how a triple-headed figure in relief can be supposed to represent a five-headed figure in the round, and how six arms can be said to stand for the ten which are ascribed to the Mahēshamūrti. The three doors of the Elephanta temple, corresponding to the triple-shrine of the later Trimūrti temples, seem to point very clearly to the intention of the temple sculptors. Possibly the image (Pl. LIX, b), formerly placed in the four-doored Brahmā shrine now occupied by the lingam, is intended for the five-headed Mahēshamūrti, the Supreme Siva.
The majestic central head of the Trimūrti seems, therefore, to be Vishnu, for it bears the three jewelled discs upon his tiara for his three steps across the heavens; the necklet of pearls for the planets which glitter in the firmament; and the golden collar with the five jewels, the cosmic elements—ether (pearl), air (sapphire), fire (ruby), water (emerald), and earthly matter (diamond). These are all distinctive symbols of Vishnu, and do not appear in Brahmā images. The third head leaves no room for mistake, for the frowning brows and protruding tongue, the cobra twined in the hair, the skull and the trefoiled foliage,[1] show clearly that it is Siva in his tāmasic or destructive aspect.
The Trimūrti in Mahāyana Buddhism is shown in the fine copper-gilt statuette from Nepal, of uncertain date, illustrated in Pl. LXVIII, b. It may have been brought from Bengal by Buddhist refugees in the stormy days of the first Muhammadan invasions, when the monasteries and temples in the sub-Himālayan districts, like those to the south of the Vīndhyan mountains, gave shelter to monks and craftsmen who
- ↑ The leaf of the bel tree (Crataeva religiosa) and of the nirgundi (Vitese trefoliata).
