The Illustrated Dictionary of Hindu Iconography by Stutley Margaret;

Author:Stutley, Margaret;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Taylor & Francis (CAM)

Note

1 Aspects, p. 16.

Madhūcchiṣṭa-vidānam The waxen model of an icon used in the cire-perdue technique of bronze casting.

Madhukara A row of bees forming Kama’s bowstring.

Madhupātra ‘Honey (madhu) vessel (pātra)’. A flower-shaped vessel for holding drinks. An emblem of Balarāma.

Madhusūdana ‘Destroyer of Madhu’. One of the thirty-nine incarnations of Viṣṇ;u who destroyed the demon Madhu.

Madhva or Madhvācārya (thirteenth century AD). Name of a famous bhakta and founder of a Vaiṣṇava dualistic dvaita sect.

Mythologically Madhva is regarded as an incarnation of Vāyu, god of the wind, and is represented as a saṇnyāsin. His mudrā is cin; emblems, staff, water-vessel and manuscript. He wears a sectarian mark (tilaka) on his forehead in the form of a U or a Y with a dot in the middle.

Madirā Goddess of wine, and wife of Varuṇa. She is also called Vāruṇanī.

Madya ‘Intoxicating liquor’, generally forbidden to brāhmaṇas, but used ritually in some Śākta cults,

v. Pañcamakāra.

Mahābhārata A famous Epic describing the struggle between two families for possession of Upper India (Bhārata). See Bibliography under Roy, P. C.

Mahādeva or Maheśamūrti ‘Great God’. An epithet applied to Śiva as the Supreme God.

When the two other gods of the triad (trimūrti) requested Śiva’s aid to destroy the three fabulous cities of the asuras, they bestowed on him part of their own powers and henceforth he was known as Mahādeva. He represents reproductive power which perpetually recreates that which he destroys. His symbol is the linga, the instrument of reproduction, which may be worshipped alone or combined with the yoni, also represented by Śiva’s consort, Śakti. Mahādeva is also regarded ‘as a substitute for the impersonal Brahman Itself’.1

Mahādeva is represented with two male and one female face, and each face signifies one of his aspects. The right hand face is Aghoramūrti or Aghora-Bhairava, the central Saumya (Tatpuruṣa), and the left Śakti (Vāmadeva-Umā). His attributes are a goad, mirror, bell, sword, shield, axe, noose, trident and vajra.

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