The zivatANDavastotra is a sublime lyric full of great devotion and composed in a vigorous style. The magic power of its resonant words is very gripping. We propose to analyse its iconographic motifs and to arrive at the date of its composition.
The first verse gives a word picture of the gAndhAramUrti of the Deity-
jaTAkaTAha saMbhramabhramanniliMpanirjharI | vilolavIcivallarIvirAjamAna mUrdhani |
It also praises the third eye in the forehead of the Bhagwan burning with the fierce of Fire. ziva is three-eyed (tryambakadeva) sUrya - caMdra - agni being those three Eyes; they comprise in their symbolism the entire trika doctrine.
The verse makes reference to the new moon on the forehead of the Bhagwan, whence he is called candrazekhara. Who is this caMdra on the head? agnirvai rudraH -this is the Vedic definition. rudra is fierce agni hungry to devour its food. This agni is fed by soma also called candra and amRta. Again, candra represents the cosmic mind (candramA manaso jJAtaH Rigveda) and the principle of mind is the supreme aspect of the Deity, shining on the top of his head.
Verse 2 refers to the umAmahezvara form of ziva. The Daughter of the mountain (dharAdharendranandinI) remains in eternal blissful enjoyment with her Bhagwan. It is the union of prakRti with puruSa, of soma with agni, as the liGgapurANa 34.7 explains:
ahamagnirmahAtejAH somazcaiSA mahAmbikA | ahamagnizca somazca prakRtyA puruSaH svayam. liMgaM | 34 | 7 |
ziva is praised as cidaMbara i.e. cidAkAza, the one source of cititatva, the principle of consciousness, also called prajJAtmakaprANa, It was the highest doctrine of the Vedantic Saiva philosophy in which ziva and Self are one.
Verse 3 consists of two motifs, viz., the serpents coiled in the matted locks, and the elephants' skin worn like a canopy to mark the beginning of the tANDava dance. The matted locks symbolise the pravargya part of the Divinity who is himself brahmaudana. The cosmos is the tangled mass of those locks.
The elephant is the principle of aham, or individuation, same as mahat manifesting at a point. The carma or kRtti is the container, the finitising unit for ahaM, which begins the dance that creates the world and also withdraws it.
Verse 4 refers to the numerous Bhagwan headed by the sahasralocana indra paying homage at the feet of ziva who is mahAdeva, the Supreme Divinity. In the veda indra and rudra are the same as sUrya who has a thousand rays.
Verse 5 paints a picture of the Fire from Siva's third eye consuming the Bhagwan of the five arrows. It is the kAmAntaka mUrti of ziva. The five objects of enjoyment of the senses are completely subdued by the tapaHsamAdhi of ziva.
Verse 6 repeats in still more artistic terms the kAmAntaka motif:
karAlabhAla paTTikA dhagaddhagaddhagajjvalad dhanaJjayAdharIkRtapracaNDapaJcasAyake |
It is the third eye of wisdom which obtains perfect control over the senses and the mind lusting for sensuous pleasures.
Verse 7 recounts the dark colour of the throat, i.e. the nIlakaNTha form, and the gaMgAdhara, gajAntaka and the candrazekhara forms. The throat symbolizes the element of AkAza with the quality of sound and AkAza is in Vedic terminology equivalent of the paMcabhUta or vAk - The poison in the throat stands for the tamasic nature of the Five Elements. The paMcabhUtas are created by the tamoguNa form of zakti. prANa by the rajoguNa and manastatva by the satoguNa and thus manaH-prANa-vAk are the manifestation of traiguNya.
Verse 8 describes again the sombre effects of the deep and dark colour of the throat shining like a mass of blue lotuses. The second half of this verse is highly important as giving a string of ziva-lIlA motifs:
smaracchidaM puracchidaM bhavacchidaM makhacchidaM gajacchidAndhakacchidaM tamantakacchidaM bhaje | 8
The words are of incomparable charm in Stotra literature, and in utmost concise form paint a picture of the major exploits of zivalIlA - They are repeated in an altered vocabulary in verse 9.
The smaracchida form is the smarAntaka or kAmAntaka mUrti of which the madanadahana theme is described at length by Kalidasa and in some of the Purarnas.
The puracchida or purAntaka form relates to the vanquishing of tripurAsura the Demon of the Three Cities' of gold, silver and copper. Who is this tripura? It is our own body or ourselves comprised of jAgrata-svapna-suSupti which are the three states of the Self and the result of the three Gunas. Mind, (manaH) is the city of gold, prANa of silver and bhUtagrAma of copper or iron. ziva is the supreme controller of these three states and the demoniac nature of the lower self should be dedicated at his feet.
The bhavicchada or bhavAntaka form refers to the annihilation of saMsAra, the cessation of bhavacakra or the revolving wheel of the world of mAyA or kAla.
