Elements of Hindu Iconography v2.c16.s2.t2.27

v2.c16.s2.t2.27

The next photograph, fig. 2, Pl. XVIII, represents the Āliṅgana-Chandraśēkhara to be found in the Mayūranāthasvāmin temple at Māyavaram. Śiva, in this piece of sculpture, carries in his two back hands the *paraśu* and the *mṛiga*, while he keeps the front right hand in the *abhaya* pose. The front left hand is carried behind the Dēvī and is resting on her body below her breast. The Dēvī carries in her right hand a flower. The figures of Śiva and Umā are both shown with three bends in their bodies (*tribhaṅga*). This excellent piece of sculpture belongs to the Chōḷa period (of approximately 10th or 11th Cent. A.D.) In the image of Paṭṭīśvaram reproduced as fig. 1, Pl. XIX, which resembles closely the Kēvalamūrti of Tiruppālatturai (fig. 1, Pl. XV), and which appears to be the handiwork of the same sculptor, has its left arm taken near the waist of the Dēvī; whereas in the sculptures of Marudāntanallur and Kōvilūr, figs. 2 and 3 respectively of Pl. XIX, the left hand of Śiva rests upon the left shoulder of the Dēvī—that is, about the *pārśva-sūtra* of the figure of Dēvī. The original of the photograph of the Āliṅgana Chandraśēkharamūrti reproduced on Pl. XX, belongs to the Chālukya-Hoysaḷa school and comes from Āṅgūr in the Bellary District and is an extremely beautiful piece of art. The image of Śiva carries an *akshamālā*, a *triśūla* and a *ḍamaru* in three of its hands and the fourth is thrown over the shoulder of the Dēvī; the figure of Dēvī has its right arm placed on the right shoulder of Śiva and carries in its left hand a lotus flower. On the right and the left, near the feet of Śiva and Umā