An Image of Aditi-Uttānapad

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An Image of Aditi-UttnapadAuthor(s): Stella KramrischReviewed work(s):Source: Artibus Asiae, Vol. 19, No. 3/4 (1956), pp. 259-270Published by: Artibus Asiae PublishersStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3248763.

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STELLA KRAMRISCH

AN IMAGE OF ADITI-UTTANAPAD

An imageof greatsignificances preservedn the Museumat Alampurn the SouthernDeccan (Fig. I-2).IThe image is carved in a dark stone. The surface of the recumbentfigurewas worked to a high degree of polish.The mighty female shape lies facing upward on a nearly square plane. The rim of thissurfaceframesthe figureandallows the waterthat was poured over the image duringworshipto flow off through the spout at the proper left of the figure. The whole carved image withits squarish support (36" x 40") fulfilled the function of an altar (pitha).z It is replete with thehigh relief representinga majesticmaternalbody. It lies in the birth position. The broadlyspread-out egs are drawnup laterallyand bent at the knees. The soles of the feet are turnedupward.Theirmodelling and the contractionof the toes show the tension and strugglewhichattendthe processof giving birth.The feet accentuate he cornersof the squarishaltarandthewidth of the figurewhich is splayedout up to the knees.The elbows rest on them. The armsare bent upwardsand the hands,eachholding a lotus bud, are laid on the shoulderswhile theforefingers, n a sensitiveand relaxedmovement, touch upon the petals of the large and openlotus blossom that crowns the image, as its neck and head. A smalland delicatebeadnecklacelinks chest and flower by the curve of its outline. It reposes on the surging modelling of thebody which gains powerfulvolume in the large, flattenedglobes of the breastswith their lotus-nipples.3

Serpentarmlets are coiled aroundthe pillar shapesof the upperarms.Widely spacedbra-celets join their broadeningaccents to the monumentalform of the upperhalf of the image,whereasthin anklets,quickenedwith serpentineenergy,cling to the feet. But for these serpentornaments, he figure s naked. The lower half of herbodyis modelledin the throesof muscularconvulsion, from the palpitatingflesh of hips and abdomento their bud-like opening in themiddle. The upperhalf of the body, however, lies calmin monumentalgravityandfulfilment,sealed by the lotus flower on top, whose limp petals, pointing upward,pointing downward,recline in low relief againstthe swelling buds upheld by the serpentlikefingers of the image.None of the innumerableknown shapes n which the goddess revealedherself to the Indiansculptors surpasses he power andconsistencyof the imagein Alampur.It would seemto have

i. e. in the former State of Hyderabad.The image is labelled as Nagna Kabandha,or "naked, headless body", whichshows complete ignorance of the meaning of the sculpture.2 The stone slab is at present installed on a cement base. The rim is damaged on the right proper of the image. Therewas, it seems, another outlet for the water.3 Actual decoration of the breastswith flower or leaf pattern (patralekha;see Amarakosa)was used as an erotic and sym-bolical device (cf. Kadambari,ed. Kale, Bombay, I928, p. 98).

