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Jain Thought and Culture
the symbol of the process of procreation and vegetation The various goddesses of the Vedic and Puranic religion are merely various aspects of these two basic, though inter-related, ideas The same idea may be traced in Buddhism-especially in its treatment of Maya and Sri In the early art of Bharhut, Sanchi, Bodhgaya there appears a motif 111 which a woman is shown as seated or standing on a lotus flower holding a bud in her right hand Sometimes she appears with two elephants pouring celestial water on her head 122 It has been argued by some scholars like Foucher 123 and Marshall 124 that this motif represents the nativity of the Buddha The basis of this idea is a passage in the Lalitauistara 25 where it is stated that as soon as the Buddha was born the Naga kings Nanda and Upananda, standing half embodied in the sky, created two streams of water, one cold and one hot to bathe the Bodhisattva' Foucher is of the opinion that the word niaga means 'elephant and the description of the passage points to the motif as symbolizing the nativity of Buddha and the woman seated on lotus is Mayadevi, the Mother of Bodhisattva Whether Maya appears as goddess (devi) in the Buddhist literature, is a matter of dispute among the scholars In Pali and Sanskrit literature (Lalıtavistara) Maya or Mahamaya and Mahaprajapati (step mother of Buddha), the daughters of Anjana, son of Devadaha the Sakya 26, are mentioned as the wives of Suddhodana Both the names 'Maya' and 'Mahaprajapatı’, no doubt, are personal names, but their meaning has given rise to various fanciful interpretations For example, Maya has troubled the Mythologists 127, and an attempt has been made to connect her with the maya doctrine of Vedanta But, the sense of maya as cosmic illusion does not exist either in Pali or Sanskrit in the works that record her name in the same way, Mahaprajapati or Maha
122 in the later iconography the motif is termed as "Gajalaksmi' (Banerji DHI, p 375) 123 Foucher, MASI, No 46, p 3ff 124 Marshall, J, Monuments of Sanchi, Vol I 125 Lalitauistara, pp 83,93 126 According to Mahavastu Sakya Sambhuti of Devadaha had seven daughters -Maya, Mahamaya, Atimaya, Anatamaya, Culiya, Kolivasa and Mahaprajapati from a Koliya lady, And all were received by Suddhodana (Thomas, op cit, p 25. Mukerji, PC, ASI, Imp Series, Vol XXVI, Pt I, CE Also Kosambi, DD, Myths and Reality, p 106) 127 Thomas op cit, p 25, fn 2
