Page:South-Indian Images of Gods and Goddesses.djvu/86

66 dedicated to him he is always the heroic Hanumān, who, on seeing his beloved masters Rāma and Lakshmana faint with fatigue on the battle field of Lankā, flew in an amazingly short time to the Himalayas and, uprooting a whole hill containing drugs that have power to raise a dead man to life, returned to revive Rāma and Lakshmana and with them also the millions of dead monkeys. His heroism, strength and devotion are always admired and the one aim of sculptors in cutting a figure of Hanumān is to give effect to these three special characteristics. No wonder that even the Muhammadans (or, rather Muhammadan converts of later ages) who set high value on physical strength and individual heroism came to appreciate the story of Hānuman and to erect shrines for him. There is inscriptional evidence to prove that in the Ceded districts, where the Muhammadan influence has been very strong, certain classes of Mussalmans are still devoted to this heroic servant of Rāma. This must also have been the object of Chiefs in erecting shrines for Hanumān at the gates of their forts, viz., to infuse into the hearts of their fighting men the spirit of loyal attachment to their masters and indomitable heroism. Sometimes Hanumān may also be represented with hands showing the abhaya and the varada postures.

Of the Vaishnava symbols and weapons referred to in the previous paragraphs as being sometimes personified, the discus (chakra) under the name Sudarsana deserves special mention, it being separately worshipped in the Sri-vaishnava temples under the name Chakra-Perumāl (figs. 43 and 44). The Silpasāra describes Sudarsana to be brilliant as fire, with sixteen arms holding the weapons conch, discus, bow, axe, sword, arrow, trident, noose, goad, lotus, thunderbolt, shield, plough, pestle, club and spear. The figure has protruding teeth, fiery hair and three eyes. It is fully decorated and stands in front of a shatkōna or hexagon. Dancing thus amidst the flames of the discus, the Sudarsana is supposed to kill all enemies. Sometimes the image may be represented with eight or four arms holding the discus in all of them.

Mr. Longhurst has supplied two other photographs (fig. 45) in the first of which Sudarsana appears to be similar in all details to the Tirupati figure No. 43, but has at the back of it an equilateral triangle within which is the seated figure of Nrisimha in the yogāsana attitude (see above, fig. 19) with flames of fire proceeding from his crown, This form of Nrisimha is