South-Indian Images of Gods and Goddesses c11.s3.1

c11.s3.1

The village gods are not so many in number as the goddesses. Aiyanār, Hariharaputra or Mahā-Sāstā is supposed to be, as his name implies, a son of Siva and Vishnu.¹ When the celestial nectar was obtained by the *dēvas* and *asuras* after churning the ocean (see p. 139f, above) they quarrelled about the distribution of it. Vishnu assumed the form of a beautiful young woman, called Mōhinī, and by her attractions enticed the asuras and made them agree to depute her to distribute the precious liquid equally to all. She of course deceived them and gave the nectar to the gods alone. Siva saw Mōhinī at the time and was enamoured of her. He wedded her, and the result of their union was Hariharaputra. This deity is largely worshipped in Malabar and parts of Tinnevelly and Tanjore. In these districts he is not assigned the subordinate position of a village deity as in others. In the latter, however, he is one of the guardian deities of the village and, as such, is attended by bhūtas and pisāchas. He has long curly hair, a crown and ear-rings of gold-leaves. In his two arms he holds the bow and the arrow. He is dark of colour and is seated on a throne below a banyan tree. In the illustration given (fig. 140) the position of the hands of what is believed to be a figure of Aiyanār does not appear to suit the weapons, bow and arrow, which he is stated to hold.¹ In the figure from Valuvūr he is seen riding on an elephant in the very same posture, holding in his right hand what looks like a whip or an elephant goad (fig. 141). In front of his temple are placed figures of horses, elephants and other animals, made of wood or of painted brick and chunam, which are supposed to serve him as vehicles in his nightly perambulations. A third figure from Rāmēsvaram (fig. 142) represents him as riding on a horse. Pūranai and Pudgalai are stated to be his two wives, and Madurai-Vīran and Pāvadairāyan, his generals. Madurai-Vīran is a historical person whose adventures are noticed in the South Arcot District Gazetteer.² Kuttisāttan, Sāttan, Karuppan, Mundan and Gulikan are the names of some of the malignant demons that attend upon Aiyanār.