The Case of The Yakii Asvamukhi PDF

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CONTE N T S
vicino oriente
Gabriella Spada, A new fragment of the “Laws about Rented Oxen” and the Sumerian
verb bu-us2 11
Franco D’Agostino, Licia Romano, The harbor of Abu Tbeirah and the Southern
Mesopotamian landscape in the 3rd mill. BC: Preliminary considerations 19
M. Erica Couto-Ferreira, Nell’oscurità: il feto tra nascita e morte nei testi cunei-
formi 33
islam
Antonino Pellitteri, I Banū Abī’l-Ḥusayn o Kalbiti tra Palermo e il Cairo (x-xi sec.):
note su una interazione familiare e politica, rileggendo al-Maqrīzī 49
Mario Casari, Alessandro in area islamica: problemi e prospettive di ricerca 73
india
Alice Crisanti, East and West between «Complementarity» and «Mediation». Some
Reflections on Giuseppe Tucci’s Notion of «Eurasia» and Its Intellectual Sources 103
Małgorzata Sacha, On Shame and Anger. Psychoanalytical Deliberations on Con-
structing Mytho-Images of Femininity in Hindu Culture 117
Chiara Policardi, The case of the yakṣiṇī Aśvamukhī: remarks between jātaka and
art 137
recensione
Carlo Coppola, Urdu Poetry, 1935-1970: The Progressive Episode (Cecilia Bisogni) 163
arte e archeologia india e asia centrale

Vito Messina, The Fourth Terrace of Elymais. Preliminary Survey at Qal ‘e-ye Bardi
of the Iranian-Italian Joint Expedition in Khuzestan 167
Angela F. Howard, A case of Identity: Who is the Cosmological Buddha? 181
cina
Lidia Tammaro, Early Medieval diji: a new reading 213
Marina Miranda, The legacy of the Maoist period in President Xi Jinping’s appraisal:
an assessment between politics and historiography 233
Ornella De Nigris, The meishuguan in contemporary China. An analysis of the in-
stitutional status and the question of sustainability 249
8 contents [2]
giappone
Corinne D’Antonio, The broad concept of grammatical case in Japan 273
Valdo Ferretti, The changing picture of the Hōreki jiken 287
recensione
China’s Development from a Global Perspective, edited by María Dolores Elizade,
Wang Jianlang (Chiara d’Auria) 309
THE CASE OF THE Y AK Ṣ IṆ Ī A Ś V A M U KH Ī:

REMARKS BETWEE N J ĀTAK A A N D A RT
Chiara Policardi
A yakṣiṇī called Aśvamukhī in Sanskrit, Assamukhī in Pāli, is peculiarly represented as horse-headed

in textual and material sources. While the tale featuring Aśvamukhī as the protagonist only survives
in the form of a jātaka narrative, several art-historical records represent a horse-headed female fig-
ure, usually in the act of detaining a young brāhman. This iconographic formula appears in different
time periods and in various historical and cultural environments, from Buddhist Sāñcī and Bhājā
cave reliefs to Cāḷukya’s Aihoḷe and Hoysaḷa’s Belūr sculptures.
This yakṣiṇī has been given little scholarly attention in her own right. While Buddhist represen-
tations could be explained as allusions to the jātaka, how can the popularity of the theme in Hindu
sites be interpreted? Do these reliefs illustrate the core of a tale, a mythologem shared by Buddhist
and Hindu repertoires? Or do these horse-headed figures simply reflect a pre-Buddhist or non-Bud-
dhist popular belief, rooted in the mostly pan-Indian world of the genii?
In the present paper, after first presenting the literary sources, I shall list and briefly describe the
figurative evidence. An interpretative section follows, where I will discuss the possible background
and meaning of the iconographic formula, reflecting on the significances of the half-equine and half-
woman representation and speculating about the narrative dimensions in which the typical motif
might have conceivably been immersed.
Keywords: yakṣiṇī, horse-headed, Aśvamukhī, Sanskrit, Pāli, jātaka, Buddhist iconography, Hindu
iconography, therianthropy.
udvejayati aṅgulipārṣṇibhāgān
mārge śilībhūtahime’pi yatra
na durvahaśroṇipayodharārtā
bhindanti mandāṁ gatim aśvamukhyaḥ
Dove, pur se tormenta le dita dei piedi e i calcagni
il sentiero con la neve divenuta dura come pietra,
oppresse dalle cosce e dai seni pesanti
non interrompono il loro lento procedere le Aśvamukhī.
Kālidāsa, Kumārasambhava i. 11, translated by Giuliano Boccali.
1. Introduction
A yakṣiṇī called Aśvamukhī in Sanskrit, Assamukhī in Pāli, is peculiarly represented

as horse-headed in textual and material sources. While the tale featuring Aśva-
mukhī as the protagonist only survives in the form of a jātaka narrative, several art-
historical records represent a horse-headed female figure, usually in the act of detaining
a young brāhman. This iconographic formula appears in different time periods and in
various historical and cultural environments, from Buddhist Sāñcī and Bhājā cave reliefs
to Cāḷukya’s Aihoḷe and Hoysaḷa’s Belūr sculptures.
chiara.policardi@gmail.com
https://doi.org/10.19272/201803804008 · «rso · n. s.», xci, 1-4, 2018

