Page:South-Indian Images of Gods and Goddesses.djvu/226

206 buffalo-demon with his head cut off and rolling on the ground. A man emerging from the buffalo's neck is seen holding a weapon in his hand, abject with fear. Pierced by the trident of the goddess, he is vomiting blood. The lion too on which Chandikā is riding attacks the giant with its mouth while the noose held by the goddess is tightly fastened round his neck. The goddess's right leg is placed on the lion while the other steps on the body of the demon. This form of Chandī is propitiated by those who wish to destroy their enemies. The ruling family of Mysore has Chāmundā-Chandī for its tutelary deity.

A goddess with sixteen arms killing the buffalo-demon and as such to be classed among the Saivite Saktis, is also called Mahā-Lakshmī. The Mahā-Lakshmī, described in the Chandikalpa, has twenty arms, holds all the destructive weapons and is seen in the act of killing the buffalo-demon. It will be observed that this Mahā-Lakshmī is only another form of Durga.

Various postures of Mahishāsuramardinī in the act of killing the buffalo-demon are depicted in South-Indian Saiva temples, some of them being of excellent workmanship. It is not always easy to distinguish the images which are thus engaged in the act of killing the buffalo-demon, and to say whether they be representations of Chāmundā,Durgā,Mahishāsuramardinī or Mahā-Lakshmī. It may, however, be suggested that figures with a breast-band standing upright on the severed head of the buffalo are generally those of Durgā-Lakshmī, while those in the actual fighting attitude are either Chāmundā, Mahishāsuramardinī or Mahā-Lakshmī.. They generally have eight arms and hold weapons, the conch, discus, bow, shield, sword, bell, noose and trident. The demon may be shown with a human body, or a human body with a buffalo's head, 3 or a buffalo from whose severed trunk proceeds a human figure. The illustrations given show some of the fighting postures of Mahishāsuramardinī (figs. 129, 130, 131). In the Mahishāsura-mandapa at Mahābalipuram is seen a relief on the proper left wall, which represents the fight between Durgā-Mahishāsuramardinī and the

Burgess's Elura Cave Temples, Plate IV, fig. 7, shows the giant as a man with buffalo's horns.