Elements of Hindu Iconography v4.c29.1

v4.c29.1

BHAKTAS or devotees whose images are also enjoined to be set up for worship in temples may belong to the Brāhmaṇa, Kshatriya, Vaiśya or the Śūdra caste; or of mixed castes; males or females; they may be āchāryas or crowned monarchs; living or dead. All that is wanted to apotheosise them is that they should be bhaktas or acknowledged devotees. Such devotees should be worshipped in images. These images may be set up either in separate temples (*svayam-pradhāna*) or in the temples of some deity whose devotee the bhakta happens to be, as a dependent on that deity (*an anga*). As instances of the former may be pointed out the temple of Kaṇṇappa Nāyānār, the hunter saint, on the hill at Kāḷahasti; and of Kulaśēkhara Āḷvār at Mannārkōyil near Ambāsamudram. The attendant or *anga* class of images are found in all important temples of S. India. The well-known sixty-three (*Aruvattu-mūvar*) Śaiva saints and the twelve Āḷvārs or Vaishṇava saints of Drāviḍa are seen invariably in Śaiva and Vaishṇava temples in S. India.