Page:Elements of Hindu Iconography Vol. 2 Part 1.pdf/177



HE name Chandraśēkharamūrti implies an image which has Chandra (the moon) as its head-ornament. How Siva came to possess snakes on his body, the black buck and the parasu in his hands, the Apasmāra-purusha or the demon under his feet, to wear the skins of the lion and the tiger on his loins and and the skull and the moon tucked up in his crown is described in the Suprabhedāgama thus:-When Šiva was passing by the slopes of the mountain Mēru without any garments, the wives of the Rishis fell in love with him and lost their chastity. The Rishis, wild with rage, performed incantations to kill Šiva, the seducer of their wives; from their ceremonial ground there came snakes, a krishna-mriga, an Apasmāra-purusha, a parasu, a bull, a tiger, a lion and several other things. For destroying Siva all these were discharged by the Rishis against him. The latter took into his hands