Salabhanjika - Revision history

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			{{Short description\|Term in Indian art and literature}}
	{{EngvarB\|date=March 2020}}		{{EngvarB\|date=March 2020}}
	{{Use dmy dates\|date=March 2020}}		{{Use dmy dates\|date=March 2020}}
	[[File:Shilabalika 3.JPG\|thumb\| ''Salabhanjika'', [[Hoysala]] era sculpture, Belur, Karnataka, India]]		[[File:Shilabalika 3.JPG\|thumb\| ''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 (mother of the Buddha)\|Maya]] ~~near~~ the ''sala'' tree giving birth to Siddhartha (Buddha).<ref>{{cite web \|title=Temple Strut with a Tree Goddess (Shalabhanjika) \|url=http://www.metmuseum.org/Collections/search-the-collections/60005487 \|publisher=The Metropolitan Museum of Art \|access-date=11 May 2013}}</ref> 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.<ref name="Rāya1979">{{cite book\|author=Udaya Nārāyaṇa Rāya\|title=Śālabhañjika in Art, Philosophy, and Literature\|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=in8YAAAAYAAJ\|year=1979\|publisher=Lokbharti\|pages=1–9\|oclc= 6828640}}</ref>		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 (mother of the Buddha)\|Maya]] under the ''sala'' tree [[Life_of_Buddha_in_art#Birth_of_the_Buddha\|giving birth to Siddhartha]] (Buddha).<ref>{{cite web \|title=Temple Strut with a Tree Goddess (Shalabhanjika) \|url=http://www.metmuseum.org/Collections/search-the-collections/60005487 \|publisher=The Metropolitan Museum of Art \|access-date=11 May 2013}}</ref> 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.<ref name="Rāya1979">{{cite book\|author=Udaya Nārāyaṇa Rāya\|title=Śālabhañjika in Art, Philosophy, and Literature\|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=in8YAAAAYAAJ\|year=1979\|publisher=Lokbharti\|pages=1–9\|oclc= 6828640}}</ref>

	In Buddhist literature, ''salabhanjika'' also refers to an ancient Indian festival, one celebrated when ''sala'' tree blossoms in the context of Buddha's life.<ref name=jphv>{{cite journal\|author=J Ph Vogel\|title=The woman and tree or Salabhanjika in Indian Arts and Literature \|year=1929 \|journal=Acta Orientalia\|volume=7 \|pages=202–209 \| url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.71005/page/n209/mode/2up}}</ref>		In Buddhist literature, ''salabhanjika'' also refers to an ancient Indian festival, one celebrated when ''sala'' tree blossoms in the context of Buddha's life.<ref name=jphv>{{cite journal\|author=J Ph Vogel\|title=The woman and tree or Salabhanjika in Indian Arts and Literature \|year=1929 \|journal=Acta Orientalia\|volume=7 \|pages=202–209 \| url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.71005/page/n209/mode/2up}}</ref>
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	In Buddhist sites, reliefs on [[stupa]]s 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]].<ref>Heinrich Zimmer, ''Myths and Symbols in Indian Art and Civilization.'' (1946)</ref>		In Buddhist sites, reliefs on [[stupa]]s 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]].<ref>Heinrich Zimmer, ''Myths and Symbols in Indian Art and Civilization.'' (1946)</ref>

	[[File:Nymph of Sanchi.JPG\|thumb\|~~180px~~\|Shalabhanjika on Eastern Torana (gateway) under a tree, at the Buddhist [[Sanchi Stupa]] site]]		==Related iconography==
			[[File:Birth of the Buddha, Gandhara, Parkistan, Kushan dynasty, 200s AD, schist - Tokyo National Museum - Tokyo, Japan - DSC08648.jpg\|thumb\|''Birth of the Buddha'', [[Gandhara]], [[Kushan dynasty]], 200s AD]]
			The sal tree ''(Shorea robusta)'' is often confused with the [[ashoka tree]] ''(Saraca indica)'' in the ancient literature of the [[Indian subcontinent]].<ref>Eckard Schleberger, ''Die indische Götterwelt. Gestalt, Ausdruck und Sinnbild'' Eugen Diederich Verlag. Cologne. {{ISBN\|3-424-00898-2}}, {{ISBN\|978-3-424-00898-2}}</ref> The pose of the Salabhanjika is also very similar to that almost invariably given in art to [[Maya (mother of the Buddha)\|Queen Maya]] when [[Life_of_Buddha_in_art#Birth_of_the_Buddha\|she gave birth]] to [[Gautama Buddha]] under an asoka tree in a garden in [[Lumbini]], while grasping a branch over her head with one hand.<ref>Buddhistische Bilderwelt: Hans Wolfgang Schumann, ''Ein ikonographisches Handbuch des Mahayana- und Tantrayana-Buddhismus.'' Eugen Diederichs Verlag. Cologne. {{ISBN\|3-424-00897-4}}, {{ISBN\|978-3-424-00897-5}}</ref>

