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Studies in Indian Art c11.s5: 14. Vasudhārā

Studies in Indian Art c11.s5

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14. Vasudhārā

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According to Mahāyāna iconography Vasudhārā is a consort of Jambhala. She is believed to be an emanation of Ratnasambhava, and sometimes of Akṣobhya, but in sculpture she is more ancient than either of her spiritual fathers, the two Dhyānī Buddhas named above. According to a note in the *Sādhanamālā*, p. 89, only three sādhanas are devoted to her worship, and in one of these only she is said to bear the image of Akṣobhya. In two others, she is assigned to the Dhyānī Buddha Ratnasambhava, which word means 'born of jewels'. Vasudhārā, literally 'custodian of *Vasus* or riches', found her appropriate male counterpart in Jambhala, the god of wealth, and both were made dependent for origination on Ratnasambhava, the latter event taking place at a much later date, since the incorporation of this Dhyānī Buddha into the pantheon of the divine Buddhas was in itself a subsequent accomplishment.

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The Dhyāna lays down that the goddess exhibits the *varada mudrā* in the right hand and carries ears of corn in the left:

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*Dakṣiṇa-kareṇa varadāṃ vāmakareṇa dhānya-mañjarīdharām.*
[*Sādhanamālā*, p. 90]

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According to another Dhyāna [*ibid*, p. 117]¹ she carries on her left hand the ears of corn with vessel showering gems:

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¹ Also Foucher, *L'iconographie Bouddhique de l'Inde*, 1905, p.85.

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*Dhānya-mañjarī-nānāratnavarṣa-ghaṭa-vāma-hastām.* In the images from Sarnath, [B(f) 19—22] which belong to the late medieval period, we find the three distinguishing features as given in the Dhyāna; which shows that the sculptors followed a genuine tradition. The right hand of the goddess is shown in the gift-bestowing attitude, and from the stalk beneath the left hand it is suggested that this hand held an ear of corn (*dhānyamañjarī*). The other emblem, the vase of treasure (*ratnaghaṭa*) which in reality is the most important of her attributes, is represented by a pair of vases one under each foot (*Catalogue of the Sarnath Museum*, B (f) 19, p. 147, Plate XV, b). In sculpture No. B (f) 20 the right foot of the deity 'is placed on an inverted vase which rests on a lotus flower. This vase is apparently a treasure vase, the attribute of Vasundharā. The line of seven similar vases lying upside down on the top of the vase was added manifestly by the sculptor to emphasise the idea of Vasundharā's control over the wealth of the world'. [Sahni, ibid, p. 147]. The eight vases most probably correspond to the Aṣṭa-Vasus, the eight Vasu deities who are counted as the *gaṇa-devatās* making up the traditional number of the *Trayas-triṃśat Devas*. Whatever that may be, the fact remains that the images of Vasudhārā emphasized the *ratna-ghaṭa* as an emblem of the goddess.

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From this known attribute on the images from Sarnath we now proceed to a group of statuettes from Mathura in which we find a two-armed female figure standing with the right hand in *abhayamudrā*. In her left hand she holds a lotus parasol. For all practical purposes the female figure is identical with the well known Gaja-Lakṣmī or Nāgī figures from Mathura, but without the elephants or the serpent hoods. The typical standing female figure with left hand akimbo is also known to us from the coins of Mathura and some of the tribal coins. In the early centuries of the Christian era there seems to have been a recognised type of female figure which was employed with certain minor changes to represent the iconographic forms of the different goddesses, such as Lakṣmī, Hārītī, Nāgī etc. It is this form that constantly recurs in the numerous female statuettes of the Kuṣāṇa period discovered at Mathura. The two-armed female figure with a pair of vases and right hand in *abhayamudrā* is certainly of divine rank, and the vases appear as her distinguishing symbol.

