DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.2371#0436
414 BEAHMANICAL CAVE-TEMPLES.
squat male figures, each different, and acting as brackets to the
roof above.
Inside the verandah, at the left end, is a figure of Harihara, the
joint form of Siva and Vishnu, 7 feet 9 inches high,1 attended by
two females, perhaps Lakshmi and Uma, with elaborate girdles,
head-gear, and bracelets. At the right end is another large sculpture
—that of Arddhanariswara.2
As is usually the case at Elephanta and elsewhere, the god is
attended by his favourite white bull Nandi,—a form of Dharmadeva,
the god of justice, who offered himself to Siva in this form as a
vehicle. Behind Nandi, with clasped hands, stands Bhringi—a
favourite devotee, or perhaps Kal, a form of Budra or Siva himself
as the author of destruction,—a gaunt and hideous skeleton. At
the left or female side stands a female richly decked, and bearing
some flat object in her left hand.
The right side, which is always the male half, represents Siva,—
the rrcrescent moon and skull on his headdress, a snake in his ear,
another coiled round his arm, a third hanging from his belt—(the
heads of them broken off),—and a fourth twisting round the battle-
axe he holds in his uplifted hand; a portion of the tiger-skin, in
which he wraps his person, hanging down on his thigh ; with richly
jewelled necklaces, bracelets, &c.
The left half, representing Umasakti, has a large flat earring,
necklaces, belt, armlets, and bracelets of different patterns from those
on the male half. The hair is made up in a sort of chignon over the
shoulder, much as it is still worn by the lower classes in the Madras
Presidency, "and is covered with a network of pearls or gems. A
cord hangs down in front of the thigh, terminating in a small Ha
heart-shaped end—an ornament specially noticeable on many or t e
figures in the Kailasa temple at Elura. On the foot are two heavy
anklets, and these and the very long bracelets on the wrists, an
also on the female companion, cannot fail to remind the observer
the similar abundance of bone and brass rings worn by the Banj
and other aboriginal tribes to the present day. She holds np
flower, and with the other hand grasps one end of a stick or »
the other end of which is held by the front hand ofthe^malejaj
1 First Arch. Report, Plate XIX. Fig. 4. , nicn 0f
^ 2 " ArddhanariSvari, Arddhaneswari, or Arddhanarinate^wara," is *° l
Siva and Parvati, in a half male half female form.
squat male figures, each different, and acting as brackets to the
roof above.
Inside the verandah, at the left end, is a figure of Harihara, the
joint form of Siva and Vishnu, 7 feet 9 inches high,1 attended by
two females, perhaps Lakshmi and Uma, with elaborate girdles,
head-gear, and bracelets. At the right end is another large sculpture
—that of Arddhanariswara.2
As is usually the case at Elephanta and elsewhere, the god is
attended by his favourite white bull Nandi,—a form of Dharmadeva,
the god of justice, who offered himself to Siva in this form as a
vehicle. Behind Nandi, with clasped hands, stands Bhringi—a
favourite devotee, or perhaps Kal, a form of Budra or Siva himself
as the author of destruction,—a gaunt and hideous skeleton. At
the left or female side stands a female richly decked, and bearing
some flat object in her left hand.
The right side, which is always the male half, represents Siva,—
the rrcrescent moon and skull on his headdress, a snake in his ear,
another coiled round his arm, a third hanging from his belt—(the
heads of them broken off),—and a fourth twisting round the battle-
axe he holds in his uplifted hand; a portion of the tiger-skin, in
which he wraps his person, hanging down on his thigh ; with richly
jewelled necklaces, bracelets, &c.
The left half, representing Umasakti, has a large flat earring,
necklaces, belt, armlets, and bracelets of different patterns from those
on the male half. The hair is made up in a sort of chignon over the
shoulder, much as it is still worn by the lower classes in the Madras
Presidency, "and is covered with a network of pearls or gems. A
cord hangs down in front of the thigh, terminating in a small Ha
heart-shaped end—an ornament specially noticeable on many or t e
figures in the Kailasa temple at Elura. On the foot are two heavy
anklets, and these and the very long bracelets on the wrists, an
also on the female companion, cannot fail to remind the observer
the similar abundance of bone and brass rings worn by the Banj
and other aboriginal tribes to the present day. She holds np
flower, and with the other hand grasps one end of a stick or »
the other end of which is held by the front hand ofthe^malejaj
1 First Arch. Report, Plate XIX. Fig. 4. , nicn 0f
^ 2 " ArddhanariSvari, Arddhaneswari, or Arddhanarinate^wara," is *° l
Siva and Parvati, in a half male half female form.