South-Indian Images of Gods and Goddesses c9.s12.5

c9.s12.5

Two other forms of Siva connected with Purānic stories may be mentioned. These are Tripurāntakamūrti and Kirātārjunamūrti. The first was assumed by Siva when he killed the three demons called Tripura and reduced their three magic cities to ashes. During this campaign the Earth is said to have served Siva as a chariot, and the Sun and the Moon as its wheels. The four Vēdas were the four horses and the Upanishads were the guiding reins; the mythic golden mountain Mēru was the bow, the ocean was the quiver and god Vishnu was the arrow. Images of Tripurāntaka are made with the right leg firmly placed on the pedestal and the left leg bent. The right forehand in the simha-karna posture holds the arrow and the left fore-arm, the bow. The other hands hold the tanka (or the axe) and the deer respectively. The locks are arranged in the form of a *jaṭāmakuṭa* and the goddess Gaurī stands on the left side. The accompanying illustration from Chidambaram (fig. 90) answers to this description of Tripurāntaka. The alternating positions of the leg, the existence or non-existence of the demon Apasmāra underneath one of them and the fashion of holding the bow and the arrow, yield five other forms of Tripurāntaka, who may also be represented with eight or ten arms. Sometimes (when with ten arms), the god is seated in a chariot with his right knee touching the *sudhā*, the left leg which is bent at the knee being placed firmly in front of the right. In the chariot, at its front, is seated the four-faced Brahmā and below him is a white bull drawing the car. A sandal-wood carving published in the *Journal of Indian Art and Industry*, Vol. XV, No. 119, fig. 12, shows the actual fight between Siva and the demon called Tripura.