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belonged originallyto one of the sanctuaries f this town of temples.The styleof the modellingwould assign the image to approximately he eighth century,althoughnone of the images onthe severaltemples, or in the Museum,of Alampurare equalin quality.4None of them, mo-reover, portraya conception equal to that of the recumbentimage. Nearer to it as a bodilytype, though more schematicallycomposed, would be certainimages from Elura, such as theDurgain the RamesvaraCave or the Indrani n the IndraSabha.sThe iconographyof the image,though it has no known parallel, s nonetheless adumbrated,n one or severalof its aspects,by more than one earlierwork of art. Nearest in spaceand time is a fragmentof an image inMahakut, n the SouthwesternDeccan (Fig. 3). The temples there date from the laterpart ofthe sixth centuryor about the year 600o.6This would also be the date of the fragmentof theimageof the goddess with arms raisedfrom the elbows, each handfacing outward and holdingin katakahasta the curvedstalk of a lotus flower, just fully opening. They flank the mainlargeflower whose outer circle of petals rests on the chest of the image and whose filaments formthe centrehigh up- level with the top of the stele- of the largeflower which exceedsin widththe shouldersof the slim, long-armedgoddess and is her crowning glory. Like her mightiersister image, this figure, too-wearing a double pair of wristlets-although it seems to havebeen shown sitting or standingupright, is carvedin front of a plain back slab. It was partlycut out so as to throw into higherreliefand outline more sharply he contour of the image.With the exception of two terra cotta plaques from northernIndia,7of Kushan or earlyGupta date, no other representationsof the goddess are known whose body carriesa lotus inplace of neck and head. There are cognate conceptions, however, in the more remote past ofIndianArt, the one from Sanchi of the second centuryB. C., the other from the Indus Valleyof the 3rd Millennium B. C.One of the roundels carvedin low relief on the railing posts of StiipaII in Sanchi shows atypicalconfiguration (Fig. 4). In free but calculatedsymmetry, wo winged lions pranceforthfrom pod-shapedbases carriedon stalks which issue from a central device resemblingan in-verted flower shape. Indented leaf and bud motifs spring from the same centre and fill thelower, lateralsegments of the roundel. Above the lions two folded lotus leaves touch, withtheir chalice-likedesign, the apex of the circle. They aresent up on long stalkswhich likewisestem from the inverted floralfantasyat the bottom. Between their amphora-like ines, and attheir widest divergence,a fully opened lotus flower tosses its petals and filamentsaround andbelow the emergentseed pod with its unusuallybroadtop. The support of this centrallotusbloom can hardlybe describedas a stalk. At either side of a thin, centralridge its shape,toobroad for any stalk, is curved with the symmetrysuggesting somehow lithe female limbs -topped by the lotus bloom. Above it, completingthe vertical axisof the composition,garlandsaresuspendedfrom one centralpoint.4 See Plates 73-75, 77; Stella Kramrisch,TheArt of India.s See Plates 234 and 243; H. Zimmer, The Art of Indian Asia.6 See Plate 37, Kramrisch,op. cit., and Plates 24-26, TheGoldenAge of IndianArt by Rambach and de Golish. The imagewas lying uncaredfor, the left armbroken, on a corner of the enclosed grounds of the temples in Mahakut.7 One is from Bhita, the other from Kosam. A large lotus, which may be comparedwith the lotus flower of Fig. 3, coversthe shoulders and part of the chest of the figure on the Bhita plaque; the upper row of petals is above the shoulders,where the neck would be; the womb is lotus-girt. See Archaeological Survey of India, Annual Report, 1927-28, P1.XXIII, Fig. 40; page 75. For the similar figure from Kosam, see ibid., p. 67.

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Fig. 3. Image in Mahakut Fig. 6. Roundel on post of Railing, Barhut. CopyrighDepartment of Archaeology, Indian Museum, Calcut

Fig. 5. Roundel on post of Railing, Stupa II, SanchiFig. 4. Roundel on post of Railing, Stuipa I, Sanchi


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This roundel has a counterpart n another,similardesign (Fig. 5). Although this lacks theterse vivaciousness,the centralfigure emerges in complete anthropomorphicshape. Flankedby two birds insteadof the lions and standingon a central floral'support,the figuredrawstoitself the long lotus stalks and the large flowers are upheld by its hands to either side of thediademedhead. It is crownedby two large lotus buds and a small rosette between them.8 Thefigurehere is male.A knee-lengthdhoti, drapedaroundthe thighs, shows its long end gatheredand tucked in front.

