According to my cognitive approach, it is a conceptual blend which fuses various activities of God/s and in this way the artists try to express their manifestation beyond time-space limits, i. e. the viśvarūpa manifestation (rūpa means not only "form, shape", but also "deed" (karman), see BU 1.4.7: tad dhedaṃ tarhy avyākṛtam āsīt | tan nāmarūpābhyām eva vyākriyatāsau nāmāyam idaṃrūpa iti | tad idam apy etarhi nāmarūpābhyām eva vyākriyata asau nāmāyam idaṃrūpa iti | sa eṣa iha praviṣṭa ā nakhāgrebhyo yathā kṣuraḥ kṣuradhāne 'vahitaḥ syād viśvambharo vā viśvambharakulāye | taṃ na paśyanti | akṛtsno hi saḥ prāṇann eva prāṇo nāma bhavati | vadan vāk paśyaṃś cakṣuḥ śṛṇvañ chrotraṃ manvāno manaḥ | tāny asyaitāni karmanāmāny eva |)

Conceptual blends integrate concepts relating to disparate experiences, which often are in opposition to everyday cognition and experience of the world, and are thus suitable for describing an absolute reality that exists outside of time and space and manifests itself in them. Each arm expresses one activity, in the blend (especially a visual blend) we get access to all of them.

Regards,

Joanna

---

Prof. dr hab. Joanna Jurewicz

Katedra Azji Południowej /Chair of South Asia Studies

Wydział Orientalistyczny / Faculty of Oriental Studies

Uniwersytet Warszawski /University of Warsaw

ul. Krakowskie Przedmieście 26/28

00-927 Warszawa , Poland

Członek Academia Europaea

Przewodnicząca Rady Programowej Festiwalu Nauki

Department of Linguistidcs and Modern Languages

College of Human Sciences,UNISA, Pretoria, RSA

Member of Academia Europaea

Chairperson of the Science Festival Programme Council

https://uw.academia.edu/JoannaJurewicz

pt., 17 maj 2024 o 14:04 Rolf Heinrich Koch via INDOLOGY <indology@list.indology.info> napisał(a):

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 Koch
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