Elements of Hindu Iconography v1.c8.167

v1.c8.167

Images are clothed in different materials, such as cotton and silk, the skin of the tiger or the deer. The cotton and silk clothings are dyed in various colours. The tiger's skin is worn over the silk or the cotton clothing, while the deer-skin is thrown over the body. One manner of wearing the deer-skin is what is known as the *upavīta* fashion. In it the skin goes over the left shoulder across the body, and below the right arm and comes again to the left shoulder right up the back. The head of the deer is made to hang in front over the chest as shown in fig. 18 on Pl. V. These costumes are shown distinctly in almost all castings and sculptures of images. Some of the sculptured images are even painted so as to show the intended colours of their chiselled costumes. In almost all the later representations of Hindu gods and goddesses we may see the *yajñōpavīta* running across the chest from left to right. In the Guḍimallam Liṅga, which is probably the earliest known Hindu sculpture, the *yajñōpavīta* is not found; and the image of Śiva is given only two arms instead of the usual four. At what stage of the history of Hindu sculpture the representation of the *yajñōpavīta* came into vogue is not quite clear; it is found in what, according to Mr. Vincent A. Smith, is known as the Gupta period, and also in the early Chālukya-Pallava period. It is represented in these later sculptures as a ribbon going round the body in the manner required and tied in front in a knot. It is obviously the sacred-thread of the higher castes among the Hindus. Hāra means a necklace and is seen in many different patterns. In the earlier periods, it is somewhat short and forms a broad band made up of several pieces. Kēyūra is a flat ornament worn on the arm just over the biceps muscle; the kaṅkaṇa or the bracelet is worn at the wrist. At the junction of the thorax and the abdomen also is worn a broad belt of good workmanship; it is called udara-bandha. The belt going round the hip is called kaṭibandha, and the zone employed to support and keep in position the breasts of feminine figures is called kucha-bandha. Hindus are forbidden by the rules of the Dharma-śāstras from wearing stitched clothes. Hence arose probably the practice of women employing this kucha-bandha. Bhujaṅga-valaya is an ornament worn at the wrist by Śiva. It is a bracelet shaped like a coiled snake. Its circumference has to be at least a fourth larger than that of the wrist on which it is worn; at the junction of the tail with the body of the snake, the hood rises; it has to be twelve aṅgulas high, seven in width and one in thickness. Two fangs have to be shown in the mouth so as to be visible outside.