Durga the Goddess of Victory

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Durg, Goddess of VictoryAuthor(s): James C. HarleSource: Artibus Asiae, Vol. 26, No. 3/4 (1963), pp. 237-246Published by: Artibus Asiae PublishersStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3248984.

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JAMES C.HARLE

DURGA, GODDESS OF VICTORY

he following Early Cola images of Durga share certainexceptionaland hitherto unex-plainediconographical eatures:Temple PositionnTemple Period

Brahmapurisvarat north ideof st quarterFig.I1Pullamafigai,ear ardha-man.dapa Iothcent.Pasupatikoyil;anjoreSivaemple t notverified st half Fig.22Punjai, anjore Iothcent.

Tyagarajat north ideof lastquarter ig.33Tiruvarur,anjore; ardha-man.dapa Iothcent.EarlyCola hrine(Acalesvara)nthe 2ndprdkdraThese features consist of a trident with a long shaft placed, rather than held, beside the

goddess, a deer, and most distinctive of all, two small male figures who kneel at either side ofthe goddess'feet. One of these appearsabout to decapitatehimself;one handpressesa swordagainst the back of his neck, while the other hand holds his head by the top-knot (Fig. 4). Theother figure seems about to make an incision into his upper leg, also with a sword.There is no doubt that these three statues of a tall, slender and youthful looking goddess,standingin the tribhangaose and wearinga karanda- r ratna-mukuta,re all imagesof DurgaIn all three she holds the cakraand sanAkhan the rear or uppermosthands and wears the kuca-

Coomaraswamy first drew attention to this image (Bull. Mus. Fine Arts, Boston, xxv, no. I48, April, 1927). All publishedphotographs, including the present one, are from Epigraphy Dept. negative no. 7 of I92I. For the fullest descriptionof this temple and its sculpture, see Harle, The Early Cola Temple at Pullamangai (Pasupatikoyil), Oriental Art,n.s. IV, 3, 195 8, pp. 96ff.

2 Figure taken from unpublished Epigraphy Dept. photograph no. 980 of I 927. I have not had the occasion to visit Punjai.The architectural details visible in the photograph of the image correspond to a Ioth century date. K.A. NilakanthaSastri, The Colas, 2nd. ed., mentions the Naltunai Isvaram temple at Punjai as belonging to the time of Aditya II. Con-sequently, I have assumed that this is the Siva temple in question. The style of the Durga image certifies it as anEarly Cola work.

3 Unpublished; author's photograph. The earliest datable inscription copied from this shrine appears to be no. 569 of I 904,from the second year of Rajaraja I (A.D. 985-10I3). The architecture of the temple supports a date at the end of theioth century.