Relatedto these two roundels in Sanchi is one more circularpanel, from the railingof theStiipa of Barhutof the first century B. C. (Fig. 6). The winged quadrupedshere have well-toothed monster's heads, a lotus flower occupies the root position in the centre. From thecup-like pericarpa smallleafy tree emergesin front of a leaf-likeflame,the central,non-iconicdevice of this composition.Before enteringinto the underlyingtheme of these differentsculptures n which the lotusoccupies a centralplace, two painted potsherdsfrom Mohenjodarowith a circle of lotus petalsaroundthe necks should be mentioned,for they seem to suggest in their own termsthe pleni-tude and meaningof the image at Alampurwith the lotus at its neck.In Barhut of the ist centuryB. C., and particularlyn Sanchi,on the gateways of the IstcenturyA. D., certainrepresentations requently occupy the sameplaces. They would appearto be sculptural ynonyms.In some of them, the centeris occupiedby a roundpot, the "purnaghata", from which lotus flowers emerge; in others, the anthropomorphicequivalent is afemale figure, standingor seated on an expandedlotus flower, holding a lotus flower in herraisedhand, and surroundedby flowering stems and growing leaves.IoThese lattercomposi-tions are well establishediconographictypes of the Goddess Sri or Laksmi.In none of themdoes she have a lotus in placeof her headand she is never in the birthposition.The lotus flower crowns the body of the images of Mahakutand Alampur.In Alampur,the lotus is comprisedwithin the outline of the body; it connects the curves of the shoulders(Figs. i-2). It is edged and supported by the large lotus buds that converge on it from thehands of the image whereas in the image in Mahakut (Fig. 3) the lotus faces upward andexceeds the shouldersin height. In the image at Alampur,the filaments of the flower are notshown, but only the doublerow of petals,andpossiblythe centre and tip of the pericarpof thelarge, delicateand somewhat tired flower. The curves of the petals communicate the essenceof their fragrance, ust when the flowerbegins to fade. The vigour that had been in the petalsis drawninward,into the pericarpwhere the cycle of the lotus life begins anew. That is wherethe forefingerspoint to and where the large lotus buds are laid on with their soft, sheltering,fleshy shapes.

8 The small shape between the large lotus buds of Plates I-III could neither be identified on the image nor in its photo-graphs.9 Sir John Marshall, Mohenjo-darondtheIndusCivilisation,Vol. III, Pls. LXXXVII 3 and XC 25. One side of a sealingfrom Harappa (op. cit., I, P1.XII, 12, pp. 52, 70) shows an inverted female figure with knees wide apart,hands restingon knees, and a tree-likeplant issuing upside down from the womb.10 A. K. Coomaraswamy, Early IndianIconograpy,Pt. II. "EasternArt" Vol. I., .,p distinguishes accordingly, threevarieties of the image of Laksmi, i) with lotus in hand, padma-hasta;2) padmasana,or padmapitha,the lotus seat orlotus on which Sri Laksmi rests and 3) Laksmi as the dweller in the lotus, 'padmavasini, kamalalaya'.263


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Embedded and floating on the surging modelled mass, the lotus crowns the woman whois all body, gravid mass, akin to that of the palaeolithicVenus from WNillendorfho, thoughshe has a head of hair, is without a face. And there are Cycladic mages whose rarified,exten-sive body has no head at all. For the mother goddess is altogether body, incarnate,purposivepotentialitywhose fulfilment,the womb, is between the symmetry,right and left, of the twobreasts,hands, and legs. In one line from the centre, over the roundnesses of the hill of theabdomen,lies the shelteredbank above, where the lotus rests and guardsits secret, behind adouble wreath of petals, locked by the bead chain, the only ornament aid on the body itself.Closeby, laterally,on the armlet,the head of a serpent s raised."The image in Mahakutwhich has a lotus for its head maybe compared o imagesthat haveeither human or animal heads. The humanhead, though it may be carved without a face, isthe seat of consciousness and has its supportin the body. The animalheadin sculpture,makesits carrier, he humanbody, into a supportof its inhuman,more than human,power, that ofthe animal creation-which precededmen. Earlier still, in the hierarchyof creation, is theplantworld. The innocence in the power of vegetation and the innocence of the animal shineforth from their shapesas formed in Indian art.'2They areworthy to be carriedby the bodyof manandwith it conjointlyconvey a realisationof divinityfelt andknown throughthe body,seen andfelt in animaland plant,and thenceplacedat the seat of consciousness.India's foremost sacredplantis the lotus.I3 It flowers on and above the surfaceof the water,rising from the mud under the water. The flower opens to the sun and closes in the evening.Other varietiesof the lotus, however, respondto the moon, open at night and are closed inthe day. With its root in the mud, its stalk traversingthe entiredepth of the waterson whichit rests its leaves, its flower open to the light of heaven, the lotus belongs to this world andthose below and above, to Light, Earth and Water. Its open flower emits a fragranceof thesubtlest vibrations;14 the petals, whatever their colour, gleam with crystal freshness, theiropening and closing fans into ripenessthe seeds in the pericarp.It is seed pod, womb andground of the new plants,and on its high level of perfected beautyit holds the mysteryof thelotus. This wondrous plant, having its being in earth,water,andlight, enactstheir transmuta-II Another instance of the connection of serpentand lotus, in the iconography of Sri-Laksmiin particular,are the Nagasamidstlotuses in the lower partof the rock-cut panel of Sri-Laksmi n the Ravana-ka-khai ave, Elura, A. K. Coomaras-

