The Development of Hindu Iconography c16.72.2

c16.72.2

The other characteristically developed iconographic type of the goddess so frequently represented in the early Buddhist art of Bharhut, Sanchi, Bodh Gaya, Amaravati and other places depicts her either standing or seated on a lotus usually coming out of a pot (*bhadra-ghaṭa*), holding a lotus in her hand, surrounded by blooming lotus flowers and spreading lotus leaves, and being bathed by two elephants. This ancient type and its variants, ‘always reproduced with a certain evident pleasure’ by the artists, came to stay, and it is still very popular among the Indians.¹ In many mediaeval temples, specially of Orissa, this motif often described as Gaja-Lakṣmī, was carved in the centre of the architrave over the doorway of the main structure, whatever might have been the cult affiliation of the shrines. Separate niches in mediaeval temples were also assigned to the goddess, where she was elaborately depicted. One such elaborate composition meets the eye of the visitor to the Kailāsa temple at Ellora, as soon as he enters the great rock-cut shrine. The goddess bathed by the elephants is seated on a lotus in a lotus pond, and there are other celestial attendants by her side. What is of unique interest in this beautifully carved gigantic relief is the presence of two Nāgas below the lotus-seat of the goddess;