Elements of Hindu Iconography v4.c25.s3.80

v4.c25.s3.80

These eight deities are required to be represented in sculpture and set up in Śiva temples. The general description of these images is found in the Viṣṇudharmōttara and the Pūrva-Kāraṇāgama: the Amśumadbhēdāgama gives the separate descriptions of a few of the aṣṭa-mūrtis. In the first authority the eight mūrtis are said to resemble Śiva, wearing on their head jaṭāmakuṭas embellished with the crescent moon, adorned with appropriate ornaments and carrying in two of their hands the *khaṭvāṅga* and the *triśūla* and keeping the other hands in the *varada* and the *abhaya* poses. This description is amplified by the addition of a few more details by the *Pūrva-Kāraṇāgama*. It states that they should all have three eyes and be draped in red silk garments and that their colours are respectively white, black, red, *kṛṣṇa* (a kind of blue, or slate colour), pale pink, dark-brown (as the colour of musk or *kastūri*), coral red and deep blue.