
Mudgarpani () was a
Yaksha
The Yakshas (, , ) in Mythology are a broad class of nature spirits, usually benevolent, but sometimes mischievous or capricious, connected with water, fertility, trees, the forest, treasure and wilderness. They appear in Hindu, Jain and Bud ...
deity in ancient India. His name means "Mudgar-holder", the ''
Mudgar
A mudgar () or mudgara is a type of '' gada'' (mace) from India, and it is generally considered to be made of wood, but can also be made of iron.
Usage
The ''mudgar'' appears is ancient Indian sculptures, where it is commonly held by Yaksha deit ...
'' being an ancient form of heavy club, usually made of wood, but it can also be made of iron.
Yaksha
Yakshas
The Yakshas (, , ) in Mythology are a broad class of nature spirits, usually benevolent, but sometimes mischievous or capricious, connected with water, fertility, trees, the forest, treasure and wilderness. They appear in Hindu, Jain and Budd ...
seem to have been the object of an important cult in the early periods of Indian history, many of them being known such as
Kubera
Kubera (, ) also known as Kuvera, Kuber and Kuberan, is the god of wealth, and the god-king of the semi-divine yakshas in Hinduism. He is regarded as Guardians of the directions, the regent of the north (''Dikpala''), and a protector of the ...
, king of the Yakshas,
Manibhadra or Mudgarpani.
The Yakshas are a broad class of nature-spirits, usually benevolent, but sometimes mischievous or capricious, connected with water, fertility, trees, the forest, treasure and wilderness,
and were the object of popular worship.
Many of them were later incorporated into
Buddhism
Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...
,
Jainism
Jainism ( ), also known as Jain Dharma, is an Indian religions, Indian religion whose three main pillars are nonviolence (), asceticism (), and a rejection of all simplistic and one-sided views of truth and reality (). Jainism traces its s ...
or
Hinduism
Hinduism () is an Hypernymy and hyponymy, umbrella term for a range of Indian religions, Indian List of religions and spiritual traditions#Indian religions, religious and spiritual traditions (Sampradaya, ''sampradaya''s) that are unified ...
.
Sculptures
Some of the earliest works of art of the
Mathura school of art are the Yakshas, monumental sculptures of earth divinities that have been dated to the 2nd-1st century BCE. Yakshas became the focus of the creation of colossal cultic images, typically around 2 meters or more in height, which are considered as probably the first Indian anthropomorphic productions in stone.
Although few ancient Yaksha statues remain in good condition, the vigor of the style has been applauded, and expresses essentially Indian qualities.
They are often pot-bellied, two-armed and fierce-looking.
The Yashas are often depicted with weapons or attributes, such as the Yaksha Mudgarpani.
Mudgarpani ("Mace-holder") Yaksha from Bharana Kalan
A statue of Mudgarpani ("Mace-holder") Yaksha from Bharana Kalan, visible in the
Mathura Museum
__NOTOC__
Government Museum, Mathura, commonly referred to as Mathura museum, is an archaeological museum in Mathura city of Uttar Pradesh state in India. The museum was founded by then collector of the Mathura district, Sir F. S. Growse in 1 ...
, is dated to circa 100 BCE.
It was discovered in Bharana Kalan, 32 kilometers northwest of Mathura.
In the right hand he holds a ''
mudgar
A mudgar () or mudgara is a type of '' gada'' (mace) from India, and it is generally considered to be made of wood, but can also be made of iron.
Usage
The ''mudgar'' appears is ancient Indian sculptures, where it is commonly held by Yaksha deit ...
'' mace, and in the left hand he used to hold the figure of a small standing devotee or child joining hands in prayer.
[Fig. 85 in ]
The inscription in
Brahmi script
Brahmi ( ; ; ISO 15919, ISO: ''Brāhmī'') is a writing system from ancient India. "Until the late nineteenth century, the script of the Aśokan (non-Kharosthi) inscriptions and its immediate derivatives was referred to by various names such as ...
on the base of the statue is in very bad condition, but has been partly deciphered. Some parallels with the contemporary Agnipani statue, probably dedicated by the same person, also helped interpretation:
A
relief in the Mathura Museum also shows a similar Mudgarpani, dated to the same period, but with clearer attributes: especially the figure of a small standing devotee or child joining hands in prayer is much more visible.
