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South-Indian Images of Gods and Goddesses c9.s15: XXIII

South-Indian Images of Gods and Goddesses c9.s15

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XXIII

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Virabhadra is one of the many Saiva demi-gods (*ganas*).² He is said to have sprung from a lock of Siva’s hair when, as already stated, Siva heard of the suicide of his wife Satī in her father’s sacrificial fire and flew into a rage. From the fire of his anger came into existence this terrible form, as of Death manifest, who destroyed the sacrificial ceremonies of Daksha and slew Daksha himself. The *Pāncharātrāgama* describes Virabhadra as black in colour, having three eyes and holding in his four arms a sword, arrow, bow and club. He wears a garland of skulls and has sandals on his feet. A yellow garment is tied round his loins.³ The *Silparatna* describes him as having eight hands and riding on *vētāla* (a demon) surrounded by his *ganas* (followers). From the Brihadīsvara temple at Tanjore comes a sculptured panel (fig. 100) in which a woman, perhaps the wife of Daksha, is seen flying in alarm with upraised hands at seeing her husband decapitated by Virabhadra before her very eyes and the severed head thrown into the sacrificial fire-pit. One of the attendant priests with a ladle in his hand is also represented in the act of running away from the scene. A fine figure of Virabhadra with the bow and arrow, sword and shield, comes from Mudigondam in the Coimbatore district (fig. 101). The god is represented standing on a *padma-pitha* in front of a *prabhā-mandala*, “an arch of light”. At the edge of the pedestal on the right side is shown Daksha who was, however, revived by Siva with the head of a sheep substituted for the one that was burnt in the sacrificial fire.

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² *Kāsikhanda*. In the lexicon *Amarakōsa* Siva himself is called the destroyer of the sacrifice (Kratudhvamsin).

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³ The *Kāranāgama* adds that he has Bhadrakālī by his side and is fierce, Daksha with the sheep’s head, two eyes and two arms, stands on the right side of Virabhadra.

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FIG. 99.—Kālāgni-Rudra (?) ; Durgi.

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FIG. 100.—Virabhadra throwing the head of Daksha into the fire; Tanjore.

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FIG. 101.—Virabhadra; Mudigondam.

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The figure of Daksha is of comparatively small stature, meant evidently to indicate by contrast, the huge form of Vīrabhadra.

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The Silpasangraha mentions three varieties of Vīrabhadra (viz. *sāttvic*, *tāmasic* and *rājasic*) with two, four or eight arms.¹ All are dark in colour and fierce looking. Seated figures of Vīrabhadra are called Yōga-Vīra, his standing figures, Bhōga-Vīra and those in a walking posture, Vīra-Vīra. In the first, Vīrabhadra holds a sword and shield and is seated with one leg folded on the pedestal and the other hanging down. In the second posture he exhibits the bow and arrow, sword and *kataka*. On the leg is worn the anklet of heroes. The head is adorned with a crown, in the middle of which is represented a linga. A garland of skulls decorates the neck. On the right side is the image of Daksha with folded arms. In the Vīra-Vīra figures, Vīrabhadra holds the trident, sword, arrow and the deer on the right side and the skull, shield, bow and the goad on the left. It may be noted that, while images of Vīrabhadra and independent temples erected for him are very common in the Telugu and Canarese districts, temples in the Tamil districts rarely contain his image, and shrines dedicated to him are still rarer. There is a Virabhadra temple at Madura,

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¹ Dr. Burgess's *Elura Cave Temples*, Plate XXII, Fig. 2, is a representation of Vīrabhadra with eight hands. The plate wrongly calls the figure Bhairava.

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KSHĒTRAPĀLA

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Images of Kshētrapāla often met with in the temples of Southern India are divided into three classes, according to the predominating qualities *sattva*, *rajas* and *tamas*. Those belonging to the first class have two or four hands; the second six and the third eight.² All the figures, irrespective of the class to which they belong, are made to stand with level feet (*samapāda*). The general description of them is that they have three eyes which are round and protruding, red hair pointing upwards, serpent jewels, a girdle of bells round the waist and a necklace of skulls. They are naked and inspire awe with their fierce fangs (fig. 102). Kshētrapāla occupies an important place among the subsidiary deities in Siva temples. He is the chief guardian of the temple just as Chandēsa (described below) is its superintendent and manager. Kṣētrapāla is worshipped first in every Siva temple, before commencing the regular service for the day. The Prayōgasāra says:—"Whoever performs any ceremony without first worshipping Kṣētrapāla, the fruit of that ceremony is without doubt destroyed by Kṣētrapāla." His naked form and the name Mahā-Bhairava by which he is addressed during the Sribali ceremony suggests that Kṣētrapāla in his essence must be allied to Bhairava.¹

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² One image of Kshētrapāla with eight arms and another of Bhairava, were set up in the Tanjore temple at the beginning of the eleventh century A.D. in connexion with the group of figures illustrating the story of the Saiva saint Siruttonda-Nāyanār; see below, p. 259, footnote 2. In the Panchanadēsvara temple at Tiruvādi near Tanjore is an image of Kshētrapāla, called Ālkondār, with eight hands, to which people attach much importance.

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¹ Mayūrabhanja, (p. xxxiv, fig. 13), gives a description of Kṣētrapāla calling him Mahākāla and Bhairava. The Silpasāra in describing Vatuka-Bhairava, calls him also Kṣētrapāla.

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FIG. 102.—Kshētrapāla ; Tiruvarangulam.

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All these awe-inspiring forms of the Saiva cult, including others which are mentioned in the Āgamas, but not often met with in South-Indian temples, received special worship from the adherents of the early Saiva sub-sects known as Pāsupatas, Kālāmukhas and Kāpālikas, as well as from the Lingāyatas of later origin.²

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² In the famous temple on the Srisailam Hill (Kurnool district) where the influence of the Lingāyata sect was once very great, is a pavilion adjoining the Nandi-maṇḍapa. An inscription of the fourteenth century A.D. describes it as the place where the votaries, evidently of the Virabhadra form of Siva, offered up their heads in order to propitiate the furious god; Madras Epigraphical Report for 1914-15, p. 92, paragraph 15.

Cites (5)