			[[File:Nymph of Sanchi.JPG\|thumb\|upright\|Shalabhanjika on Eastern Torana (gateway) under a tree, at the Buddhist [[Sanchi Stupa]] site]]

	==Etymology==		==Etymology==
	[[File:11th 12th century Iswara temple, Kamaleshwara Kalleswara Kamlishvara, Jalasangvi Karnataka India - 17.jpg\|left\|thumb\|Built about 1100 CE, the Iswara Hindu temple in Jalasangvi Karnataka features many ''salabhanjikas'', none with any tree. Among these is a woman writing a Sanskrit inscription in Kannada script on a slab.]]		[[File:11th 12th century Iswara temple, Kamaleshwara Kalleswara Kamlishvara, Jalasangvi Karnataka India - 17.jpg\|left\|thumb\|upright\|Built about 1100 CE, the Iswara Hindu temple in Jalasangvi Karnataka features many ''salabhanjikas'', none with any tree. Among these is a woman writing a Sanskrit inscription in Kannada script on a slab.]]
	The word ''śālabhañjikā'' is a compound [[Sanskrit]] word consisting of ''[[śālā]]'' and ''bhañjikā''. The word bhañjikā means 'breaking, interrupting". The word ''śālā'' means any "house, space, enclosure, wall, court" – such as in dharmaśālā (rest house) or gośālā (resting space for cows).<ref name=mmw260>Monier Monier Williams (1994 updated), Sanskrit English Dictionary, [https://sanskrit.inria.fr/MW/260.html शाल śāla śālá], page 260</ref> The same word also refers to the [[Shorea robusta\|sala tree]], a valuable timber tree used to construct homes and other buildings.<ref name=mmw260/> According to Vogel, a Sanskrit scholar, the different meanings of the word ''salabhanjika'' in the Indian traditions, may be linked to the respective significance of ''sala'' tree, the Buddhist tradition associating it with the birth of Buddha, while Hindu and Jain traditions using the same tree as timber for making statues and other objects of art.<ref name=jphv/>		The word ''śālabhañjikā'' is a compound [[Sanskrit]] word consisting of ''[[śālā]]'' and ''bhañjikā''. The word bhañjikā means 'breaking, interrupting". The word ''śālā'' means any "house, space, enclosure, wall, court" – such as in dharmaśālā (rest house) or gośālā (resting space for cows).<ref name=mmw260>Monier Monier Williams (1994 updated), Sanskrit English Dictionary, [https://sanskrit.inria.fr/MW/260.html शाल śāla śālá], page 260</ref> The same word also refers to the [[Shorea robusta\|sala tree]], a valuable timber tree used to construct homes and other buildings.<ref name=mmw260/> According to Vogel, a Sanskrit scholar, the different meanings of the word ''salabhanjika'' in the Indian traditions, may be linked to the respective significance of ''sala'' tree, the Buddhist tradition associating it with the birth of Buddha, while Hindu and Jain traditions using the same tree as timber for making statues and other objects of art.<ref name=jphv/>

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	Salabhanjikas have been found in many historic temples of India, Nepal, Cambodia, Vietnam and Indonesia. These include the [[Chalukya]] period temple in [[Jalasangvi]] in northeast Karnataka, many in ''[[tribhanga]]'' (S-shaped) pose. These early sculptures were the source of inspiration for the later Hoysala bracket-figures.		Salabhanjikas have been found in many historic temples of India, Nepal, Cambodia, Vietnam and Indonesia. These include the [[Chalukya]] period temple in [[Jalasangvi]] in northeast Karnataka, many in ''[[tribhanga]]'' (S-shaped) pose. These early sculptures were the source of inspiration for the later Hoysala bracket-figures.

