Page 26 - Stone and Bronze, Indian art of the Chola Dynasty, Metropolitan Museum, NYC

"'^ > & _ ; two-armed, holds high his battle axe and leans
'~.~~l.,~;~ /Siva,
"
4" on his bull vehicle, Nandi. Parvati has only one arm,
which holds a mirror.
The Ardhanari icon was in turn succeeded by Siva
K ' in the fiery pillar (Lingodbhavamurti), which gradu-
.!" ~C~: ,-' ally became the standard occupant of the western
-~
X f~ Jii devakoshta.
AP, I mentioned previously Siva's slow but irresistible
'_'-d . rise to power and how in the Gupta period the concept
'
J_.~, . of the trimurti was created in order to reconcile the
sectarians, already mainly grouped around Vishnu and
Siva. But this reconciliation did not last. Brahma lost
whatever power he had, and for the believers in either
:
"K, ^Eof the two great sectarian gods-Vishnu and Siva-
their lord assumed the functions, virtues, and powers
:-, II of the two other members of the trimurti as well.
- ;
:X3~r, NThis development is reflected in some of the Puranic
myths.5s The story of the origin of the linga (lingod-
bhava) begins with an acrimonious dispute between
.4 Vishnu and Brahma, who both claim to have created
the universe. While they quarrel, there appears in a
..,
blinding light a flaming pillar that seems to pierce
heaven and earth. (We remember the ancient associa-
tion of Rudra, the storm, with Agni, the fire.) They
<<X;., decide to investigate it. Brahma flies up into the sky to
_ :" "t ;1*;{i_ find its top while Vishnu digs into the earth to reach its
. ^ X _ c: f bottom, but although they continue for a thousand
--. i? years, their labors are of no avail. Only when they
enter deep meditation does Siva in all his glory reveal
himself to them in the fiery pillar; they worship him
and are accepted as his right and left arm. In a later
_ version,52 Vishnu assumes the shape of his boar avatar
,-.
(Varaha) in order to burrow into the ground, while
Brahma's mount, the wild goose (hamsa), rises to
heaven.
_`' _ At a somewhat later stage of the legend's develop-
ment, Brahma lied, asserting that he had reached the
top of the flaming pillar, bringing back as proof a pan-
danus flower that had fallen from Siva's headdress.
Siva put upon him a curse depriving him forever of a
'?. L.. * .lr ~ucult .. of his own; in one version, he even cut off Brahma's
t
~. , ' 51. Vayu-Purana, Brahmanda-Purana, Linga-Purana; quoted by
Gopinatha Rao, Banerjea, Basham. J. Filliozat, "L'Image de
FIGURE 25 l'Origine du Linga (Lingodbhavamurti)," Arts Asiatiques 8 (I961)
pp. 43-56; D. Barrett, "An Early Cola Lingodbhavamurti," The
Ardhanarisvara, 886. Nagesvara temple, Kumba- British Museum 28 pp. 32-39.
Quarterly (I964)
konam 52. Skanda-Purana,
quoted by Filliozat, "L'Image," pp. 47-48.
54