[INDOLOGY] Many-armed gods

[Nagaraj Paturi]

Purusha Sukta has the 1000 headed , 1000 eyed, thousand legged Purusha
description.

  Bhashyas for example Saayana Bhashya to Veda mantras etc. is an example
of traditional premodern literature where 'explanations' for such features
can be looked for.

In fact, certain Brahmanas themselves provide such explanations with the
explanatory principle परोक्ष प्रिया वै इव हि देवाः Devtas love to be
described indirectly being mentioned at various such explaining occasions.

--------------------------------------------

There is a popular phrase नाम गुण रूप लीला संकीर्तन used while talking
about what in Bhakti leads to the spiritual  benefits to Bhakta.

Many doctrinal works take the position that ultimately  नाम रूप लीला
संकीर्तन end up being  गुण  संकीर्तन only.and it is the repeated meditation
on the kalyaana gunas that leads to the punya, chittashuddhi and other
spiritual benefits accruing in the meditating mind.

The reasoning in the above includes the reasoning that  रूप is an
expression of  गुण.

------------------------------------------------

Sthapatis even today are trained to give rupa to gunas.

Even when they are commissioned to create a sculpture of a real human
person , generally contemporary to the time of creation or described from
the memory of the commissioning person, Sthapatis tell me that they are
asked not to create a photo real replica of the actual person but to
collect the gunas of the person , meditate on them and give a visual form
to the gunas as per the stylizational artistic aesthetics combined with
shilpa shaastra principles of metrics.

----------------------------------------

It may be important to remember that the feature of  more hands, heads,
eyes etc., than in normal natural beings  is found in the Raakshasa and
other non Devata characters and figures also.






.

On Sat, May 18, 2024 at 3:05 AM Harry Spier via INDOLOGY <
indology at list.indology.info> wrote:

> This feature is mentioned in brahmāṇḍa-purāṇa 3.43.70. (From GRETIL which
> is a transcription of the Bombay edition of Venkatesa Press)
>
>  brahmāṇḍa-purāṇa 3.43.70
>
> atrinetraḥ śivaḥ sākṣād acaturbāhuracyutaḥ /
>
> acaturvadano brahmā śrīguruḥ parikīrtitaḥ //
>
> "Shri Guru is said to indeed  be  Shiva without three eyes,  Vishnu
> without four arms and Brahma without four faces".
>
>
> Harry Spier
>
>
> On Fri, May 17, 2024 at 8:04 AM Rolf Heinrich Koch via INDOLOGY <
> indology at list.indology.info> wrote:
>
>> One theory resulting from my fieldwork: Remodeling.
>>
>> According to a Sinhalese mansucript, a handbook for artists in
>> non-standard Sanskrit ślokas, I read e.g. Viṣṇu has to be modelled with two
>> hands for his two attributes. The artist used the existing sculpture
>> depicting an earlier two armed god. He added two arms for the
>> Viṣṇu-Attributes. Now we got Viṣṇu with four arms.
>> Later, new Viṣṇu-scuptures are modeled with four arms.
>>
>> Best
>>
>> Heiner
>> Am 17.05.2024 um 13:20 schrieb François Voegeli via INDOLOGY:
>>
>> Dear Members of the List,
>>
>> A friend recently asked me a rather disconcerting question (for me at
>> least): why do Indian gods have so many arms?
>>
>> My understanding was that these arms bear attributes of the god (trident,
>> discus, severed head, etc.) to remind the devout of some parts of the god's
>> gest, but I have not seen such explanation in Indian litterature.
>> What is the Indian literature exactly saying about this quite remarkable
>> feature and where (Purāṇas, Śilpaśāstras, or elsewhere)?
>>
>> Your input will be very much appreciated.
>> Thanks in advance.
>>
>> François Voegeli
>>
>> _______________________________________________
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>>
>> --
>> Dr. Rolf Heinrich Kochwww.rolfheinrichkoch.wordpress.com
>>
>>
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>
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-- 
Nagaraj Paturi

Hyderabad, Telangana, INDIA.
Dean, IndicA
BoS, MIT School of Vedic Sciences, Pune, Maharashtra
BoS Kavikulaguru Kalidasa Sanskrit University, Ramtek, Maharashtra
BoS Veda Vijnana Gurukula, Bengaluru.
Member, Advisory Council, Veda Vijnana Shodha Samsthanam, Bengaluru
Former Senior Professor of Cultural Studies,
FLAME School of Communication and FLAME School of  Liberal Education,
Hyderabad, Telangana, INDIA.
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