The Goddess Mahisuramardin in Early Indian Art Author(s): R. C. Agrawala Source: Artibus Asiae, Vol. 21, No.

2 (1958), pp. 123-130 Published by: Artibus Asiae Publishers Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3248870 Accessed: 05/04/2010 14:21
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R. C. AGRAWALA, M.A.

THE GODDESS MAHISASURAMARDINI IN EARLY INDIAN ART

Kusana Statuettes:
The Kusana group of Mahisamardini statuettes occupies an important place in the realm of

ancient Indian iconography. A number of interesting plaques have now been preservedin the ArchaeologicalMuseum at Mathuraand may be describedin brief in this paper.It is interesting to note the absence of the lion mount of the goddess in these reliefs of the Kusanaperiod. A. Six Armed Variety:1 Of these, no. 875 of the Museumcollection was describedby J. Ph. Vogel.2 More recently, Mrs. Odette Viennot illustrated the statuette in a learned article, in which she did not present, however, a critical survey of the Kusana icons of the goddess.3 In sthdnaka this particularrelief the goddess appearsin the samapdda pose and in a relaxedmood utter of irresistible the The absence the animal with lower hands. buffalo down dynamism presses on her part in subduing the demon has been well illustratedin this group of icons pertainingto the Kusanaperiod. The goddess holds some obscureobjectin the two upraisedhands.Dr. Vogel identified it as a serpent, whereas Dr. V. S. Agrawalainterpretedit to be a 'bowel'. To me it such as was also held by the multi-armedgoddess in an identical appearsto be an iguana (godha) mannerin the Gupta relief carvedon the exteriorof Chandra GuptaII CaveNo. 6 at Udayagiri, near Bhilsa.4Mrs. Viennot identifiedthis object as a 'drum'and furthernoted the hands of the goddess as ten,5 whereas twelve arms of Mahisamardiniare quite clear in the panel from Udayagiri. of the goddess is clearin The depiction of the spearand the trident as weapons (praharanas)
the Kusana statuette no. 889 of the Mathura Museum.6 Another contemporary plaque, no. 878, illustrated by D. B. Diskalkar,7 probably represents an iguana in the upper hands of the sixarmed goddess as also noticed above. The goddess here holds a sword in the right lowest hand and subdues the demon with the left. The latter of course appears in the human form - a feature which requires careful scrutiny and consideration by the scholars of Indian iconography.

The absence of the buffalo animal in this plaque (no. 878) is to be noted with great interest.
The dress and the ornaments of the female deity have of course been depicted under the mighty influence of Kusana style.
l Nos. 875, 889, 993, 2037, 2784 ...
2

etc., of the Mathura Museum. Agrawala, V. S., Journal of the U. P. Historical So-

3
4

ciety,Old Series(henceforward abbreviatedJUPHS), Lucknow, Vol. XXII, 949, p. I 58. Museumat Mathura,p. 97. of the Archaeological Vogel, J. Ph., Catalogue Viennot, O., Artibus Asiae, Vol. XIX (3-4), 1956, pp. 368-73 and pl. on p. 369. Second Edition, Calcutta, I956 (henceforward abbreviated DHI), Banerjea,J. N., Development of Hindu Iconography,
pp. I72 and 498, Pl. xli, fig. 4.

Patil, D. R., The Monuments Hill, Gwalior, 1948, p. 35, P1.IX. of the Udayagiri 5 Viennot, op. cit., p. 372. 6 JUPHS, XXII, p. I 58. 7 Diskalkar, D. B.,JUPHS, V(i), Jannuary, 1932, p. 55, pi. 23, fig. 2.
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that exhibit no. 8622 of the Indian Museum at Calcuttais an Mrs. Viennot has remarked8 Kusana Here too the goddess is rerepresentationof six-armedMahisamardini. unpublished ported to have held a serpentlike object, probablyan iguana, in her upper hands. B. Four-Armed Variety:Some yearsago, Dr. V. S. Agrawalapublishedan interestingterracotta plaque presentingthe four-armedgoddess as subduing the docile demon.9 The demon is shown in animalform and is lifted by the goddess in a relaxedmanner.The face of the female held in her two upper hands. deity is completely mutilated as are also the weapons (ayudhas) Dr. Agrawalahas assignedthe plaqueto the Guptaperiod, but the crudeart, the effortlesspose, and the ornamentsof Mahisamardini suggest an earlydate for it, i. e., about the second century A. D. It is worth noting that Gupta artists handled this particulartheme with great skill and would not have fashioned such an unattractiveand crude terracottaspecimen. It is therefore quite reasonableto considerit as an antiquityof the Kusanaperiod. Statuetteno. 881 of the MathuraMuseumalso comes under this variety. The goddess puts on the typical Kusanagirdle and the dhotias her theer garment.0 Still more interesting is a goddess subdues the panel, no. 66, reproducedby D. B. Diskalkar,IIin which the caturbhuja a in the She holds sword an hand and a tridentin the identical manner. animal in right upper upper left. Her facial expressionis absolutelyunimpressiveas are also the thick girdle, the ear
ornaments, the anklets, etc. Diskalkar, 2 referring to exhibit no. ioio of the Mathura Museum, has stated quite specifi-