wamy, Yaksas, II. P1. 24.12 Brhad-dharma, ch. 48.Siva cut off the head of Daksa, for the offence he had committed of excluding Siva from the Sacrifice.Siva then says, "Fix the head of an animal on Daksa. It will be sinless and replacehis sinful face". Daksa was given thehead of a Ram or Goat.13 From the days of the "Indus valley" civilisation, in the 3rd millennium B. C. where the lotus as a conventionalized,geometricalpatternis painted on the undersideof the bowl of an offering stand, the lotus flower is a perennialsymbolof Indian art.The circular lotus pattern painted in Mohenjo-daro, is similar in its mature stylisation to the carved versions of the

lotus petals on Mauryanpillars (Mohenjo-daro,op. cit. P1.LXXXVII. 3) whereas the abbreviatedversion (ib. P1.CX.25) is more closely connected with carvings of Stupa II, Sanchi, and in Barhut, with paintings on the vault of CaveIX, Ajanta,and with carvings on fountain stones of Chamba.Sir John Marshall,op. cit. Vol. II. pp. 321 and 329, considers the design on the underside of these two pans as quiteunusual. "It may have been derived from a flower or from flutedmetal work." But no fluted metal work has been foundin Mohenjo-daro, the designs moreover do not resemble the fluted metal work found in Kish, CemeteryA, to whichSir John Marshall refers (See Mackay, "Report on the Excavation of the 'A' cemetery at Kish", P1.LVII. I3.).

14 Gandha, scent is known to be the subtle essence of the element Earth, as Rasa, flavour, is that of Water.

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tion from earthto light, from mud to sent, through water to gleaming colour in the regu-larity of its shape,not only ordered as it is in all the directionsof space, but also in the re-gularityofty s movement, opening and closing with the measure of time, of days and nights.With this series of functions a synthesisis effected of elements and forms of the cosmos,whereasthe processescontained in the pericarpon high refer to the mysteriesof generation.When the seeds of other sorts of plantareripe, the burstingof the pod releasesthem, andthey fall to the groundand germinate.It is otherwise with the lotus. The ripe seeds, insteadoffalling from the pod, remainin the cells where they have grown. Within these cells, whoseopeningsare too small to let themout, the seeds sendforth theyoung seedlings.The seedpod istheir matrix until they are large enough to burst open their cells. The seedlings then sink tothe bottom of the water wherethey take root in the mud.Within the flower the reproductive power has its seat. There, high above the muddyground, above the water,the whole cycle of vegetationis accomplished.Within the pericarp sheld the continuityfrom bud to fruitand againto the new, young plant,the beginningandtheend andthe new beginningonce more. The centre of productivityand the cycle of generationresideabove, in the flower. The earthbelow, the mud, is but the intermediateground for theroot. Productivityand generationabove, are one continuous process within the lotus flower.When the lotus flower is supported,not by its stalk in nature,but on the femalebody in art,the place of productivityand generation is also that of consciousness,which resides in thehead,and which is concentrated n the severalsubtle centres(cakra) ituatedthere. As the lotusextends over the region of the throat, it occupies the Visuddhi cakra,the subtle centre in thethroatregion, in the image at Alampur particularly Figs. i-2). Each of these centresor cakrasis visualizedin the shapeof a lotus. Its name conveys its meaning. The lotus situatedin thethroat,Visuddhi cakraor centre of GreatPurity,is realized as the door to liberation,for therethe four Vedas areknown, togetherwith their secretmeaning. The throat,whence the vibra-tion which causesspeech s exteriorized n man,the microcosm,asarticulatevoice, the Visuddhicakra,is the place for the manifestationof the Word, in its universalmacrocosmicreference.The Word is Veda, sum total of all Knowledge. From the Word was brought forth the Uni-verse.16

