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THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
plunged into the sea, but was told by Samudra that it was the Daitya Panchajana or Sankhasura, the chief of a race dwelling in shells, who had carried off the youth. Krishna then, descending to the bottom of the ocean, encountered and slew him, bringing up his bones (or the shell he had inhabited), of which he made the Sankha Panchajanya, that he bore ever after as an emblem.†
In the front right hand he holds some object perhaps representing wealth or fruit, and in the other his chakra or discus-a sharp-edged heavy quoit, which seems to have been used as a missile instrument in early warfare by the Hindus, being thrown with force against the enemy, and recovered by a string attached to it. In later mythological representations Vishnu is represented as twirling it round his forefinger, when, it is said, irresistible fire flames from its periphery, destroying all in its course. It is called sudarsana, and is said to, have been formed from the rays of Tvashtri for the destruction of the Dânavas. He has three necklaces, each represented with a mass of gems in front, among which it was perhaps intended to represent the Kaustubha or Bhrigulita. Round his waist is another belt of gems, while over his left shoulder and under his right arm hangs a thick cord apparently formed of twisted strands of strings of beads or pearls; and again round his loins are other richly embroidered belts; on his arms and wrists§ also he wears rich armlets and bracelets. To his right and below is Garuda, his vahana or vehicle, who carries him and attends him also as a page, sitting with folded arms leaning against the coils of Sesha. Opposite to him sits a little female figure with high muguta, which may possibly represent Lakshmi, the wife of Vishnu. Above these stand two taller female figures, each holding a chauri or fly-flap: they have jewelled head-dresses, and large chignons, out of which rises a single cobra-hood overshadowing the head. These attendants remind us of the supporters we so often find under the padmasanas or lotus-thrones of figures of Buddha, where the male supporters of the lotus-stalk are represented with three, five, or even seven snake-hoods shielding their heads, while their female companions or wives have only one hood.
+ Wilson, Vishnu Purana, 1st ed. p. 562; Harivansa, adh. lxxxix.; Wilford in As. Res. vol. VIII.; Moor's Hindu Pantheon, p. 218. Harivamsa, adh. ix. and ocrv. § On his wrist Vishnu wears the jewel called Syamantaka.
[DECEMBER, 1877.
This large sculpture fills the end compartment of the verandah. Under it is a plinth the front of which is carved with little fat gambolling figures or ganas.
Turning to the right we find on the back wall of the verandah another large sculpture, and one which in the early ages seems to have been a great favourite, for we seldom miss it in a Vaishnava shrine (Fig. 2). It is also repeated in several of the Saiva rock-temples of Elurâ, and always in nearly the same form as here. It is the Varâ ha or third avatára, assumed to rescue the earth from the Asura Hiranyaksha, the chief of the Dânavas, who had carried it off to the bottom of the ocean, when Vishnu, taking the form of a boar, dived down and rescued it, after a contest of a thousand years. Here he is represented again as fourarmed, similarly dressed as in the other figure, and with the chakra and sankha in his uplifted hands, but with a boar's head, standing with his left foot on the coil of a snake, the head of which is human, with five hoods behind it-seen under his thigh. In one of his left hands he holds a lotus-flower on which stands Prithivi,-the Earth personified,-steadying herself against his shoulder. Prithivi, also called Bhûmidêvior Bhûdê vî, derives her name from Prithu, the first king who taught the mode of cultivating the ground, and whose daughter she is said to have been. She is the wife of Vishnu in his Varâ ha avatára, and to her he delivered one of the Puranas. She is represented in mythology as a woman with two arms, standing on a lotus-flower, and holding in one hand another lotus-blossom, with a crown on her head, her long black locks reaching to her feet, of yellow complexion, and with a tilaka of red paste on her forehead. Bhûmidêvî is the goddess of patience and endurance, but receives no special worship.T
In front of Varaha's knee kneels a human female figure with the five Nâ ga-hoods over his jewelled muguta, and behind stands a female chauri-bearer with the single hood; another figure lies between Varâha's feet, holding by the long cord or yajnopavita that hangs down from his shoulder, but which is broken away in front of the head and shoulder of the Nâga figure.
Conf. Harivansa, adh. xli,, ccxxiii., and ccxxiv. Prithiv! is from prithu-extended'. On Bhumidevi Bee Manu, iii. 85, 86; ix. 311; Colebrooke's Essays, vol. I. p. 137.