			{{clear}}
	{{Gallery		{{Gallery
	\|title=Salabhanjikas		\|title=Salabhanjikas
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	\|Hindu (with tree motif), [[Phanom Rung Historical Park\|Phanom Rung]], Thailand		\|Hindu (with tree motif), [[Phanom Rung Historical Park\|Phanom Rung]], Thailand
	}}		}}

	~~==Related iconography==~~
	The sal tree ''(Shorea robusta)'' is often confused with the [[ashoka tree]] ''(Saraca indica)'' in the ancient literature of the [[Indian subcontinent]].<ref>Eckard Schleberger, ''Die indische Götterwelt. Gestalt, Ausdruck und Sinnbild'' Eugen Diederich Verlag. Cologne. {{ISBN\|3-424-00898-2}}, {{ISBN\|978-3-424-00898-2}}</ref> The position of the Salabhanjika is also related to the position of [[Maya (mother of the Buddha)\|Maya]] when she gave birth to [[Gautama Buddha]] under an asoka tree in a garden in [[Lumbini]], while grasping its branch.<ref>Buddhistische Bilderwelt: Hans Wolfgang Schumann, ''Ein ikonographisches Handbuch des Mahayana- und Tantrayana-Buddhismus.'' Eugen Diederichs Verlag. Cologne. {{ISBN\|3-424-00897-4}}, {{ISBN\|978-3-424-00897-5}}</ref>

	==See also==		==See also==
	*[[Ashoka tree]]
	*[[Caryatid]], a similar element in Western architecture		*[[Caryatid]], a similar element in Western architecture
	*[[List of tree deities]]		*[[List of tree deities]]
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	[[Category:Sanskrit words and phrases]]		[[Category:Sanskrit words and phrases]]
	[[Category:Female legendary creatures]]		[[Category:Female legendary creatures]]
			[[Category:Iconography]]
			[[Category:Indian art]]

imported>Ms Sarah Welch: /* Etymology */ w/link

2021-02-09T00:39:14Z

Etymology: w/link

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{{EngvarB|date=March 2020}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2020}}
[[File:Shilabalika 3.JPG|thumb| ''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 (mother of the Buddha)|Maya]] near the ''sala'' tree giving birth to Siddhartha (Buddha).<ref>{{cite web |title=Temple Strut with a Tree Goddess (Shalabhanjika) |url=http://www.metmuseum.org/Collections/search-the-collections/60005487 |publisher=The Metropolitan Museum of Art |access-date=11 May 2013}}</ref> 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.<ref name="Rāya1979">{{cite book|author=Udaya Nārāyaṇa Rāya|title=Śālabhañjika in Art, Philosophy, and Literature|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=in8YAAAAYAAJ|year=1979|publisher=Lokbharti|pages=1–9|oclc= 6828640}}</ref>

In Buddhist literature, ''salabhanjika'' also refers to an ancient Indian festival, one celebrated when ''sala'' tree blossoms in the context of Buddha's life.<ref name=jphv>{{cite journal|author=J Ph Vogel|title=The woman and tree or Salabhanjika in Indian Arts and Literature |year=1929 |journal=Acta Orientalia|volume=7 |pages=202–209 | url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.71005/page/n209/mode/2up}}</ref>

In literature, apart from the statue meaning, Salabhanjika can mean a doll, or fairy, or a seductress (harlot) depending on the context.<ref name="Rāya1979"/> 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.<ref>{{cite journal|title=Apabhramsa Meters|author=H.D. Velankar|journal=The Journal of the University of Bombay|year=1936|volume=V|issue=9|pages=57–58|url=https://archive.org/details/JournalOfTheUniversityOfBombayVol.V/page/n179/mode/2up}}</ref> 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 [[stupa]]s 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]].<ref>Heinrich Zimmer, ''Myths and Symbols in Indian Art and Civilization.'' (1946)</ref>

[[File:Nymph of Sanchi.JPG|thumb|180px|Shalabhanjika on Eastern Torana (gateway) under a tree, at the Buddhist [[Sanchi Stupa]] site]]