Supportedby the entirefigure,on top of her body is the placeof the lotus, the placeof theBirth of the Universe.Below, the figure s shown in the physicalposition of giving birth,aboveshe is herself once morethe giver of life, as lotus, the Word that was in the beginning,genetrixof all that exists in the cosmos, genetrix once more of what is manifestas embodied cosmicconsciousness.For the image is that of the Birth-givingmother in her shapeas woman and in her shapeas lotus, one in functionandartisticvision, but dualin shapeand in the hierarchyof meaning,

offeringher being to be beheld andworshippedas Goddess. The image at Alampurlies flat onher back,on a raisedplinth, on an altarwhich she completelyfills. She herself is this altar.She is the birth-givingmother.If head and face establishthe identity of a person, she whohas neitherheadnor face but a lotus insteadis the lotus, Padma,foremost of all plantsin India."Plants,0 ye Mothers,I hail you as Goddesses"(YajurV. IV. 2.6).The nourishing, ife-giving,15 Sivasamhita, 5. 117.16 ManusmrtiI. 21.

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life-saving plants are mothers; in their miraculouspower they are goddesses. In a physicalsense, the Earth (Prthivi)is the mother of plantsand herbs, the all-producer(AtharvaVedaXII. I. 17). She is this earth "on whose surface theyenclose thealtar"(Atharva VedaXII. I. 13).As large asis this Earth, so large is the altar(R.V. I. 64. 35; X. IIo. 4 SatapathaBrahmanaIII. 7. 2. I; IX. 4. 2. 3. XII. 8. 2. 36; etc.). This whole earth is one place of sacrifice,of trans-mutationof the lower earthlyman into the higher spiritualman, and of attaining by sacrificeto the realm of the spirit,to heaven,while yet remaining irmlyon this earth. So Mother Earth(AtharvaVeda XII. I. 12) is invoked, as She who bears plants, that She, Prthivi (the wideone), may spreadwide and favour us (AV. XII. i. 2).The image as altar(Figs. i, 2) is the place of new birth- of which the motheris the figureand the lotus te symbol. Images vested in architectureand natureoverlap, in the total con-figuration,colourful transparencies f the meaningthat encompassesand surpasses hem. It issaid a ehat herbs and plants of which he lotus is the foremost-were "born first".The mea-ning here is not that of an event in time but of a prefiguration n those cycles of creation ofcausalimages which do not lie within any time; they are known as timeless prefigurationofthose essences,whichwere to convey theirmeaning through the fragranceandshapeof flowersand plants long before the conception of gods. "The plants which were born first, three agesbefore the gods" (Rg Veda X. 97. I), are prefigurative hought-forms.In the order of con-ceptual seeing or image-making,the essence to which the plants are to give substance is amind-conceivedrealitywhich precedesthat of the gods.At the stage of the making of concreteimages (murti),the "preceding"conceptualstrata,in their causal and archetypalexistence,though they are layered,are transparent.They implyand evoke each other.

The architectural orm, the altar,as in Alampur,bases its symbolic suggestiveness on itshorizontalextent which is spreadout like the surface of the earth, Prthivi, the "broad one".As Mother Earth,Prthivi is the archetypal"altar".17 n the sculptureat Alampur,the femaleshapecarries he lotus in one line with her sex. Her generative power is along her middleline.On either side of it her width is spread.But when, for reasons of ritualrequirement, he objectused is of verticalextent, like the offeringstandsof the Harappacivilisation,the Head lotus isexpandedtowards the sky, as it also appearson the upright image at Mahakut(Fig. 3), withthe difference hat the petalsof the Mohenjo-darootus, paintedon the undersideof the pan orbowl of offering,formed a completecircle.And where the lotus is part of a capitalof a pillar,the symbolismof this shape belongs to the sameorder,in all the varietiesof its form andtheirparticularapplications.In this instancethe petalsof the upward-facingotus are turned down-ward, as are those of the lower set, above the necklace, of the image at Alampur.Other ad-justmentsof the head-lotusto its presentationwith the imageare the halo (Sirascakra)n whichthe lotus is shown at the back of the head,generallyas partof a stele, and also the lotus discatthe backof the head of South Indian metalimagesof divinities where theanthropomorphic,divine head is the "face" of the image.1817 Prthivi is derived from prthu which means "broad".18 Re the Lotus-halo, see H. Zimmer, TheArt ofIndianAsia, Pls. 100, 101, io8 b. The lotus above the image is carved alsoat the more or less pointed top of the back slab of the stele where, however, the "Kirttimukha"or Face of Gloryfrequently takes its place. The same vicarious occupancy of a significant position on the monument by the lotus (ofearlieroccurrence)and the Kirttimukha which takes its place, gives special emphasis to the Sikharaof Hindu temples

