I would like to recount to you, dear reader, how the purushamriga was brought to earth. The purushamriga is a rishi, a sage with the body of a lion and a human face. This composite mythological being was called a sphinx in ancient Greece and Egypt.
Five kings, brothers, known as the Pancha Pandavas, ruled Indraprastha. For the prosperity of their kingdom they wished to perform the Rajasuya Yajna, the royal Vedic sacrifice. To seek divine support for the performance of this ritual, one of the brothers, the hero Bhima, went to ask the help of Kubera, the guardian deity of the North. In Kubera's garden he met the divine being, the purushamriga, or human-beast, whom he invited to guard and attend the Rajasuya Yajna. Challenging Bhima, the purushamriga agreed to attend. Being a staunch worshipper of Lord Shiva he insisted Bhima must go before him without halting, without disturbing his meditation. If Bhima failed, the purushamriga would eat him. Although Bhima was a great athlete, the purushamriga quickly neared him.
Lord Krishna had given Bhima magical stones which, when thrown over his shoulder, became Shiva temples. The purushamriga worshipped Shiva before following Bhima. Thus throwing the stones one by one, Bhima reached Indraprastha. But just before he could cross into his kingdom, the purushamriga caught one of his feet. Dharma, the elder brother, judged the purushamriga had the right to eat half of Bhima's body. The purushamriga explained he was satisfied with Dharma's justice and would not eat Bhima. After the completion of the Rajasuya the purushamriga asked Dharma "my task is over, where I should go now?" Dharma's answer was that he should go to Tillai- Chidambaram, where Shiva would shortly arrive to perform his cosmic dance. He should guard the entrance and ward off negative influence.
On a raised platform, two sphinxes are sitting on either side of a grand doorway, guarding the entrance of an ancient temple. It is said they ward off evil and remove the sins of those who pass between them. A mysterious smile adorns their human faces, which are surrounded by full lion manes. One is male, the other is female, and as a faithful couple they have been seated in this way side by side for many centuries.
Have we just entered an ancient Egyptian temple, or walked through the gate of a Greek shrine from long ago? No, we are in India. Visiting the famous temple in Chidambaram where Shiva Nataraja dances his cosmic dance for all humanity. These sphinxes are the purushamrigas of the legend. They have the body of a lion, and the face of a human being.
In Indian art and culture the existence and presence of the sphinx as a mythological being has so far gone unnoticed and unrecognized. But through many years of research I have found that the sphinx plays a significant role in the arts and traditions of many temples in India. And not only in the art, but also in ritual and legend.
I became aware of the identity between the purushamrigas guarding the main entrance of the temple where I spend so much of my life, and the mythological being called sphinx from ancient Egypt and Greece, as far back as 1986. Since I have been on a quest to uncover the mysteries and riddles that surround them. And now I can present a comprehensive report to the world.
In South India, in Tamil Nadu, we find sculptures of the purushamriga situated in ritually significant places in many temples. Usually near an entrance, often in the passage through the gopuram, or on its façade. But also on pillars adjoining the sanctum. And in the pavilions used for the festivals. Not all the purushamrigas look exactly like the sphinx of Western antiquity. In South Indian art we find mainly two types. The type mostly resembling the classical image of a sphinx is those that have fully lion's bodies with human faces.
Some, especially sculptures from more recent centuries, are lions from the waist down, and fully human from the waist up. Some are depicted as rishis or seers, having a beard and with their hair knotted on the top of their head. They may be worshipping a Shiva Linga with a bell and lamp. Some are virulent warriors, brandishing a club or a sword. A beautiful pair of purushamrigas stands to welcome the visitors to the mandapa in front of the Subrahmania shrine in the Brihadishvara temple in Tanjore, their hands folded in the anjalimudra of greeting. They are standing as tall as a man. Two pairs of small crouching sphinxes are positioned in the gopuram of the Sarangapani temple in Kumbakonam. And depictions of the legend of Bhima and the purushamriga are decorating the temples in Darasuram, Tribhuvanam, and Tiruvannamalai. The Indian sphinx is also found in Vishnu temples. As many as three are found in the Varadaraja Perumal temple in Tribhuvanai, near Pondicherry. And I understand there are many more waiting to be found.
Not only are these sphinxes important in art. They also play a role in all Shaiva temple ritual. Among the lamps offered during the ceremony of the 16 upacaras, one is the purushamriga lamp. While presenting the lamp the priest chants a verse from the Krishna Yajurveda. And a few temples even have a purushamriga as the vahana or vehicle of the deity in the processions of the temple festival. So far I have found purushamriga vahanas in the Ekambaranatha temple in Kanchipuram, in Tiruvannamalai, in Tirumangalakudi, and Ulsoor in Bangalore.
But the presence of sphinxes in Indian temples is not limited to Tamil Nadu only. My research has discovered this mythological being is represented in the art of other parts of India as well. The earliest examples can be found among Buddhist and Jain art from the Kausambi. But also from Jain caves in Orissa. In medieval Orissan art we find beings called nara-virala. Beautiful and ferocious they too are half lion, half human. They appear among the friezes of the Surya temple in Konarak and in many other places as well. Other examples have been found in Hampi, Srisailam, Northern Karnataka, on the brick temples of Bengal. And they are called nara-simha in the art of Sri Lanka.
This discovery of the role and significance of the sphinx in Indian art and civilization contributes to the wealth and beauty of the Indian heritage. And it will bring a new understanding of the place