Underground Shrine Queens Stepwell Patan

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

Page 42

Sakti
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adamant with a bell vajraghantā, the fourth hand is broken. At her feet on either side is a lion. They are virtually facing each other. They are shown with quite a fierce look. Behind the lions are the two maids one on either side, attending the goddess. In the surrounding frame eight miniture mother- goddesses are cary it is not possible to recognise the objects, they hold in their hands. But all the eight images seem to be holding lotuses.
The second image of Kșemankari Durgā in the step-well is that of beloved mother. There are three images in the step-well, Goddess is seated on a lotu in lalitāsana. On either side is a fierce lion with raised paws. The god-dess has her tied coiffure in the form of jatā with jewelled crest-ornaments. In the ears she has ear-rings in the shape of the conch. The necklace and mangala sūtra, long garland, armlets and bracelets, the waist-band and the anklets etc. all adorn her figure. The goddess has four hands. In the lower right hand she holds the Siva-Linga, in the upper right hand trident, in the upper left hand a trident with a bell and the lower left hand is on the child who is sitting on her folded left leg. It is, however, holding some sweet. The child is touching the breast of the mother, whose effusive love for the child is well expressed in the image. The child has a thin ornament around the neck and small anklets around the ankles. This is one of the very emotional image of the mother goddess. The like of which is not found elsewhere, though the images of Kșemankari Durgā are very common throughout Rajasthan and Gujarat. The Mūrtividhāna of this image is stated in Rūpamaņdana (5.36), Aparājitaprcchā (22227), while purāņas only have the name of the goddess but the silpa aspect is not narrated. The ayudhas or objects in the hands of the goddess differ from book to book. The adamant with the bell which she holds in her hand is said to have tantric connotation. She is famous as one of the twelve Gauris.
Mahişāsuramardini is a panel depicting the goddess in a warring mood. She is in a violent encounter with the ferocious powerful demon Mahisāsura with whom she had to fight for nine days and nights before he could be slain planting her left leg on the ground and the other right leg on the Mahişāsura in the form of buffalo, she inflicts the fatal blow on the demon with her spear and other weapons in the ten right hands. The standing posture of the goddess is in alidhāsana. This is one of the unique images found in the step-well and is well preserved as it has not suffered the weather erosion.