The Indian Buddhist Iconography, Mainly Based on the Sadhanamala and Other Cognate Tantric Texts of Rituals c17.s2.t3: (III) Mārīcīpicuvā

The Indian Buddhist Iconography, Mainly Based on the Sādhanamālā and Other Cognate Tāntric Texts of Rituals c17.s2.t3

Language: English

(III) Mārīcīpicuvā

Mārīcīpicuvā is also called Aṣṭabhujapīta-Mārīcī or Saṃkṣipta-Mārīcī. These two names denote two distinct varieties of Mārīcī, although both are endowed with three faces and eight arms and carry similar weapons in their hands. One Sādhana only is devoted to Mārīcīpicuvā, and it does not mention whether she should be accompanied by the four goddesses as usual. She holds the needle and the string in the first pair of hands, the Aṅkuśa and the noose in another pair, the bow and the arrow in the third pair, and the Vajra and the Aśoka flower in the fourth pair. She has three faces, each displaying a mixture of three different sentiments (Rasa). The Dhyāna in verse runs as follows :

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Śṛṅgāravīrasaddharṣair-jāmbūnadasamaprabhām I
Madhyendranīlavarṇasyāṃ bhayabībhatsaraudrakaiḥ II
Karuṇādbhutaśāntaiśca sphaṭikendvitarānanāṃ I
Trivimokṣamukhaistryakṣāṃ dharmasambhoganirmitām II
Pītābharaṇasadvastrāṃ mayūkhasukhavāsinīṃ I
Sucyākṣaśyāni śīvantīṃ badhnantīṃ mukhacakṣuṣī II
Hṛdgaleṅkuśapāśābhyāṃ bindhantīṃ bāṇakārmukaiḥ I
Vajreṇa duṣṭṛdbhitvāśokenāsecanāparām II...
Prajñopāyapadākrāntāṃ Mārīcīṃ bhāvayedvratī II

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Mārīcīpicuvā-Sādhanam’’. Sādhanamālā pp. 297-298.

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"The worshipper should conceive himself as Mārīcīpicuvā who displays the sentiments of Śṛṅgāra, Vīra, and Harṣa in one of her faces, which is of the colour of Jāmbūnada (gold). In the middle face which is of the colour of the Indranīla gem, the sentiments of Bhaya, Bībhatsa, and Raudra are displayed ; and in the third face of crystal colour, the sentiments of Karuṇā, Adbhuta and Śānta appear. She has three eyes in each one of her three faces, which give freedom from the three great evils. Her essence is made of Dharmakāya and Sambhogakāya. She is clad in garments of yellow colour and resides happily in the mass of rays. She sews up the eyes and the mouths of the wicked with the needle and secures them with the string. She strikes their hearts with the Aṅkuśa, draws them by the neck with the noose, pierces them with the bow and the arrow, and shatters their hearts to pieces with the Vajra, and then sprinkles water with the leaves of Aśoka...She tramples under her feet Prajñā and Upāya.”

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Aṣṭabhuja-Mārīcī or Saṃkṣipta-Mārīcī is yellow in colour, wears red garments, is decked in various ornaments, bears the image of Vairocana on the crown and resides within the cavity of a Caitya. Her three faces display three different sentiments. The first, or the principal face displays passionate love, and is of the colour of gold. The second, or the left face is distorted, sow-like, has the colour of the Indranīla gem, displays wrath and looks terrible with bare fangs and protruding lips. The third, or the right face is of deep red colour, glows in heavenly splendour and displays the sentiment of Śānta. She rides a chariot drawn by seven pigs, stands in the Ālīḍha attitude, and appears a virgin in the fulness of youth. Below the seven sows is the fierce Rāhu, who devours the sun and the moon. She is surrounded by the four attendant goddesses, Varttālī, Vadālī, Varālī and Varāhamukhī.

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(i) Varttālī has red complexion, the sow-face and four arms. She wears red garments, is decked in all sorts of ornaments, and carries the noose and the Aśoka in the two left hands and the Vajrāṅkuśa and the needle in the right.

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(ii) Vadālī has many features in common with Varttālī, but her colour is yellow and she carries the noose and the Vajra in the two left hands and Aśoka and the needle in the right.

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(iii) Varālī is identical with Vadālī, except that she holds the Vajra and the needle in the two right hands and the noose and the Aśoka in the left.

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(iv) Varāhamukhī wears the same garments and the same ornaments as Vadālī and Varālī, but her complexion is ruddy, and she carries the Vajra and the arrow in the two right hands and the Aśoka and the bow in the left.

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It is very curious that almost all the images of Mārīcī known so far, belong to this variety. In actual images, a legless lady charioteer may sometimes be met with instead of Rāhu, while some images retain the charioteer as well as Rāhu. Two images of the eight-armed variety of Mārīcī are in the Dacca Museum; two are in the Indian Museum ( Figs. 152, 153 ) Calcutta, and the one (Fig. 154) which is reproduced in many works of art, was discovered at Sarnath and is now deposited in the Lucknow Museum, while a sixth has been discovered in Orissa. Besides these, several other images of Mārīcī are available in the museums at Rajshahi and Sarnath. All these images are three-faced and eight-armed, and some of them are very fine specimens of art. In the more artistic and accurate images the three sentiments have actually been depicted by the sculptors. A study of these images will show that though the sculptors generally follow the Sādhana in all details, yet they are not always so scrupulous in the case of the four attendant goddesses who are sometimes two-armed, and sometimes, though four-armed, do not carry the symbols prescribed by the Sādhanamālā.

Cites (1)

Sādhanamālā — Sanskrit