The Development of Hindu Iconography c9.32

c9.32

¹ Yāska, Nirukta, XIII. 1, 7—Catvāri śṛṅgā itivedā vā etā uktāstrayo asya pādā iti svarāṇi trīṇi dve śirṣe prāyaṇīyodayaniye saptahastāsaḥ sapta chandāṃsi tridhābaddhah tredhā baddho mantrabrāhmaṇakalpairvṛṣabho roraviti roravaṇamasya savanakrameṇa ṛgbhiryajurbhissāmabhiryadenamṛgbhiśśamsanti yajurbhiryajanti sāmabhisstuvanti mahodeva ityeṣa hi mahān devo yadyajño martyo āviveśetyeṣa hi manuṣyānāviśati yajanāya tasyottarā bhūyase nirvacanāya. Reference has already been made to a late sculpture corresponding partly to this description (the figure is human, its mount being the bull) in the eastern Gopura of the Chidambaram temple. It is Viṣṇu in one of his minor manifestations; in the Brāhmaṇa literature (cf. Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa, XIV. 1, 1, 6), Viṣṇu is identical with sacrifice, and here we see the imagery is carried further and given a concrete shape.