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South-Indian Images of Gods and Goddesses c8.s5: VII

South-Indian Images of Gods and Goddesses c8.s5

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VII

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Krishna is the next avatār of Vishnu ² which is highly vener- KRISHNA ated by the Hindus. The Bhāgavata-Purāna which describes incarna in detail the early life of Krishna in Brindāvana (Brindāban) tion. has provided more material for iconology than his subsequent career as the moving spirit of the Mahābhārata-war, the author of the “Divine Song” Bhagavad-Gītā or the benevolent chief of Dvārakā (Dwārka, Baroda).

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² The verse which is usually quoted in connexion with the ten avatārs of Vishnu, mentions Balarāma or Haladhara “the bearer of the plough,” as the incarnation which came next after the epic hero Rāma. Krishna, the younger brother of Balarāma, being, however, considered to be Vishnu himself, receives divine honours in preference to Balarāma. The famous temple at Pūri-Jagannāth contains figures of Balarāma and Krishna with their sister Subhadrā standing between them.

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Three stages in the life of Krishna have been marked out to be the most prominent. As a baby, not yet weaned from his mother’s breast, he is represented in the arms of Yasōdā. This form of Krishna receives the name Santāna-Gōpāla. SANTĀNA- Also as a baby divine, identified with Supreme Vishnu, GŌPĀLA. he is sometimes pictured as lying on a banyan-leaf (Vatapa- VATAPATRAtrasāyin) sucking the toe of his leg held by the hand. These SĀYIN. pictures of the baby-god are commonly seen in paintings.

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Krishna is also represented as a winsome boy, full of fun and frolic and fond of thieving milk and butter from the neighbouring cottages of cowherds living at Brindāvana. It is said that on one occasion Yasōdā punished him by tying him up to a mortar. The child then ran along, dragging the mortar behind him; but in trying to pass between two tall and stout trees standing close together, the heavy mortar was caught between and felled them down; when lo!

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the trees assumed the shape of the two sons of Kubēra, the god of riches, who being cursed by the sage Nārada to assume the shape of trees had been waiting long to be thus restored by the Lord Krishna to their original form. The first part of this incident is represented in fig. 24.

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In South India pictures of Krishna with a pot of butter under his left arm and eating out of a ball of it placed in the palm of his right hand are not uncommon. On either side of him are represented shepherd girls of Brindāvana.¹ This form of Krishna, though very often meditated upon and sung about even in nursery rhymes, is rarely worshipped as the chief figure in temples—a famous exception to this being Udipi in the South Canara district, where a big temple, richly endowed, is maintained for the worship of the god Bāla-Krishna.² In the Madras Museum are two metallic images of dancing Krishna, one of which holds in its right hand a ball of butter³ (fig. 25). A peacock's feather stuck into the tuft of hair knotted overhead is, along with the other golden jewellery peculiar to children, a special feature of Krishna as a boy. Gold and silver images of this form of Krishna in miniature are among the set of idols worshipped daily in an orthodox Brāhmana's house. Vaishnavism in its various forms prevailing throughout India praises the child form of Krishna in the sweetest of strains with an overflow of devotion peculiar to that creed alone.

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¹ The name given to this figure in the *Silparatna* is Santāna-Gōpāla, already referred to. Krishna under this designation is described as a young playful baby decorated with the jewels of children, holding fresh butter in his hand and surrounded by *Gōpī*-women. He wears also a necklace with a pair of tiger's claws decorating it. A variety of this same Krishna is sometimes represented to be riding on a chariot and to have four arms in two of which are seen the Vaishnava symbols *sankha* and *chakra*.

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² Krishnarāya, the well known Vijayanagara king of the sixteenth century A.D., is stated to have installed in the Krishnasvāmin temple near Hampi, an image of Bāla-Krishna which he had brought as a trophy from Udayagiri (Nellore district) and to have given many ornaments and villages to it.

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³ The *Brāhmiya-Silpa* refers to the dance of Krishna called *Navanita-nritta* "the butter-dance" in which the god bends his legs and dances stretching out one of his arms.

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Another story of the boy Krishna is represented in his dance on the head of a serpent named Kāliya (the black). Kāliya was hiding in a pond in the Yamunā river and making the whole neighbourhood poisonous to all living beings. One day the cattle tended by Krishna and his companions strayed into this region and were thereby poisoned. Krishna then plunged into the pond and holding the viper by the tail in one hand began to dance heavily on his raised hoods. The demon writhed under the pressure of the god’s tiny feet, vomiting blood profusely from each of his several mouths, and was completely exhausted and overcome. Then at last the serpent Kāliya recognized the Lord and took himself away to a remote island in the far-off sea. The esoteric sense of this is clear. The serpent represents the embodiment of all that is vile and wicked in this world; the dance of Krishna represents the fight with evil and its final conquest by the Divine Spirit. Kāliya-Krishna is found only as a decorative figure in temples but not as the object of worship in the central shrine. As in the case of Bāla-Krishna, miniature figures of Kāliya-Krishna are often found among the images of worship in a Brāhmaṇa’s house. A copper idol representing this sport of Krishna was discovered some years ago among the treasure trove found at Kāttu-Edayāru in the South Arcot district (fig. 26). The figure has two hands, a jewelled crown and the usual ornaments. Being a copper image it may be inferred that the idol was used only for processions in the temple to which it originally belonged. According to the Silpasāra the right foot of Kālingamardana (i.e., Kāliya-Krishna) is slightly bent and the left raised up. Of the two arms the left is stretched out in the abhaya posture and the right holds the tail of the serpent. The figure is fully decorated with ornaments and is dark in colour. The illustration from Kāttu-Edayāru shows the same features except that the positions of the right and left legs are interchanged.

