Kankalamurti is a form closely allied to Bhikshatana and K ANKAI.A almost similar in appearance. According to the Mayamata, ' Kankalamurti is draped in a fine cloth and is surrounded by lovely women. In his upper right hand he holds the pea- cock's feathers and skeleton (kankdla) and in the upper left the tanka. A serpent is coiled round his loins ; and he has a knife stuck into the girdle on the right side of his waist (figs. 63 and 64). He is generally attended by demons. Birds and beasts follow him in expectation of getting something to eat from his hands. The description given of Kankalamurti in the Kdsyapa-Silpa of the Ainsumat-Tantra is different. He has a jatdmakuta l decorated with serpents, the crescent-moon and flowers ; he is holding the kettle-drum in his left fore-arm and a stick (to beat it with) in the corresponding right ; the other right hand is in the pose simha-karna and touches the mouth of the antelope, while the left carries a bunch of peacock's feathers on a staff. He also wears a necklace of skeletons (kankdla) which according to the Aditya-Purdna are supposed to be those of Vishnu in his various incarnations. Sometimes he may be represented also as carrying on his shoulder a kankdla (skeleton) tied by a rope to the staff.

The form of Siva, decorated as a bridegroom, is called KALYANA- Kalyanasundaramurti or Vaivahikamurti. Siva in this form SU _ NDARA - r 11 MUK. 1 1* is represented as a fair youth, with three eyes and four arms. He is clothed in the best of garments and wears a garland of blue lilies. On his right side stands Parvatl, his bride, whose right hand he holds with his own. In his back hands are seen the symbols, tanka (or sometimes the axe) and the black buck. The left lower hand shows the boon-giving posture. His matted locks are made up in the fashion of a jatdmakuta on which is stuck the crescent of the moon. The general posture of the god is what is called samabhanga, or the medium bend, wherein the figure stands with the right leg slightly bent and the left leg placed firmly on the ground. The goddess on the right side is represented as a fully deve- loped maiden. She has only two hands, one of which holds a lily. Brahma, having in his four hands the rosary, water-pot,

1 The braided hair ( jata) of Bhikshatana, on the other hand , is generally found in illustrations, arranged in a circle. Jatamiikuta is the arrangement of fa&jatas in the form of a makuta or crown. The former is, perhaps, what is known in the Silpa- works as jatamandala.