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bandha(breastband)nvariablyassociated with Durga in South Indian iconography. In eachcase, moreover,the figurestandson the severed head of a buffalo,a base reserved for statuesof Durga, while the lion, placedopposite the deer at Pullamanigaind Punjai,is traditionallyDurga's mount as Mahisasuramardini4.inally, the Pullamangaiand Tiruvarurimages areplacedin niches on the north side of the ardha-man.dapan front of the shrine (I have not hadthe opportunityto verify the location of the Pufijaiimage), a location usually reserved, nEarlyCola temples,for images of Durga.The images varyin certain details. The goddess at Punjaihas only four hands, the rearholding discusand conch andthe front pairheld,one in abhayaright)and the otherplacedonher hip (katyavalambita):t Tiruvarur and Pullamangai,the goddess has additional lefthands,between ront andrear,which holda long bow anda smallroundshieldandan extrarighthandholdinga long straight word;at the latterplace,Durgahad still anotherefthand,now broken.At Punjai,he attendantigureon the left is not engagedn cuttinghisleg, asheis depictedn theother woimages,and,atTiruvIrur,ion anddeerareboth absent.Neverthe-less, there seems little doubt that all three images representanidentical, distinct,and hithertounidentifiedormof Durga.The distinctiveelementsin the iconographyof these images areof two sorts. The positionof the trident,figuredin relief on the stone ground behind and to the right of the goddess'shead ratherthan held in one of her handsmay simplybe a matterof style without any icono-graphical ignificance.The position s natural;he headof a tridentwith a verylong shaft,suchas the one with whichDurga is often depictedkillingthe demonbuffalo,would, if the endof the shaft were placedon the ground, appear n just this position. At Tiruvarur, he lowerpartof the shaftcan be discerned;at Pufjai,oddlyenough, t is clearlymissing.From theBostonDurga,whichhasa trident imilarly laced, nemightconcludehat his s not a featurerestrictedto images of the type under consideration;it is far more likely,however, that theBostonDurgadoes,in fact,belongto thisgroup;the absence f attendantiguresmaybe ac-counted orby assuminghattheywerecarved nthesurrounding alls,as atPullamanigaindTiruvarur,nsteadof being ncorporatedn the statuetselfs.The deer,on the otherhand, s unquestionablyignificant,or, whilethis animalplaysafairly mportant art n Indian conography,t is almostneverassociatedwithDurga6. n thePullamangaimage,the deer is harnessed nd saddled.So is the lion, but sincethe deer, naddition,s heldbya bhbta room, t wouldseemto be thusgivenprecedence sthegoddess'mount7.Finally,and most exceptionalof all are the two humanfiguresmutilatingthemselvesin homage o thegoddess.The standardworks on Indianiconographyprovide no clue to the identityof these parti-cularDurga mages.Thepresence f the deerandtheself-mutilatingevoteesn certainPallavaimages s dulynoted(seebelow)but withoutexplanationndno distinctions madebetween4 An attempt to prove that the buffalo was originally Durga's vdhanas not convincing. See F.D.K. Bosch, Remarquessur les influences reciproques de l'iconographie et de la mythologie indiennes , Arts Asiatiques,III, I (I956), pp. 24ff.5 A.K. Coomaraswamy, Op. cit. As I have pointed out elsewhere, this is an Early Cola, not a Pallava,sculpture.6 In three images of Durga from Bengal, the deer appearsalong with the lion. R.D. Banerji,EasternIndianSchool f Me-diaevalSculpture, l. LVII, a, c, and d. This was brought to my attention by Mlle. M-T. de Mallmann.7 Ganesa'smount, the shrew, is held by a bhuttan similar fashion on the south side of the ardhama.ndapat Pullamafigai;see my article cited in n. I.

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theseandotherDurgaimages.GopinathaRao, notably,describes he featuresof numerousdif-ferentforms of Durga as prescribed n the sastras8,and yet nowhereare the deer or devoteeseven mentioned(theunusualpositionof the sula is not the sortof detailwhich callsfor mentionin thesastras),et alonea combinationf the two. This wouldseem o precludehepossibilityof theseimagesbeinga distinctive ormof Durga.On the otherhand,the iconographicalfeatureswhich distinguishthem, far more strikingthan some of those which serveto differen-tiatebetweenvariousormsof Durgamentionedn thesastras,annot implybeignored.Therewas, what is more,a considerable iscrepancy etween he prescriptionsf the sdstras ndactualpractice.The deer, the tridentplacedin this particularposition, and even the self-decapitatingde-votee, do not maketheirfirstappearancen the imagesunderconsideration.Four well-knownPallavasculpturesshow Durgain threealternative ettings,i. e. (A) in the samabhangaose withdevotees;(B) in the samabhangaose with devoteesplusheadsof lion anddeer; (C)in thetribhangaose,flankedby tridentandbow,withoutdevoteesor animals.These are ocatedasfollows:

Temple Positionn theTemple Period(A) Type:Draupadiatha rear interior) middle7thcent.9

Mamallapuram of garbha-grhaThe Rock, lower cave 7th centI?Tiruchirapalli

(B) Type:Mamallapuram Varahamandapa middle 7th cent.ItSivaramamurti's

CaveVI(C) Type:Mamallapuram Sivaramamurti's middle7th cent. 2CaveI

In addition,NilakanthaSastrirefersto an eight-armedDurga on a slab from the Virat-tanesvarawith two devotees kneelingon eitherside, the one on the left apparentlyabout toofferhis head in sacrificeI3.8 T.A. Gopinatha Rao, Elements of Hindu Iconography,pt. I, pp. 34I ff. J.N. Banerjea, it is true, writing in the History andCulture of the Indian People, ed. R. C. Majumdar, Vol. III: The Classical Age, purports to find in the attitude of cuttingoff his head in one of the Durga panels at Mamallapuram a novel Tantric element in such a comparatively early pieceof sculpture ,pp. 448-449. For once this eminent authorityseems to be completely wide of the mark.9 J.Ph. Vogel, Iconographical Notes on the Seven Pagodas , A SI, AR, I9IO-II, p. 53, pi. XXVIII, c.; The Head-