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FIG. 24.—Krishna tied to a mortar; Penukonda.

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FIG. 25.—Butter-dance of Bāla-Krishna (metal); Madras Museum.

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The third and the most divine sport of Krishna is his moonlight dance on the sand-banks of the Jumna in the company of the damsels of Brindāvana. The inspired poet Līlāsuka, describing this dance, says that “there, in the circle of dancers (filled with love for Krishna) was seen between damsel and damsel a Mādhava (Krishna) and between Mādhava and Mādhava a damsel; and in the centre of the group again, was the son of Dēvakī playing upon his flute,” thereby indicating in poetic language the mystic significance of the dance. Of the many Gōpī (cow-herd) girls thus in attendance on Krishna in his early life in Brindāvana the most beloved was Rādhā, so much so that Rādhā-Krishna is the name by which he is addressed by the most ecstatic of the zealous Vaishnava cult.

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Images of the flute-playing Krishna generally called Vēnu-Gōpāla (Muralīdhara) without, however, the circle of dancers, are largely worshipped in temples. He stands on his left leg with the right bent across and resting on the toe, and plays upon the flute. When the figure is intended for worship in temples the two upper hands will hold the conch and the discus and there will usually also be the images of his two consorts Rukminī and Satyā on either side (fig. 27).¹ In the hundred-pillared *mandapa* of the Varadarājasvāmin temple at Little Conjeeveram is a figure of the flute-playing Krishna with ten arms (fig. 28). The *Pāñcharātrāgama* calls this form of Krishna by the name Madana-Gōpāla. In paintings MADANA-GŌPĀLA is often represented as leaning against a cow, with one foot bent crosswise and resting on the toe. Cows and cow-herds are also often shown gathering round him. The dance with Gōpis, with which the flute-playing Krishna is intimately connected, is found only in drawings. The esoteric sense of this flute-play and the dance is the supreme joy which the devotees experience in moments of overflowing love in the presence of the object of their devotion.

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¹ At Turaiyūr in the Trichinopoly district the god worshipped in the shrine has only two hands. Hēmādri states that the image of Gōpāla playing on the flute is made with the head ornament of peacock feathers, blue body and two arms. The *Silpasangraha* adds that he is chiefly found in a standing attitude.

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FIG. 26.—Serpent-dance of Kāliya-Krishna (metal); Madras Museum.

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Another well-known sport of Krishna during his boyhood was the lifting up of the hill called Gōvardhana. He is said to have held the hill aloft so as to give shelter to the cow-herds of Brindāvana from a continuous down-pour of rain sent down by Indra in anger in order to flood their small village. A beautiful old representation of this scene comes from the Seven Pagodas (fig. 29) where, in the so-called Krishna-mandapa, Krishna stands in the centre with his left hand raised straight up to support the hill, while his right hand is held in the posture of offering boons (*varada*).² All round the god are seen cows and cow-herds, men and women, the latter carrying pots of milk, butter, curds or other cooked offerings to the god, and leading their young ones by the hand or accompanying their husbands. The ornaments of Krishna in this picture are very sparing. They are the usual large earrings peculiar to the sculpture of the Pallava period, bracelets, armlets and the waist-band. The high crown on the head is also a noticeable feature. This representation differs, however, from the description given in the *Silpasāra* where the god is described as having one hand with flute resting on his waist and the other supporting the hill.

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² Dr. Vogel says that the central figure of the group is Balarāma (Baladēva), the brother of Krishna (*Archæological Survey Report* for 1910-11, p. 51, note 1). He is seen throwing his left hand round the neck of a cow-herd boy who rests his hands crossed on the head of a long hatchet.

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GOVARDHANA KRISHNA

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FIG. 27.—Vēnu-Gōpāla ; Madras Museum.

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FIG. 28.—Madana-Gōpāla; Little Conjeeveram.

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FIG. 29.—Gōvardhana-Krishna; Seven Pagodas.

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Again Krishna on the tree is a familiar figure in paintings and decorative sculptures of temples. The story is related in the *Bhāgavata-Purāṇa* how one day Krishna saw the cow-herd girls bathing naked in the Jumna leaving their clothes on the sand banks of the river and how he took away their clothes and got up a tree standing near by. He did not restore the clothes to the girls till they confessed their error in bathing naked against the teaching of the *Śāstras*. One of the usual processional vehicles in Vishnu temples is the punnai-tree with the naked *Gōpis* standing round it and begging for the return of their clothes (fig. 30).

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GŌPĪVASTRĀ- PAHĀRAKA.

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After leaving Brindāvana, Krishna became the clever and astute statesman and warrior of Dvārakā and took an active part in the war between Kauravas and Pāndavas described in the *Mahābhārata*. He was on the side of the Pāndavas; he was an intimate friend of Arjuna (or Pārtha) and even served him as his charioteer on the battle-field. Hence Krishna is also known by the name of Pārthasārathi, the name of the god in the famous temple at Triplicane. It was on this occasion in the battle-field, when Arjuna was dismayed at the prospect of a bloody war with his relatives, that the divine charioteer Krishna is said to have delivered to Arjuna the famous discourse known as the *Bhagavad-Gītā*. A fine illustration of the scene comes from the Kēsavasvāmin temple at Pushpagiri (fig. 31). The story runs that Arjuna and Krishna were bosom friends in far earlier ages, when under the names Nara and Nārāyana they are supposed to have performed penance in Badarikāsrama.

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PĀRTHA- SĀRATHI.

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