Kirtimukha
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thumb|right|Kirtimukha at Kasivisvesvara Temple at Lakkundi, [[Gadag district, Karnataka, India]] Kirtimukha (Sanskrit: कीर्तिमुख ,', also ', a bahuvrihi compound translating to "glorious face") is the name of a swallowing fierce face with huge fangs, and gaping mouth, very common in the iconography of Hindu temple architecture in South Asia and Southeast Asia, and often also found in Buddhist architecture.
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- Instance of
- mythical creature
- Image
- Indonesia, periodo sighasari, mascherone kirtimukha (volto della gloria), xiii secolo.jpg
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- Kirtimukha
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Encyclopedic overview
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- Origin and characteristics
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- See also
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- External links
thumb|right|Kirtimukha at Kasivisvesvara Temple at Lakkundi, [[Gadag district, Karnataka, India]] Kirtimukha (Sanskrit: कीर्तिमुख ,', also ', a bahuvrihi compound translating to "glorious face") is the name of a swallowing fierce face with huge fangs, and gaping mouth, very common in the iconography of Hindu temple architecture in South Asia and Southeast Asia, and often also found in Buddhist architecture.
Unlike other Hindu legendary creatures, for example the sea-dwelling makara, the kirtimukha is essentially an ornamental motif in art, which has its origin in a legend from the Skanda Purana and the Shiva Purana.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Kirtimukha” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.