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A lotus, in the two images (Figs. I-3), is also held in either of the two hands. The imagesare "padmahasta",n addition to being "padminana"or "lotus-faced",as the goddess Sri isdescribed n the Srisukta.19 lotus, "the nectarineessence of the Waters", s generallyheld byLaksmi, the mother of this entire Earth, in her right hand where it also signifies one of thetwo oceans, that is the ocean of the upper region in contrast to the ocean that girds the earthand is symbolisedby the conch shell.20Throughoutthe historyof Indiansculpture, he GoddessLaksmi,the Auspicious,whose name is also Sri, the Beautiful, s representedasholding a lotus,occupying a lotus, as her seat or stand, and surroundedby lotuses. This goddess, in Indianiconography,is frequentlythe centre of the Lotus configuration,and her perimeter s a kindof lotus scene.

The image at Alampur (Figs. I, 2) does not hold full, open lotuses. The buds, which areclosed, seem just then only to have acquiredtheirpointed shape, petalsand sepalshave not asyet separated.They are nascent buds in which the embryonicseed pod is hidden. The lotusbuds arenot held aloft on either side of the body. Theircurve extendsthe arc of the bent armsof the image upwardfrom the knees. With this movement they reach to the apexof the centrallotus flower as if in a rite of insemination. With great tendernessthey are laid down by thelarge hands of the image and their serpentinefingers; they meet, supportand are part of onecentral, crowning lotus configuration, closing the cycle of the flower, sealing the sculpture ofthe Genetrix as one self-contained orm of the widest symbolicalconnotation.Viewed as form, the mass of the sculptureappearsrepletewith the vastnessof its concep-tion. This mass, carved in stone, is modelled throughout. The qualityof the modelling is anintrinsicone, bringing to the surfaceof the relief the movement which sustains and pervadesthe curved planes of the image. They are fastened to and bounded by the squarelevel of thealtar. This seems to have risen up in the likeness of a gigantic femalebody, incorporating tsshapeand bindingit by its square imit. The two conceptions,the "anthropomorphic" nd thearchitectural refused. They are not adjusted o one another,but constitutea formalunity.

Spreadwithin, andcoercedby the square imit of the base,the mass rises with curves whichare as tense as they are elastic. Their arcs hold the tidal waves of the life-giving body. Itsboundless abundance s stemmedby the squarefield of the relief. The overall conception ofaltar and life-giving body impartsmonumental calm to the modelling. It is accentuatedby agreater frequencyof vibration in the modelling of the upturnedsoles, suggestive of muscularcontractions n the agony of giving birth.Whose is the life-giving image? Although related to that of LaksmizIt is not this goddesswhom the greatmaster of Alampurbodied forth. Here is a deeper messageand a more primal

above the point where the roof of the porch terminates. The skyline of the subsidiary buildings must not exceed inheight this particularpoint.Analogously too, lotus and Kirttimukha are the main frontal or top ornaments of the crown of divinities. Their signifi-cance at these places is elaborated in the various schools of sculpture.The lotus which stands for divinity and is that divinity as made by art belongs also to Egypt. There it representsthegod Nefertem; or else the lotus is shown above the head of the good who arose from the primal Water (Nun), whoarose from Earth, cf. S. Morenz, Der GottaufderBlume,pp. 16-2I, P1.I. (Ascona 1954).

19 Sri-Suikta25, in PafcamrtadhyabhisekaSukta. - Scheftelowitz, Die Apokryphen esRg Veda,p. 79.20 Visnudharmottara III. ch. 82. i-i6.21 The image of the Goddess Mother Sri, SirimaDevata, in Barhut comes nearest to the shape of a "Mother Goddess".See L. Bachhofer, Early IndianSculpture,P1.21.

