Possibly southeastern Madhya Pradesh1 or southern Uttar Pradesh
Late ninth century CE
Sandstone; 49.8 x 32.7 x 13.0 cm
(19-5/8 x 12-7/8 x 5-1/8 in.)
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Harry Lenart, Los Angeles, 69.10.1
Provenance: Acquired 20 August 1969 from the private collection of Mr. and Mrs. Lenart.
In addition to Brahmani’s three visible heads, a fourth one is assumed to be present, facing backwards. Together, these heads symbolize her all-seeing ability as they face the cardinal directions. The beaded rosary (akshamala) looping across the fingers of her broken lower right hand, the waterpot (kamandalu) in the lower left hand, and the palm-leaf manuscript (pustaka) in the raised left hand are attributes of priests. Together with the gander (hamsa) she rides, they establish her relationship with Brahma, who is the creator of the universe, the source of all knowledge, and as the divine priest presides over sacrifice and worship.2 Brahmani is Brahma’s consort, and as his shakti, she is the personification of his energy and source of his power.3
Brahmani is usually not depicted accompanying Brahma, but as a part of the set of seven or eight mother goddesses (saptamatrika or ashtamatrika) that includes Maheshvari, Kaumari, Vaishnavi, Varahi, Indrani, Chamunda or Kali and Narasimhi, when the set is expanded to eight (Fig. 39).4 Each is the counterpart of the male god Maheshvara (Shiva), Kumara (Karttikeya), Vishnu, Varaha (the boar form of Vishnu), and Indra respectively, while Chamunda or Kali are associated with the goddess Durga. Despite being called mothers, and sometimes being depicted with babies, these goddesses are primarily martial. The Devi Mahatmya, the earliest text to describe the creation of Durga from the combined energies of the male gods to destroy a demon, explicates the emanation of the saptamatrikas from her body to aid her in battle.5
The size and shape of this sculpture, along with the arrangement of attendant figures, suggest that she would have been displayed individually in a square niche. Brahmani was likely part of a set of goddesses, each in her own niche, spread along the length of the temple’s base moldings or the lowest portion of the wall (pitha).6 As part of the set of mother goddesses, she would likely have occupied the southeast corner of the temple.7 LJT
1 Email communication from Darielle Mason, 2/28/2006.
2 Like the sacrificial fire, the gander connects the realms of the gods and mortals through his flight.
3 Alternatively, she may be Kaumari (Karttikeyi, Kumari, or Sena), the consort of Karttikeya, the warrior son of Shiva, if the bird were a peacock. Like Brahma, Karttikeya is many-headed. Kaumari’s attributes include a rosary and alms bowl. If she were Kaumari, the object in her raised left hand may be a staff, club, or battle axe. However, it is not unreasonable to expect a depiction of Kaumari from this region to unambiguously associate her with Karttikeya through the inclusion of his features such as the flowing hair hanging down the sides of his face like ropes.
4 She could have belonged with a much larger set of goddesses on a yogini temple. On the arrangement of goddesses on yogini temples see Vidya Dehejia, Yogini Cult and Temples: A Tantric Tradition (New Delhi: National Museum, 1986).
5 For further discussion of the Saptamatrikas and their origins, imagery, and symbolism, see Thomas B. Coburn, Encountering the Goddess: A Translation of the Devi Mahatmya and a Study of its Interpretation (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1991); Katherine Anne Harper, The Iconography of the Saptamatrikas: Seven Hindu Goddesses of Spiritual Transformation (Lewiston, Queenston, Lampeter: Edwin Mellen Press, 1989); Om Prakash Misra, Iconography of the Saptamatrikas (Delhi: Agam Kala Prakashan, 1989); Shivaji K. Panikkar, Saptamatrika Worship and Sculptures (New Delhi:
D. K. Printworld Ltd., 1997).
6 See, for example, the now-empty square niches on the basement of the Maladevi temple (ca. 850–75 CE) at Gyaraspur, Vidisha District, Madhya Pradesh.
7 Devangana Desai, however, has noted the installation of matrikas in reverse sequence to the conventional order of circumambulation on the Kandariya Mahadeva and Vishvanath Temples at Khajuraho, Chhatarpur District, Madhya Pradesh, The Religious Imagery of Khajuraho (Mumbai: Franco-Indian Research, 1996), 167–68. I thank Darielle Mason for drawing my attention to this possibility.