Indian Art: A History of Indian Art from the Earliest Times up to the Third Century A.D. c12.s2.t1.23

c12.s2.t1.23

These ancient symbols appear singly or in combination; e.g. the pillar with the wheel, the pillar with the lion, the Pūrṇa-kumbha with the Auspicious Woman or the Pillar with the Pūrṇa-ghaṭa. The representation of Śrī-Lakṣmī standing on the mouth of the Full-Jar is depicted at Bharhut in its full glory. Śrī-Lakṣmī is the Eternal Woman of auspicious mien, associated with an over-flowing pitcher. It was a motif of the Woman and the Full Vase which had continued through the ages and was depicted at Bharhut (*Pūrṇaṃ nārī prabhara kumbhametam*, AV. 3. 12. 8). The makers of the Stūpa symbolism tackled with the problem of depicting the Pillar, Full Vase, Mahā-Chakra, the Four Great Animals and the Eternal Woman or the Goddess and gave to each one of them either singly or in combined form a place in the decoration of the Stūpa. We find clear evidence of this in the Bharhut Stūpa. The people deciphered in the alphabet of the symbols the language which was near to their heart and well understood by them.