Page:South-Indian Images of Gods and Goddesses.djvu/160

140 mountain Mandara was their churn-stick, the primeval Tortoise (who was Vishnu himself) the pivot on which the stick rested and turned, and the serpent Vāsuki the churning rope. By a clever device of Vishnu, the dānavas held the head and the dēvas the tail of the serpent. They churned and churned. Many great and splendid things came foaming up and every one was eager to seize what pleased him most. But all at once something black began to rise. It grew and grew and darkened the whole universe. All the gods and demons were mortally afraid. For it was the deadliest of poisons, death to them and death to all the universe. In this moment of horror they called on Siva to help them. The mighty god came and took the poison in the hollow of his hand and swallowed it. That which was enough to kill the universe served only to stain his neck with a bluish tint. Thus he came to be called "the poison-necked" or "the blue-necked" god. The Kārānagama describing a form of Siva called Vishāpaharamūrti, " the destroyer of poison " says that he has one face, three eyes, braided hair and four arms holding in the two upper the antelope and the axe. He is in the posture of drinking the poison which is held in the right lower hand. The left lower shows the boon-giving posture. On the left side of the god is the goddess with two arms. She shows an anxious countenance and holds the neck of Siva as if to prevent the poison from going down.

Two other forms of Siva connected with Purānic stories may be mentioned. These are Tripurāntakamūrti and Kirātār-junamūrti. The first was assumed by Siva when he killed the three demons called Tripura and reduced their three magic cities to ashes. During this campaign the Earth is said to have served Siva as a chariot, and the Sun and the Moon as its wheels. The four Vēdas were the four horses and the Upanishads were the guiding reins ; the mythic golden mountain Mēru was the bow, the ocean was the quiver and god Vishnu was the arrow. Images of Tripurāntaka are made with the right leg firmly placed on the pedestal and the left leg bent. The right forehand in the simha-karna posture holds the arrow and the left fore-arm, the bow. The other hands hold the tanka (or the

2 An image of Tripurāntaka in the thousand-pillared hall of the Madura temple shows an actual figure of Vishnu engraved on the arrow held by Siva.