Yasastilaka and Indian Culture

SR No.: 001609
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Krishnakant Handiqui
Publisher: Jain Sanskruti Samrakshak Sangh Solapur
Publication Year: 1968
Total Pages: 566
Language: English
Classification: Book_English, Story, Literature, & Culture
File Size: 16 MB

Page 416

15. NON-JÁINA CULTS, CUSTOMS AND BELIEFS
397
Another temple dedicated to the sixty-four Yoginis exists at Khajuraho in Chhatarpur State in Central India. The script of the brief inscriptions on its walls does not indicate a period much, if at all, anterior to 900 A, D.'; and the temple has accordingly been assigned to the first half of the tenth century. Three other temples dedicated to the 64 Yoginis are known to exist, viz., 1) at Surādā in the Pātan or Pattana State, one of the Tributary States of Orissa; 2) at Rāṇīpur-Jural in the same State; and 3) in Coimbatore District, Madras. It is a remarkable fact that all the known temples dedicated to the 64 Yoginīs are circular, except the one at Khajuraho, which is 'peculiar in being oblong??
Somadeva refers to the Mothers in connection with the cult of Candamāri. In his description of the temple of the goddess, in Book I, he speaks of the Matrmaņdala or the group of the Mothers as being worshipped there by certain fanatics, who had torn out their intestines to please those deities. The Seven Mothers are here brought into relation with a horrid and ferocious cult, but they had also a benign aspect, and are well-known as the guardian deities of the early Cālukyas, as stated in their copper-plate grants. Sculptural representations of these deities have been found at Aihole and other places in the Deccan. The Seven Mothers, four-armed, each with a child, figure among the sculptures on the south wall of Cave XIV at Ellora, popularly known as Ravana-ka-kai: each has her cognizance on the base below. There is a very well-executed sculpture representing the Seven Mothers on a stone slab. built into the wall of a step-well, out in front of the temple of Siddheśvara at Haveri in the Dharwar district. On most of these slabs each goddess holds a child on her lap to denote motherhood, but they are absent on this; and they are generally flanked by Siva on one side and Gaņapati on the other, Next to Siva, in this case, is Brāhmi or Brahmāni, the female counterpart of Brahmā, below her being Brahma's vehicle, the goose. Next is Māheśvari, Śiva's counterpart, with his bull Nandi, beside whom is Vaişņavi seated over Garuda. After her come Kaumári, counterpart of Kārtikeya, with his peacock ; Värähi with a buffalo instead of the boar; Indrāni or Aindri with the elephant, and, lastly, Cāmuṇļā with a dog, but sometimes a dead body. This last Mother is shown as a skeleton with long pendent breasts.
1 For detailed references see Indian Antiquary, 1908, p. 132.
faiteorgear hereftergato AIATEHUESH. There is another reference to the
Mätsmandala in Book I. See Chap. IV. 3 Bhandarkar: Early History the Dekkan, p. 83. Third edition. 4 Courens: Chalukyan Architecture of the Kanaresc Districts, p. 45. 5 Burgess: A Guide to Elnora Cave Tempics, p. 24.