Elements of Hindu Iconography v2.c16.s8.t3.5

v2.c16.s8.t3.5

The illustration on Pl. LXXVI, is a well-carved figure of Śiva in the *yōgāsana* posture. It is enshrined in a fane situated in the south *prākāra* of the Śiva temple at Tiruvorriyūr. The inscriptions on the walls of this shrine refer to the image set up in it as Paḍampakkanāyinār and state that it was set up in the fifth year of the reign of the Chōḷa king Virarājēndradēva (about A.D. 1067-8). From the position of this shrine with reference to the main central shrine, that is, to the south side of it, and from the posture and other features of the image itself enshrined therein, it may, without fear of contradiction, be stated to be the first form of Jñāna-Dakshiṇāmūrti described above. The figure has a well executed jaṭā-makuṭa ornamented with jewelled discs and bands round it; kuṇḍalas in the ears; and hāra and necklace of rudrāksha seeds and yajñōpavīta on the chest. The forearms are adorned with a number of bracelets and the upper arm with kēyūras. The legs are crossed one over the other so as to bring the soles up; this is exactly the yōgic āsana called the svastikāsana. In the back right hand there appears to have been a śūla, whose shaft alone now remains, the head being broken; in the back left hand is the kapāla; the front right hand is held in the chinmudrā pose and the front left hand also in the pose characteristic of an expounder of sciences. This image now goes by the inexplicable name of Gauḷīśvara and near it and to its proper right is set up in more recent times the figure of Saṅkarāchārya; on the base of the seat of this latter are carved the figures of his four great disciples.