ABSTRACT
Narrative Reliefs of Bhima and Purushamriga at Vijayanagara
A. Dallapiccola and A. Verghese
A scene which occurs repeatedly at Vijayanagara represents a composite being, the top half of which is a bearded sage and the lower half that a lion. The being is depicted performing arati before a linga, and a man armed with a gada is shown running away from it. We were initially unable to to identify this narrative precisely, and had previously suggested that it might be connected to the story of Vyaghrapada, one of the Shaiva devotees connected with the Chidambaram temple. The present paper corrects this identification, arguing that the reliefs depict Bhima and Purushamriga, on the basis of evidence drawn from Kumaravyasa's Kannada Bharata, the fifteenth century Kannada version of the Mahabharata.
Bhima and Purushamriga, on a plinth moulding, subsidiary shrine, Ramachandra temple