Vim¡na tower seen from north east, north facade.
In the north, the goddess is represented on the central panel. The goddess, being the áakti of áiva, occupies the left or v¡ma part of his body. áiva is omnipresent and He occupies the whole universe. The temple represents áiva. So the left part is reserved to his áakti. In almost all the temples of K¡½¡mukhas and P¡¿upatas the goddess is represented in the northern gable-ends, e. g. in the Ka·aÆb®¿vara temple in Ra¶¶iha½½i K®d¡r®¿vara in Ba½½ig¡ve, S°man¡th®¿vara at Hara½aha½½i etc. So in Mukte¿vara temple also the goddess is shown on the north.
She is holding tri¿£la, akÀam¡l¡, ·amaru and m¡tulu´ga fruit in upper and lower right and left hands respectively. She is adorned with ru¸·am¡l¡ along with other ornaments. The animal carved on the pedestal looks like a jackal. Or is it a dog? By the side of the goddess are two lady-accompanyists, one on the right playing an instrument of percussion resembling a m¤daÆga and the other to the left playing on cymbals. It is also interesting to note that a skull is fixed on both tri¿£la and ·amaru. The head on the tri¿£la can be identified with the head of Vi¿vaks®na but what about the one on ·amaru?
Vim¡na wall, west facade K¤À¸a.
Another feature of this ¿aiva temple is an image of ViÀ¸u-K¤À¸a. When áiva stood on one foot as Ekap¡dam£rti, ViÀ¸u emanated from his left side. An image of V®¸ug°p¡lak¤À¸a proves that this belief was deeply rooted in the minds of the people. An image of V®¸ug°p¡lak¤À¸a shines on the west wall and on the tower of Mukt®¿vara too, on the north side at the third level.
The fourth level, counted thus from the ground, is the top frieze of roofs on the tower. This level is above the top of the ¿ukan¡s¢ and consequently its four sides are of same architectural structure. There is a dormer-window (bhadra n¡sik¡) in the centre on each direction.
These prominent places are allocated to the dancing goddess, two times, Mahe¿vara and on the east to S£rya.
The ¿ukan¡s¢ is topped on its east side by a large dormer-window with three compartments. That was the place for the installation of stelae, which have disappeared. The presence of an image of S£rya in the east dormer-window of the tower, just behind, suggests that there may have been a larger icon of the same in the ¿ukan¡s¢ also. This is a frequent location for this deity.
In secondary locations on the tower are seen celestial yakÀas and terrestrial figures, dancers and monkeys.
On the south and west sides, in the central dormer-window (bhadra n¡sik¡) is seen the same image of a dancing goddess holding tri¿£la, akÀam¡l¡, ·amaru and m¡tulu´ga fruit in upper and lower right and left hands respectively.
North wall of ra´gama¸·apa, sitting áiva.
In Karn¡¶aka this fruit occurs frequently in the sculptures of monuments of this period. It is also seen, but rarely in other places outside Karn¡¶aka. M¡tulu´ga or m¡dala is taken by some as referring to the pomegranate (Gopinatha Rao vol. I pt. 2 p. 336). But the fruit we see on the sculptures does not have the smooth skin of a pomegranate. On the contrary it is uneven. Seeing the stylised image of this fruit, some other modern scholars are of the opinion that it is maize. But maize entered India with its colonisation by Europeans. So, this identification also does not hold good. Others think that it represents the s¢t¡phala. Here also is a problem. According to B. G. L. Svami, one of the renowned botanists of Karn¡¶aka, in his book Namma ho¶¶eyalli dakÀi¸a am®rike, this fruit is foreign to India. According to him it was also brought from South America and introduced to the Indian soil by westerners.
Another common identification, and probably the surest one, is the fruit of the citron tree, Citrus medica (Gopinath Rao vol. II pt. 1 p. 133). In Kanna·a it is called m¡dala, which is a tadbhava of m¡tulu´ga. It grows well in Karn¡¶aka. It is eatable and popularly used for medicine. It is prescribed as good to soothe pitta. The different shapes of the fruit seen in sculpture are closer to this fruit than to any other.
Or can it be taken literally as mukt¡phala "a fruit with pearls"?
Shrine 7, V¢rabhadra, icon under worship.
