Sambodhi 1983 Vol 12

Author(s): Dalsukh Malvania, H C Bhayani, Nagin J Shah
Publisher: L D Indology Ahmedabad

Page 42

A UNIQUE HĀRUTI IMAGE FROM GANDHĀRA
Uslia
Jain
Harili, the Raracious one the Thief', thic destroyer as well the protectress of children is one of the important minor Buddhist female deity. Accoding to the Buddhist lore and as listing! ( AD 671), mentioned Hāniti as an evil Yakşin in the previous birth, who used to devout the children of Rajagriha. She with a brood of 500 sons lived lavishly on the flesh of small children. Buddha in order 10 tame the 'mother of the demons' kidnapped one of her favourite baby Priyankara in his alms-bowl as recorded in the Samyutta-nikaya text. He refused to return the child, until and unless she promised faithfully lo change her mode of life. Realizing the sin she had so long been committing, the Ogresse becane protective goddess of children, a bestower of fertility, a guardian of prosperity as stated in n passage from Maha-Māya-Sūtra.
Hariti's account was mentioned in the Saddharma-pundarika-sutra 2 in Mahavamsa and in the Samyukta Vastu. According to Samyukta Vastu, chapter 31, Hariti was the daughter of Yakşa Sala of Rajagriha, who was married to Panchika, one of the twenty-eight general in the army of Vais'ravana. Pāñchika was the son of Panchala, the Yakșa king of Gandhāra.
Häriti was mythologically an inhabitant of Swāt, a part of the Gandhara country. She enjoyed wide popularity in that region, as the cult of Häriti originated somewhere in the north-west frontier arca. Hiuen-tsang and I-sting mentioned in their travel accounts about her images under the porch or in the corners of the refectories of Buddhists monasterics. The common folk of the land of Udyāna, a site near modern Peshawar worshipped her to seck descendants. Her popularity is evident not only from the number of sculptures depicting her and her spouse, but also from the temple discovered at Skārah Dheri in Peshawar lostify the fact. Moreover, the Mahābhāratha3 mentioned of a Yaksini shrine ait Rajagriha as "World renowned".
According to one of the tudition litriti was also the personification of the most drcadcd of all the infantile diseases, small pox and cholern. In the Hindu pantheon, she seems to be one of the folk Goddess known asM ari, Mata, Badi Māi, Sitala-devi, Olabibi etc.