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The statuette No. 1695 in the Mathura Museum shows the goddess holding a lotus parasol in her right hand, left hand is akimbo, and on her right side is a pair of vases placed one over the other. In statuette No. 1411 the lotus parasol is in the left hand, the right hand is in *abhayamudrā*, and the vases are placed, one on each side of the legs. The same arrangement of the *ghaṭas* is found in statuettes Nos. 1583, and 2523. A Fragment No. 127 shows only the lower portion of the goddess standing between two elongated jars bearing on the pedestal an inscription reading *Dharasenasya* in the script of the Kuṣāṇa period. It is therefore apparent that the iconography of the goddess in the art of Mathura shows some difference from that at Sarnath, viz., that the right hand is held not in *varada*, but in *abhaya* pose; and a lotus parasol held either by the left or right hand is a new feature. The connecting link between the two group of figures from two different periods remains, however, the treasure vases, and these may be looked upon as the principal cognizance in the iconography of Vasudhārā. Much of the Buddhist and Hindu iconography was in its formative stage during the Kuṣāṇa epoch and details had not yet become crystallised. It therefore does not much matter if the *varada* pose and the *dhānyamañjarī* of the medieval period are missing at an earlier period, or more correctly speaking had not been perfected as emblems of this goddess. The *ratnapātra* was deemed enough to mark out the identity of the deity represented.

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There is yet another symbol which is met with in the images of Vasudhārā from Mathura described above. It is a *mīna-mithuna* or pair of fish that is found suspended from the lower handle of the lotus parasol (*padmātapatra*) held in the left hand. Figures Nos. 1411, 1695, 2523 and 748 also have the fish symbol. It should, however, be noted that in statuette No 2523 which is well-preserved the number of fish is three, the third fish is shown attached to the upper end of the lotus parasol. We shall presently see its earlier connections. In statuette No. 1583 we find the female figure with the right hand in *abhaya* pose, but without the fish-pair suspended from the umbrella post; the *ratnaghaṭas*, however, indicate her true character. It represents the transitional stage when the fish symbol was being omitted.

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In one specimen [No. 748] the *abhaya* pose and the fish symbol with the *padmātapatra* occur but the *ratna-ghaṭas* are wanting. It most likely points to an earlier transitional stage when the symbol of the treasure-vases had not come into vogue. And this brings us to a third group of figures consisting only of terracottas in which the fish symbol alone is found associated with the standing female figure whose left hand is placed on the girdle and the right hand holds a string with a pair of fish suspended from its ends. A typical specimen [Mathura Museum, No. 2243] is illustrated in the Mathura Museum Handbook (second edition), Plate VII, Fig. 14¹. Stylistically the figure is related to the Yakshī figures from Bharhut and Bodhgaya, and the conspicuous headdress, heavy earrings, full broad face and the narrow junction of the breasts and waist point to its being a product of the Sunga period. Here the auspicious jewel-vases find no place, and the iconographic conception with *mīna-mithuna* appears to be insulating itself from the vague and general belief in a Mother Goddess who was the precursor of the later classical goddesses. The fish symbol associated with waters, which is the birthplace of the *nidhis* or mythical riches, is much more elemental in conception than the treasure-vases. We do not yet precisely know the significance of the fish symbol in relation to these female figures from Mathura. But working back from the known figures of the Kushāṇa period in which both the *ratna-ghaṭa* and the *mīna-mithuna* occur side by side in one and the same figures, to terracotta figurines with only the fish emblem, we at least find some common links which may tentatively serve as pointers in the direction of identifying these early figurines of the Sunga period. Whether in the religious upheaval accompanying the early Indian art of Bharhutt, Sanchi and Mathura of the Sunga period, the conception of Vasudhārā had been developed and grasped we have no obvious means of determining. The few Mathura figurines are our only source at present.

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¹ An almost similar Mathura specimen is figured by Dr. Coomaraswamy in his Indian Terracottas published in the *IPEK*, 1928, Fig. 24.

