180 THE AKAB AL-BIRUNI ON HINDU RELIGION weapon called vajra. It has a handle similar to the sakti, but on each side it has two swords which join at the handle. On his front place a third eye, and make him ride on a white elephant with four tusks. Like- wise, make on the front of the idol of Mahadeva a third eye right above, on his head a crescent, in his hand a sword and a weapon called sula, similar to the club but with three branches; and let his left hand hold his wife Gauri, the daughter of Him- avant (the Himalayas), whom he presses to his bosom from the side. " To the idol Jina (Buddha) give a face and limbs as beautiful as possible; make the lines in the palms THB GOD SKANDA, ALSO Q f ^jg hands and feet like & lotUS J CALLED KARTIKEYA. represent him seated on a lotus; give him gray hair; and portray him with a placid expression, as if he were the father of creation. If you make Arhant, the figure of another aspect of Bud- dha, represent him as a naked youth with a fine face and with beautiful hands reaching down to his knees, and with the figure of Sri, his wife : under his left breast. The idol of Revanta, the son of the sun, rides on a horse like a huntsman. The idol of Yama, the angel of death, rides on a buffalo and holds a club in his hand. The idol of Kubera, the treasurer, wears a crown, has a big stomach and wide hips, and rides on a man. The idol of the Sun has a red face like the pith of the red lotus, beams like a diamond, protruding
