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Related to my last question: Are there any races/species of creature in any pantheon with four arms (and two legs and one head)?

Andrew Johnson
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rek
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  • What is the difference with your previous question actually? – plannapus Jan 23 '18 at 07:51
  • @plannapus The widening of the acceptable source pantheon. For example, Norse mythology has a serpent around the equator; Greco-Roman mythology does not. So if there was one example in the Greco-Roman pantheon, there might be more examples in other belief systems. – Lauren-Clear-Monica-Ipsum Jan 23 '18 at 11:01
  • @LaurenIpsum ah indeed, didn't understood the first one excluded other pantheons, my bad. – plannapus Jan 23 '18 at 13:08
  • It's been a while since I read the Chinese Classic of Mountains and Seas, so I can't remember if this configuration appears specifically, but I wouldn't be surprised, since the book is mytho/combinatorial. – DukeZhou Jan 25 '18 at 19:51
  • http://pbfcomics.com/comics/spelling/ shows a four-handed elephant god, but it might be from a modern fictional mythology that is off-topic per https://mythology.meta.stackexchange.com/a/143/197 . – b_jonas Jan 25 '18 at 23:55

1 Answers1

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Such creatures are easily spotted in Indian depictions from various times. Ganesha, Lakshmi and Vishnu are probably the most popular, and there is a book on the topic which might be useful: Doris Srinivasan Many Heads, Arms and eyes: Origin, Meaning and Forms of Multiplicity in Indian Art (Brill, 1997).

sand1
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    You know the drill by now: Some quotes or paraphrases from your source would improve this answer. – Spencer Jan 25 '18 at 00:01
  • It is my understanding the Indian/Vedic gods are usually portrayed or described with multiple arms, but the number often changes from one depiction to another (or from avatar to avatar). And, technically, I excluded deities in the question by specifying races and creatures. – rek Feb 01 '18 at 19:42
  • In a pantheon, the word suggests it, the creatures are deities. – sand1 Feb 01 '18 at 21:20