==Etymology==
[[File:11th 12th century Iswara temple, Kamaleshwara Kalleswara Kamlishvara, Jalasangvi Karnataka India - 17.jpg|left|thumb|Built about 1100 CE, the Iswara Hindu temple in Jalasangvi Karnataka features many ''salabhanjikas'', none with any tree. Among these is a woman writing a Sanskrit inscription in Kannada script on a slab.]]
The word ''śālabhañjikā'' is a compound [[Sanskrit]] word consisting of ''[[śālā]]'' and ''bhañjikā''. The word bhañjikā means 'breaking, interrupting". The word ''śālā'' means any "house, space, enclosure, wall, court" – such as in dharmaśālā (rest house) or gośālā (resting space for cows).<ref name=mmw260>Monier Monier Williams (1994 updated), Sanskrit English Dictionary, [https://sanskrit.inria.fr/MW/260.html शाल śāla śālá], page 260</ref> The same word also refers to the [[Shorea robusta|sala tree]], a valuable timber tree used to construct homes and other buildings.<ref name=mmw260/> According to Vogel, a Sanskrit scholar, the different meanings of the word ''salabhanjika'' in the Indian traditions, may be linked to the respective significance of ''sala'' tree, the Buddhist tradition associating it with the birth of Buddha, while Hindu and Jain traditions using the same tree as timber for making statues and other objects of art.<ref name=jphv/>

Vogel states that the word ''salabhanjika'' is found neither in the Vedic literature nor in Pali literature and nor in the major Indian epics, but appears in Indian classical literature of early 1st-millennium CE such as [[Aśvaghoṣa|Asvagosha]]'s ''Buddhacarita'' (c. 100 CE). An older reference to the synonymous term ''salastri'' – woman shaped out of ''sala'' tree – is found in the Hindu text ''[[Natyashastra]]'' in verses 2.83–84.<ref name=jphv/> This may reflect that the literature followed the tradition and popularity of carving wooden statues.<ref name=jphv/> The term is also synonymous with terms ''madanika'', ''putrilika'', ''stambhaputri'', ''stambhaputrika'', and ''putrika''.<ref name=jphv2/> Prasanna Acharya – a Sanskrit scholar and the author of ''An Encyclopedia of Hindu Architecture'', states that ''śālā'' and ''bhañjikā'' appear in verse 2.79 of the ''Natyashastra'' in the sense of "a wooden image".<ref name=acharyasb/>

The word ''salabhanjika'' appears with ''uddalakapushpa-bhanjika'' and ''asokapushpaprachayika'' as ancient games in early Hindu Sanskrit texts, says [[C. Sivaramamurti|Sivaramamurti]] – an art historian and Sanskrit epigraphist.<ref name=sivaramamurti1955/> These games were played by girls who collected flowers from the ''Sala'', ''Asoka'' and other trees, then arranged them in colorful patterns or decorated their hair with them. This cultural event inspired sculpture, states Sivaramamurti.<ref name=sivaramamurti1955/> He concurs with Vogel and states that over the centuries, the word ''salabhanjika'' came to mean "any statue and nothing more", irrespective of the presence or absence of tree, whether female or male, in architecture or literature.<ref name=sivaramamurti1955>C. Sivaramamurti (1955), Sanskrit Literature and Art – Mirrors of Indian Culture, Memoirs of The Archaeological Survey of India No. 73, ASI, {{OCLC| 143045}}, pp. 1-2</ref>

Vogel, Acharya, and other scholars concur that in the arts and literature of the Hindus and Jains, the term ''salabhanjika'' has simply meant any statue on any pillar, wall, or in any hall.<ref name=jphv2>{{cite journal|author=J Ph Vogel|title=The woman and tree or Salabhanjika in Indian Arts and Literature |year=1929 |journal=Acta Orientalia|volume=7 |pages=206–219 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|title=The Viddhaśālabhañjikā of Rājaśekhara, Now First Translated from the Sanskrit and Prākrit| author = Louis H. Gray| journal = Journal of the American Oriental Society | year= 1906 | volume = 27 | pages= 3–4| jstor= 592847}}</ref><ref name=acharyasb>{{cite book|author=PK Acharya|title=Encyclopedia of Hindu Architecture|publisher = Oxford University Press| year=1934| page=490|oclc = 697763683}}</ref>

