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	<title>elisa freschiHayagrīva in South Indian temples &#8211; elisa freschi</title>
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	<description>These pages are a sort of virtual desktop of Elisa Freschi. You can find here my cv and some random thoughts on Sanskrit (and) Philosophy. All criticism welcome! Contributions are also welcome!</description>
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		<title>Hayagrīva in South Indian temples</title>
		<link>https://elisafreschi.com/2014/12/18/hayagriva-in-some-south-indian-temples/</link>
		<comments>https://elisafreschi.com/2014/12/18/hayagriva-in-some-south-indian-temples/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 18 Dec 2014 15:05:28 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>elisa freschi</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[art history]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Vaiṣṇavism]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Veṅkaṭanātha/Vedānta Deśika]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Viśiṣṭādvaita Vedānta]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Hayagrīva]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://elisafreschi.com/?p=1292</guid>

				<description><![CDATA[After the 17th c. and as a consequence of the Vaṭakalai-Teṅkalai split and of the resultant decision of the Vaṭakalai devotees to adopt Veṅkaṭanātha&#8217;s theology, the icons of Hayagrīva start to rapidly grow in number and importance in Tamil Nadu&#8211;Karṇāṭaka. Two types of Hayagrīva are reproduced: Yoga-Hayagrīva, seated in padmāsana, holding in the upper arms [&#8230;]]]></description>
					<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>After the 17th c. and as a consequence of the Vaṭakalai-Teṅkalai split and of the resultant decision of the Vaṭakalai devotees to adopt Veṅkaṭanātha&#8217;s theology, the icons of Hayagrīva start to rapidly grow in number and importance in Tamil Nadu&#8211;Karṇāṭaka.<br />
Two types of Hayagrīva are reproduced:<span id="more-1292"></span></p>
<ol>
<li>Yoga-Hayagrīva, seated in <em>padmāsana</em>, holding in the upper arms discus and conch and in the lower ones the Vedas (represented as a thin book) and the <em>jñānamudrā</em></li>
<li>Lakṣmī-Hayagrīva, seated in <em>padmāsana</em> and with the same attributes, but with Lakṣmī sitting on his left knee</li>
</ol>
<p>Both are very well-spread, in temples, paper and cloth paintings and both appear to originate from Veṅkaṭanātha&#8217;s writings, the Yoga-Hayagrīva from his Hayagrīvastotra whereas the Lakṣmī-Hayagrīva seems to be a modification of the first according to the theology of Śrī Vaiṣṇavism (in which Lakṣmī is inseparable from Viṣṇu) and is described in Veṅkaṭanātha&#8217;s <em>Śatadūṣaṇī</em>. The center of his cult seems to have been the temple at Thiruvahindrapuram, which is also considered the &#8220;home-temple&#8221; of the Vaṭakalai religion. Unfortunately, I have never been there, nor can I plan a trip there in the immediate future. Thus, <strong>I would welcome comments and corrections by the readers</strong>.</p>
<p>The following one is a photo of the whole temple.<a href="http://elisafreschi.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/Devanatha.jpg"><img fetchpriority="high" decoding="async" class="alignright wp-image-1293 size-medium" src="http://elisafreschi.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/Devanatha-300x225.jpg" alt="Devanatha Swamy Temple Cuddalore" width="300" height="225" srcset="https://elisafreschi.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/Devanatha-300x225.jpg 300w, https://elisafreschi.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/Devanatha-760x570.jpg 760w, https://elisafreschi.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/Devanatha-518x388.jpg 518w, https://elisafreschi.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/Devanatha-82x61.jpg 82w, https://elisafreschi.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/Devanatha-131x98.jpg 131w, https://elisafreschi.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/Devanatha-600x450.jpg 600w, https://elisafreschi.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/Devanatha.jpg 800w" sizes="(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" /></a></p>
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<p><a href="http://elisafreschi.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/lord-hayagreeva.jpg"><img decoding="async" class="alignright wp-image-1294 size-medium" src="http://elisafreschi.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/lord-hayagreeva-216x300.jpg" alt="lord-hayagreeva" width="216" height="300" srcset="https://elisafreschi.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/lord-hayagreeva-216x300.jpg 216w, https://elisafreschi.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/lord-hayagreeva-288x400.jpg 288w, https://elisafreschi.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/lord-hayagreeva-82x113.jpg 82w, https://elisafreschi.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/lord-hayagreeva.jpg 346w" sizes="(max-width: 216px) 100vw, 216px" /></a></p>
<p>Next follows the photo of (possibly, since I have not been there) the main icon of Hayagrīva found either in the main temple or in one nearby. Readers will immediately recognise that it conforms to the Yoga-Hayagrīva typology.</p>
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<p><img decoding="async" class="alignnone" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-n_TRJY6veGw/UX0xjQKqs7I/AAAAAAAADVc/H55oumpzpPY/s1600/haya+Creevar+copy.jpg" alt="" width="246" height="336" />Last, an icon of Lakṣmī-Hayagrīva, whose origin I do not know. Unfortunately, I have not been able to find a good image of the Lakṣmī-Hayagrīva image in the Thiruvahindrapuram temple (it is reproduced as Fig. 12a in Sridhara Babu 1990).<br />
<small>For more information on Hayagrīva and his connection with Veṅkaṭanātha, you can see <a href="https://www.academia.edu/8296086/The_reuse_of_texts_and_images_Hayagr%C4%ABvas_case" target="_blank">this</a> presentation. On Hayagrīva in general, see the posts under <a href="http://elisafreschi.com/tag/hayagriva/" target="_blank">this</a> tag.</small></p>
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