THE CONCEPT OF DURGA IN MAHABALIPURAM
Dr D. R. RAJESWARI
The
very conception of Durga in Indian religious literature
is very idealistic. She combines with two antithetical ideas, i.e., delicacy
and energy, beauty and ugliness, Saumya and Raudra, It is said that She is Tripurasundari. Her celestial beauty is uncomparable
among the three worlds and also She is terrible and hideous.
Her name Durga itself signifies that she is unconquerable
or unassailable one. For the Sakti worshippers, She is all in all. She creates,
preserves and destroys. She is Adisakti, the supreme
consciousness and powerful above all others. It is by Her
grace that all the gods are manifested and even the supramental
Isvara comes into manifestation through Her. The Nirvanatantra says that all the gods came from Her and disappear in Her like lightning, i.e., produced by
clouds, disappears within the clouds. This concept of Durga
is successfully illustrated by the Pallava sculptor
in Mahabalipuram where a number of Durga figures appeared. It seems the Pallava
artist specialised in carving Durga
figures as most amazing and delightful specimens of the pallava
conception of feminine beauty. They are slim and slender and most of them are
in beautiful Tribhanga pose.
The
Durga figure is carved in relief on the southern side
of the Adivaraha cave temple. She is eight-armed and
she stands in the Tribhanga posture on the head of Mahisha. She holds in three of her right hands the wheel,
sword and bell respectively and in corresponding left hands the conch, shield
and bow. The front right hand holds a cup or Sreephala
but it is not clearly visible. Her lower left hand is at the waist (Kati) and a
parrot perched on the wrist, as she is praised as Lilasukapriye.
She is adorned with a necklace, Patrakundalas in her
ear-lobes and crown on her head. Behind her there is a trident, probably it represents
Saktidhvaja. In the top corners of the panel there
are two flying figures, on the right, the head of a lion and on the left the head
of an antelope have been carved. Below on either side of Durga
figure two female attendant figures are shown standing, the right one with a
sword and the left one with a bow. Both the figures are slender, yet they
exhibit their amazonian strength. Similarly on either
side of Durga two devotees are shown kneeling, the
right one is piercing his left hand with a dagger and the left one holds a
sword in his arm-pit. All the figures in this composition are arranged
beautifully and harmoniously. The figure of Durga
looks fine with Her subtle and rhythmic body. Her face
is very elegant with a tranquil smile on her lips as described in the Devimahatmyam.
“Slightly smiling,
spotless resembling the full moon
orb, beautiful as the choicest gold and lovely was thy face.”
While
this description is noticed in the sculpture of Durga in Mahabalipuram, we encounter
an interesting detail associated with Durga. The stag
in addition to the lion is suggesting clearly that the stag or antelope served
as Durga’s vehicle which is a feature very rare in
iconography and peculiar to the sculptures in Mahabalipuram.
This feature we find in all Durga figures except in Mahishasuramardini panel in Mahishasuramardini
Mandapa. In vedic
literature we have the goddess Sri represented as a golden antelope adorned
with garlands of silver and gold in Devisukta. But
there are no literary or monumental representations of antelope as vehicle of Durga. Durga is described as
Lakshmi in Devimahatmya.
In
Gayatrisahasranama Durga is
called Yajushi and Yajnarupini.
She is Yajurveda and she is the form of Yajna or Yajna herself. It is
also said that she is Agni. In the Devimahatmya
of Markandeyapurana, Brahma invoked her as Svaha and Svadha. Svaha and Svadha are considered
to be the eyes of Agni. That means She
is Agni. The deer symbolises
Vedas and also Yajna. Satapatha-Brahmana
and also Taittiriya-Brahmana describe that Agni hides in the forest
when the Devatas searched, it has been found in the form of a deer. So it is called Agnimriga. This Agni is herself. In Gayatrisahasranama she
is called Sarabha, who is the form of a deer. The
lion symbolises strength, power, courage and force,
the deer symbolises speed. Keeping in mind all these points
they carved the head of an
antelope symbolically.
Another
feature of this Durga panel is that she is associated
with Vishnu cave temple. All the Durga figures are
associated with Vishnu. We can take the instances of Mahishasuramardini, She is
seen along with Anantasaivishnu in Mahisha Mandapa, Durga in Adivaraha Mandapa, Trimurti cave, etc. All
these Durga figures are having conch wheel, bell,
trident, bow and sword which are Vaishnavite and Saivite as weapons. From a very early period she was mythologically associated with Vishnu. Durga
Stotras of Mahabharata, Aryastava
of Harivamsa describe Her as
the daughter of Yasoda. (Yasoda
garbha sambhutam...Nanda Gopakula jatam) She is the younger sister of
Another
important feature is the devotees offering flesh and blood to the goddess. This
is also a regular feature in all the Durga panels.