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It may also be pointed out that a third fish placed horizontally below the two others is found in the terracotta figurines. It is visible also in the illustration of terracotta No. 2243 described above. We have also seen that in statuette No. 2523 of the Kushāṇa period discussed before a third fish figures separately from the *mīna-mithuna* and is carved near the upper end of the lotus-stalk. Perhaps the explanation may be found in the tradition of the Tantras where the Gaṅgā and the Yamunā as the two principal energy-systems and the Sarasvatī as the central one are symbolised as rivers, and naturally by means of fish.

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Vasudhārā may ultimately be found to have been identical with the Earth goddess Vasundharā whom the *Atharvaveda* calls *hiraṇya-vakshā*, the golden bosomed who conceals within here womb the treasures (*vasu, maṇi, hiraṇya*) of the world. The following two verses give us a vivid picture of the Earth goddess as the presiding deity of wealth²:

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² Atharva, Pṛthivī Sūkta, XII.1.6 and 44.

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विश्वम्भरा वसुधानी प्रतिष्ठा हिरण्यवक्षा जगतो निवेशनी।
वैश्वानरं विभ्रती भूमिरग्निमिन्द्र ऋषभा द्रविणो नो दधातु ॥६॥
निधिं विभ्रती बहुधा गुहा वसु मणि हिरण्यं पृथिवी ददातु मे।
वसूनि नो वसुदा रासमाना देवी दधातु सुमनस्यमाना ॥४४॥

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We find here the significant epithets Vasudhāni and Vasudā applied to earth which are only synonyms of Vasudhārā. We also meet with the imagery that the goddess earth sends out myriad streams (dhārā) of wealth as an unflinching cow rains streams of milk:

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सहस्रं धारा द्रविणस्य मे दुहां ध्रुवेव धेनुरपस्फुरन्ती ।

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This is just the idea underlying Vasudhārā. Earth is the prototype of the Great Mother Goddess (Mahī Mātā), and Vasudhārā as a specialised classical goddess may only be an emanation from that cosmic form of the Magna Mater which antedated all that we have in Indian iconography. In fact the identification of Vasudhārā with the Earth goddess is carried one step forward by the appearance of the Earth-goddess with a vase beneath the right hand of the Buddha in Sarnath [Catalogue, p. 67, B (b) 175, plate IX]. The association of a vase with the Earth goddess during the Gupta period is also in keeping with the iconographic evolution of Vasudhārā after the Kushāṇa period when the fish symbol ceased to be associated with her.

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The above iconography of Vasudhārā, ancient as it is, was preceded by an elaborate symbolism rooted in Vedic philosophy and ritual, and transferred to an extensive folk-cult. Vasudhārā literally means 'Shower of wealth'. It is the same as the latter idea of the 'Rain of Heavenly Gold' (divya-suvarṇa-vṛṣṭi). It had become an accepted literary motif and a common belief in the people that the rule of piety, Dharma, of the Chakravartī Sovereign brings the Rain of Gold from Heaven. In the Śānti Parva, we read of Hiraṇya Vṛṣṭi in the kingdom of Suhotra (Śānti Parva, 29.24—26, Poona Ed.). The Divyāvadāna says that in the reign of the Chakravartī King Māndhātā there was Rain of Gold for a week (vṛṣṭam me saptāham antaḥpure hiraṇya-varsham, Divyāvadāna, p. 213). The motif of the 'Shower of Coin' is repeated in the Divyāvadāna (na kārṣāpaṇa-varṣeṇa tṛptiḥ kameshu vidyate, Divyāvadāna, p. 224). This was a predominant belief during the Golden Age of Indian history when mountains of gold accumulated in the country as a result of inter-continental commerce so that actually a shower of golden coins appeared to have come as heavenly rain. This is visible to us even today in the abundant hoards of Gupta Gold coins. Bāṇa inspired by the same ideals of plenty and prosperity mentions the motif of Vasudhārā, Shower of Wealth brightened with gold descending from a merciful Heaven (mahākanakāvadātam Vasudhārāmiva dyauḥ, Harsha Charita, ch. 4, p. 134, Nirnayasagar, 5th Ed.). Mahākanaka is taranslated by Śaṅkara as tila-suvarṇa, i.e. minute particles of gold (Hindi, ravālā sonā) which was the same as the ancient Paipīlika suvarṇa, or in other words, gold-dust. When the earth reaches its maximum point of productivity that is known as abhyudaya, prosperity; but when even that is exceeded due to the potency of good Karmas, a state of mahā-abhyudaya, Great Prosperity, is made visible in Heaven's Grace by sending down a rain of gold, Dhana-vṛṣṭiḥ (Vasudhārā mahā-bhyudaya sūchanāya divā patati, Śaṅkara). The above references are from the Gupta civilisation and later than the figurines of Vasudhārā discussed above but they show the continuity of this idea. As in the case of Srī-Lakshmī, her iconography and cult had been handed down from Vedic times and continued up to even later periods, so it was in the case of Vasudhārā.

