(Continued...)
The Vishnu deity (of almost all temples) Himself,
though He has four hands - with conch, disc, mace and lotus --, has no
‘vara-abhaya’ hands. Varada-rAja - the
name meaning ‘the king of boon-giving deities’ -
- in
Kanchipuram, inspite of His name, does not have the ‘vara’ hand; He has the
mace in that hand !
Maha-lakshmi, the Goddess of Wealth, almost
invariably, has the vara-abhaya
hands. But the Goddess of Learning,
Sarasvati, does not have either.
Durga, most of the times, has an ‘abhaya’ by the
right hand, while the corresponding left hand is on the thigh - this situation
being called ‘Uru-hastam’ . Some of the
SuBrahmanya deity-forms have the same
configuration.
Balaji of Tirupati has the vara-mudrA in the right hand, while His left
hand is an ‘Uru-hastam’. Thus the statement of this shloka ‘Other than You, all
other deities show the ‘vara-abhaya’ mudrA by their hands’ is to be considered
a poetic exaggeration only.
(Continued...)
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