Iconography of Marichi

I 1. B. (ii) GODDESSES EMANATING FROM VAIROCHANA. (a) Marichi. I. B. (ii) a. Image of Marichi in black stone, 4'*2. Marichi is the Buddhist goddess of dawn and is, with her chariot drawn by seven pigs, a curious Buddhist answer to the sun-god of the Brahmanical pantheon, whose chariot is drawn by seven horses. According to one Sadhana published by Dr. Foucher, (Iconographie Bouddhique, Pt. II. p. 92), the following is a description of the goddess. She is fair, with three faces, three eyes and eight hands. Her right face is red and the left one is a hideous pig-face of blue colour. The four right hands hold the Thunder-bolt, the Elephant-goad, the Arrow and the Needle; while Asoka-leaf, Bow, Noose (held with the help of another hand, as if about to be thrown) and Tarjjani Mudra (a menacing pose of hand with the index finger pointing upwards) are in the four left hands. The Dhyani Buddha Vairochana sits on her tiara. The goddess lives inside a Chaitya and has the right leg bent and the left leg stretched. Her car is drawn by seven pigs. The car is driven by Rahu, the fabulous devourer of the Sun and the Moon at the time of eclipses. She is surrounded by four goddesses on the four sides. On the east is Vattali, red, with a boar face and having four hands,-Needle and Elephant-goad in the two right hands and Lasso and Asoka-leaf in the two left. On the south is Vadali,-yellow, with four hands,

holding the same articles as Vattali, but in a different order. On the west is Varali, white, with four hands as the previous two, and on the north is Varahamukhi, red , with Thunder-bolt and Arrow in the two right hands and Asoka leaf and Bow in the two left ones. The present image agrees in every particular with the above description, with the addition that the Asoka branch with leaves held in one of the left hands, ends in a beautiful bunch of flowers. The spire of a Chaitya is depicted at the top of the piece, from the two ends of which sprout forth two luxuriant branches of Asoka. Fished out of the Padma river and procured from Panditsar, P. S. Bhedarganj, Dt. Faridpur. I.B. 2 I. B. (ii) a. Image of Marichi in black stone, 2-6"x 13". A crude piece. The attributes of the hands are as in the foregoing one. Vairochana is absent from the tiara. The pigs beneath are crude representations, running upon one another. The attendant goddesses are five in number instead of four, and in place of four arms, each of them has only two arms. From Ujani, in the Gopalganj Sub-Division of the Faridpur District. Found in company with the image of the Buddha described above as I. A. (iii) a Presented by the Rajahs of Ujani. [1. A beautiful image of Marichi in black stone, about 20" high, worshipped as Kali in the house of Purna Chandra Mahato, at Pior, near Badkamta, Dt. Tippera. 2. An image of Marichi found at Atpara, near Beltali, P. S. Srinagar, Dt. Dacca. It was preserved in the house of Babu Madhusudana Chaudhuri, of Kukutia near Atpara. Now in the Rajsahi Museum; No. A. (d) 2, 137

. 44. PLATE XIV. Marichi from Panditsar. 1. B. (ii) a.

3. An image of Marichi found at Dualli, P.S. Lauhajang, Dt. Dacca. Sadly mutilated. Now in the Rajsahi Museum No. A. (d) 3.] 94