SPHINXES DEPICTED IN WOOD, METAL AND IVORY
The ritual with the lamps called diparadhana is a permanent feature
of the 16 services protocol or sodasa-upachara prescribed by the doctrine
followed in south-Indian Shiva temples. Diparadhana means the waving of
camphor or oil lamps before the deity as a kind of offer.
The sixteen services are stipulated
to be performed at least once a day. Ideally they should be performed
six times in a day. This means that every temple following this doctrine,
in principle every temple belonging to the Shaiva tradition, performs the
purushamriga dipa or lamp ceremony, and has a purushamriga lamp among
its ritual objects.
The lamps used for the diparadhana ritual in the temples are made
of cast metal. The figures are small, mostly not more than 5 to 10 cm in size.
The purushamriga is always shown as a rishi, of the half lion, half human type,
upright and standing, with hands folded in worship. Often with a crown
or knotted hair. Sometimes the tail is embossed on the back, sometimes it is
cast as upwards curling out of the back of the body of the purushamriga.
In some the lion form is clearly visible, sometimes it cannot be clearly
distinguished.
For the purpose of the ritual the purushamriga is surrounded
with a prabha or arch with flames that hold the burning wicks.
In one temple I found that while the ritual for the Lord Shiva was performed
with a lamp that had a female purushamriga sculpted, the lamp ritual
for the goddess-consort Parvati was performed with a male purushamriga
depicted on the lamp.
Whereas the metal purushamriga lamps are ubiquitous in Shaiva temples,
and stone sculptures of purushamriga are found in the majority of Shiva
temples, and also in many Vishnu temples, wooden purushamriga are quite
exceptional. So far I have found six purushamriga vahanas or vehicles.
These are larger than life sphinxes made of wood and plaster of paris.
They are of the half human, half lion type. In the Kapalishvara temple in
Chennai, in the Ekambaranatha temple in Kanchipuram, in the Someshvara
temple in Bangalore and the Arunachalam temple in Tiruvannamalai, the
vahanas represent a rishi, with beard and knotted hair.
The purushamriga vahana of the temple in the Prananathesvara temple in
Tirumangalakudi has four legs as well as arms, like a centaur, and makes a
warrior-like impression. Peculiar and striking is the fact that this sphinx has
wings, as has the purushamriga vahana of the Kapalishvara temple in
Chennai.
For the temple festivals the wooden chariots are the vehicle of the deity
on the main festival day. The wooded festival chariots called ratha or ter, are
a unique feature of south Indian temple tradition and art. Usually beautifully
decorated with exquisite carvings that narrate the various Mythologyologies,
sometimes very large and always impressive, I expected the purushamriga
to be part of the sculptural program of temple chariots, but have so far found
only three such occurrences. One is a panel depicting the Bhima episode on
the chariot of Lord Nataraja in Chidambaram. The other two are remarkable
in their location and depiction.
Their rarity, that is only two occurrences from a survey of well over
fifty chariots, is maybe the main peculiarity and distinction. But the
positioning and form suggest and accentuates their special significance.
Both chariots, of the Devanatha Vishnu temple in Tiruvaheendrapuram
(Cuddalore district), and of the Tripurantaka Shiva temple in Tiruvadikai
(also in Cuddalore district) have prominent purushamriga placed in the middle
of each of the four sides, at the cardinal points. They are half lion,
half rishi, with beards and knotted hair. Significantly several of the total of eight
depictions have wings. Each is different from the other in the details of hair,
dress, physical structure and expression.
The occurrence of wings on several of the wooden purushamriga
sculptures necessitates a further discussion. So far I have found only one
depiction of a purushamriga with wings in stone. This is on one of the
pavilions in the Vedapurishvara temple in Tirukazhakundram,
dating to the period of the
Vijaynagara empire, approximately belonging to the 17th century.
Winged sphinxes occur among the sculpture from the Kushana period
(1st centry BCE to 2nd century CE) in north-west and central India.
There is a large spacial and temporal gap between these and the
uncommon winged sphinxes of South India.
There is also no stylistic connection. Although a relationship or connection
of some sort could be hypothesized, there is at this moment no evidence
in fact that could explain or confirm this. And if there is no
historical connection,
we have to ask why the sphinxes of south India too are sometimes shown
with wings.
One wooden purushamriga decorates the Kailasa vahana in a Shiva
temple in Cuddalore. Kailasa is the sacred mountain in the Himalaya that
is the seat and home of Shiva. This mountain is among the standard vehicles
for the festival processions. Here the purushamriga is among the many
Mythologyological figures decorated as the inhabitants of Shiva’s
mountain. It has a fully lion body, with only a human face, and it jumps
out of the wooden mountain with great energy.
The Museum für Indische Kunst in Berlin exhibits two throne legs
carved from ivory. They are dated to the 16th or 17th century and are
exquisitely decorated with many real and Mythologyological animals.
Among the many creatures depicted on each of them is a purushamriga.
Fully upright (similar to a faun), but with clear lion legs and claws,
playing a flute, this depiction shows a parallel to many sphinxes depicted on
both thrones for kings and for deities found elsewhere in the ancient world.
