The Hindu Temple v2.c11.s4.7

v2.c11.s4.7

The position of the Kīrttimukha on top or at the head of a building has its correspondence when worn on the head of images of divinities; one of the earliest known examples of the Kīrttimukha is carved in Amarāvatī, in a relief of the last period, representing the Rāmagrāma Stūpa ; it figures as an ornament in the crown of a Nāga, 2nd century A.D. ; C. Sivaramamurti, ‘Amarāvatī Sculptures in the Madras Museum’, Bulletin IV, Pl. LXI, 1. A head of a Śiva image from Mathurā (in the Curzon Museum, Muttra) of the 3rd-4th century has a Kīrttimukha in its headdress. Pearl strings and a pearl pouch, in the middle hang from its mouth ; two long paws are carved on either side of the ‘Lion’ face. Śiva having a Kīrttimukha in the Jaṭāmukuṭa, see Daśāvatāra cave, Elura ; a Kīrttimukha figures also in the Karaṇḍamukuṭa of a Dvārapāla from South India, Coomaraswamy, ‘Yakṣas’, I. op. cit. Pl. 18. ’. To this day it is part of the coiffure of the dancers in Cambodia.