[INDOLOGY] Many-armed gods

[François Voegeli]

Very interesting indeed.

Many thanks to all who have answered my query on this subject, which 
proves to be, after all, not so trivial or easy.

FV


On 18.05.24 07:03, Nagaraj Paturi via INDOLOGY wrote:
> 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
>>
>>         _______________________________________________
>>         INDOLOGY mailing list
>>         INDOLOGY at list.indology.info
>>         https://list.indology.info/mailman/listinfo/indology
>
>         -- 
>         Dr. Rolf Heinrich Koch
>         www.rolfheinrichkoch.wordpress.com  <http://www.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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