South-Indian Images of Gods and Goddesses c9.s3.4

c9.s3.4

Before describing some of the popular Siva-images¹ it may be useful to give a general description of Siva when he is represented in the form of an image. The common name then applied to him is Rudramūrti.² He has four hands, of which the two upper ones hold the dhakkā (kettle-drum) and the deer, the two lower hands showing the abhaya and the varada postures. His matted hair is made up in the form of a crown (jatāmakuta) on whose left shines the crescent of the moon and whose right is decorated with the jewel known as arka-pushpa. The face of a woman (i.e., of the goddess Gangā representing the river Ganges) appears over the matted hair, on the right side. He has three eyes, which represent the Sun, Moon and Fire, the last being on the forehead. He is clothed with a tiger skin above his knees and wears an undergarment and a scarf and the usual ornaments, necklace and torque, girdle round the waist, wristlets, waist-zone, armlets, arm-rings, finger-rings set with gems, anklets, and the sacred thread. The left ear of the god wears a woman's ornament called lamba-patra, while the right wears a man's ornament called makara-kundala. The left side of the neck is marked with the blue scar (caused by his having swallowed the poison kālakūta³). This general form of Siva may be represented either standing or seated on the lotus-pedestal with an aureola, and with or without his consort Pārvatī on the left side. The pedestal may also sometimes be the mahā-pitha, when, instead of the aureola behind the image, there may be the celestial tree (kalpa-vriksha).