Iconography of Southern India

The worship of the phallus is the union of the mysteries of generation with those of divinity. [...] Besides the sicla the principal emblems of Siva are four in number which we will divide into two series : 1. The emblems of the right hand : the hatchet and the drum 2. The emblems of the left hand : the antelope and the cord. [...] This division is of some importance as except for some out of the way instances in which the artist is at fault these emblems are never invested although Siva carries only two of them as follows : the hatchet (in the right hand) the antelope (in the left) ; the hatchet (in the right hand) the cord (in the left) ; the drum (iii the right hand) the antelope (in the left) ; the drum (in the right [...] The hatchet (ntazhu) and the antelope (man) are emblems of Siva in accordance with the following legend : When Siva lived in the forest of Taruka in the guise of a beggar the wives of the Rishis fell in love with him and almost lost their virtue. [...] (2) The following letter appeared in the Madras Mail of the 29th Dcember 1925: « Sir — Siva in his incarnation of Natesa the special deity worshipped in the holy shrine of Chidambaram which has from time immemorial been a visible symbol of a philosophic phase of the Hindu religion is considered by the Saivites to have been born on the full-moon day of the month of Margasira and in the co