Page:South-Indian Images of Gods and Goddesses.djvu/31

Rh up in the fashion known as jatā-makuta and he is attended by the two goddesses Sarasvatī (on the right) and Sāvitrī (on the left).

Another representation shows Brahmā riding on a chariot drawn by seven swans (hamsa ). His right lower hand rests on the palm of the left lower, the two other hands holding the usual rosary and the water-pot. He is seated on a full blown lotus-flower, with his eyes closed in a meditative posture. The goddess Sāvitrī is seated on his left thigh. There are various other representations of Brahmā drawn purely from the imagination of the sculptor or painter and sometimes also based on Purānic legends. But the main points which distinguish Brahmā from the other gods are the same in all. Hēmādri mentions some forms of Brahmā such as Prajāpati, Visvakarma, Lokapāla and Dharma. It may be noted that the swan vehicle and the goddesses are rarely, if at all, found in the figures of Brahmā generally set up in South-Indian temples.

An old picture of Brahmā from Seven Pagodas (fig. 6) and a later one from Kumbakōnam (fig. 7) illustrate the standing posture described above. In the latter the left lower hand rests freely on the waist of the god and does not show the posture of conferring boons. The sitting attitude of Brahma surmounted by a parasol and chauris—the symbols of supreme power—is beautifully illustrated by a picture from Tiruvādi near Tanjore (fig. 8). Another figure, which is unfortunately mutilated, shows the same position, but includes the standing figure of Sarasvatī on the right side of Brahmā (fig. 9). It is noticeable that in this figure the right upper hand of Brahmā is made to hold a lotus instead of the usual rosary. An image from Chidambaram (fig. 10) shows Brahmā on his swan vehicle folding two of his hands in a worshipping posture and holding the rosary and water-pot in the other two.