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In the Yajurveda, Book 18, known as the ‘Chamakādhyāya’, is an elaborate adoration of the Goddess Vasudhārā (Vedic Vasor Dhārā) in which all the blessings of Mind and Matter, of the Devas and the Bhūtas, are invoked to come to the worshipper as the fruit of his performing the Yajña. The idea of Yajña is to propitiate the divine powers, that is, to become attuned with them, and the fruit of Yajña is Dakṣiṇā which the Gods confer on each Yajamāna according to his wishes. About four hundred such Āhutis oblations are enumerated, e.g., Vāja, Kratu, Prāṇa, Jyoti, Vāk, Mana, Asu, Chitta, Atmā, Tanu, Śarīra, Āyu, Mahimā, Satya, Śraddhā, Moda, Amṛta, Jīvatu, Abhaya, Sudina, Saṃvit, Kāma, Kṛshi, Puṣṭi, Ṛddhi; but the most sublime gift in this list is that of Vasu bestowed in the form Karma and Śakti (Karma cha me śaktiścha me, Yajus, 18.15).

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The Brāhmaṇas make the idea more explicit. ‘This Agni on earth is Vasu, the greatest wealth; for him the gods sent this shower and propitiated him. Since the divine Vasu sent this shower, the latter is called Vasudhārā (ŚB. 9.3.2.1). ‘Because it is the Stream of Wealth (Vasumayī Dhārā), therefore, they call it Vasor Dhārā (ŚB. 9.3.2.4). Of this Vasor Dhārā, the immortal heaven is the Self (etasyai Vasordhārāyai dyaurevātmā, ŚB. 9.3.3.15); for the Shower of Wealth clouds are the teats of Heaven and lightning the breast, abhramūdhāḥ, ŚB. 9.3.3.16, vidhyut stanaḥ). Wherever there are Showers of Gold it becomes the capital of God Indra (Vasordhārāṇām Aindra-nagaram, Gopatha, 1.1.23). The last idea is repeated by Kālidāsa—a prosperous kingdom is the abode of Indra (riddhaṃ hi rājyaṃ padamaindramāhuḥ, Raghuvamśa, 2.50).

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In the iconography of Vasudhārā the Pūrṇaghaṭa and the Fish are important features. The full Vase stands for the auspicious divine Waters which are the Mothers of the Vasus or Vasu in the form of Agni identified as the Jewel (Ratna) or Wealth. The Fish is also believed to be the source of pearls. Thus these two became the signs of Vasudhārā, but the Fish also was the symbol of the Egg, viz., Hiraṇya Garbha, the Golden Germ. It is the Shower of the Golden Germ or the Life-principle that was really at the root of the whole conception of Vasudhārā. It was an offshoot of the Vedic doctrine of Hiraṇya Garbha.

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