Indian Antiquary Vol 46

Author(s): Richard Carnac Temple, Devadatta Ramkrishna Bhandarkar
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 61

MARCH, 1917]
worth. For the purposes of this test Siva assumed the form of a hunter and went in pursuit of a boar, the form assumed by one of his attendants. The boar, as was intended dashed into the sequestered glade of the forest where Arjuna was rapt in contemplation in the course of his penance. The inrush of such an unwelcome intruder created such a disturbance about him that he opened his eyes and saw the wild boar. The instinct of the Kshatriya got the better of him; he took up his bow and with a single arrow, shot from it, transfixed him as he thought. Simultaneously with his action the hunter who came in the trail of his game, shot also and the dead beast shewed the marks of both arrows. The huntsman and the hermit both claimed the honour of the chase and the possession of the quarry. The opposing claims ended in a combat in which they fought hand to hand. Finding in the course of it the weapon that Arjuna cherished the most proved of no avail, and feeling his own strength ebbing away in the combat, Arjuna bethought him of what he had forgotten. His Kshatriya blood was up and he had forgotten, for the nonce, Siva. During the respite given for gaining breath, he placed a mud image of Siva and placed on its head a bunch of wild flowers which he had at hand. He was surprised to find the bunch on the head of his antagonist. Finding at once that he was fighting hand to hand with no other than God Siva he threw himself, into the attitude of a penitent who was determined to wipe out the guilt of this sacrilege by the severest penance he had yet done. Then Siva shewed himself to him in his usual form to assure Arjuna that he was pleased with the valour he shewed in the combat, which he had brought on on purpose to test him. Siva then asked him to state the boon that he would have. Arjuna, of course, demanded the gift of the Pârupata, which God Siva gave with pleasure and benignity.12
THE ANTIQUITIES OF MAHABALIPUR
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The whole of this story is exhibited in three tableaux in the bas-relief. The sculptor has chosen the characteristic incidents in the story (1) the lower part exhibits Arjuna in penance, (2) the second exhibits the chase, the boar galloping away ahead while the other animals are quiescent in the relief, (3) the third is where Siva appears before Arjuna and bestows upon him the boon demanded by the penitent as a result of the penance. The three taken together make it clear that the relief is a representation on the surface of the rock of Arjuna's Penance. The trend of the various other beings towards the middle is not because of the watercourse there, but because of the chief character, Siva, being there. The watercourse is merely incidental and cannot be held to represent the coming of the Ganges (Gangavatarana). The story of the coming of the Gaiga, so far as it relates to this particular, requires that Gangå should be shown as descending upon the matted coiffure of Siva, getting lost there almost, issuing therefrom in a small stream by means of a loosened lock. The aspect of Siva in the relief has nothing in it to indicate this.
There is much other evidence on the point, but it is other than archaeological. The archaeological features of the bas-relief leave little doubt that it was of the period of Narasimhavarman I, Pallavamalla, contemporary of the two Tévâram hymners, Appar and Sambandar. Both of these mention the incident
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13 Cantos, 42 & 43 Book I, Kumbhakonam Edition,