Did you know that Kankalamurti , a form of Shiva, carries a staff on which the bones of the arms and legs of the slain person are tied?
Kankala-murti ("One with the skeleton"), also known as Kankala ("skeleton") or Kankala-Bhairava, is an iconographical form of the Hindu god Shiva. He is often associated with a fearsome aspect of Shiva, Bhairava and thus considered the latter's aspect too.
Kankalamurti is one of the three most popular aspects of Bhairava; the others being Brahmashiraschedaka-murti and Bhikshatana-murti.
One particular legend about Kankalamurti is that Shiva assumed the form when he slew Vamana, an avatar of Vishnu. Vishnu assumed the form of Vamana, a huge form that encompassed the huge universe to teach a lesson to the demon Mahabali. After Mahabali was humbled, the Vamana form became a nuisance to the world and the gods. On their request, Shiva destroyed Vamana and used his back bone as a weapon. Thus, Shiva held the kankala (bones) of Vamana and became known as Kankalamurti.[7][8] Another interpretation is that Kankalamurti is Shiva as the dissolver of the universe and the bones symbolize destruction.
Kankalamurti is depicted as a four-armed man with a kankala-danda (skeleton-staff) in his hand and followed by demonic attendants and love-sick women. The iconography is quite similar to Bhikshatana-murti. The chief difference is that Kankala-murti is clothed and Bhikshatana is nude.
Kankalamurti is often accompanied by women and bhuta-gana (goblin attendants of Shiva).One of the attendants placed to the left should carry a large bowl used for storing the food alms of Shiva. The women, sometimes seven – wives of the seven great sages as in the Darasuram sculpture now in the Thanjavur Maratha Palace museum,[12] are variously pictured as enamoured of Shiva, eager to embrace him, blessing him, or serving him food in his begging bowl with a ladle
Kankalamurti is popular in South Indian temples of Shiva, but almost unknown in North India. In the four gopurams (towers) of Chidambaram Temple, in Tamil Nadu, there are four large niches and each niche has one of the four forms of Shiva: Kankalamurti, Bhikshatana, Somaskanda and Kalyanasundara.
Source: Extracts from article in Wikipedia with my inputs posted in January 2013.
Narasipur Char
