Elements of Hindu Iconography v4.c25.s3.84

v4.c25.s3.84

Besides the various aspects of Śiva described in this and the previous chapters, which are common to the whole of India and are recognized by the Purāṇas, Itihāsas, etc., there are very many images which are met with in different temples and which are associated with certain legends peculiar to each of these temples. For instance, at Jambukēśvara near Śrīraṅgam, an elephant and a spider are said to have worshipped Śiva in a grove of white jambu tree; we meet with sculptured representations of an elephant pouring with its trunk the water which it had brought from the river Kāvērī on the head of a linga and a spider weaving its web in a corner to protect the linga from the rays of the sun. The legend in connection with Ēkāmranāthasvāmin of Kāñchi is that the goddess Parvatī made a penance to Śiva standing on one leg, with hands uplifted on the head in the añjali pose; Śiva being pleased with her devotions appeared to her under an āmra (mango) tree. These pieces of sculpture peculiar to each place are the outcome of the sthala-māhātmya written generally at some later period of the history of the temple and is usually based upon some imaginary event that had occurred in it. The one māhātmya that has contributed very largely to the multiplication of images of Śiva is the Hālāsya-māhātmya or the one pertaining to the god Śiva at Madura, the capital of the Pāṇḍyas. The god Sundarēśvara (the name of the God Śiva enshrined in Madura) is said to have indulged in sixty-four līlās or sports, which are also narrated in later works such as Śivalīlārṇava. In all these līlās, Śiva assumed human and other forms for the purpose of succouring help to some one in need of