Salabhanjika, Hoysala era sculpture, Belur, Karnataka, India
A salabhanjika or shalabhanjika is a term found in Indian art and literature with a variety of meanings. In Buddhist art, it means an image of a woman or yakshi next to, often holding, a tree, or a reference to Maya under the sala tree giving birth to Siddhartha (Buddha).[1] In Hindu and Jain art, the meaning is less specific, and it is any statue or statuette, usually female, that breaks the monotony of a plain wall or space and thus enlivens it.[2]
In Buddhist literature, salabhanjika also refers to an ancient Indian festival, one celebrated when sala tree blossoms in the context of Buddha's life.[3]
In literature, apart from the statue meaning, Salabhanjika can mean a doll, or fairy, or a seductress (harlot) depending on the context.[2] In these contexts, they are also known as madanakai, madanika or shilabalika. In the context of Indian poetry and music, the term salabhanjika is synonymous with the pathyā meter – one of the minor chanda (poetic meter) in the catuṣpadi group, and is used for transition.[4] The shalabhanjika is a common decorative element and Indian sculpture found inside and outside religious and secular spaces of Buddhist, Hindu and Jain architecture.
In Buddhist sites, reliefs on stupas displayed a stylized female by a tree, typically grasping or breaking a branch as Buddha's mother Maya did. In these contexts, salabhanjika may be related to ancient tree deities in Indian popular religion, related to fertility.[5]
^"Temple Strut with a Tree Goddess (Shalabhanjika)". The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Retrieved 11 May 2013.
^ abUdaya Nārāyaṇa Rāya (1979). Śālabhañjika in Art, Philosophy, and Literature. Lokbharti. pp. 1–9. OCLC 6828640.
^J Ph Vogel (1929). "The woman and tree or Salabhanjika in Indian Arts and Literature". Acta Orientalia. 7: 202–209.
^H.D. Velankar (1936). "Apabhramsa Meters". The Journal of the University of Bombay. V (9): 57–58.
^Heinrich Zimmer, Myths and Symbols in Indian Art and Civilization. (1946)
A salabhanjika or shalabhanjika is a term found in Indian art and literature with a variety of meanings. In Buddhist art, it means an image of a woman...
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sculptures dated to the 1st and 2nd centuries BC; miniature statue of Salabhanjika; terracotta items and replicas of frescoes seen in the Bagh Caves. There...
"Indian woman - an icon of fertility and abundance". India Today Magazine. Salabhanjika in Art Philosophy and Literature. Rajkamal Prakashan Pvt Ltd. 1979. Alka...
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dynasty that survives today are wooden struts which mostly depicted Salabhanjikas, the forest fairies or deities in a similar pose. Four armed deities...
a kind of garden sport peculiar to eastern India (pracam kridayam), Salabhanjika was the activity of plucking sala flowers and spending the time in merry...
History, Culture, and Archaeology, University of Allahabad, 1980, p.32 Śālabhañjikā in art, philosophy, and literature, Udaya Nārāyaṇa Rāya, Lokbharti Publications...
those of Gomitra (150-50 BCE). Sonkh Apsidal Temple, a Nāga shrine. Salabhanjika sculpture Sonkh Matrika statuette Sonkh bronze image of Kubera and Hariti...
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