Studies in Indian Art c11.s5.8

c11.s5.8

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.