South Asian Goddesses and the Natural Environment.

• VerfasserIn: Vicziany, Marika,
• TeilnehmendeR: Bapat, Jayant Bhalchandra.
• Place / Publishing House: Oxford : : Archaeopress,, 2024.; ©2024.
• Year of Publication: 2024
• Edition: 1st ed.
• Language: English
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (261 pages)

This multidisciplinary collection presents 11 essays ranging from the pre-Vedic to the modern era and incorporating research on Hindu, Buddhist and tribal cultures. Authors ask whether the worship of goddesses, strongly linked to fertility rituals, might have mitigated the ecological decline of South Asia in the pre-British and post-colonial eras.

Table of Contents

Cover -- Inner cover -- Title Page -- Copyright Page -- Contents Page -- List of Figures and Tables -- South Asian Religions and the Natural Environment -- Table 1. Air quality measured by particuate pollution in 2020: the ranking of South Asian Countries from the most to the least polluted (IQAir 2022). -- Table 2. Examples of cures, punishments and measure to ameliorate 'pollution' in the classical Hindu texts given by Dwivedi and Tiwari (Dwivedi and Tiwari 1999: 179-182). -- Figure 1. Diagram of India showing the location of eight elephant reserves that are named in the Arthashastra (Drawing by Vicziany and Harris adapted from Trautmann 2015 Figure 1.4). -- Figure 2. Lord Curzon and Lady Curzon Tiger Hunting in Hyderabad, 1902 (photo 556/3/(61) British Library, viewed 22 July 2022, https://imagesonline.bl.uk/asset/46923/ ). -- The Archaeological and Religious History of Lajjāgaurī, a Pre-Vedic Fertility Deity on the Indian Sub-continent -- Figure 1. Map showing the distribution of the South Asian sites (Map based on Google Earth and designed by R. Korisettar and R. Arjun, Central University of Karnataka, Kalaburagi, Karnataka). -- Figure 2. Miniature Lajjāgaurī representation on the lalāṭa paṭṭi patti of Sangameshwara temple, Basavana Bagewadi, Karnataka (photo Korisettar). -- Figure 3. The Lajjāgaurī image from an indisputable historical context from Nagarjunakonda in the Krishna river valley, Andhra Pradesh (photo Smitha Kumari, Superintending Archaeologist, Hyderabad Circle, Archaeological Survey of India, Hyderabad, Telanga -- Figure 4. The label inscription at the base of the Nagarjunakonda Lajjāgaurī image clearly mentions the historical context and describes the deity as one who protects the queen from widowhood and her children from premature death. We are yet to find anoth.

Figure 5. A nondescript Lajjāgaurī shrine at Banavasi in Karnataka. Stone plaques of this type are common in the Deccan during the Pre-Chalukyan times (photo Uthara Suvratan, Azim Premji University, Bengaulru). -- Figure 6. The Lajjāgaurī stele in the Alampur museum in the Kurnool district, Andhra Pradesh, ascribed to the Eastern Chalukyas. Note the typical lotus head frequently found since the emergence of Chalukya patronage, post 5th century AD (photo Director De -- Figure 7. The Kamakhya Lajjāgaurī represents the living tradition in north-eastern India. She represents the fourth category of Bolon's classification (Bolon 1990). The Kamakhya Devi is a Tantric deity and the image is dated between 10th and 12th century -- Figure 8: A unique Chalukya period bas-relief of Lajjāgaurī with a human head, accompanied by a papal tree to the right and the bull to the left, preserved in the Badami museum of the Archaeological Survey of India (photo Superintending Archaeologist, Dha -- Figure 9. A limestone plaque of Lajjāgaurī from Adalageri preserved in the museum of Kannada Research Institute, Karnatak University, Dharwad, Karnataka. It is interesting to note the positions of her feet covering the pudenda (photo R.M. Shadaksharaiah, -- Figure 10. A Lajjāgaurī plaque from Majati in Karnataka. The feet are spread out revealing the pudenda (photo Head of the Department of Ancient Indian History and Epigraphy, Karnatak University, Dharwad, Karnataka). -- Figure 11. A variant form of Lajjāgaurī, from Maleshankar, Shivamogga, with a head different from the Chalukyan tradition. Perhaps the rectangular block represents a bull's head and recalls the Neolithic representations in the Levant (photo Shejeshwar Nay.

