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Karttikeya and Kumara in India or Kumara-ten in Japan also known as kenda (i.e. Skanda) or Ida-ten. He is the son of Daijizai-ten i.e. Mahesvara. Usually he rides on a peacock. He has one or six faces and has two or more arms. In the Brahmanical tradition there is a close mytholoBut this cult gical association between this god and Ganapati. entered into the orthodox Hindu Pantheon at a much earlier date 1, Butsu-zo-zu-ten, p. 133.

144 than Ganapati. His association with the hibrid form of animalheaded Ganas or Parisadas was quite known to the authors of the Brahmanical texts. His association with war was also fairly old, The Brhtsamhita (Chapter IV) describes this god's association with peacock. According to the text, he holds a kind of spear which is his Sakti and he has quite childlike appearance. Generally the image is depicted as two-armed. The Visnudharmottara in Chapter 71, verses 1-18, discusses the appearance and features of the god. In the Japanese text Kongo-kai-sichi-shu, the god is described as blue in colour. He holds a kind of bell in his right hand and his left hand in fist is held against the waist. The Soshetsu-Fudo-ki explains that the god is placed beside Sarasvati in the Genzu Mandara and he is yellow in colour with peacock as his vahana. Yet in another text, Daichido-ron, the god is depicted as four-armed riding a peacock and holding a hen and red-flag. The above descriptions of Indian and Japanese texts prove that there are some common features in the representations of the god in India and Japan, while some dissimilarities are also discernible. In the Daichio-ron, Ida-ten or Kumara-ten holds a hen. The Visnudharmottara too describes that there is a cock in one of the hands of the god. But the 1. Visnudharmottara Pt. III.

- 145 flag and the bell and the vehicle peacock are common in both the Indian and Japanese texts. The Konko-myo-kyo describes Kumara-ten as the 'DevilGod'. Karttikeya in variously represented in Indian sculptures. A tenth century figure of Karttikeya hailed from Puri has depicted the god as two-armed and he is standing gracefully in a slightly bent pose. His left hand is placed on a cock which is partly broken. The cock is held upwards by the female attendant placed on the left side of Karttikeya. His right hand is broken. It possibly held a spear. The peocock with its head turned back is placed on the right. The god wears various ornamen ts. The specimens of Ida-ten or Kumara-ten images are very rare in Japan. One of the important examples of Ida-ten' s image is from the Sen-nyu-ji temple in Kyoto. Ida-ten is a popular deity and widely known in Japan for his quality of being a very swift runner. A fast runner is compared with Ida-ten and such runner is sometime called Ida-ten. Kumara-Karttikeya is also described in the Chinese Buddhist Tripitaka which is preserved in Japan. One of the 路 texts entitled Ten-bu-gyo-zo (Figures of gods) preserved in the Daigo-ji temple of Kyoto, describes the deity as six-headed and two-armed. All of the six heads are visible from the front. He is clad in princoly ornaments and is riding on a bird, whose wings are outspreaded. This bird can be identified as a peacock. But the bird is depicted in the form of a duck. He is seated in cross-legged posture. He also slightly stretches

146 his right hand. The palm of the left hand is held near his There are many other examples of the six-headed bossom. Kumara. Various other texts such as the Komyo-in (preserved at Koyasan), Zuzo hokkekyo-bu (Figures of the Pundarika Sutra rites) and Kannon oke-shin zo (Figures of the incarnations of Avalokitesvara) depict the deity as single-headed. The deity has four-arms. He is seated cross-legged on his vehicle peacock which is represented in a manner that suggests that the bird is speeding away. The first right hand of the deity holds a stick with an elongated receptacle on which there is a banner. Another right hand holds a bell-shaped object. One of the left hands is depicted as having a trident-like object. A vaira is fitted on this trident. The other left hand is placed on his lap. He wears various types of ornaments and head-gears. The text Shishu goma-honzon-narabini-kenzoku-zuzo also provides the description of the deity.