cally that it belongs to the Kusana period but that the eight-armedgoddess therein cannot be It is thereforehardlypossible to include identifiedbecausethe particular plaqueis fragmentary. icons from the Mathuraregion. A few crude this piece in the Kusanagroup of Mahisamardini miniaturestone plaques of the goddess have also been preservedin the museums at Bharatpur
and Amber (near Jaipur). The preceding survey of some Kusana statuettes illustrates that the cult of Mahisamardini was quite popular in the region of Mathura in the early centuries of the Christian era. It is there-

fore hardly plausible to agree with Dr. J. N. Banerjea'sremark that "extant Mahisamardini images can hardlybe datedbefore the Guptaperiod and some miniaturestone figuresunearthed at Bhita are a few of the earliest summaryrepresentationsof this aspect of the goddess)."I3 the antiquityof the cult of As a matterof fact, in the light of some earlyfinds from Rajasthan, Mahisamardini may even be pushed back to the pre-Kusanaperiod. Terracotta Plaques from Nagar: has also yielded a number of terraThe ancient site of NagarI4(JaipurUnit of Rajasthan) B. C. or the first centuryA. D. They have been of the first the of middle cotta plaques century exhibited in the Museum at Amber, distant about six miles from Jaipur. Of these, one inter8

Viennot, op. cit., pp. 368,

37I-72.

9 JUPHS, Io JUPHS,

IX, (2), July, 1936, pl. XVII, p. 35, fig. 53. XXII, p. 158. "I Diskalkar, op. cit., p. 55, pl. 21, fig. 3. 12 Ibid., p. 55. 13 Banerjea,J. N., ClassicalAge, Bombay, 1954, p. 442.
14

Also known as Karkotanagarand Malavanagar.It was an important seat of the Malava republic. An interesting IndraIndrani terracottaplaque from this very site and pertaining to the first century B. C. has already been illustrated by me
in the Journal of Gujarat Research Society, Bombay, XIX (4), I957, pp. 45-46, fig. on p. 45.

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Fig. I Mahisasurmardini. Terracotta. From Excavations at Nagar Amber Museum

Fig. 2 Fragment of Mahisasurmardini. Terracotta. From Nagar Amber Museum

esting piece, made of white clay, is broken into three partswhich, when joined together, show a four-armedMahisamardini presented in pre-Kusanastyle (fig. i). The goddess subdues the animal with her lower hands as has also been seen in some of the aforementionedKusana reliefs from the MathuraMuseum. She holds a typical rectangularshield in the upper left hand and a tridentin the upper right hand. I wonder how Mrs. Viennot could find only two hands of the goddess in this particularNagar plaque's which has alreadybeen illustratedby me in the Lalit Kald. 16 The importanceof the terracotta relief is furtherenhancedby the presenceof a lion, seated below the raisedleft foot of the goddess. The lion does not help the deviin any way and sits as a docile animalin an unassumingmood. The facial features,dress and ornamentsof the goddess suggest a fairly early date (first century B. C. - first century A. D.) for this Nagar plaque. It is hardlypossible to agree with Mrs. Viennot, who suggested a later date (i. e., late Kusanaor early Gupta) for it. 7 The existing terracottaplaquefrom Rajasthan also furnishesan idea of the rectangularshape of the 'shield' in the contemporaryart. Still more interesting is an unpublishedfragmentarypiece from Nagar itself, made of the same white clay.It also has been preservedin the Amber Museumand now measuresabout 2 '/2 inches in height. In this plaque, the upper part of the goddess, including her face, is now completely mutilated,as is also the raisedup left foot (fig. 2). Here too the girdle, the nether garments and the ornamentsof the goddess have been shown probablyunder the influence of the art of the first centuryB. C. or mid-firstcenturyA. D. as may also be seen on some of the contemporaryfiguresfrom Karle and other places. Still more, the goddess in tlhisfragmentaryspecimen from Nagar appearsin a dynamicpose and shows a stubbornresistanceto her opponent, the buffalodemon. She has grasped the left horn of the animal in her right hand with so much force that the buffalo has come under her firm grip. Nay, it appearsbetween the legs of the was probablyplaced on the head of mighty goddess. The raised up left leg of Mahisamardini the lion. Since the lower portion of the plaqueis broken, it is of course not possible to hazarda definite view in this connection. andPanels: GuptaStatues It is now evident enough that the Kusana artists did not succeed in presenting graphic of Mahisamardini in the plastic art of their times. It was in a subsequentperiod representations that the theme was probablyhandled by the Gupta artists who were able to produce some of the finest statues and panels of superb workmanship.Some of them may be describedin brief as follows: I. Sir John Marshallexcavateda few interesting miniaturestone reliefs at Bhita depicting a two-armed Mahisamardiniengaged in combat with the buffalo-demon.I8The lion mount is absent in the Bhita statuettes. 2. The Gupta temple at Bhumrapresents an elegant figure of a four-armedgoddess holding the tail of the buffaloin her lower left hand and piercing the animalwith a trident held in the lower right hand. The head of the animalhas been forcefully trampledunder the right foot of the devi.The relief is full of animationand such a lovely representation of the goddess is not to
Is Viennot, op. cit., p. 372. 16 Lalit Kala, Lalit Kala
I7

