Elements of Buddhist Iconography c4.56

Language: English

c4.56.1

Śrī-Lakṣmī is essentially Aditi, Prakṛti, Māyā, Apsaras, Urvaśī, the Waters, all the possibilities of existence substantially and maternally personified. The Lotus is preëminently hers, because she *is* the Lotus and the Earth, at once the source and support of all existences, Vasudhā or Vasudharā; that is, with respect to their substance, as the Supernal-Sun is with respect to their form. So she is represented either aniconically by the Lotus, as Padmā, springing from the brimming vessel (*pūrṇa-ghaṭa*) of the Waters (Fig. 23), or in human form upon the Lotus, as Padma-vāsinī, and then typically as receiving a lustral bath of *soma*-bearing rains downpoured from the skies by the elephants of the Quarters (Fig. 23). These early representations occur for the most part in a Buddhist association, though this need not be assumed for all the coins and terracottas.⁴² It has been argued by some scholars, Foucher particularly,⁴³ that the representations in a Buddhist environment, as at Bhārhut, Bodhgayā, and Sāñcī, are actually of Buddha nativities, a theme which would otherwise be lacking in the series of Four Great Events, so far as the early art is concerned.

c4.56.2

Others, myself included, have opposed this view, and not without justification inasmuch as the formula is certainly of pre-Buddhist origin, and because what is represented is certainly not the birth of Siddhārtha, but rather Śrī-Lakṣmī herself, at once Earth-Lotus and Mother-Earth personified, Universal Mother, Mother Nature, Aditi, Māyā,⁴⁴ the magical ground or substance of existence, fertilized by heavenly showers.⁴⁵ It must not be overlooked, too, that *Jātaka*, I, p. 53, affirms that when the Bodhisattva was born, “two streams of water came down from the sky (*ākāsato dve udakadhārā nikkhamitvā*) and refreshed the bodies of the Bodhisattva and his mother;” 46 in this sense it may be legitimate to say that these are virtually Buddha nativities, inasmuch as they represent Her who is the Mother of all Existence, and so preëminently of the Buddha, when he is considered not as the man Siddhârtha, but as Universal Man, in whom all things are lively imaged, Ādityabandhu and Sūryavamśin, “Kinsman of the Supernal-Sun” and “Of the Solar Race,” and as Māyā-maya, “magically-natured.” 47 It can scarcely have been an accident that Siddhârtha’s mortal mother’s name was Māyā-devī, “Lady Māyā.” 48 Siddhârtha’s birth from his mother’s side is anticipated in Rg Veda, IV, 18, 1–2, where in connection with Indra’s birth from Aditi we find . . . tiraścatā pārśvān nir gamāni, “I will go forth traversely, from the side”; a lateral procession is mentioned in several other passages, e. g.

c4.56.3

VI, 10, 4, X, 129, 5, and Jaiminīya Upaniṣad Brāhmaṇa, I, 29, where the life-ray (raśmi asumaya) is tiryaṅ pratiṣṭhitaḥ. 49 Siddhârtha’s visibility while yet unborn (Jātaka, I, 52, antokucchigataṃ . . . passati) may be compared to Rg Veda, VI, 16, 35, with reference to Agni, garbhe mātuḥ . . . akṣare vididyutānaḥ, “shining in the Mother’s eternal womb.” If we suppose that Śuddhôdana means “cloud” (as stated in the Nighaṇṭu, rather than “pure rice” as generally assumed), we have a striking parallel in the Dīpaṅkara Jātaka, where the Bodhisattva’s name is Megha, 50 “Cloud,” and his wife’s either Bhadrā, “Abundance,” or Prakṛti, “Nature”; but as designating the Father, it more likely corresponds to pakvam odanam and kṣīrapākam odanam in Rg Veda, VIII, 77, 6 and 10, odanam pacyamānam in VIII, 69, 14, pacatam in I, 61, 7, the cooking of rice with milk being thought of as an essential element of the Interior Operation; in Jātaka, I, 66, the Bodhisattva is represented as remembering the good food that was served in his father’s house, where food and drink abounded (“fleshpots of Egypt”). The Bodhisattva’s three palaces 51 may be regarded as the three seasons of the Year, Prajāpati; it is noteworthy that until the Bodhisattva leaves his palaces he knows nothing of old age, decline, or death.

c4.56.4

The Buddha himself is Āditya-bandhu, and Sūryavamśin, Mahāpurisa and amanussa, recalling Agni as the amānava puruṣa who leads the Comprehensor through the gateway of the worlds, Chāndogya Upaniṣad, V, 10, 2; that the Buddha is an Āṅgirasa, “a descendant of the Gleed,” is equally significant, Agni in the Rg Veda being a son of Aṅgiras and himself angirastama, “the best of Gleeds.” The Buddha’s given name Siddhârtha, denoting the “attainment of the goal,”