Figure 12. A miniature Lajjagauri image with a human head from Mandsaur, Malwa in western Madhya Pradesh (photo Wakankar Shodh Sansthan, Ujjian, Madhya Pradesh). -- Figure 13. Lajjāgaurī plaque from Mahurjhari, Vidarbha, Maharashtra. Mahurjhari is well- known from Iron Age and Early Historic sites. Several images were recovered during the course of excavations at the site. A series of Lajjāgaurī images dating the Sat -- Figure 14. Lajjāgaurī plaque from Kesaraghatta in the Ranga Reddy district of modern Telangana, clearly depicts the Shaiva affiliation accorded to the deity (photo Director Department of Archaeology and Museum, Government of Telangana, Hyderabad, Telangan -- Figure 15. A modern concept of Palaghat (also Palaghata Devi) depicted with a head. Palaghat symbolizes fertility and prosperity and is worshipped by the Warli tribe in the Konkan region of Maharashtra. Traditionally Palaghat is a headless fertility deity -- Figure 16 a. Terracotta figurines of woman and the bull from Chalcolithic Inamgaon in Maharashtra (photo Rabi Mohanty, Head Department of Ancient Indian History, Culture and Archaeology, Deccan College, Pune). -- Figures 16 b. (front view) and 16 c. (back view) of a woman mounted on a bull from the Late Neolithic context (1400 BC) at Kurugodu a multicultural Neolithic to Early Historic site near Ballari in Karnataka (photo Archaeological Survey of India, Excavatio -- Figure 17. The Neolithic context of the woman and the bull combination of female and male fertility deities in the archaeological record. In the Levant these representations appear from c.9500 BC (photo Cauvin 2007). -- Figure 18. The worship of Visirikal is a living tradition in Tamil Nadu. Some scholars identify the human form megaliths with the fertility mother goddess cult (photo K. Rajan, Pondicherry University, Puducherry).

Female Avatāra and Guarantor of Fertility: Does the Great Goddess Relate to Nature and the Environment in Some Purāṇas? -- Figure 1. Image of the Devī combining her fierceness and beauty (photo https://kausiki.com/product/devi-bhagavatha-purana-8/). -- The Adoration of Mother Earth in Brāhminic, Folk and Tribal Beliefs and Practices in India -- Figure 1. Stick-on feet of Goddess Lakṣmī (photo Bapat). -- Figure 2. The Sarasvatī Yantra (photo Bapat).26 -- Figure 3. A typical Rāngoḷī in front of a village house (drawing Harris). -- Figure 4. A Madhubani painting (photo Mendelsohn). -- Figure 5. Lajjāgaurī image from Nagnathakolla (photo Bolon). -- Figure 6. A palm-size image of Lajjaguri (photo Rajapurkar). -- Figure 7. Shyam Mayank, renown Gond artist (photo Chemould Gallery, Mumbai). -- Figure 8. 'The Harmony', Anita Baria, Bhil artist (photo Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts, Delhi).35 -- Figure 9. Goddess Pālaghaṭa with the Sun and the Moon (photo Dalmia). -- Figure 10. Pālghāṭ with Purna Ghata [Pūrṇa Kumbha] (photo Dalmia). -- In the Ocean of Suffering: Tārā as Protector from Real or Psychological Waters? -- Figure 1. Clay pressing of the Buddha enshrined at Bodh Gayā after His Enlightenment. This 13 cm image accompanied early Tibetan pilgrims back to Tibet where it was found. At the Buddha's right knee is a small image of Tārā. Site and dates: eastern India, -- Figure 2. The more usual representation of Tārā showing her pendant foot resting on a lotus bloom. Site and date: western Tibet, 16th century AD. Bronze with semi-precious stones and polychrome (photo private collection, Melbourne). -- Figure 3. An unusual representation of Tārā showing her pendant foot resting on churning ocean waves. Site and date: Mongolia, 19th century AD. Clay. Polychrome (photo Todd Barlin Collection, Sydney.).

Dariyadev: The Koli sea god and the Fishing Environment in Mumbai -- Diagram 1. Koli understandings of the directions of the wind (drawn by Kesarkar-Gavankar based on a model drawing by WNKMY1 and interviews with WKMY4 2021, WKMY2 2021, WKME12 2021, and WKME13 2021. -- Diagram 2. Koli religious sites in the sea or on the foreshores, as per our research to date (drawing by Kesarkar-Gavankar, Vicziany and Sahay). -- Figure 1. A map of the key sites on Khanderi Island (photo Kesarkar-Gavankar). -- Figure 2a. Preparing the first palanquin carrying offerings to Dariyadev (photo Kesarkar-Gavankar). The 3.5 foot image sitting on the right side of the miniature model of a Koli wooden boat represents the ideal Koli fisherman: young, muscular, happy and a -- Figure 2b. The second palanquin carrying offerings to Dariyadev (photo Kesarkar-Gavankar). The poster behind the centre of the palanquin is an advertisement acknowledging the Life Insurance Corporation of India for their sponsorship. The palanquin is desi -- Figure 2c. The third palanquin carrying offerings to Dariyadev as it approaches the Koliwada's foreshore (photo Kesarkar-Gavankar). A large umbrella, a metaphor for royalty, features prominently in this expression of devotion. Dariyadev spans the religiou -- Entering the Goddess's Womb: How a Rainforest Valley Became a Tibetan Sacred Site -- Diagram 1. Pemakö on the Sino-Indian border (designed by MacNeil). -- Diagram 2. Pemakö Chung and Pemakö Chen (designed by MacNeil). -- Diagram 3. Pemakö Chen (designed by MacNeil). -- Figure 1. Ngesang Dongak Jangchup Dargye Ling Monastery (photo Gamble). -- Durgā Pūjā and the Environment -- Figure 1.The basic shape of the idol is created with straw, bamboo and wooden frames (photo Banerjee). -- Figure 2. A clay-covered straw idol drying in the sun (photo Banerjee).

Figure 3. An artisan mixing jute shreds with clay (photo Banerjee).