Academy of India, nos. I-2, pp. 72-74, pl. XVIII, fig. i. Viennot, op. cit., p. 372. 18 Archaeological Survey of India, Annual Report, 1911-1z, p. 86, pl. XXXI, figs. I3-14. I27

be found elsewherein the realm of Gupta art. A circularshield in the upper left hand of the goddess and a sword in the upper right befit the representationof the goddess in a vigorous mood. Her typical ornaments and wig-like headgear enhance the beauty of the relief still
further.I9

3. An eleven-foot high stone statue from Besnagaris also an imposing product of this period.zoIt has been describedand illustratedby HariharNath Dvivedi.2I The goddess stands in the samapdda on the head of a buffalo (mahisa) sthanaka pose. The position of the female deity and the animal head is ratherpeculiarand reminds us of a similarbut later rock-cut relief at The animalhead in the Besnagarstatuehas been carved between two seated Mahaballipuram.22 lions who are facing in opposite directions. The buffalodemon has alreadybeen subdued: the pose. The lions do not help smiling goddess simply stands on the animalhead in the samapdda to in and have been carved to enrich the composition of the the devi any way appear simply relief. The goddess, in this statue, had six hands, as was rightly suggested by Dr. D. R. Patil.23 Patil's date for this statue is early (i. e. Kusana)whereasit appearsto have been a product of the fifth centuryA. D. The dress and the ornamentsof the goddess bear close resemblanceto details found in contemporaryreliefs from Deogarh, Mandasor,and other Gupta sites of the country. In the Besnagarstatue, the goddess keeps her lowest left hand on the rope-like girdle pose, and one of the reappearingover the dhoti,her front right hand remainsin the abhaya maining two right hands probably supported a spear or a trident. Her smiling face and topknot hair(jatd), close breasts,etc., furtherenhancethe eleganceof the statue.The colossal image from Besnagar(ancientVidisa)is of greaticonographicinterest,and is the only extantspecimen of its kind in early Indian art. 4. A late Gupta statuette (no. 842) of the MathuraMuseum presents the devi holding a sword, a dagger and a noose, and curbing the buffalo demon. The lion and the personified Exhibitno. D. 12 of the samemuseumwas regarded demon are conspicuousby their absence.24 a of but Dr. V. S. Agrawalahas rightly assigned it by D. B. Diskalkaras product Gupta art,25
to the early mediaeval period.26

on the exterior of Cave no. 6 5. A passing referenceto the Gupta relief of Mahisamardini at Udayagiri has alreadybeen made above. The goddess therein has been shown as twelvearmed- a featurewhich is very importantfrom an iconographicpoint of view. Her two upper a (i. e., god) and there appearsa sword in one of the right hands i hands perhapshold an iguan is being trampledwith great force and the tail of the animalin the left. The head of the mahisa under the right foot of the goddess. Furtherdetailsof the figure cannot be made out becauseof has spoken very highly of this particularGupta panel.27 damageto the panel. Dr. J. N. Banerjea
19 Memoirs of the Archaeological Survey ofIndia, No. G6,1924, pi. XIV, fig. B. Cf. Kramrisch, S., Indian Sculpture, I933, and Khare, G. H., Murti Vijnana,Marathi, Poona, I939, fig. 72 also illustrating this imposing panel. pi. XXII, fig. 64, 20 Alexander Cunninghamcalled it the image of a Telin,cf. CASR, X, pp. 39-40. 21 Dvivedi, H. N., GwaliorRajya Men Murtikala, Hindi, Gwalior, ist edition, p. 36, fig. 47. 22 Madras, 1(2), pi. Ioi facing p. 343. Cf. Banerjea, J. N., Classical Illustrated, Rao, T. G., Elementsof HinduIconography, Age, p. 443. 23 Patil, D. R., Proceedings Session heldat Delhi, 1948, PP. 96-100. of theIndianHistoryCongress, 24 JUPHS XXII, p. 158.
25

