Studies in Indian Art c11.s5.18

c11.s5.18

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.