Gods with many arms

[Devibhakta]

I'm wondering about deities with 4, 6, 7, 8 .... up to 1000 arms. I know that at one level this is symbolic, each arm usually holding things like a noose, a conch, etc., or showing mudras, or in the case of 1000-armed Avlokiteshvara (only Buddhist?), hinting at infinite capacity to regard the complaints of the world. Do they have or manifest their arms in other senses or realities? What was the earliest that multi-armed images were made? Or --- does anyone have anything at all to offer? Let me add that I believe the deities to be real, with presence, personality, and powers. For me, they are not abstract metaphors for deep philosophical principles.

[Devibhakta]

Deep philosophical principles are abstract images, or metaphors, of deities.:)

[Devibhakta]

Trying to answer this myself; found pictures of Lord Siva with multiple arms in the temple at Kailash, around 8th century CE. Does anyone know of any earlier sculpture or commentary?

[ramkish42]

The basic advantage I see with multiple arms is it reminds you that what you see is a diety and not human irrespective of the fact the image is furnished in human form.

It reminds me that God is not in human form as believed by some other religions

[Devibhakta]

Good point, 42.

This is not a question that is going to make or break anyone's faith. I just wonder if the concept comes from the beginning, x thousand years ago, or if it developed along the way. The very oldest Harappan artifacts seem only to depict 2-armed beings, and then there are some not so old with extra arms, but I can't find dates.

This is starting to sound like I am obsessed with arms !! but not really. That's why I put this in the Canteen. I wouldn't literally believe this unless I saw someone walking down the street with 4 arms, maybe an elephant's head, ...............

[ramkish42]

Having understood it, I should say, the concept is as old as Veda itself. God clearly depicted in Veda (Purusha Sukta) with many arms, multiple heads etc.

Should I say, if not 4000 BC should be 2000 BC old.

Gone are those days where every one was a master of spirituality of his own, with every day we are degrading. Hence, I do not think we will ever meet a person with four arms walking in the neighbourhood. I have seen a child with third arm, grown on the back, but was amputated by doctors after some time

[Singhi Kaya]

This is starting to sound like I am obsessed with arms !! but not really. That's why I put this in the Canteen. I wouldn't literally believe this unless I saw someone walking down the street with 4 arms, maybe an elephant's head, ...............

Many persons (ordinary to saints) claim to have seen Gods in vision...it is unlikely that you will ever meet Ganesh on the streets.:)

[Ram]

It reminds me that God is not in human form as believed by some other religions

But God can show himself only in human or other form to devotees, who are not yet eligible for the divine vision. What prevents that?

[Devibhakta]

This has been interesting, and thanks for all input. Hindu Press International had an archaeological article today, and a link to what I guess was the entire known set of Harappan hieroglyphs. And interestingly, some of the figures do look like stick men with four arms.

Concerning the previous post, can this refer to manifestations such as avatars or incarnations of Devi, for example?

[Devibhakta]

Below are the links, if interested:

Mr. Mahadevan commented that the latest discovery was very strong evidence that the Neolithic people of Tamil Nadu and the Indus Valley people "shared the same language, which can only be Dravidian and not Indo-Aryan." He added that before this discovery, the southernmost occurrence of the Indus script was at Daimabad, Maharashtra on the Pravara River in the Godavari Valley.

See also: here (http://kalyan96.googlepages.com/Sembiyankandiyurcelttool.pdf), here (http://kalyan96.googlepages.com/Sarasvatihieroglyphssembiyankandiyur.pdf) and here (http://kalyan96.googlepages.com/Hieroglyphs.pdf).

[anewa]

:)perhapes all of the arms are reaching out to all, connecting all to everthing.

[Devibhakta]

:)perhapes all of the arms are reaching out to all, connecting all to everthing.

Yesss! Also, the attributes show just how they will help.