Dipalini matrikas

Author(s): Ramchandra G Tiwari
Publisher: Z_Deshbhushanji_Maharaj_Abhinandan_Granth_012045.pdf

Page 6

A glance on the above table would show that except the names on their slabs there is no clue in the form of article-attributes or vehicle to co-relate the forms of Nos. 10 and 13 with the gods whose Matrikas they are supposed to portray. Therefore, one is forced to conclude that by the middle of XV cen. A.D. a somewhat faulty tradition had sprung up in Mewar under the inspiring guidance of the erudite Maharana Kumbha to depict the Dikpalini Matrikas among the deities to be venerated, if not, worshipped. And again this is the only datable structural wherein the Dikpalini-Matrikas are sought to be portrayed in any royal monument in Chittor or elsewhere during the period when the royal family of Mewar was struggling to give up its Shaivaite moorings to entertain Vaishnavaite leanings. Of course, this cannot be denied that some stray images from unknown sites and origin are found in different places in Mewar.
For example, one image of Varuni in Ardhaparyankasana and four hands bearing clockwise (beginning with the lower right one) the Varad Mudra+an Aksanala, a goad, a noose, and a Kalash is found on the exterior of the southern limb of the Sasa-Bahu (Sanskrit : Sabatravahu ?) twin-temple complex, Nagada (near Eklingii). This structural is attributed to XI Cen. A.D. when that region was under the sway of the Solankis of Gujarat.
An almost complete set of the Dikpalini Matrikas is found in a dilapidated Shakta temple in the bed of the Baghela Tank (near the Sasa-Bahu twin-temple), Nagada (near Eklingji). The temple pre-dates the tank and as such should have been built in XII-XIII cen. A.D., if not in XI cen. ; but it is also, probably, a relic of the Solanki impact on Mewar.
The details of these images are as follows: -
S.No
Name
Pose
No. of hands
Articles
Vehicle
Remarks
Aindri
Dvibhanga
Elephant
Agneyi
Dvibhanga
(Lost)
Yamya
Dvibhanga
Goad : Thunderbolt Varad Mudra : Kalash
Ladle : Loius Varad Mudra : Kalash
Staff : Cock
Pen : Paper Resting on thigh : Resting on thigh
Buffalo
Nil
Chamunda Paryankasana (Emaciated old dry figure of a woman) Varuni Dvibhanga
Crocodile
Shitala
Riding on a donkey
Donkey
Lotus : Goad Varad Mudra : Kalash Holding a winpowing pan with both upper hands Vyakhyana Mudra : Kalash Goad : Nakulaka (Lost) : Kalash
(7)
Kauberi
Kauberi
Dvibhanga
Elephant
(8)
Aishanya
--
Lost
२४
आचार्यरत्न श्री देशभूषण जी महाराज अभिनन्दन ग्रन्थ