126 



DESCRIPTIVE REMARKS ON 



supposed to represent Siva enthroned in Kailasa, accompanied 

 by his consort Parvatl and the child Karttikeya, attended 

 by two subordinate divinities (? Brahma and Vishnu). It 

 is found in the upper story shrine cell of No. 43, Dharma- 

 raja's (monolithic) Hatha, also in the central shrine of cave 

 No. 32 (Yamapurl), and thrice in the Atiranacandesvara 

 cave temple No. 58, where it is accompanied by a descriptive 

 invocation in characters of the eighth century and later. It is 

 also found twice, in the two chief shrines of the Shore temple 

 No. 6, and again in the other built temple, the Mukunda 

 Nayanar No. 54, and may very likely occur in others. I 

 noted its occurrence eight or ten times in my hurried inspec- 

 tion. 



Mixture of Deities and Emblems. 



I was also struck with the mixture of emblems, weapons, 

 and figures belonging to both the Saiva and Vaishnava 

 phases of Hindu faith, as for instance, in the numerous 

 rings, circles, discs, the axe {parahi of Siva ?), the conch 

 shell (? of Vishnu), the curved sword, and many sorts of 

 staves and clubs carved on the monoliths and in the shrines. 



Kavali Lakshmayya states (Carr, p. 203) that Krishna- 

 svami (known by his " Cankha, Cakra, Gada, &c") occupies 

 the shrine represented in the great Penance scene No. 17, 

 in which Isvara or Siva is the principal personage, whom all 

 the creatures are coming to visit. 



Then in the larger cave, No. 32, we see Vishnu (Narayana) 

 occupying a prominent place equal to that of Durga, although, 

 as also in the attached shrine of the Shore temple No. 6, 

 subordinate to that of Siva. In the Varahasvami Mandapa 

 No. 25, we have two Vaishnava tableaux, the Gaja Lakshmi, 

 which was a favourite design in old Buddhist times (free 

 from the later extravagancies of supernatural limbs and 

 attendants), and lastly Bhadrakali (Carr, p. 50), or accord- 

 ing to Kavali Lakshmayya, Durga. The shrine cell here, 