26
27

Diskalkar, D. B., op. cit., p. 55. JUPHS, XXII, p. 159.

DHI, p. 498. The specimen preparedfrom a mould and procured at Peshawar is equally an interesting relic. It has an important bearing on the early iconography of the goddess. See DHI, pi. XLII, fig. I, p. 500o. I28

Mention may also be made of another well preserved rock-cut representationof multion the exterior of Cave no. 17 at Udayagiriitself.28Here too she proarmed Mahisamardini bably supports an iguana in the raisedupper hands; a bow, a shield, and a cup, etc., in the left hands; and an arrow, trident,etc., in the right hands. The mouth of the buffalohas been raised up while its tail is being stretchedby one of the right handsof the goddess. She has been further shown piercing the animalwith a trident-headed spearheld in one of her right hands. 6. During my exploratorytours in Mewar, I was also able to discover a late Gupta fragspecimen, mentaryimage of this variety at Jagat,about 27 miles from Udaipur.In this particular carved out of greenish-blueschist (locally known as Parevd)29, the absence of the lion and the demon in human form is to be noted with great interest. A few early mediaeval miniature plaques of the same stone from Kejadaand Kalyanapur,now preservedby me in the Udaipur Museum, also present the goddess in the same manner.The lion mount is absent in these flat plaquesfrom Ahichhatra(U. P.).30 pieces also. They maywell be comparedwith similarterracotta a slight change during underwent of Art: The iconography Mahisamardini Early Mediaeval the sixth and seventh centuriesA. D. In some icons of this period we notice the depiction of the lion mount in the company of the devialthough no man comes out of the decapitatedtrunk of the buffalo demon. Of these figures, one fragmentaryspecimenfrom Elephantahas now been preservedin the Prince of Wales Museum of WesternIndia at Bombay.3I In it, the lion appears of the to have chasedthe buffalofrom the back.A relief from Aihole is an elegant representation goddess carryinga bell and a conch in the left hands.32The anatomicaldetails, the vigorous pose, dress and ornaments,etc., have been executed quite vividly. The buffalodemon is being pierced with a long spear, while the lion mount of the goddess stands near her right leg as a silent onlooker. In a Badami relief of the seventh century A. D., however, the lion mount is absent; the four-armedgoddess tramplesthe buffalo demon under her right foot and holds its tail firmlyin the lower left hand. The panel from Badamiis fairlywell preservedand presentsa charmingstudy of the aggressiveform of the deviin the earlymediaevalart of the country.33 and Ellora3sthe goddess has been shown In some of the panels from Mamallapuram34 the and attacking buffalo-faceddemon - a full scale man of her riding the lion (i. e. simhavdhini) relief cited above she bears eight stature- with great force and vigour. In the Mamallapuram arms and rides the vahana(i. e. lion) astride; the pose of the goddess and the demon differ slightly from the Ellora relief. In such reliefs, both the goddess and her mount are full of dynamism. The demon in his hybrid form was vanquishedby the goddess and had to retreat. Figures of divine onlookers have also been carved quite successfully.It is worth noting that
28
29

Patil, D. R., Monuments Hill, op. cit., pl. XIV, pp. 40-4I. of the Udayagiri A few early statues carved out of this stone have alreadybeen published by me in theJournal Bombay, ofIndianMuseums, XII, 1956, pp. 30-33 and pls. V-VIII. More than two dozen other reliefs of this group are under publication in the Lalit Kala, nos. 5-6. These post Gupta and early mediaeval finds from Mewar have an important bearing on the contemporary iconography of Western India including Southwestern Rajasthan. 30 Illustrated by Dr. V. S. Agrawala in AncientIndia, Bulletin of the Archaeological Surveyof India, New Delhi, Vol. IV, pp. I33-I35 and pl. XLVII, B. 3' Chandra,P., A Guideto Elephanta,Bhulabhai Memorial Institute, Bombay, 1957, pl. XXVII.
32 DHI,
33 34

pl. XLII, fig. 3.

