In the studies on Indian art and iconography the personification of weapons and other cognizances held by deities has remained an inadequately explored field. This brief monograph attempts to trace the beginnings of the motif of Ayudhapurusas, their regional and chronological ramifications and the evolution of cults in honour of some of them. This has been done in the light of specimens chosen from most of the Indian schools of art, particularly from those regions where the incidence of the Ayudhapurusas is frequently met with. Literary and epigraphical references have been used to correlate the material provided by sculpture. An attempt has also been made to discuss the iconographic data available in texts. This in short, is a brief analysis of one of the less know areas in Hindu iconography.