offering to the Goddess in Pallava Sculpture , Bull. Schoolof Oriental Studies, London, VI, 2 (I930-32), p. 539, pi V (I) -henceforth Vogel I and II.10Vogel II, p. 540, pL.VII (III); the cave sans inscriptions ; see Odette Viennot, Les reliefs sculptes de Trichinopoly ,Arts Asiatiques, IV, 2, 1957, p. I47. Jouveau-Dubreuil refers to the image in Archeologiedu sud de 'l'Inde, I, p. 102, and II,p. I32.J.Ph. Vogel II, p. 540, pL.VI (II); H. Krishna Sastri, South Indian Gods and Goddesses, ig. I25; C. Sivaramamurti, Ma-habalipuram, ept, of Archaeology, 1955.2 Calledby A.H. Longhurst Cave 14,he VarahaTemple in his PallavaArchitecture,Mem.ASI., no. 33.

13 The Colas, 2nd. ed., p. 728. This is presumably the famous late Pallava temple of Virattanesvara at Tiruttani, near Arko-nam, Chittoor Dist. There is also a Durga with flesh-cutting figure at the Singavaram rock-cut temple. K. R. Srinivasan,The Pallava Architecture of South India , Ancient India No. 14 (1958), p. I24 and P1. LIIB.

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In thesePaRava images,he left-handdevotee s neverengaged n cuttinghis flesh;therighthand s simplyraisedn salutation.Thepresence f one of these mages n the so-calledDraupadiratha ,exclusivelyadorned with representationsof Durga and so obviously dedi-cated o thatdeity, s addedproofthat heseare magesof Durga.Noneof thesePallavamagesshedsanyfurtheright onheidentitytfon theis particularorm,whichappearso havereachedits more ullydeveloped r crystallisedorm n thefollowing,EarlyCola,period.As moreandmore of the Early Cola temples still in existenceare published, it should be added, there is

every likelihood that furtherexamplesof this particularorm of Durga will become knownI4.On the other hand,it is not probablethat a great manymorePallava mages of any typewillcome to light.Themosttriking, and so farunexplained,eature f these mages romtheiconographicalpointof viewis thepresence f thetwo self-mutiliatingevoteesandparticularlyhe one ap-parentlyaboutto decapitatehimself with a sword.An attemptwill now be madeto determine,asexactlyaspossible,who theyrepresent ndtheirrelationo thegoddess.There would appearto be threepossible apriorireasonsfor the inclusion of the self-muti-latingfiguresn thesesculptures f the goddessDurga. Theyand theirsacrificemayfigure nsome myth or Puranastory about Durga. This would be the most likely reason for theirpre-sence,but as yet I have discoveredno sourceof this kind. The two figures might alsorepresentactual ndividualswho sacrificedhemselveso the goddess n this way. The actsof famousbhaktas reoccasionally ecalled n sculpture n South IndiaIs,but never, to my knowledge, hasa historicalfigureor action been incorporated nto the iconographyof one the majorgods orgoddesses.The thirdpossibility, lready uggestedby Vogel,is thatwhat is aparticular orm of devotion associatedwith the goddessI6.Not only is the associationof blood sacrificeswith Durga well-known but the practiceofmaking human sacrifices to the goddess, voluntary as well s involuntary, is well attested17.Self-mutilation, the cutting off of flesh as an offering, and various forms of self-inflicted suf-fering are also fairly common religious practices in India. As might be expected from the ex-treme nature of such acts, they are not generally a regular part of the cult but are resorted toin order to placate the divinity, to seek a special favour, or in fulfillment of a vow8. What isdepicted here in these images of Durga where the worshipper is about to cut off his own headgoes a step further than self-mutilation or even voluntary human sacrifice. It is self-immolation,i4 A stone statue of a devotee shown in the act of decapitatinghimself in the same manner as those in the Durga images