The makhacchida or makhAntaka form reminds of the episode of dakSayajJavidhvaMsa. The Puranas relate the story of dakSaprajApati having performed a yajJa to which ziva was not invited and so his zakti satI. The yajJa ended in disaster. What is the significance of this lIlA? It is the same as the chinnazIrSa makha of the Brahmanas. yajJa has two aspects, one the cosmic (adhidaivata) and the other in the individual (adhyAtma). The latter must be linked to the former, the mortal derives its energy from the immortal source of the Divine eternal. If dakSa breaks of from that source because of his ahaMkAra, the individual yajJa is doomed. dakSa invites all his daughters, excepting satI or mahAzakti who alone can deliver the goods.
The gajacchida or gajAntaka or gajAsurasaMhAramUrti has been mentioned above.
The aMdhakacchida or aMdhakAntaka mUrti refers to the defeat and death of aMdhakAsura at the hands of ziva. The blind pranic energy as divorced from the mind symbolizes the andhaka demon who must submit to the authority of mahAdeva.
The antakacchida or antakAntaka mUrti refers to the terrific form of ziva as conquering the Bhagwan of Death. ziva is mahAkAla and kAlAri; He has triumphed over yama or mRtyu; and poison, the symbol of mRtyu has been assimilated in his throat.
Verse 9 refers to ziva as the Bhagwan of rasapravAhamAdhurI or AnandalaharI, Waves of Bliss, or sweet mead, or rasa (= soma, and amRta) which is his true nature. It also repeats the iconographic forms of verse 8.
Verse 10 besides repeating the motif of the Fire from the third eye, adds the significant motif of the tAMDava dance performed with the rhythmic sounds of the DamarU-mRdaMga.
Versts 11 and 12 refer to the eternally poised nature of the Bhagwan, for whom rough stone and kingly bed, serpent and pearl garland, gem and clod of earth, friend and foe, grass and lotus, king and toiling peasant are all equal; they end with the supplication of the devotee to spend his last days on the gaMgA in a quiet retreat and merged in the blissful nature of the Divine, while muttering His sweet name.
For a Stotra of only 12 verses, the above is a perfect record of motifs and a model of high literary art. It is overflowing with devout inspiration and the realisation of the ineffable bliss of the Divine in the heart of the Bhakta.
The Stotra does not form part of any Purana, so far as can be seen, but its date is indicated by the recounted motifs fairly closely.
The tANDava dance began to be portrayed in Indian art about the Gupta period. But the tripurAntaka as well as the yamAntaka forms are depicted in Indian sculpture for the first time during the Rastrakuta period in the dazAvatAra Cave and the kailAsa Temple at Ellora, the first finished in the time of king Dantidurga (735-757) and the second in the reign of Krishnaraja I (757-772). It is a rare phenomenon that these two shrines, which were the most wonderful accomplishments of their age both in architecture and sculpture, also have been adorned with the other motifs like the andhakAsurasaMhAramUrti, the dakSayajJavidhvaMsa mUrti, the gajAsurasaMhAra mUrti, umAmahezvara mUrti, ardhanArIzvara and the tANDava mUrti.
The iconographic and literary motifs taken together can be attributed only to the Rastrakuta period in about the middle of the eighth century A.D. The kAlAri or yamAntaka form of ziva is connected with the liberation of mArkaNDeya from the clutches of Death, and depicts mArkaNDeya praying to ziva for deliverance from yama who is repulsed by a kick of the Divine feet. It is only in the dazAvatAra Cave and the kailAsa Temple of Ellora that the theme has been discovered so far (Gopinath Rao, Elements of Hindu Iconography Vol. II, pt. I, Plate 34). The tripurAntaka representation is similarly of very rare occurrence in early sculpture and has hitherto been discovered together only in the above two places, pointing to the period circa 735-770 A.D. (Gopinath Rao, op. cit., Plate 37). This gives a reasonable basis to assign the zivatANDava stotra to about the middle of the eighth century and its composition may be the work of some brilliant poet of the Rastrakuta age in the Deccan.
The stotra was recited by rAvaNa after his worship of Bhagwan ziva (pUjAvasAnasamaye dazavaktragItaM). This worship-scene is also illustrated at Ellora in the kailAsa Temple in a grand sculpture known as 'rAvaNa lifting kailAsa' (kailAsottolanamUrti) which was allied to the rAvaNAnugraha mUrti (Gopinath Rao, Hindu Iconography, Vol. II, pt. I, Plate 53). In this respect also the dazAvatAra Cave of Ellora is similar to the kailAsa temple (Rao, ib. Plate 54). It may, however, be noted that the Elephanta Cave-shrine also depicts the rAvaNAnugrahamUrti, but not the tripurasaMhAra and yamAntaka or mArkaNDeyAnugraha forms, which are peculiar only to the dazAvatAra Cave and the kailAsa Temple of Ellora, as stated above.