Elements of Hindu Iconography v2.c16.30

v2.c16.30

former deity. Here the allusion is to the Haryardha form of Śiva, in which the female generative principle is identified with Viṣṇu. That the male and the female principles are inseparable and are ever found together in cosmic evolution is the real import of the Ardhanārīśvara or Haryardha forms of Śiva; the same idea is also conveyed in a brief way by the symbols the *liṅga* and the *yōni*. In the *Bhāgavata-Purāṇa* (second *skanda*) Mahādēva is described by Brahmā as, “the Parabrahman, the lord of Śakti and Śiva, who are the womb and seed respectively of the universe, who, like a spider, forms it in his sport, through the agency of Śakti and Śiva, (who are one with himself), preserves and re-absorbs it.” The *Liṅga-purāṇa* also states that Pradhāna (nature) is called the Liṅga and Paramēśvara is called the Liṅgin (the sustainer of the Liṅga) and that the pedestal of the Liṅga is Mahādēvī (Umā) and the Liṅga is the visible Mahēśvara. A more express allusion to the generative power of the *Liṅga* and the *yōni*, the emblems of the Śaiva cult, is found in the *Viṣṇu-purāṇa*, wherein we are told that Brahmā asked Rudra, born of his anger, to divide himself; thereupon Rudra divided himself into two, a male and a female portion. The epithet *mahāśēpha* in *Ūrddha-kēśō mahāśēphō nagnō vikṛita lōchanah* occurring in the Mahābhārata is also worth noting in this connection. A further quotation from the same work is also to the point: “And since, standing aloft, he consumes the lives of men, and since he is fixed, and since his Liṅga is perpetually fixed, he is called Sthāṇu . . . and when his Liṅga remains continually in a state of chastity, and people reverence it, this is agreeable to the great God Mahā-dēva. The worshipper of the Liṅga who shall adore the image (vigraha) or the Liṅga of Mahādēva, enjoys continually great prosperity. It is the Liṅga, raised up, which the ṛishis, gods, gandharvas and apsarases worship;” and “He whose seed is raised up, whose Liṅga is raised up, who sleeps aloft, who abides in the sky....... The Lord of the Liṅga, the lord of the suras (gods)......the lord of the seed, the producer of the seed.” Śaṅkarāchārya in his Saundaryalahari (verse 1) also says “When Śiva is united with Śakti, he is able to create, otherwise he is unable even to move.” The Kuvalayānanda of Appayya Dikshita begins with “We praise the ancient pair, the parents of the universe; each is the end attained by the penance of the other.” In a work called Ānanḍānubhava it is stated that Śakti is of the form of the pleasure derivable from Guhya (the female organ) and that Śiva is the Liṅga; from the union of these two is the cause of the joy that is found in the universe.* Again, in an inscription found in the Mysore State, the following salutation to Śiva and his Dēvī is given.† “The only god, victorious is Śiva, the