and, from its style, of late Pallava or Early Cola date, is now in the Government Museum, Madras.It originally camefrom Koyambedu, Saidapet Taluk, Chingleput District. P.R. Srinivasan, Two Noteworthy Sculptures in the MadrasMuseum ,Journalof IndianMuseums,Vol. XVI-XVI (I958-60). While this may have been a separatestatue, commemo-rating such an act byn individual,act ais more likely that it was part of a Durga image composed of detached figures,like the Kankalamurtinow in the Tanjore Art Gallery with its detached female figures.Is A pair of bas-relief plaques, on either side of the entrywayof the innergopuraof the Kampaharesvara emple at Trib-huvanam,depict an incident, albeit probablylegendary, in the life of Sundaramurti.I6 Vogel II. Vogel however refuses to identify the goddess and offers no explanation as to why these rites, for which hecites references in the classical Sanskritliterature, should figure only in a handful of images in a restricted part of theTamil region, and not among any of the innumerablestatues of Durga elsewhere.17 For the best-known literaryand historical references, E.A. Payne, TheSaktas,p. 9-I4 and Ch, IV, p. 84gff.: HumanSacrifice (Indian) gives reports of actual occurrences. One or two, as might be expected from the nature of these sacri-fices, are open to suspicion. The AvantisundariKatha Sara contains additional references to human sacrificeand the saleof human flesh (mahamamsavikraya).18For South Indian examples, Thurston, Omens ndSuperstitionsf Southernndia,p. I37ff., p. I99-223.

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Fig. I : :0;f::t -Durga image, BrahmapuriSvara Temple, Pullamaigai Fig.

Durga image, Siva


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Devotee on proper right

Fig. 3Durga image, Acalesvarashrine, TyagarajaTemple, Tiruvarur


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and yet this too is far from unknowninIndiaI9, nd,what is more,self-sacrificef thisparticulartype,by cuttingoff one's own head, s mentionedmorethanoncein literature nd n recordsof actual vents.Therecipient f thesesacrificess alwaysDurga n oneoranother f hermanyforms.Sacrificesof this type, as alreadynoted by Coomaraswamy nd Vogel, are offeredin thestoriesabout he heroicBrahman iravara20,s wellas in anotherale of theKathdsaritsagara21.Actual recordsof self-decapitations xist in South India. A bas-reliefon an slab fromNelloreDistrict shows a headlessfiguredown on one knee with a sword in one hand and his severedheadin the other; the accompanyingnscription,datedin the reign of a late Pallavaking, re-cordsthe gift of land to a certain ndividualfor the pious act of another,probablyhis father,who cut off fleshfrom nine partsof his body andfinallyhis headas an offeringto Bhatari, . e.Durga22.This is the most completeand circumstantial ccount,as well as the earliest,of sucha sacrificen South ndia,butotheracts of actual elf-decapitationrerecorded t leastas lateas the thirteenthcentury23.A passagein the Silapaddikdramrovideswhatappears o be the firstglimpseof self-decap-itationandits relationto the cult of Durga in South India24.Kovalan and Kannaki, ourneyingfrom Uraiyur(modern Tiruchirappalli)o Madura,traversea wild region, the haunt of theEiynarof the Maravar ribe.The Maravararecattle-rustlers nd highwaymen,expertwith thebow andinveteratedrinkers f toddy.Theirgoddess s Korravai,worshipped s GoddessofVictory.Korravai eans thevictoriousone2s .She is described, r ratherapostrophisedntermswhichleaveno doubtthatsheis a form of Durga or has,at least,been largelyassimilatedto Durga26.Sheis the slayerof the demon-buffalo; he standsupon the lion, or upon the headof thewildbuffalo;andyet,most significantof all,thestagis repeatedlymentionedasher mount.WhenKovalanandKannaki rriveuponthescene, heMaravar rebeingexhortedo givethe goddess her due if they wish to be rewardedwith good sport and much toddy. The onlykind of sacrificeprescribeds that of the ancientfamilyof the Eiynar,who preferredofferingtheir own headsin sacrifice o cremation27 .Beforegoing on theirraids,the warriors nvoketheaid of thegoddesswiththe words: Nowaccepthisblood,by (sic)cuttingournecksas thepriceof victorywhich you conferupon the braveandstrongEiynar28 .In offeringblood sacri-fice,as is so oftenthecase, he Maravarrerequesting boon.Inthiscase, urthermore,nd f19The mostwidelyknownoccurrences eingthoseformerly t Puri,at the festivalsof Jagatnatha.ee TheEncyclopaedia

