cat. 40 Vasudhara, “the shower of wealth,” is a pre-Buddhist deity symbolizing the phenomena of autumn in South Asia, mainly in the northern part of the subcontinent. The earliest reference to a goddess of similar name is found in Vedic literature, where her name is spelled as Vasor Dhara (Athaarvaveda 12.3.41 – 42). Vedic authors refer to her as a goddess honored on the sixtieth day of autumn for the protection and well-being of cattle. After Vasudhara was incorporated into the Buddhist pantheon, the significance of her association with the season became less important. But in the Kathmandu Valley, even now, she is worshipped by Buddhist Newars at the beginning of autumn exactly when the rice is ready to harvest. During her annual worship her image is placed on top of the pyramidal heap of freshly harvested rice. The Newars call her Yellow Goddess due to her association with the rice paddy, a stalk of which she holds in her hand and which is her main attribute. The Vedic Vasor Dhara is, however, related to cattle rather than rice because Vedic life depended more on cattle than on the harvest of grains. In the present example Vasudhara wears a crown studded with precious stones. The three lobes of the crown are tall and pointed. The crown covers most of her head, except the naturalistically rendered wavy hairline on her forehead. Her head is slightly tilted, and she has Nepalese artistic physiognomy characterized by a wide forehead and location of the lower lid of the eye almost in the
middle of face. Following contemporaneous taste the pleated ends of her samkhapatra are shown flaring up on either side of her head just above the earlobes. The large annular type of circular earrings often appears in dated works together with such an emphatic display of samkhapatra. These earrings are not seen in works earlier than the eleventh century. A short necklace is decorated with precious stones; her two other longer necklaces are simple. Although long necklaces were seen in the eleventh-century manuscript painting, they did not gain popularity in Nepalese sculptures until the thirteenth century. In addition to the leaflike pointed large armlets, she wears bracelets, also seen in earlier works belonging to the transitional period (879 – 1 200). A belt, adorned with a sky-blue turquoise on its clip, sustains her flower-patterned sari. As usual Vasudhara is shown seated in a position called lalitasana, graceful posture, placing her left foot on a small lotus. Clockwise from the viewer’s bottom left, her six hands display the gesture of charity (varadamudra), a sheaf of gems, the gesture of adoring the Buddha, the Prajnaparamita manuscript, stalks of rice (dhanya-manjari), and a full water vase. The gesture of adoring the Buddha was originally the pataka gesture, also seen in non-Buddhist art. According to the Vishnudharmottara Purana (3.26.14 – 15), a treatise on Hindu iconography, this is a rainmaking gesture, forcing a cloud to discharge rainwater with a slap. In Indian art flying figures are regularly shown performing
the rainmaking gesture. Chakravarti, the ideal king of Buddhist, Jain, and Hindu literature, makes a shower of gold coins by slapping a cloud. He is also represented in art making the similar capeta gesture. When Vasudhara became incorporated into the Buddhist pantheon this gesture was interpreted as Buddha-vandana, the gesture of greeting to Buddha. In late Buddhist art of Nepal and Tibet the greeting gesture is replaced by the hand holding an image of the Buddha. Rice is planted in the subcontinent at the beginning of the monsoon rain and ripens in autumn. Because the monsoon rain does not reach the Tibetan Plateau, Vasudhara is worshipped in Tibet as an incarnation of Tara and her attributes are interpreted in accordance with prevalent Tibetan Buddhist belief.
cat. 41 Beginning during the ancient period, the cult of Indra gained immense popularity in the Kathmandu Valley mainly because the Newars identified him as their divine ancestor, known to them either as Aju Dya or Hatha Dya. During the autumnal week when they celebrate the festival of Aju Dya, displaying his images on the streets and other public places, they also show Indra’s images and worship him as well. In the valley Indra has peculiar iconography not seen elsewhere in South or Southeast Asia. During the festival, in and around Kathmandu’s Durbar Square of the Malla Palace, the god is shown seated in a lotus posture
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