Page:South-Indian Images of Gods and Goddesses.djvu/123

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Kankālamūrti is a form closely allied to Bhikshātana and almost similar in appearance. According to the Mayamata, ' Kankālamūrti is draped in a fine cloth and is surrounded by lovely women. In his upper right hand he holds the peacock's feathers and skeleton (kankāla) and in the upper left the tanka. A serpent is coiled round his loins ; and he has a knife stuck into the girdle on the right side of his waist (figs. 63 and 64). He is generally attended by demons. Birds and beasts follow him in expectation of getting something to eat from his hands. The description given of Kankālamūrti in the Kāsyapa-Silpa of the Amsumat-Tantra is different. He has a jatāmakuta decorated with serpents, the crescent-moon and flowers ; he is holding the kettle-drum in his left fore-arm and a stick (to beat it with) in the corresponding right ; the other right hand is in the pose simha-karna and touches the mouth of the antelope, while the left carries a bunch of peacock's feathers on a staff. He also wears a necklace of skeletons (kankāla) which according to the Āditya-Purāna are supposed to be those of Vishnu in his various incarnations. Sometimes he may be represented also as carrying on his shoulder a kankāla (skeleton) tied by a rope to the staff.

The form of Siva, decorated as a bridegroom, is called Kalyānasundaramūrti or Vāivāhikamūrti. Siva in this form is represented as a fair youth, with three eyes and four arms. He is clothed in the best of garments and wears a garland of blue lilies. On his right side stands Pārvatī, his bride, whose right hand he holds with his own. In his back hands are seen the symbols, tanka (or sometimes the axe) and the black buck. The left lower hand shows the boon-giving posture. His matted locks are made up in the fashion of a jatāmakuta on which is stuck the crescent of the moon. The general posture of the god is what is called samabhanga, or the medium bend, wherein the figure stands with the right leg slightly bent and the left leg placed firmly on the ground. The goddess on the right side is represented as a fully developed maiden. She has only two hands, one of which holds a lily. Brahmā, having in his four hands the rosary, water-pot,