Jain Journal 1980 04

Author(s): Jain Bhawan Publication
Publisher: Jain Bhawan Publication

Page 67

172
JAIN JOURNAL
Fig.4. Salabhanjika, Bharhut Bas-Relief at Stupa-Railing. Date : first century B.C. Height : left figure 12", right figure 13". Material : Red Sandstone. Housed in : Indian Museum, Calcutta. (Text references : page 166)
ALLAHABAD SALABHANJIKA
Figs. 5a-5c. Door-jamb 5' 1" high, with salabhanjika under Asokatree, 1' 7.5" high, standing on a male figure as a vahana from Nagod in Vindya Pradesh. (Text references : pages 151,152.)
Date : Gupta period, c.sixth century A.D. Material : Red sandstone. Housed in : Allahabad Museum.
The figure stands in the classical pose of a salabhanjika bending down the branch of an Asoka-tree with her raised right arm while the left arm is hanging vertically down, like a real danda-rekhakrti (cf. Silpaprakāśa, p.161 of this article). Her right leg rests in a diagonal line on wave-like creepers out of which the upper part of a male figure emerges. Her left leg taking no weight is leisurely bent touching the back of the supporting male figure (Figs. 5b and 5c.).
Over the face of the salabhanjika a certain melancholy of inner resignations behind her youthful charms is tenderly spread, which is in concordance with the lassitude and somewhat reserved pronunciation of her whole body. It is most fascinating to observe how the Gupta type of the Buddha physiognomy has been transformed into this face, which seems to represent the oversaturated mood and the end of the Gupta age. An artist however does not think consciously on such lines which we believe to discover long after his creation. An artist of ancient times wants to represent a particular object which is linked with the popular topics current in his time. The artist may have tried to depict a Yaksini in the pose of a salabhanjika who has to wait long or with little hope for her Yaksa husband or lover, a topic treated in Kalidasa's Meghadūtam. Or is she a sthali-devata a local tree-goddess who looks down on our sufferings of separation and despair with compassion, so beautifully described in Kalidasa's Uttaramegha, verse 46 ?
mam akasa-pranihita-bhujam nirdayaslesa-hetor labdhayas te katham api maya svapna-samdarsanesu pasyantinam na khalu bahuso na sthali-devatanam mukta-sthulas taru-kisalayesv asru-lesah patanti