Probably this indicates the sacrificial rituals which symbolise
the self-immolation at the goddess’s feet, by piercing their Ragadveshadi guna, so that they can get Her
blessings. It seems that the left hand rituals were in practice at that tine
which inspired the artist also. Kalikapurana
describes this type of offering as the Navakhandavidhi.
Devirahasya Tantra says
that she will be satisfied by the sacrifice of animals like buffalo. Devipujakalpam says that she will take Madhu
and Mamsam. Devoid of these two among the offerings,
the worship is fruitless. She will not be satisfied. So all
these ideas are symbolically illustrated by the Pallava
sculptor at Mahabalipuram.
The
next remarkable and unique sculpture in Mahabalipuram
is the war between Durga and Mahisha
in the Mahishasuramardini Mandapa.
The style reaches its highest watermark in plasticity, elegance and vividness
in the representation. This is the most original work as though the sculptor
has a spiritual vision of the whole battle. It proves that the Indian artist
enters a plane of contemplation in order to conceive the mental picture before
he executes it on the stone. It is said that Valmiki, before he began writing
Ramayana, first visualised in Yoga the entire Ramayana.
The characters appeared in his vision living and moving as though in real life.
So it seems that the Pallava sculptor also got the
vision of the battle in his Dhyana and illustrated on
the stone following his inner vision.
The
literary meaning of Mahishasuratnardini is one who
crushed the buffalo-demon–the personification of evil forces, i.e., Agnana, Avidya, and the violent
egoism, devourer of the world. On the other hand Durga
is Cosmic energy. Mahavidya
and enlightenment are of the valour or powers of all
the gods together. She rescued the Universe from the tyranny of the demon Mahishasura which became a favourite
theme for the Indian artist. The details of the story have been given in the Devimahatmya
of Markandeyapurana probably written in fourth
century A. D. and in the Devibhagavatham also.
According
to Markandeyapurana “the pile of light which was
collected by all the gods transformed into a woman, illumining the whole world
by her lustre.” The gods bestowed upon her all their
weapons.
In
this panel she is riding on her lion with erect and firm grace. She is drawing
the bow string, yet the arrow is not carved. She appears in such a firm and
concentrated pose, drawing the bow string we feel that both are there. Three
other right hands hold a sword, bell and wheel and the three left hands hold a
dagger, noose and conch. One of her Ganas holds a
royal parasol and another a Chouri.
Her elegant body is really illuminating. She is delicate like a flower. Her
face is charming like a moon with a proud smile of triumph. She is advancing
along with her Ganas. The final triumph is not
depicted, yet it is suggested. All her Ganas are in
joyful mood and are taking the battle very lightly as if they are conscious of
their association with primal energy. Mahishasura is
waiting for an opportunity to war upon her. He is represented with human body
and buffalo head. He is described in Devimahatmya as Ardhanishkranta. His face and postures are suggesting of
his firmness and brutal force. One of his
servants is holding a royal parasol. It seems both the Sura
and Asura forces
are equally strong. The entire grouping of the figures and the depiction
of the incident is forceful and graphic. Though it is vigorous, yet it is
gentle in representing the brutal dramatic scene of the battle. Probably the
artist followed the Devimahatmya description. The
description of Devimahatmya is as follows: when Mahishasura heard the terrific roar of the goddess, he
rushed towards that sound. Then He saw the Devi filling
the three worlds with Her splendour bending low the
earth with the force of her strides, scratching the sky with her pointed diadem,
shaking the nether worlds with the twang of Her bow string and standing there
filling the ten directions of space with her thousand arms. Then ensued between
the Devi and the Asuras a
battle by the free use of weapons and missiles which made the quarters set on
fire. In the words of H. Zimmer “in this perennial primeval
female all the particularised and limited forces of
their (the gods’) various personalities were powerfully integrated. Such
an overwhelming totalisation signified Omnipotence.
By a gesture of perfect surrender and fully wild self-abdication, they had
given their energies to the primeval Sakti, the one
force, the fountainhead, whence originally all had stemmed. And the result was
now a great renewal of the original state of the universal potency. When the
Cosmos first unfolded into a system of strictly differentiated spheres and
forces, life energy was parcelled out into a
multitude of individuated manifestation. But these now had lost their force.
The Mother of them all, life energy itself as the primeval maternal principle
had reabsorbed them, eaten them back into the universal womb. She now was ready
to go forth in the fullness of her being.” She is the eternal light and energy.
She was born from the Tejas of the gods.