Page:South-Indian Images of Gods and Goddesses.djvu/207

Rh and the crescent. The former, who is logos (Sabda-Brahmā) incarnate, is identical with the illustration from Bāgali given above. Sarasvatī, when represented as the goddess Sāradā (the form in which she is worshipped at Sringēri-matha, in Mysore) presiding over the sixty-four sciences (chatushshashtikalā), has five faces and ten arms. The worship of Sarasvatī generally held on the ninth day of the Dasara is conducted by invoking her presence in a library of books and offering fruits, flowers, sandal and incense.

The two consorts of Vishnu are Lakshmī (Wealth) and Prithvī (Earth). The former is seated or standing on a red lotus pedestal, has four hands, holds two lotus flowers in her upper arms, the other two hands being either in the boon-giving and protecting postures or holding a vessel and a fruit. She is said to have sprung from the ocean at the time of its being churned for nectar. The latter, Prithvī, has only two hands of which the right is raised in the abhaya posture and the left holds the fruit of the pomegranate. Her left leg is represented also as stepping upon a pot of treasures. When Lakshmī accompanies Vishnu she has only two hands. Eight forms of Lakshmī, known as Ashta-Mahālakshmī, are recognized. Of these, Gaja-Lakshmī is the most popular. She is generally found figured on the lintels of door-frames, has four arms and is seated in the same posture as Vināyaka, on a full-blown lotus of eight petals. In her right hand she holds a lotus flower with a long stem which reaches her shoulder ring and in her left a pot of nectar. The two other hands of the goddess hold the bilva-fruit and the conch. Behind her are represented two elephants pouring water from two pots held by their trunks over the head of the goddess. The Mānasāra describes the same goddess with two hands as Sāmānya-Lakshmī and says that she is figured on door-ways. In the Silpasāra this goddess is called the two handed Indra-Lakshmī. A fine representation of Sāmānya- Lakshmī comes from Mahabalipuram (fig. Il8). The central figure of the group is seated on a pedestal of lotus flower, whose open petals are seen hanging down and decorating with their edges the rim of another lotus pedestal at the