The Antiquities of Orissa v2.c16.s2.66

Language: English

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The semicircular space under the arch, i.e. the tympanum is occupied by a nude female figure standing amidst a lotus bush, and holding a lotus stalk in each hand (Plate XXIII, D. 1). On each side of her, there are two elephants, one standing on a full-blown lotus, and the other on a thalamus; their trunks uplifted, as if in the act of throwing a shower of water on the central figure. The group is claimed by the Hindus as peculiarly their own; and is well known in Bengal under the name of Mahālakṣhmī, or 'the great goddess of fortune'. The Vaiṣṇavas claim her as a form of Lakṣmī, consort of Viṣṇu, and the lady protectress of wealth; and the Śāktas accept her as Durgā in one of her various manifestations. The former, when engaged in worship, meditate on her, as "a lady standing amidst lotuses, bright as pure gold, being besprinkled with water from golden pitchers held by the trunks of four elephants white as the Himalaya mountain, twirling in her hand a couple of beautiful and auspicious lotuses, the emblems of encouragement, crowned with a bright diadem, and dressed in silken raiment". The latter, in describing her, use almost the identical words.

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They adore her as "the consort of Hari, seated on a lotus delicate as the heavenly creeper *pārijāta*, radiant as an image of lustrous jewels, constantly besprinkled with water from golden pitchers held by the trunks of four majestic elephants white as snow, cheering the faint-hearted by twirling in her hands a couple of lotuses".³³ The *Svatantra Tantra* reconciles the conflict between the Vaiṣṇavas and the Śāktas by saying, that "the goddess is identically the same with the lady Lakṣmī, who was produced originally at the churing of the ocean; but that when Brahmā, intent on creating the universe performed an austere fast, Śākti, the great goddess, was highly gratified, and on the night of the 9th of the waxing moon in the month of Chaitra, manifested herself as the all-powerful consort of Śiva. She abides on the breast of Viṣṇu. She is the destroyer of Kāla demons, who is the lady of the lotus seat. She was [33] (again) born on the the 8th of the wane in the month of Bhādra, as Mahāmātaṅginī, the great owner of elephants. On Thursday, the 11th of the wane sacred to Bhīma, she was born as Mahālakṣmi. She is the bestower of all blessings." A modification of the form of this goddess occurs very frequently in wild parts of Bengal and Orissa, under the name of Bāsulī, a non-Aryan goddess, who has been identified by some with Viśālākshī or the large-eyed lady, the ox-eyed Juno of Aryan India. Adverting to a counterpart of this goddess, Mr.

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Beames says : "Her rude woodland temples are found still in the mountains and sub-mountain jungles of Western Bengal, and all down the hill ranges of Oaissa, and I have even met with them on the Subarnarekhā, and along the coast of the Bay of Bengal. A fine Sanskrit name has been fitted to this wild forest divinity, and she is called by the Brāhmaṇas, Viśālākshī or the large-eyed. Her statues represent her holding in her uplifted arms two elephants, from whose trunks water pours on to her head."³⁴ Viśālākshī as portrayed in the *Tantras* is a very different personage. According to the *Ādi-yāmala Tantra*, quoted in the *Tantra-sāra*, "she is a large-eyed matron of the complexion of molten gold, two-handed, fierce, armed with a sword and a skull, adorned with a profusion of ornaments, draped in blood-red garments, perennially youthful, smiling faced, three-eyed, wearing a garland of skulls, high and large busted, seated on the person of Śiva, crowned with matted locks and a tiara, the goddes destroyeress of enemies and giver of every blessing to her adorers." This cannot possibly be the type of the lotus lady Kamalātmikā, or of the gentle Bāsulī of the woods, the titular goddess of Sāgar Island. In the Bengali *Chaṇḍī* of Kavikaṅkana, the goddess is represented as seated on a lotus on the open sea, holding an elephant in each hand, and engaged in the very unfeminine occupation of alternately swallowing and throwing up the elephants.

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In this shape, she is said to have manifested herself to the merchant Dhanapati, one of her devout worshippers, who had lost his way in the Bay of Bengal.