It must be noted that Nandīsa is a favourite deity of the Saiva puritans, the so-called Lingāyatas or Vīra-Saivas.
BhringīsaBhringi, Bhringiriti or Bhringīsa is similarly a fervent devotee of Siva. So exclusive was he in his devotion that he is said to have ignored the goddess who was part and parcel of Siva. His sole business in life, to which he had pledged himself, was ever to circumambulate the linga of Siva and no one else. To test his faith the god assumed the hermaphrodite form of Ardhanāri in which the goddess, as already described, is not separated from the god. Bhringi was not baffled ; but assuming the form of a bee (bhringa) he bored into the united body and continued still to go round and round the Siva half of the hermaphrodite. The goddess Pārvatī was enraged and cursed him to become emaciated day after day. Bhringi, accordingly, grew very thin and was unable to support himself. With the grace of Siva he secured a third leg which supported him. Thus Bhringi is represented in pictures with three legs (fig. I05). [1] An image of Bhringīsa with three arms and three legs is stated to have been set up in the temple at Tanjore by a subordinate of Rājarāja I in the eleventh century A.D.
JvaradēvaJvaradēva of Saiva mythology, who is supposed to have been the destroyer of the demon Bhasmāsura, is described in the Agamas as having three legs, three heads, six arms, nine eyes, and a dejected appearance. An image from Bhavāni in the Coimbatore district (fig. 106) answers to this description of Jvaradēva.
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Ganapati
Ganesa or
VināyakaGanapati, Ganesa or Vinayaka, the popular " belly god,"
is, as his name indicates, the chief of the Saiva ganas. He is
- ↑ The Vāmana-Purāna states that Bhringi was the name conferred by Siva on the demon Andhaka after the latter had proved himself to be a staunch devotee of Siva. Bhringi is represented with an emaciated body holding the staff in one hand and the rosary in the other. His eyes are ever directed towards Siva.