūrya-Nārāyaṇa hailing from different parts of India are well known. But the composite icons combining in them the features of Sūrya and Śiva are comparatively few. One such can be recognised in the description by Hiralal of a six-armed composite image found by him at Madhia in the old Panna State in Bundelkhand region.

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The figure holds in two of its left hands a triśūla, a padma, the third hand being in the varada pose; one of the right hands is broken, the other two holding a lotus and a mṛgāṅka (a deer symbol). Its legs are clad in shoes, and it is likely that the seven horses with their driver are present below (though this is not found in Hiralal's description). The boots on the legs and the two lotuses in the hands are unmistakable solar features, while the trident and deer symbols indicate the Śiva part of it. Bull carved in the left corner (evidently of the pedestal) and Garuḍa in the right corner may further emphasise that it combines in it along with Śiva element, the element of Viṣṇu. This figure is carved in the centre of the door (lintel) of a ruined temple, figures of various other deities of the Hindu pantheon being carved in the other sections of the door; the central position assigned to it proves that the temple was originally dedicated to the worship of the composite god.¹ But a very unique syncretistic image in which Sūrya and Śiva are the constituents is in the collection of the V. R. S. Museum, Rajshahi, which has been tentatively identified as ‘Mārttaṇḍa-Bhairava’ by K. C. Sarkar. It is a three-faced and ten-armed image of the 12th century A.D., found at Manda (Rajshahi), containing the usual accessories noticeable in a well-developed type of Sūrya figure of this part of India. Its central face is placid, the side ones being fierce;

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its front two pairs of hands are broken, but the full-blown lotuses in one pair are visible; the back hands, which are preserved, carry, from the right side onwards, a khaṭvāṅga, a triśūla, a śakti, a *nīlotpala*, a *ḍamaru*, and a *sarpa*, flames issuing from its heads and shoulders (the Śivaite character of most of these emblems should be noted). The *dhyāna-mantra* of a particular variety of Sun (Mārttaṇḍa) appearing in the *Śāradātilakatantra* conforms to a great extent to its iconographic features, and the text says that such a variety of the Sun god is 'half' (a part) of Śiva (*Ballabhārddha*).¹ A composite representation of Brahmā and Sūrya can be recognised in the beautiful image of the 11th century A.D. acquired from Mahendra (Dinajpur, Bengal) and now in the collection of the V. R. S. Museum. It is similar in many respects to the usual two-armed Sūrya figures of this period, but its notable difference from them lies in the fact that the number of its arms is six. Its natural hands hold the usual full-blown lotus flowers, while the four additional hands show *varadamudrā* (with lotus mark on the palm), *akṣamālā*, *abhayamudrā* and *kamaṇḍalu*. The Dhātṛ aspect of the Sun god, the first in the list of the Dvādaśādityas, as described in the *Viśvakarmāvatāra śāstra*, holds lotuses in its two natural hands, a lotus garland (or a fillet of lotus seeds) in its (back) right hand, and a water-vessel in its (back) left (*Dakṣiṇe pauṣkarī mālā kare vāme kamaṇḍaluḥ |

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Padmābhyāṃ śobhitakarā sā Dhātṛ prathamā smṛtā*). This North Bengal relief has no doubt much in common with the Dhātṛ aspect of the twelve Ādityas, but the increased number of its hands, its solar features and rosary and water-vessel (two of the well-known emblems of Brahmā) in two of its hands bring it in line with the groups of syncretistic icons being noticed here. Dhātṛ is no doubt one of the Ādityas, but Dhātā or Vidhātā is also one of the synonyms of Brahmā Prajāpati, and both these characters appear to be symbolised in this interesting sculpture (PL. XLVII, Fig. 3).