Memoirsof the Archaeological Survey of India,No. 25, pl. II, fig. B; TheClassicalAge, op. cit., pi. XXIX, fig. 71. Rao, op. cit., I (2), pi. I05; Kramrisch, S., TheArt of India,London, I954, pl. 86; Munshi, K. M., SagaofIndianSculpture,
Bombay, 1957, pl. 84. Rao, op. cit., I (2), pl. I04; Munshi, op. cit., pl. 85; DHI, pi. XLI, fig. 2.

35

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we have not yet been able to discover such panelsin NorthernIndia wherein the demon appears as a buffalo-faced person.36 the We have alreadynoted above that in another early mediaevalrelief at Mamallapuram goddess Mahisamardinistands erect on the severed head of the buffalo demon and holds which probablyindicate various weapons including the wheel (cakra)and the conch (saiknha) features.37 her Vaisnava chiselled after the seventh century A. D., unmisThe later sculptures of Mahisamardini, takably show the chopped-off head of the buffalo animal reclining below, with one or two trunk of the animal.Sometimesthe lion has been shown persons emergingfrom the decapitated This form of the goddess was a favourite theme of the as helping the goddess in the combat.38 as well. The ArchaeologicalMuseumat Amber preservesa lovely image sculptorsin Rajasthan of this type - a four-armedgoddess holding a bell and a sword in the upper hands and a trident in the lower right - from Abaneri, a finishedproduct of the eighth centuryA. D.39 Two contemporarycolossal statues of this type have also been exhibitedin the museum at Jhalawar.40 A few mediaevalstatuesof the Amber and MathuraMuseumsdo not depict the buffalo-demon head as completely cut off from the body of the animal;only the upper portion of the neck has been shown as severed with the result that several demons appearcoming out of the body of the mahisa demon. was so popularin mediaevalRajasthanthat even the followers The cult of Mahisamardini of the Jaina pantheon began to worship the goddess with great devotion but under the name Saccikdor SaciyaMdtd. The SardarMuseum at Jodhpur preserves a white marble image of the pedestalof which bearsan interestinginscriptionof the Vikramayear 1234. Mahisamardini, I have discussedearlier in this statueis Saccikd. It specificallystatesthat the goddess represented It the problem relating to the iconographyof this goddess.4I is worth noting, in this connection, that the inscription on the seventh-eighthcenturybrass image of four-armedMahisamarThe image appears dini from Chamba(PafijabHill State) describesthe goddess as Laksaznd.43 to have been cast under the influence of early art traditions.The devilifts the hind part of the buffalodemon by holding its tail, and piercesits neck with a trident. The head of the animalis hold a sword and a bell, and trampledunder her left foot. The back hands of Mahisamardini III. 37.43 her standingpose correspondsto the literarytext as propoundedin the Devi Mahatmya in the This is a brief accountof some interestingicons and panels of goddess Mahisamardini early plastic art of India. The discovery of more objects may yet enable us to have an idea of in Pre-Kusanaart. Becauseof the scarcityof materialpertainingto the first her representation and second centuriesB. C. and earlier,the antiquityof the cult of this goddess still remainsto be determined.
36 The buffalo headed demon occurs in the eighth century in Bhuvaneshvar, Orissa (Vaital Deul; Zimmer, H., The Art of Indian Asia, pi. 326) and in other, similar, images from Bhuvaneshvar, also of the eighth century. (Ed. note.) 37 Banerjea, The Classical Age, op. cit., p. 443; Rao, op. cit., I (2), pl. IoI facing p. 443. 38 DHI, pl. XLII, fig. 2, from Mayurabhafja. 39 Agrawala, R. C., Lalitkald, nos. I-2, p. 131, pl. 53, fig. 3. Agrawala, R. C., Journal of Indian Museums, Bombay, XI, 1955, pl. VII, fig. i; museum exhibits nos. 70 and 9I. 4' Artibus Asiae, Vol. XVII, nos. 3-4, 1954, pp. 232-4 and pl. on p. 233;Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bombay, XXIX,
40

no. 2, 1954, pp. 63-66 and pl. on p. 66.

cf. Agrawala, R. C.,JASB, Megha Nath Saha Comm. Volume, Calcutta. p. 498.
42 Vogel, J. Ph., Antiquities of Chamba State, p. 138, pl. VII, fig. B; DHI, 43 DHI, p. 498.

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