of Religion ndEthics,articlecited, subtitle 8: Religious uicide .Under this heading arelisted, without much discrimina-tion, acts ranging from an old man's voluntary renunciationof life (atmatyaga)o suicide used as an instrument of per-suasion or ever coercion for strictly temporal ends, as in the case of the priests of Cidambaramwho, in a dispute withthe king, threw themselves down from the top of a gopura.20A. K. Coomaraswamy, op.cit.; Vogel II: Kathasaritsagaraiii and lxxviii, Hitopadesaii, katha9.21Kathasaritsagara,xxx.22A.R.E. No. 498 of 1908 - edited and reproduced. SouthIndianInscriptions,Vol. XII: ThePallavas ,No. I06.23A.R.E. No. II9 of I906, etc. A large slab bearing a bas-reliefof a man holding a sword to his neck, probablyfrom theAndhra country and rather late in date, may commemorate another such sacrifice, in the fashion of a viragal;on theother hand, it may have been a votive offeringto Durga. In the collection of GeneralDirektor J.R. Belmont, Binningen-Basel.24 The Silappadikaram,r. V.R. RamachandraDikshitar, I939. Canto XII, Ve/ttuvavari,. 80o-I89.25 Korravai: Durga, Goddess of Victory . MadrasTamil Lexikon.26V. A. Smith, Early Historyof India,4th Ed., p. 457.27Silapaddikaram,. 18I.28Ibid., p.I87.

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the individualworshipperwas to obtain his boon it could not be otherwise, the offeringcon-sistsnot of the headbutmerelyof blood drawn romtheneck.P. R. Srinivasan,n his article nahead-cuttingigure,presumablyefers o thispassage, ris familiarwithit, whenh mentionsMaravarmen,in the EarlyTamilSanrgamiterature ,taking he vow of head-offeringoheowof head-offeringo thegoddessKorravairDurga.Hegoeson to statenabriefsentencehat, n all thepanelsof Durgawhere uchhead-offeringiguresappear, thegoddessmaybe said o representhataspectnwhichshe s propitiatedywarriors . greatdeal s left

unexplained: warriors and tribal raiders ike the Maravararenot neccessarily he same andhead-offering ,as we shall see, needs qualification.The relevance of the passage from the

Silapaddikdramo the Durga imagesunderdiscussionis nonethelessobvious. Here,at last, thestag is specificallymentionned as the goddess' mount and the practiceof drawingblood fromthe neck andofferingt to thegoddessappearso be themostimportant s wrell s a fairlyre-gularact of worship. If the goddess in the EarlyC61olamages is Korravai,thlenher devoteeswould mostlikelybepictured erforminghis sacrifice. n the sculptural epresentations,heworshippers reshownholdingtheirheadsby the top-knotwith one handwhilepressingasword to theirneckswith the other,which suggeststhat they arepreparing o actuallydecapi-tatethemselves;but this mayhave beenthe ritualgestureandtheycouldindeedbemerelydraw-ing blood fromtheirnecksin this fashion.Add to this the fact that haunts of the Maravarie,acordingo theSilapaddika-ram,omewhere etweenUraiyur ndMadurandconsequentlyotmore thantwo hundredmilesawayfromanyof the templeswheretheseEarlyC(olamageswereinstalled.Are we thento assume hatthefigures hown n these magesareMaravarnd,uponthestrength f thisidentification,hatthegoddess s Korravai,Durgaas Goddessof Victory?Such anidentification s tempting,but it mustbe rememberedhat the Silapaddikdramatesfrom he5thor6thcenturies,hat s beforeanyof theseDurga magesweremade.Moreimpor-tant, the Silapaddikdramwas already, at that time, the heir to a long and sophisticated literarytradition.A wild region (palai), nhabitedby Maravarand presidedover by the goddessDurgaor Korravai, is one of the conventional settings of old Tamil literature29.There is no doubt thatthe Maravars were an actual people and the Maravans of today are probably their descendants30,but the Maravar depicted in the Silapaddikaram re already, to some extent, a conventionalisedtype of the more martial tribals . f the humanfiguresin theseDurga imagesareto be consi-dered Maravar, t is most likely in this rathergeneral sense, in the same way that the termSabarass used in Sanskrit iterature.

