Earth and Space News: Ellora Buddhist Cave 8 Perhaps Assuages All Poisons Through Mahamayuri

Summary: Ellora Buddhist Cave 8 in Mahahrashtra, India, perhaps allays and averts physical and spiritual poisons with its symbolic antidote, a carved Mahamayuri.

view of Ellora Buddhist Cave 8 (bottom center), which lies under the adorned façade of Ellora Buddhist Cave 9 (above center); Wednesday, May 1, 2013, 11:11: Jayadeep Rajan, CC BY SA 3.0 Unported, via Wikimedia Commons

Ellora Buddhist Cave 8 in Maharashtra state, western peninsular India, perhaps assists in allaying, ameliorating, arresting or avoiding physical and spiritual poisons through its carved Mahamayuri that acts as a divine antidote.

Perhaps itinerant artisans under Kalachuri (from Sanskrit कलचुरि) dynasts (550?-before 687 C.E.?), built the eighth cavern from Ellora Caves' south entrance for bitten, bothered, burdened pilgrims. Mahamayuri (from Sanskrit महा, "great" and मायूरी, "peacock") curbs venomous chews by poisonous snakes in the Squamata (from Latin squamatus, "scaly) lizard, serpent, worm lizard order. She diminishes and disperses deadly toxins in the deathly fruits of poisonous suicide trees (Cerbera odollam, possibly from Greek Κέρβερος, "spotted" and definitely from Malayalam othalam).

Green-colored Mahamayuri exists as Pancha Raksha (from Sanskrit पञ्च, "five" and रक्ष, "protector") protective goddess, along with blue-colored Mahamanstranusarin, red-colored Mahasitavati, white-colored Mahasahasrapramardini and yellow-colored Mahapratisara.

The Mahamayuri fashioned for Ellora Buddhist Cave 8 functions as antidote and preventative for how bodhisattva and emanation fit into Buddhist (from Sanskrit बुद्ध, "awakened") mythology.

Bodhisattva (from Sanskrit बोधि, "enlightenment" and सत्त्व, "sentient being") and bodhishakti (from Sanskrit बोधि, "enlightenment" and शक्ति, "[female] energy") enlightenment seekers get self-enlightened for others mass-enlightenment. His last, 550th bodhisattva reincarnation honed enlightenment-seeking, self-enlightened Prince Siddhartha Gautama (624?-544 C.E.?, from Sanskrit सिद्धार्थ, "successful" and गौतम, "light [dispels] darkness") into mass-enlightening Gautama Buddha. Mahamayuri simultaneously is an emanation of Amoghasiddhi (from Sanskrit अमोघ, "infallible" and सिद्धि, "action"), Dhyani (from Sanskrit ध्यानि, "meditation-produced") Buddha and Wisdom King of the North.

Amoghasiddhi, as third Wisdom King, joins Akshobhya, Amitabha, Ratnasambhava and Vairocana, respectively easterly first, westerly second, southerly fourth and centrally fifth Dhyani Buddhas and Wisdom Kings.

The third wisdom of knowing all accomplished actions that keep envy and jealousy down and out perhaps kindled the Mahamayuri sculpture in Ellora Buddhist Cave 8.

Akshobhya (from Sanskrit अक्षोभ्य, "immovable") and Amitabha (from Sanskrit अमिताभ, "infinite light") respectively launch consciousness and compassion wisdoms against anger and hatred, against desires and selfishness. Ratnasambhava (from Sanskrit रत्नसंभव, "jewel-born") and Vairocana (from Sanskrit वैरोचन, "solar") respectively manifest richness and emptiness wisdoms against greed and pride and against delusions and doubts. Ellora pilgrims navigated trading and transportation networks inside and outside wild Maharashtra with such physical nightmares as bandits, demons, elephants, enslavers, fires, floods, lions and snakes.

Pilgrim merchants and monks observed such spiritual obstacles as anger and hatred, attachment and desire, avarice and miserliness, delusions and doubts, fanaticism, ignorance, jealousy and pride.

Ellora Buddhist Cave 8 perhaps presents Mahamayuri as problem-solving physical and spiritual perils posed in the Buddhist litany in caves 3 and 4.

Ellora pilgrims in the latter caverns queued around compassionate bodhisattva Padmapani (from Sanskrit बोधि, "enlightenment" and सत्त्व, "sentient being"; and पद्म, "lotus" and पाणि, "holder"), not four-, six- or eight-handed, peacock-riding, three-faced Mahamayuri. Mahamayuri, with three-eyed blue right, three-eyed green center and three-eyed white left faces, reveals herself as embodiment of Tara (from Sanskrit तारा, "to cross"), Amoghasiddhi's consort. Four right and four left hands support arrows, jewels, peacock feathers, swords and varadamudra (from Sanskrit वरद, "gift-giving" and मुद्रा, "gesture") and bowls, bows and jewels.

Perhaps pilgrim artisans, laymen, merchants, monks and traders traumatized or troubled by physical and spiritual poisons turned to the Mahamayuri sculpture in Ellora Buddhist Cave 8.

Ellora Buddhist Cave 8 (bottom) appears as a darkened rectangle beneath the richly decorated facade (above) of Ellora Buddhist Cave 9; ca. 10-12-1923 photograph by University of Oslo Linguistics Professor Georg Vorgenstierne (Jan. 2, 1892-March 3, 1978): National Library of Norway (Nasjonalbiblioteket), Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

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Earth and Space News

Friday, October 16, 2020

Ellora Buddhist Cave 8 Perhaps Assuages All Poisons Through Mahamayuri

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