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HINDU ICONOGRAPHY
41
the demon Andhaka himself after this incident This is also called Gajāsura-vadha-murti.
the past, in their desire to know the truth, began to speculate as to who might have created the universe. They approached Brahmã and asked him to enlighten them on this matter. Brahmä replied that he was the creator. Siva, who had arrived on the scene in the meanwhile, was highly incensed by this assertion of Brahmā. He there fore asked Brahmā to admit the falsity of his statement, which Brahmă refused to do. Siva tried to demonstrate his greatness in various ways. but Brahmă remained obstinate. Greatly infuriated, Siva assumed the form of Bhairava and cut off one of the five heads that reviled him. This killed Brahmā only for a short while, since by means of his great virtue he was soon revived. But Siva had unwittingly committed the sin of Brahmahatyā (the sin of killing a Brāhmana) for which he had to atone. To wash off the sin, Siva had to wander for twelve years, begging alms and using Brahmā's kapāla (skull) for the purpose. Siva went to Vishnu to seek his advise as to how he could wash off his sin. But when he got to Vishnu's residence, the gate-keeper Vishvaksena, who was a Brāhmaṇa, would not admit him. Siva assaulted the gate-keeper and killed him, thus committing another Brahmahatyä. Vishņu advised Siva to proceed to Vārānasi with the body of Vishvaksena. On reaching that sacred place, Siva's sin fell off and he once again became pure and retired to his abode on Kailasa (Mt. Everest).
3. Tripurāntaka-mūrti (the Destruction of the
Three Castles) (Pls. 46-49)
The Mahabharata, the great Indian epic, tells the story of the destruction of the three castles built by the powerful sons of the demon Andhakasura-Vidyunmali, Tarakaksha and Kamaläksha. These three sons performed very severe penances and pleased Brahmā so much that he offered to grant them any boon they wished. They wanted three castles built of metal, one of gold in heaven, another of silver in the air, and a third of iron on earth, each one of them to be impenetrable, and which could be joined to become one huge castle connecting earth, air and heaven after a thousand years. Without much thought, Brahmä granted this boon to the three brothers. They also demanded that this one huge castle after it was joined should be destructible only by a single arrow.
The three brothers now began to harass the gods from these indestructible castles. Indra's thunderbolt was of no avail against these demons. In utter despair, the gods approached Brahmă, who was really responsible for this since he had granted the original boon to the demons. Brahma told the gods that the demons could be destroyed only with a single arrow, and that none excepting Siva was strong enough to wield such a weapon. The gods now offered prayers to Siva. The latter, pleased with their worship, agreed to undertake the work of destroying the demons. Siva asked the gods to surrender half of their powers to him, which they did. Now Siva became stronger than all the other gods, and thus became 'Mahadeva,' the 'Great God.' He made Vishnu his arrow, Agni its barb, and Yama its feather; he made the Vedas his bow and Savitri his bow-string. Brahma had to accept the position of his charioteer. Using his great strength, he then discharged the arrow and destroyed the three castles of the demons.
2. Gajāsura-samhāra-mūrti (Killing of the Demon
Gajāsura---the Elephant Demon) (Pls. 43-45)
The Kurma-Purāna tells the story of how Siva came to wear an elephant-skin. Once while the Brāhmaṇas were seated round a Siva-linga, offering prayers, a demon appeared in the form of an elephant and began to harass the Brāhmanas. Highly incensed at this, Siva came out of the Linga, killed the elephant and wore his skin as an upper garment. Another text (Suprabhedagama) gives a different account of this. The king of the demons, Andhaka, decided to carry away Parvati, the wife of Siva. To assist Andhaka, another demon called Nila took the form of an elephant with a view to killing Siva. When Nandi, the Bull of Siva, heard of this plan, he revealed it to Virabhadra, son of Siva (see page 46). Virabhadra then took the form of a lion and killed Nila in his elephant-form. Then he presented the skin of the elephant to his sire Siva, who used it as an upper garment. Siva also set out to destroy
4. Sarabhesa-mūrti (Śiva as Sarabha, an Imaginary
Animal Destroying the Narasimha form of Vishnu)
This form was obviously conceived by the followers of Siva to assert the supremacy of Siva over Vishnu. The latter took the form of halflion, half-man to destroy Hiranyakaśipu, who was
