Elements of Hindu Iconography v4.c27.4

v4.c27.4

Three different accounts are found of the origin of Adhikāranandin. According to the Śiva-mahā-purāṇa, he was the son of the ṛishi Sālaṅkāyana; the following account is given of him by this authority: Sālaṅkāyana, who was long without a son, was doing penance under a *sāla* tree in a place called Sālagrāma. Appreciating his austerities, Viṣṇu appeared before him and asked him to request for any boon he desired. The *ṛiṣi* prayed that he may be blessed with a son of great virtue. Immediately after this request was made, a person sprang from the right of Viṣṇu, who resembled Śiva in every way. He was given the name Nandikeśvara. The *purāṇa* adds that this was the forty-ninth birth of Nandikeśvara.