Style
It is often suggested that the style of the colossal Yaksha statuary had an important influence on the creation of later divine images and human figures in India. The female equivalent of the Yakshas were the
Yakshi
Yakshinis or Yakshis (, , Prakrit: ) are a class of female nature spirits in Hindu, Buddhist, and Jain religious mythologies that are different from Devas and Asuras and Gandharvas or Apsaras. Yakshinis and their male counterparts, the Yaks ...
nis, often associated with trees and children, and whose voluptuous figures became omnipresent in Indian art.
A relief is also known from the Mathura Museum, which shown the Mudgarpani with the same attributes.
[Fig. 85 in ]
Some
Hellenistic
In classical antiquity, the Hellenistic period covers the time in Greek history after Classical Greece, between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the death of Cleopatra VII in 30 BC, which was followed by the ascendancy of the R ...
influence, such as the geometrical folds of the drapery or the
contraposto
( 'counterpoise'), in the visual arts, is a human figure standing with most of its weight on one foot, so that its shoulders and arms twist off-axis from the hips and legs in the axial plane.
First appearing in Ancient Greece in the early 5t ...
stance of the statues, has been suggested.
According to
John Boardman, the hem of the dress in the monumental early Yaksha statues is derived from Greek art.
Describing the drapery of one of these statues, John Boardman writes: "It has no local antecedents and looks most like a Greek Late Archaic mannerism", and suggests it is possibly derived from the
Hellenistic art
Hellenistic art is the art of the Hellenistic period generally taken to begin with the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and end with the Roman Greece, conquest of the Greek world by the Romans, a process well underway by 146 BC, when the G ...
of nearby
Bactria
Bactria (; Bactrian language, Bactrian: , ), or Bactriana, was an ancient Iranian peoples, Iranian civilization in Central Asia based in the area south of the Oxus River (modern Amu Darya) and north of the mountains of the Hindu Kush, an area ...
where this design is known.
Under the
Indo-Greeks
The Indo-Greek Kingdom, also known as the Yavana Kingdom, was a Hellenistic-era Greek kingdom covering various parts of modern-day Afghanistan, Pakistan and northwestern India.
The term "Indo-Greek Kingdom" loosely describes a number of var ...
, the cult of the Yakshas may also have been associated with the
Bacchic
In ancient Greek religion and myth, Dionysus (; ) is the god of wine-making, orchards and fruit, vegetation, fertility, festivity, insanity, ritual madness, religious ecstasy, and theatre. He was also known as Bacchus ( or ; ) by the Greek ...
cult of
Dionysos
In ancient Greek religion and myth, Dionysus (; ) is the god of wine-making, orchards and fruit, vegetation, fertility, festivity, insanity, ritual madness, religious ecstasy, and theatre. He was also known as Bacchus ( or ; ) by the Greek ...
.
In the production of colossal Yaksha statues carved in the round, which can be found in several locations in northern India, the art of Mathura is considered as the most advanced in quality and quantity during this period.
Stories and later history
An ancient
Jain story named the ''Antagadadasao'' tell the story of a man named Ajjunaka who was worshipping the image of the "Yaksa who held a mace", when he was attacked by five bandits, an event which shaked is devotion to the Yashka. Afterwards the Yaksa possessed Ajjunaka, giving him the strength to kill the five bandits.
Nowadays, for training purposes when using
Indian club
Indian clubs, known in Iran as meels (), are a type of exercise equipment used to present resistance in movement to develop strength and mobility. They consist of juggling-club shaped wooden clubs of varying sizes and weights, which are swung in ...
s, one or two wooden gada ("mudgar"), reaching up to 70 kilograms in weight, can be used: they can be swung behind the back in several different ways; this is particularly useful for building grip strength and shoulder endurance.
Examples
File:Mudgarpani Yaksha Mathura 100 BCE (rear view).jpg, Mudgarpani Yaksha (rear view).
File:Mudgarpani Yaksha - Circa 2nd Century BCE - Bharnakalan - ACCN 87-145 - Government Museum - Mathura 2013-02-24 6148.JPG, Mudgarpani Yaksha (3/4).
Mudgarpani Yaksha, Mathura, 100 BCE (portrait).jpg, Portrait of the Mudgarpani Yaksha.
Mudgarpani Yaksha, Mathura, 100 BCE (knot).jpg, Detail of the "Herakles" knot.
File:Mudgarpani Yaksha pedestal inscription.jpg, Mudgarpani pedestal inscription in Brahmi
Brahmi ( ; ; ISO: ''Brāhmī'') is a writing system from ancient India. "Until the late nineteenth century, the script of the Aśokan (non-Kharosthi) inscriptions and its immediate derivatives was referred to by various names such as 'lath' or ...
References
{{Mathura Museum
Yakshas
Mathura art