Of the worshipping figuresin the Durga images, those at Pullamangaiare carvedin thegreatestdetail,and a good deal canbe discernedof theirphysiognomiesand costume (Fig. 4).Eachhasa curiousmask-like acein which the eyesappearasnarrowslits,and wearshis hair na kind of top-knot; the figureon the right has, in addition, a moustacheand a close-croppedbeard.Both wear scabbardshanging from the waist on the right side, and a garmentwhich(where t canbe seen)comes to apointin frontbetweenthe legs. Theyareboth nakedabovethewaists and wear sulvarnaaikaksakas(or channaviras),not sacredcords. It is worth noting thatin the Silapaddikdram3Ihe Maravar, r at leastthe elders,are saidto wearmoustacheswhile in

29 J.M. Somasundaram Pillai, Five Tamil Idylls of Paththup-pattu, Madras, I947; T. K. Venkataraman, Culture-contacts inSouth India , Journal of Indian History, xxxviii, I I960), p. 23.30 Thurston, Castes and Tribes of SouthernIndia, p. 27 and 28.31 Silapaddikaram,. 187.

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anotherwork a bearded Marravan eaderis mentioned32.VWhetherr not, however, thebeardedmanin the Pullamangaimagemay represent orestor desertpeoplelike the Maravar,or else a memberof some particular asteor community, oo little is known aboutcostumeandphysicalypes nPallava ndCola imes o be able o say.There s one featureof thesefigures,nonetheless,whichmay providethe requiredclueto theclassortypeof person o whichthey belong,and this is the sword-scabbardhichtheywear.It maybearguedhat hepossession f a swordnaturallyrgues scabbardn which o carryt,but this is not strictlytrue.Many figures n Indiansculpurearedepictedholding a sword as aniconographical ymbolandyet mostof thesefiguresare not providedwith a scabbard.Statuettesof TirumangaiAlvar, in South India,which often depictthe saintholding a sword, sometimesshow himwearinga scabbard;but thenTirumangai tarted ife, according o differentaccounts,as a local chieftainturnedhighwaymanor as a militaryofficial33.f the scabbards portrayedna sculpture, t would seem to indicatethat sword (andscabbard)were partof the individual'susual accoutrements.We know that the Maravarpossessedswords, since they cut theirneckswiththem,althoughhe bowwas their avouriteweapon.Besides hem, he most ikelypeopleto wearswordswouldbe soldiers rmembers f fighting lasses.

Accordingto certainauthorities,moreover,the Maravar nd other tribes served as soldiersunderthe Tamilkings, madesacrifices,ncludingsacrificesof theirlives, to a femalegoddessinorder o obtainvictory,andtheirgoddess,calledKali,becamehepatrondeityof thewarriorclass34.Since the Maravar are specifically mentioned35 and since the name Kali was often usedby earlierwritersfor any goddesswith terrible or warlikeaspects, t would seem that the Kaliof the warriorclass was in effect Korravai.Finallythere are indications that the offeringofheads was a typicalsacrificewith at leastone militaryclass until a fairly ate date36.The humanfiguresin the Durga images under considerationmay consequently representMaravar soldiery, or simply military men, as well as a generalised type of Maravar. To one orother ofhese groups, the figures must almost certainly belong; but, as far as the identity of thegoddess is concerned, it is not necessary to determine which, since all worshipped Korravai. Bythe same token, if an important element in Cola society adopted the worship of Korravai, thenthere is a reason for her image to have been placed in a Brahmanic temple. It thus seems reason-able to conclude that the goddess portrayed in these images is Korravai, or Durga, Goddess ofVictory.Beforeclosing, a few words mustbe said about the intrusion, f this conclusion s correct,ofa cult and a ritual limited to a particulargroup, and one whose origins, moreover,lay quitebeyond the paleof Brahmanicorthodoxy,into whatmaybe termed the official or Brahma-nic iconography37.True,the cultappears o havebeenadoptedby animportantgroupin C61oa32 G. W. Pope, Extracts from the Tamil 'Purra-porul Ven ba-Malai; and the 'Purra- nannurru ', Journal of the Royal Asiatic

