Page:South-Indian Images of Gods and Goddesses.djvu/130

110 and the other bent crosswise so as to lie flat on the pedestal. The god holds in his upper hands the tanka (or, the axe) and the deer and in the lower exhibits the varada and the abhaya postures. The goddess holds a lily in her right hand and shows the varada or the kataka pose in her left (fig. 67). She may sometimes also be represented as resting the palm of her left hand on the pedestal by the side of her left thigh while the right hand, as before, holds the lily. Skanda has the crown karandamakuta and holds in one of his hands a flower, a wood-apple or a mango. According to the Kāranāgama the group must be flanked by two standing or seated figures called Bhōga-Sakti and Vīra-Sakti on the left and right sides respectively. It is also stated that the right side of the pedestal on which the god sits is to be slightly higher than the left.

A photograph from Mahābalipuram (fig. 68) is worth noting in this connexion. It shows Siva in the comfortably seated posture. In his upper hands, however, the symbols, evidently of tanka and the deer, are missing. The right lower is in the posture of abhaya and the left lower in that of kataka. It is also possible that the latter is resting freely on the thigh. Pārvatī is seated on Siva's left side, turning her face towards him and holding the child Skanda on her knee. In the upper corners are seen flying dwarfs, apparently holding flywhisks in their hands. The whole group is flanked by two four-armed gods raising respectively the upper left and right arms and pointing them towards Siva.

Among the Mahābalipuram sculptures we find still another scene of Saiva pictures apparently allied to Sōmāskanda just described, viz., Sukhāsana or Umāsahita mentioned in footnote I on p. 76. Here, on a pedestal supported by two lion-pillars and the recumbant bull between them, is a seated figure of Siva with a robe of ornamental fringes, hanging loosely from above his right shoulder. In his right upper hand he holds a furious serpent. What the position of his left upper hand indicates, is not clear. Of the two other hands, the left lower rests freely on his right leg and the left thigh, while the right lower exhibits a position of the fingers which suggests that the god must have held some weapon. The high jatāmakuta, the divine halo (circle of light) round the face, the necklaces, pendants, ear-rings, waist-band, rings on hands and a thick