Elements of Hindu Iconography v3.c18.22

v3.c18.22

The photographs of some of the images of Sūrya or the Sun-god may be seen reproduced here on Pls. LXXXVI to XCIV. It may be seen that there are two varieties among these images, namely, the North Indian and the South Indian. Each of these possesses very marked peculiarities which are easy of recognition. The South Indian figures of Sūrya have, as a rule, their hands lifted up as high as the shoulders, and are made to hold lotus flowers which are only half blossomed; the images have invariably the udara-bandha, and their legs and feet are always left bare. The North Indian images, on the other hand, have generally their hands at the natural level of the hips or the elbows, and are made to carry full-blown lotuses which rise up to the level of the shoulders, and their forelegs have coverings resembling modern socks more or less in appearance and the feet are protected with a pair of footwear resembling boots. The *udara-bandha* is not found in the northern variety of the images of the Sun-god, but there is a thin cloth or a sort of coat of mail shown as being worn on the body. The South Indian images are as often with the seven horses and their driver Aruṇa as not; those which belong to the extreme south of South India, to such parts as the Tamil districts of the Madras Presidency, do not possess any attendant deities like Daṇḍa, Piṅgala and the goddesses. The images of the Sun-god as found in the Karṇāṭadēśa and the Southern Mahratta country, corresponding roughly to the ancient Chālukya and Hoysaḷa kingdoms, have invariably two goddesses sculptured one on each side of Sūrya. The common features of both Southern and Northern varieties of Sūrya are that the head is in all cases adorned with a *kirīṭa* surrounded by a circular halo or *prabhāmaṇḍala*, and that in several instances the characteristic seven horses and their driver Aruṇa are not missing.