Society, 1899, p. 237.33 K.A. Nilakantha Sastri, A History of South India, p. 408; Same, The Colas, 2nd edition, p. I06.34 V. Kanakasabhai, The Tamils Eighteen Hundred Years Ago, I904, p. 228, Also Pope, op. cit., p. 242.35 Kanakasabhai, op. cit., see Table of Contents.36 Sastri, The Colas, 4th Ed., p. 669 refers to a legend concerning the i2th century poet Ottakkuttan.37 By the official iconography is meant that of the images found in Brahmanic temples, which can usually be referred to

descriptions or incidents found in the Puranas, as opposed to that of the grama devatas or village gods. The two catego-ries are not water-tight: a Jyeqtha or an Aiyanar may introduce themselves within the precincts of a Brahmanical templewhile the grama devatas, as they assume a formal iconography, almost invariably assimilate themselve to Durga, the

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society,butthefactremainshata linkbetweenanyonegrouporritualandaBrahmanicmageisquiteexceptional. o connection f thistypehassofarbeennotedwithanyotherColamarti3.So exceptionalndeeddoesthisparticularnstanceappear s to castseriousdoubtsupontheconclusionswhichhavejustbeenreached.Certainonsiderationsbout he cultof Korravai ndherdevotees,however, uggest hat,even n its origins, t mayhave beenmoreacceptablehanatfirstappearso sanskritizedrah-manicorthodoxy.A greatmanyAryan lements representntheworldof theSilapaddikdram39and here s,if nothingmore,adistinctparallelismf themebetweenheincident f theMaravarand hesimilarepisodesnvolvinghuntersdwellingntheforests,usually mongstheVindhyas,whichabound n Sanskrititerature. heSabaras,ulindasnd oon,of Sanskrititeraturelose-lyresemblehe Maravars.n theirforesthaunts,oo, are to be found hesanctuariesf Durga,andwe havealready eenthatin the Silapaddikdramorravai f the Maravars equatedwithDurga Mahisasuramardini. he Maravarare more specificallybandits, and the hermits andasramaso dear o classical anskrititerature reconspicuouslyacking romtheirhabitat;buttheydisplay he samebasictraitsof courage,vigour,ferocity,andcompletedisregardor re-ligiouspurityascharacterizeheSabaras.Finally,a mostsignificanteferencen the Kddambarito a Sabara hieftainwhohadcutsonhisshouldersromofferingsmade o Kali uggests hateventhepeculiar iteof theMaravarmayhavebeenshared ytheSabaras40.TheMaravar,n theirconventionalizedorm,thusresembledo a very greatdegreeotherpeoplesin Indialiving in muchthe samecircumstances.Thesepeopleshad,moreover,achieveda recognisedplace,if not within Indian society,at leastoutside of it and one firmlyestablishedin legend and literature, those sae legends and that same literature to which the officialiconographycanalwaysbe referred.What is more,Durga,one of whose names s Vindhyavasini,is theirgoddessparexcellence.Bearing his in mind, the incorporationof the riteof the Maravarinto the official iconographyappears ess improbable.

Sapta Matrkas, Subrahmanya, etc. But the external niches of the shrine and ardha mandapaof Early Cola temples, wherethe Durga images in question are found, are filled, according to an almost invariable scheme, by official images. Possibleexceptions are certain male and female figures at Nagesvara, Kumbhakonam, and Koranganatha, Srinivasanallur, aswell as in certain other temples, but they are usually in supernumerary positions and, whatever their identity, are certainlynot village gods.

38 A reflection of certain mendicant cults may possibly be discerned in Bhiksatana and Kafnkalamuiirti mages, particularlyat the end of the Cola period.39Silapaddikcram,. 64-66.40Kadambar,tr. C.M. Ridding, I896, p. 28. In the text, the goddess' name is Candika- Kadambari,ed. P. Peterson,Bombay Sanskrit Series No. xxiv 1883, p. o30,1. II and 12. The passage reads candikarudhirabalipradanarthamasa-krnnisitasastrollekkhavisamitasikharena , sikhara referring to the following bhujayuga... It does not actually say that thescars or wounds are self-inflicted, although artha would seem to imply a direct causal relationship at least. In Bana'sstyle, the connection between the wounds caused by repeated blows of sharp swords and blood offerings to Candikais indeed most likely to be a metaphorical one. Even so, the scars are on the shoulders and the presupposition under-lying the metaphor, that the blood from wounds caused by swords are to be considered blood offerings to Kali, issignificant.

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Durga the Goddess of Victory

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