Page 41 - Stone and Bronze, Indian art of the Chola Dynasty, Metropolitan Museum, NYC

While Durga (The Inaccessible) is one of the mani- I mention( ed above, in passing, the Ardhanarisvara
festations of the fierce and awe-inspiring aspects of the motif, which i is one iconic realization of this concept
Goddess-very popular in the south as well-Parvati (Figure 25). The three-figured group of Siva, his con-
(Daughter of the Mountain) is the chief representative sort Parvati, and their son Skanda (Somaskandamurti)
of her benevolent side. Her name refers to her father, is another mr lanifestation of these beliefs. This Soma-
Himavat, personification of the Himalaya Mountains. skandamurti had been the principal cult icon in the
As the spouse Siva, she is his sakti, or female energy. Pallava temi ples until about the end of the eighth cen-
of
While the god was conceived as inactive and transcen- tury, when tl he transition to linga worship began. Sub-
dent, his female element was thought of as active and sequently on the Early Chola temples there is no Soma-
immanent. Thus, the Goddess embodied and repre- skanda.
sented the strength potency of her male counterpart. The Godd ess in her terrifying aspect, as Durga, also
or
Sankaracharya (ninth century) wrote: "When Siva is appeared in 1 the Pallava cave temples. Her most popu-
united to Sakti, he is able to create; otherwise he is un- lar manifests ation was that of Mahishamardini, the
able even to move."86 slayer of the Buffalo Titan. The legend illustrates the
reemergence of her power and popularity. The Buffalo
86. Quoted in Balasubrahmanyam, Four Chola Temples, p. 51. Titan, evil ii ncarnate, had become almighty, and the

FIGURE 43 Durga, 910. Brahmapurisvara temple, Pullamangai

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