Vastu-shastra (Vol. I: Hindu Science of Architecture; Vol. II: Hindu Canons of Iconography and Painting) v2.c74.s8.36

v2.c74.s8.36

**Ear ornaments.—**Their very names indicate that they were made of cones of coconut or palmyra-leaves or even thin gold leaves (metal, ivory or wooden piece) in the shape of the mythical ‘makara’ ( a crocodile like animal), cut sections of conch-shells, jewels and (metal, ivory or wooden piece) fashioned like a cobra, respectively’—Bannerjea. Among these, as already pointed out, some of these are particularly associated with particular gods, but nakra-kuṇḍala and ratna-kuṇḍala can with equal appropriateness be used to decorate the ears of the divinities of both sexes. Viṣṇu, Sūrya and Baladeva are described, (cf. Br. Samhitā) as ‘Kirīṭa-kuṇḍaladhārī’; ‘Kuṇḍalabhūṣitavadana’; and ‘bibhṛt-kuṇḍalamekam’; respectively.