Page:South-Indian Images of Gods and Goddesses.djvu/152

132 akimbo while the left holds a flower. The god and the goddess are highly decorated (figs. 84 and 85). In the first illustration from Gangaikonda-sōlapuram, Gaurī appears as if she is desirous of being let alone but her anxious husband is holding her fast. Figures of Gangādhara are sometimes seen without Gaurī on the side. In such cases he has four hands, of which the right upper supports Gangā on the lock and the left upper holds the deer. Of the two others the right fore-arm rests on the face of the bull against which the god leans and the left rests freely on the waist (fig. 86). The bull, not seen in the illustration, is distinct in a similar figure from the Siva temple at Kodumbālur. Bhagīratha, who was the cause of the descent of Gangā, may also be shown standing together with other rishis to the right of Siva. This is found only in an illustration from Burgess's Elura Cave Temples.

One other figure (or rather group of figures) representing Gangādhara (fig. 87) comes from the rock-cut cave at Trichinopoly and deserves notice. The central image is Siva with four hands. The upper right hand holds a lock of hair in order to receive evidently the goddess Gangā descending from the clouds. The upper left seems to hold a rosary. The left lower hand rests on the waist and the corresponding right holds by the tail a serpent with the raised hood. The left leg of Siva is placed straight on the ground and the right which is bent at the knee is placed on the head of a demon (perhaps Musalagan) who also supports the leg with his left hand which is raised up. The god is fully decorated. Round him are four attendant sages, two of whom are kneeling at the feet, the other two worshipping from behind. Above the group are two dēvas flying in the air on either side of the god's head. Although the details given above do not agree with any particular description given in the Āgamas, it appears to me that it represents Siva standing ready prepared to receive in his locks the rushing torrent of the river of the gods. One of the attendant sages may, in this case, be Bhagīratha at whose request Gangā descended from the heavens.

Another Purānic story is illustrated in the form Kālahā, or Kālaharamūrti, " the destroyer of the god of Death." Mārkandēya was a young boy, greatly devoted to the worship of Siva. The fates had decreed that he should not live