SUDARSANA CAKRA

HISTORIANS of Indian art are well-aware of the rich symbolism of cakra, one of the most persistent yet dynamic images explored by various Indian religions and temporal powers. It is interesting to note the development of the meaning of the cakra that occurred in South Indian Vaisnavism: specifically the function of Sudarsana-cakra, identified as Vishnu himself. Hence the aim of this paper is to document this development. In turn this case history provides occasion for some theoretical reflection on a characteristic process of symbolic transformation at the intersection of Indian art and religion.

The worship of God in many forms gave freedom to individuals to choose the iconography for the artistic representation of gods and goddesses. The highly developed worship in the abstract of Siva or Vishnu is in the form of Linga or Salagrama, without any details of limbs of gods but worship of icons such as the beautiful Nataraja form or the Kaliyamardana Krishna is more universal. The temple oriented society gave a lot of opportunity for the making of sculptures and thereby to the artisans to exhibit their brilliance through their creations in wood, metal and stone. This resulted in producing a vast amount of literature on Silpa in Indian tradition.

Ayudhas of Gods
In the vedic period, gods like Yama, Varuna and Indra were worshipped. It has been stated in the Rig Veda that these gods possessed weapons, such as the "Pasa" or Chord of Yama, the noose of Varuna and the thunderbolt of Indra.