Underground Shrine Queens Stepwell Patan

Author(s): Jaikishandas Sadani
Publisher: B J Institute of Learning & Research

Page 40

Sakti
1. Brahmi
2.
3. Kumari
4.
Vaiṣṇavi
5.
Vārāhi
6.
Indrāni
7.
Camuṇḍā
8. Bhairavi
Maheśvari
29
These images are executed with great skill representing the bhava or emotions according to the descriptions given in the Puranic lores and works on Murti Vidhana.
We are reminded of very elaborate and big statues of seven Mātṛkās in the Kailasanatha cave of the Ellora.
Such is the wide acceptance of the Sapta Matṛkās that all important treatises refer to them and enunciate Pratima lakṣaṇas in varied forms. The Sapta Matṛkās" worship is very popular in Rajasthan and Gujarat and well adopted in the folk tradition also.
Parvati in penance is one of the most unique sculptures in Queen's step-well. It is also known as Kaupin Dhariņi Uma. The Word Uma has a dual meaning in Sanskrit. One Puranic lore says when Parvati's mother dissuaded her from doing extreme penance for obtaining Śiva as her husband, she remained firm and denied her mother's request saying 'U-Ma meaning "NO PLEASE". Moreover, Uma also has the South Indian connotation of Amma meaning the 'Mother'. Both the renderings are correctly conveyed by the word Uma. In this image Uma is depicted as standing on one leg. She is engaged in severe penance. Her graceful slim figure is imbued with a resolute determination as is clear from her countenance. A short loin cloth encircles her girdle as an austere tapasvini or a samnyasini. Her necklace and sparse ornaments are of rudrākṣa beads while the ear lobes do not have any earrings. Her hair are bound on the top like that of an ascetic. In her four hands she holds a rosary of big beads, meant for telling beads in japa or repeating the sacred Mantras. In the second hand is Kusa blades of grass; in third the pitcher while the fourth hand is granting blessings. Four maid-attendants two on either side wait on near the feet carrying the objects of worship. The eight miniature images surrounding the frame have four images of Goddesses on either side: some dancing, some standing and some seated. The mount, lion of the Goddess is carved below the lotus pedestal on which she is standing.