Page:South-Indian Images of Gods and Goddesses.djvu/182

162 form of either a jatāmakuta, jatāmandala or kēsabandha and stands with level feet in the ābhanga or the sama-bhanga posture. He may also be found seated with the right leg hanging down from the seat and the left leg bent crosswise so as to rest upon the seat. He holds the tanka (or, axe) in the right hand and shows the boon-giving posture in his left (fig. I03). Sometimes both the hands are seen folded over the breast in a worshipping posture with the weapon tanka (or, sometimes, a flower garland) held between them. In this case he receives the name Ādi-Chandēsa. A story related in the Tamil Periyapurānam about Chandēsa makes him a fervent devotee of Siva, who in his height of devotion, cut off the legs of his own father, because he wantonly spilt the milk-pots which Chandēsa had secured as loving offerings to Siva. Sankarāchārya, who lived perhaps in the early part of the eighth century A.D., refers to this Saiva devotee Chandēsa as pitridrōhin, " the sinner against (his) father," evidently with reference to the story related in the Periyapurānam. The form of Siva known as Chandēsānugrahamūrti, described above, is entirely based on this anecdote.

Nandi, Nandīsa or Nandikēsvara, now represented by the recumbent bull placed in front of the chief shrine in a Siva temple, is described by Hēmādri to be one of the attendant demi-gods of Siva. He is stated to have three eyes and four arms and to wear a tiger's skin. In two of his hands he holds the trident and the bhindivāla " a short javelin." The third hand is raised up over the head and the last shows a stretched finger (tarjani), his eyes being watchful and fixed towards people coming from a distance into the Siva temple. The Varāha-Purāna says that, though originally an ascetic, Nandi by his austerities and devotion to Siva was blessed with a form similar to that of Siva himself and was placed at the head of the attendant ganas of Siva. A metallic image (fig. 104) from Valuvūr (Tanjore district) represents him in this metamorphosed form. He has four arms of which the two back ones hold the tanka and the deer and the two front are joined together palm to palm in a worshipping posture. By the side of Nandīsvara stands also his wife with two arms.