Page:South-Indian Images of Gods and Goddesses.djvu/282

 whose devotional hymns in praise of the many Saiva shrines of the South are collected together under the name Devdram and are regarded as scriptures by the devout section of the Saivas. Stories relating to the pious lives of the sixty-three Saiva devotees are recorded in the book called Periyapuranam, which was written about the end of the thirteenth century of the Christian era. Manikkavasagar, the author of the Tiru- vdsagam, is also a saint of great reputation. A beautiful image of his (fig. 161) comes from Tiruvarangulam in the Pudukkottai State. An illustration from Madura (fig. 162) of Karaikkal-Ammai, one of the female Saiva saints counted among the sixty-three, gives a true picture of how devotion and severe penance are expected to reduce the physical body to a skeleton. Likejhe Saiva scriptures, the hymns of the Vaishnava saints (Alvars) (see Tirumangai-Alvar, fig. 160 (e) above), are also collected under the name Ndldyiraprabandham and form the accredited scriptures of the Tengalai section of Sr!-Vaishnavas. The lives of the Alvars are given in the book entitled Guruparampardprabhdva.

Numerous other images are mentioned in the Agamas, Purdnas and similar other works. These are rarely, if at all, depicted in temples. The nine Prajapatis, the eight Vasus, the seven (or sometimes forty-nine) Maruts, the ten Visvedevas, the fourteen Manus, the nine Chiranjivins, are all personified and described with their weapons and vehicles. Even the sixty-four sciences, the sixty years of the cycle, the months, fortnights, days, constellations, signs of the zodiac, seasons, solstices, oceans, quarters, mountains, rivers, etc., are similarly personified and described. It is not necessary to consider them in any detail.

A brief description may now be given of the Digambara J a ^ na images, of which we have a good number in the districts of Chingleput, South Arcot, South Canara and other parts of the Madras Presidency. It is not possible to enter here into a detailed enquiry of Jaina ritual, symbolism, idology, etc. We

Tanjore temple built by Rajaraja I at the beginning of the eleventh century A.U., were installed images of Nambi-Aruranar (i.e., Sundaramurti), Tirujnanasarr.- banclar, Nangai-Paravaiyar (wife of Sundaramurti), Tirunavukkaraiyar, Periya- Perumal and his queen Lokamahadeviyar, Meypporul-Nayanar and Siruttonda- Nayanar. The set of images illustrating the story of the last-mentioned, included Kshetrapala, Bhairava, Siruttonda-Nambi, Tiruvenkattu-Nangai (his wife) and Siraladevar (his son); see S.I.I., Vol. II. Introduction, p. 39 f. In the temple at Dharasuram near Kumbakonam are pictured scenes from the lives of most of these sixty-three Saiva devotees vith labels cut on their pedestals. These belong to the thirteenth century A.D.