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
<[email protected]> 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
<[email protected]> 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 Koch
www.rolfheinrichkoch.wordpress.com
<http://www.rolfheinrichkoch.wordpress.com>
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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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