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vision. Like Laksmi, she is the All-Mother, born of the Waters- by which she appearssur-rounded- floating on them on her altar, during worship. Like Laksmi,her shapeis that of"our Lady of Abundance",who is hymned in the Sri-sikta, as of the lotus-face and lotus-thigh (padma-uru); he juxtapositionof these two of her lotus parts stresses their correspon-dence in the sculptureat Alampur.22Like Sri of the hymn, her sculpturedform is "ardra"(Sri Sukta4; 14) which means"billowing" as form and also "wet", in her element the water,the water on which her lotuses float. And she is Earth,Prthivi, the Broadone, spreadon thewater,23he supportof all living beings (Sri-suikta ). For She "who at first was Waterin theOcean"Prthivi, the Broadone, is invoked in the AtharvaVeda, in her centre andnavel, withall the forces that have issued from her body, to set us amid those forces. "I am the son ofEarth, Earth is my mother."24But this Earth is the ground, the support of all existence, theall-sustaining.Abiding thus in the substantialand concreteaspectof the all-sustainingMother,the Universeis ever bornealong and supportedby her. "Thou art the Earth,the ground, thouart the all-sustainingAditi, she who supportsall the World."25 She, the wide one, the capa-cious, widely spread,26 ounteous Earth, s most truly, activelyherself when "spreadingwide",she is shown giving birth to all that is."In the first age of the gods the existent was born from the non-existent. After this theregions were born. This [existent]was born of her with the legs spreadopen (uttanapad).TheWorld was born of her with the legs spread open. From Aditi Daksa was born and fromDaksa Aditi" (Rg Veda X. 72. 3-4).And it is Aditi whom the singerof the hymnof the AtharvaVeda invokes as the Vessel that containedall beings, she who is granterof the wish, the farspreading,Earth,my mother."27As MotherEarth,who never lets down,28whose lapholds all succour29 nd life immortal,30her navel is the centre of the earth.31This earth,to the ancientswas but one large altar- for"as large as is this altar,so large is the earth",32 ne sacrificialplacewhere manis restoredtoprimordialunity. The sacrifice s the navel of the Universe, the navel of the Mother where inthe beginning we were together, the placealso where Aditi is invoked to restorethis our rela-tion.33Aditi, MotherEarth,is rituallythe altar,who bearsin her womb the SacrificialFire.34"MayAditi in her womb bearAgni as a motherin her lap, her son" (YajurVeda XI. 57).As Altar and Womb, the image of Aditi (Figs. i, 2) faces upward.The image is laved ri-tually by the water for which the sculptureprovidesrimand outlet. Symbolically t is the samewater in which the gods danced in the beginning. The gods, born after Aditi was born,22 Sri-sfkta, 17a; Scheftelowitz, op. cit. p. 77.23 SatapathaBrahmana VII. 4. i. 8.24 Atharva Veda XII. I. 8-i2.25 Vajasaneyi Samhita, XIII. I8.26 V. S. XIII. I7.27 Atharva Veda (XII. i. 6I, 63). Also Rg Veda X. ii. I2. - Dr. W. Norman Brown, as soon as he saw the photographof the image at Alampur, referred to Uttanapad,RV. X. 72.28 Rg Veda VI. 5 . 5. 'prthivimataradhrug', "deceitless Mother Earth".29 RV. VII. 88. 7.30 RV. IX. 26. I; IX. 7I. 5; IX. 74. 5 i. e. Soma, the Elixir of Iife [as offered on the sacrificialaltar].31 Yajur Veda I. I.32 see p. 8.33 RV. X. 64. I3.34 Yajur Veda, XIV. 5.

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daughterof Daksa,stood closely embraced, n the flood, while thick mist rose from them likedust raisedby dancers(Rg Veda X. 72. 5-6).As Earth, Womb and Altar, the image of Aditi is surroundedby the Waters. The lotusflowers on them.The lotus, symbol of creativeness,blooms above the waters. They nourish and sustainthe