In the temple enclosure there is a set of four shrines built contiguously one to another in the southwestern angle. All the four face the river, i. e. north. Two of them are double celled whereas the other two are single celled. A newly built common open pillared pavilion serves the purpose of mah¡ma¸·apa to all four of them. Starting from the east the first shrine has a sanctum sanctorum and an antechamber. There is a Li´ga in the sanctum and its pra¸¡La or outlet for the ablution water is to the right instead of the left. A statue of Nandin adorns the antechamber or ¿ukan¡s¢
Second shrine. This is a single sanctum with the image of V¢rabhadra which is still under worship (as a consequence we could not take the measurements of the statue). The fact that his right foot is turned towards west and the left faces north shows that the god is set to bring miscreants to heel. Both the legs are bending with protruding knees. Sword, arrow, bow and shield are held in his four hands from lower right to lower left hand respectively. His anklets are in the form of snakes. The Vaijayant¢h¡ra is so long that it almost touches the pedestal. yajµopav¢ta hangs to the right side. Many bracelets and necklaces adorn the deity. A high kir¢¶amuku¶a embellishes the head. On the pedestal are the images of devotees and warriors.
A li´g¡yat priest is in charge of conducting the rituals and p£j¡ in the temple. He always keeps a wooden stick by the side of the statue. He told us that it is a tradition to place it by the side of the god. During the course of our survey of temples of 10th to 12th centuries in this region. often we came across with this custom of placing a stick by the side of áivali´ga or V¢rabhadra. This may be one of the last lingering influences of L¡ku½a¿aivism.
The third sanctum is identical to the first one as having a cella and an antechamber. Like in the first, here too there is Li´ga in the cella and Nandin in the ¿ukan¡si. The only difference is that by the side of the doorjambs there are perforated windows with beautiful scrolls in the centre of which are dancing figures, blowing wind instruments etc.
The last shrine which is single-celled houses a seated goddess with eight hands of which the two front ones are mutilated. Her left foot rests on the seat folded in acute angle, whereas the hanging right leg rests on a skull. In fact four skulls have been carved on the pedestal. Her right hands from lower to upper hold sword, arrow and ·amaru. In the same way, the left lower to upper have been adorned with shield, bow and tri¿£la. She wears a high kir¢¶a, ear-rings, ru¸·am¡l¡ (garland of skulls), various necklaces, bracelets and anklets. She is bare chest. The lower part of her body is clad in a sari but draped in the fashion of a dhoti. Foliage motifs with the lion in the centre decorate the pedestal.
Stella bearing inscription III
The top portion of each stela, except the sixth and the seventh, is decorated with a Li´ga or a small replica of a temple with a Li´ga, a worshipper and a couchant Nandin. In most of the cases the Li´ga, in the replica of the temple, is covered with garlands of rudr¡kÀa. On the top of either side of the shrine are carved the sun and the crescent moon suggesting the eternity of the chart. Also a cow with a sucking calf represents K¡madh®nu which realises all desires. In the shrine there is a devotee engaged in worshipping the Li´ga. In the first two inscriptions of pre-áivadeva period, the devotee is carved in standing position, whereas in the other four, contemporaneous with áivadeva, he is in sitting position.
There is also a difference in the physiognomy of the worshippers. In the first two inscriptions they are in standing position and almost naked except a pagne on their loins. Their matted hair is tied up on their head forming a turban. They have beards like that of a he-goat (h°tina ga··a) or Brahman in sculptures. They are to be identified as K¡l¡mukha worshippers.
South wall of Ra´gama¸·apa.
Stella bearing inscription III, áivadeva.
In the stelae of inscriptions III-VI, which belong to the time of áivadeva and the introduction of V¢ra¿aivism accomplished by him, there is a low-relief representation of Li´ga worship. For the inscription III, one sees the worshipper, sitting, clean-shaven, fully clad, passing his left arm around the Li´ga. This is a living illustration of stanza 10 read in the inscription below: "I will not embrace women with the arms which embrace the Li´ga, nor will I cast a greedy look on them, nor unite with them, nor give place to them in my thoughts, nor give attention to them" (thus) áivadeva, the undisturbed saint gave pledges to áa´kara. (10)" The saint is eulogised for his heroic vows. It is probably this vow, which is thus illustrated on the top. We may surmise that we have here a portrait of áivadeva. The figure is quite small and no specific feature is identifiable. But it appears very similar to the image of V¢ra¿aiva worshippers on the south and north walls of the ra´gama¸·apa. The difference is that on the stela is shown his worship of the temple Li´ga, whereas on the ra´gama¸·apa one sees his private worship of his iÀ¶ali´ga.
The architectural type of the temple shown on the inscription III is the type of the temple No. 2 of Kallideva.
