Indian Art: A History of Indian Art from the Earliest Times up to the Third Century A.D. c8.s1.16

c8.s1.16

*Ambikā*, the Great Mother, also *Mahī-Mātā* in the Ṛigveda, fills a large canvas in early Indian Art. A number of Goddesses are her emanations, being variable as one, three, seven, ten, sixteen, etc. both in the Vedic and Paurāṇic theology. The *Sapta-Mātṛkās* as the *Śaktis* of Śiva regularly appear from Kushāṇa art onwards. *Aditi*, *Haimvatī Umā*, *Pārvatī*, etc. are different names and aspects of the Goddess or Devī, who is differentiated as Sarasvatī-Lakṣmī-Durgā in the triadic pattern of the cosmos.