plantas the body of the goddess, whose lap holds the Elixir of life, the Waterof Life, and theSparkof Life, the Fire, supportsthe lotus flower as her head. In these two centres of creati-veness dwell the meaningand the power of the goddess and her image as altar. The Navel ofthe Earthis borne by the womb of this boundlessgoddess3swho is receptacleand carrierofall "that is born and of all that is to be born" (1RgVeda I. 89. io), including those who arere-bornthrough the sacrifice.This is how Aditi's head is spoken of as Earth'splace of sacri-fice (YajurVeda IV. 22). The head of Aditi thus is a lotus, for the lotus flower is also above,in the sky, where the sun is at the Head of the Universe (MaitriUpanisadVI. i. 2).The Navel of the Earthis the centre,where the earthlyheat is consumed on the sacrificialaltar.This is the place of the animalsacrifice,of the creative commutationof animal heat inthe flame of the sacrificial ire. There burns the terrestialFire, Agni, in the flame of the Sacri-fice. But Agni has sprungfrom a lotus, "from the head of the Universe" (murdhno visvasya,Rg Veda VI. 6. I3). In these two centres, the impartite,guiltless36Aditi is at one with her-self, the Great Mother.For "Aditi is heaven,Aditi is the Air, Aditi the Mother,the samealsoFather and Son" (Rg Veda I. 89. io)."From Aditi was born Daksa" (Rg Veda X. 72. 4).37 From the Genetrix, in the act ofgeneration, s generated he activityof the act, the creatorSpiritus,Daksa,the spiritualpotencyin the Universe. "The Non-Existent and the Existentare in the highest heaven at the birth ofDaksa, in the lap of Aditi. Agni indeed is the First-bornof the Law in the PrimalAge" (RgVeda X. 5. 7). The Fatherand the Son, creatorSpiritusand the creativeintellectual Fire areborn in the highest heaven, at the head of the Universe, in the Lotus, in self-sufficient,self-effected,creative generation, simultaneouswith the perennial generation that takes place inthe womb of the GreatimpartiteGoddess, at the firstage of the gods. It is thus that her lotushead rests on her shoulders n that sinless stateof prefigured ife in which the plantsare born,threeages before the gods.38It it thus, too, that in a separaterepresentation he birth of Agniis shown in the Lotus flower (Fig. 6), Agni who is the Son of the GreatMother, the Son ofAditi, and her Gift (Rg Veda I. I85. 3), the Light of Life and Consciousness.For it is sung ofAditi ,,Thought artthou, mind, intellect-Aditi, with a double head" (YajurVeda IV. 9).The Lotus headof Aditi, placedon her shoulders,overlaysher throat with its petals.Therethe subtle centre (cakra)of the articulateVoice is situated, of Speech and of the Word. AsVac, speech and Word, as microcosmic,articulateexistence, and as Macrocosm,Aditi raises35 RV. II. 40. 6. "Aditi, the Boundless" (anarva).36 RV. I. 94. 5. Being at one within herself, the Boundless, Impartite is guiltless (anaga) and makes guiltless (RV. IV.39. 3; I. I62. 22). The fetters of guilt and sin fall in her Boundlessness.37 In a later text, at a phase when Brahmahad taken the place of the creator-god, it is from his intellect that Daksa isknown to have sprung. (Visnu Purana.I. 7. 7.) The birth from the seat of the intellect, from the head, like that ofPallas Athena from the head of Zeus, is equal in meaning to a tradition according to which Sri Laksmi was born on alotus which had sprung from the forehead of Visnu (Mahabharata,XII. 59. 2253-4). Brahma borne on a lotus, sprungfrom the navel of Visnu.38 The animalhead of the gods similarly representsthe state without guilt, of divinity, see note I2.

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her sinless lotus-head.39She is Altar of the World, place of the Sacrifice,Genetrix who isMother, Father and Son,40potent, parturientbody Vessel of Fire within the Water of Life,and she is laved by primevalwaters,Lotus of self-renewal n the Impartite.Who "will give usback to the Great Aditi? MayI see Motherand Fatheragain"(IRgVeda I. 24. i). Through theDivine Fire of creation and by the flame of the Sacrificewe return to the lotus flower of guilt-less, impartite,self-sufficientUnity. "God Agni is the firstof the immortals whose dear namewe have in mind. He shallgive us backto the GreatAditi. MayI see Fatherand Motheragain"(Rg VedaI. 24. 2).

39 The "double head" is also interpretedas "facing both ways, as speech does, for good and evil, now going to the gods,now to the Gandharvas"(cf. AitareyaBrahmana,I, 29).This concept however is not "in Aditi" but belongs to a subsequent stage of articulatespeech having left the body ofAditi, the Impartite,the Sinless. The double head as lotus flower faces both ways, upward toward the macrocosm,anddown toward the embodied creation (microcosm).40 And also daughter, reborn in the intellectual act, of Daksa, the creator spiritus.

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An Image of Aditi-Uttānapad

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