South-Indian Images of Gods and Goddesses c10.s2.50

c10.s2.50

Various postures of Mahishāsuramardinī in the act of killing the buffalo-demon are depicted in South-Indian Saiva temples, some of them being of excellent workmanship. It is not always easy to distinguish the images which are thus engaged in the act of killing the buffalo-demon, and to say whether they be representations of Chāmuṇḍā, Durgā, Mahishāsuramardinī or Mahā-Lakshmī. It may, however, be suggested that figures with a breast-band standing upright on the severed head of the buffalo are generally those of Durgā-Lakshmī, while those in the actual fighting attitude are either Chāmuṇḍā, Mahishāsuramardinī or Mahā-Lakshmī. They generally have eight arms and hold weapons, the conch, discus, bow, shield, sword, bell, noose and trident. The demon may be shown with a human body, or a human body with a buffalo’s head,³ or a buffalo from whose severed trunk proceeds a human figure. The illustrations given show some of the fighting postures of Mahishāsuramardinī (figs. 129, 130, 131). In the Mahishāsura-mandapa at Mahābalipuram is seen a relief on the proper left wall, which represents the fight between Durgā-Mahishāsuramardinī and the buffalo-demon (fig. 132). Dr. Vogel gives the following description of the relief:—"The goddess astride on her vehicle, the lion, is eight-armed. With two hands she shoots arrows at the demon king. The emblems held in her remaining six arms are a disc (*chakra*), a bell (*ghaṇṭā*) and a sword (*khaḍga*) to the right and a conch (*śaṅkha*), a noose (*pāśa*) and an indistinct object, to the left. A quiver is visible over her left shoulder.