Page:South-Indian Images of Gods and Goddesses.djvu/44

24 found in the shrine of the Varāha-Perumāl cave-temple. The scene depicts the primeval Boar rescuing from the depths of the ocean the goddess Earth, who had been kidnapped thither by the demon Hiranyāksha, an enemy of the gods. Sēsha, on whose wide-spread hoods the earth is generally supposed to rest, is also represented as rising from the ocean along with the Boar-god. He is folding his hands in the attitude of worship. The devas worshipping the god from above, the sages on the right, and Brahmā and Siva on the left indicate the joy felt by the entire universe on this occasion. This representation exactly follows the description given by Hēmādri in his Chaturvarga-Chintamani. The hand with the discus is sometimes also shown as raised in the act of killing Hiranyāksha. The god may be represented as smiling after having killed Hiranyāksha and revived him by divine grace. Figures of the Man-boar in meditation or of a full Boar digging the earth in the midst of many demons, are also sometimes represented. In the pictures of Lingōdbhava (Siva) noted in the sequel, is seen the full Boar form of Vishnu digging the earth.

Temples dedicated to the Boar-incarnation of Vishnu are not many. This incarnation was a particular favourite of the Western Chalukya kings in the early centuries of the Christian era. A fine sculpture of Varāha carrying the goddess Earth is found in the Chalukyan rock-cut temple at Bādāmi (Ind. Ant., Vol. VI, p. 354). In later times, too, the Kākatīyas, the Reddis of Kondavldu and the Hindu sovereigns of Vijayanagara, paid particular reverence to Varāha, adopting the boar as their royal crest. At Srīmushnam in the South Arcot district is a beautiful big temple dedicated to this god and so also is another at Tiruvadandai near Mahābalipuram in the Chingleput district.

Narasimha or Nrisimha, the Man-lion is more popular than Varāha. A large number of families in the south, Brahman and non-Brahman, own him as their tutelary deity. In Tamil, the name is corrupted into Singa (Sanskrit Simha) or Singa-Perumal, and in the other vernaculars into Narasa (a contraction of Narasimha). The story of this incarnation of Vishnu is briefly as follows :-

Hiranyāksha and Hiranyakasipu were two demon brothers,naturally hostile to Vishnu. Hiranyāksha was killed