==Locations==

In the Buddhist traditions, among the renowned shalabhanjika sculptures with ''sal'' tree are found in Bharhut and at the gateways (Torana) of [[Sanchi Stupa]] near Bhopal, a World Heritage site. Near Patna, another early example of a shalabhanjika was excavated with the Buddhist Stupa and Durakhi Devi Temple remains at the [[Kumhrar]] archaeological site. It is attributed to the [[Sunga Empire|Shunga]] dynasty dating to the 2nd or 1st century BC. This may reflect the remains of the ancient city of [[Pataliputra]].{{cn|date=February 2021}}

In the Hindu traditions, among the renowned salabhanjika sculptures without ''sal'' tree are those at the 12th-century [[Hoysala]] temples of [[Belur, Karnataka|Belur]], [[Halebidu]] and [[Somanathapura]], in south-central [[Karnataka]]. Some of the ''salabhanjika'' in Hindu and Jain temples may include decorations of flower or vine motifs behind or to the side of the statue or relief.

Salabhanjikas have been found in many historic temples of India, Nepal, Cambodia, Vietnam and Indonesia. These include the [[Chalukya]] period temple in [[Jalasangvi]] in northeast Karnataka, many in ''[[tribhanga]]'' (S-shaped) pose. These early sculptures were the source of inspiration for the later Hoysala bracket-figures.

{{Gallery
|title=Salabhanjikas
|width=160 | height=170
|align=center
|File:Indian Museum Sculpture - Salabhanjaka (9220284480).jpg
|Buddhist, [[Bharhut]], Madhya Pradesh
|File:India nord-occidentale, shalabanjika, xi sec.JPG
|Buddhist, 11th-century north India, now at Museo d'Arte Orientale (Turin, Italy)
|File:Shilabalika 5.JPG
|Hindu, [[Belur, Karnataka|Belur]], Karnataka
|File:12th-century carved pillar and dancer inside Shaivism Hindu temple Hoysaleswara arts Halebidu Karnataka India, inscription below.jpg
|Hindu, [[Halebidu]], Karnataka
|File:Sri Ranganathaswamy Temple, dedicated to Vishnu, in Srirangam, near Tiruchirappali (59) (23660014378).jpg
|Hindu, [[Srirangam]], Tamil Nadu
|File:8th - 9th century pillar woman carving, Hindu temple ruins Sirpur Chhattisgarh 1.jpg
|Hindu, [[Sirpur Group of Monuments|Sirpur]], Chhattisgarh
|File:Salabhanjika - Circa 100 CE - Sonkh Mound - ACCN SOI-27 - Government Museum - Mathura 2013-02-23 5604.JPG
|Hindu, [[Mathura]], Uttar Pradesh
|File:Shalabhanjika, Orissa, east India, 12th cent., Altes Museum, Berlin (28400208949).jpg
|Hindu, 12th-century [[Odisha]], now at Altes Museum, Berlin
|File:ShachiTirtha Tribenighat Panauti-IMG 4323.jpg
|Hindu, [[Panauti]] Indreshwar Temple, Nepal
|File:Shalabhanjika, Phnom Rung 0429.jpg
|Hindu (with tree motif), [[Phanom Rung Historical Park|Phanom Rung]], Thailand
}}

==Related iconography==
The sal tree ''(Shorea robusta)'' is often confused with the [[ashoka tree]] ''(Saraca indica)'' in the ancient literature of the [[Indian subcontinent]].<ref>Eckard Schleberger, ''Die indische Götterwelt. Gestalt, Ausdruck und Sinnbild'' Eugen Diederich Verlag. Cologne. {{ISBN|3-424-00898-2}}, {{ISBN|978-3-424-00898-2}}</ref> The position of the Salabhanjika is also related to the position of [[Maya (mother of the Buddha)|Maya]] when she gave birth to [[Gautama Buddha]] under an asoka tree in a garden in [[Lumbini]], while grasping its branch.<ref>Buddhistische Bilderwelt: Hans Wolfgang Schumann, ''Ein ikonographisches Handbuch des Mahayana- und Tantrayana-Buddhismus.'' Eugen Diederichs Verlag. Cologne. {{ISBN|3-424-00897-4}}, {{ISBN|978-3-424-00897-5}}</ref>

==See also==
*[[Ashoka tree]]
*[[Caryatid]], a similar element in Western architecture
*[[List of tree deities]]
*[[Yakshini]]

==References==
{{commons category|Salabhanjika}}
{{reflist}}

[[Category:Indian architectural history]]
[[Category:Sanskrit words and phrases]]
[[Category:Female legendary creatures]]