South-Indian Images of Gods and Goddesses c12.s2.44

c12.s2.44

The Dvārapālas seen at the entrance into almost every Hindu shrine are also demi-gods and bear different names being sometimes called Chanda and Prachanda, sometimes Jaya and Vijaya, or Harabhadra and Subhadra according as they occupy the second, third or fifth door-way opening into the shrine. In the standing figures of Dvārapālas the right leg is placed straight on the pedestal (svastika) and the left is slightly bent (kunchita). The posture of their body may be: (1) with legs and back partly turned to front; (2) hands resting on the thigh which then is bent in the shape of a plough; or (3) with both hands supporting the gōpura. The Silpasangraha states that in form the Dvārapālas are like bhūtas with two big hands in one of which they hold a club. They have protruding canine teeth, when Saiva, and narrow waists; are beautiful in form, but disfigured in the face (fig. 155).¹ Figures of Dvārapālas are sometimes also found to have four arms and to hold the Saiva or the Vaishnava symbols according as they are placed in Siva or Vishnu temples. The fine image (fig. 156) of a Dvārapāla from Dhārāsuram, Tanjore district, which has four arms and is probably Saiva, is stated to have been brought as a trophy from Kalyānapura (i.e., Kalyāna in the Nizam's Dominions), by the Chōla king Rājādhirāja I, in the middle of the eleventh century A.D. Entrances into the shrines of goddesses are attended by Dvārapālikās just as those of the gods are guarded by Dvārapālas.