South-Indian Images of Gods and Goddesses c8.s7.3

c8.s7.3

¹ The *Mayamata* says that the serpent, the couch of Anantasayana, may be of five or seven hoods, its white colour indicating great bliss. Padmanābha means "he of the lotus-navel"; and we see, in figures of Anantasayana, the navel of the god sending forth a stock at the end of which is a lotus flower and in it the four-faced Brahmā. Ranganātha is "the lord of the *ranga*, the assembly-hall." It might be noted that in the illustrations of Anantasayana the central figure of Vishnu is surrounded by all the other gods as if in an assembly-hall.