138 chiara policardi [2]
A survey of earlier research on the yakṣiṇī Aśvamukhī demonstrates the need for a
comprehensive perspective. This yakṣiṇī has been given little scholarly attention in her
own right, with several scholars dedicating no more than a few unsystematic remarks to
this theme. No analytical study of the case has ever made a thorough comparison
between the written and visual representations, on the one hand, and between the
Buddhist and Hindu evidence, on the other.
Aśvamukhī belongs to the ranks of Indian mythological creatures with equine traits,
namely kiṃnaras, kiṃpuruṣas, and gandharvas, which include both horse-headed and cen-
taur-like appearances; however, a brief essay such as the present one cannot pretend to
address in its entirety this motley and magmatic world of hybrid equine beings. Instead,
I aim at restricting the field to the motif of the horse-headed woman accompanied by
the figure of a brāhman, presenting and analysing the body of evidence, and proposing
an interpretative hypothesis of the scene.
While Buddhist representations could be explained as allusions to the jātaka, how can
the popularity of the theme in Hindu sites be interpreted? Do these reliefs illustrate the
core of a tale, a mythologem shared by Buddhist and Hindu repertoires? Or do these
horse-headed figures simply reflect a pre-Buddhist or non-Buddhist popular belief,
rooted in the mostly pan-Indian world of the genii? In the Buddhist monuments them-
selves, are these images really allusions to a specific narrative content – in the analysis of
Dehejia “the monoscenic portrayal” of the jātaka tale?1
After first introducing the literary sources, I shall list and briefly describe the figurative
evidence; in the concluding section I will discuss the possible background and meaning
of the iconographic formula.
2. Literary appearances
In the Jātakatthavaṇṇanā, the Pāli collection of stories narrating the past lives of the Bud-
dha, the number 432 features Assamukhī as the mother of the Buddha-to-be.2 The tale,
titled Padakusalamāṇava-jātaka, tells us that the queen of Benares, for having sinned
against her husband, was reborn as a yakṣiṇī with a horse face. Dwelling in a rock-cave at
the foot of a mountain, she caught and devoured the men that passed by on the road lead-
ing from the Eastern to the Western border. After serving Kubera for three years, she ob-
tained the domain of a territory thirty yojanas long by five broad. One day a young
brāhman entered her realm. As was her habit, she seized him and threw him on her back;
however, on entering the cave, and coming into contact with the man, she fell in love with
him and, instead of devouring him, made him her captive, closing the entrance of the
cave with a huge stone whenever she left. Maintaining a different diet – travellers as raw
meat for the yakṣiṇī and food carried by the same travellers for the brāhman –, they lived
harmoniously together, and she bore him a son, the Bodhisattva. When the child grew
to an appropriate age, he understood that he and his father had to escape from his mother
in order to come back to a life among men. Having asked her what the boundaries of her
realm were, he put his father on his shoulder and fled to the limits of Assamukhī’s do-
main. As she saw them leaving, she raced after them begging them to come back. Finally
understanding she could not stop them, she transmitted to her son the power of recog-
nising footsteps even in the air (hence the title of the jātaka), so he would have a liveli-
1 See Dehejia 1990 and 1997. 2 Cowell 1895-1907, vol. iii, 298-306.
[3] the case of the yakṣiṇī aśvamukhī 139
hood. Then, she died of grief on the spot. In the second part of the story, a king, to test
the Buddha-to-be’s skill of following a trail, stole his own jewels and then asked the boy
to catch the thief. When the boy convicted him of theft by telling a number of witty
stories, the king was put to death by his own subjects and the Buddha-to-be became king.
As is well known, the jātaka is a poetic-prosaic genre. The verses, in an old form of
Pāli, are considered the canonical core (buddhavacana) of the text, and thus they are pre-
served as part of the Khuddaka Nikāya of the Theravāda scriptures. However, these gāthā
sections are hardly eloquent without the surrounding prose narrative, which is nonethe-
less considered commentarial. Thanks to the most recent studies (see Appleton 2010) we
can assume that the verses “have always circulated with the stories of the past in some
(possibly quite flexible) form. Though there are a few exceptions, many of the stories of
the present seem to have been artificially created to match their stories of the past, sug-
gesting they may be from a somewhat later period of redaction”.3 The text of the Jāta-
katthavaṇṇanā, in the form which has been transmitted to us, is thus a layered composi-
tion, which was only established in the 5th or 6th century CE. In this gradual process of
creation of a jātaka collection, the oral preservation of stories probably played a signifi-
cant role. There is evidence4 about specialised jātaka-bhāṇakas, or reciters, who mem-
orised the stories and continuously recounted them in sermons; however, what the exact
form of the stories was, and what their specific uses were in the early period, remain un-
answered questions.5
It should be noted that in the Padakusalamāṇava-jātaka the content of the verses seems
directly associated only with the second part of the story, since they sing of life-givers
that can turn into life-takers: water, earth, fire, food, and others, lastly addressing the
king, who, behaving like a thief, transforms himself into a bane. The figure of Assa-
mukhī appears in the first part of the story, which does not appear to have a straightfor-
ward relation with the canonical poetic part. Just like several other jātakas, the Padaku-
salamāṇava in origin might have been a non-Buddhist folktale, whose essential plot
concerned a man seduced/captured by a horse-headed yakṣiṇī, whose son became king
thanks to the extraordinary power inherited from his mother.
Significantly, in the Tibetan Mūlasarvāstivādavinaya, the jātaka commentarial presents
a tale – the story of queen Suśroṇī – where a kiṃnarī plays a role very similar to the As-
samukhī’s one. In the forest, a kiṃnarī abducts a brāhman and keeps him in her cave, clos-
ing the entrance with a huge stone whenever she leaves. She bears him a son, named
Āśuga, who, once grown up, flees with the father. His mother sends him a vīṇā, so he
could make a living with music. Clearly, with a few minor differences (her aspect is not
explicitly described as horse-headed and the gift to the son is of different nature), this
section of the tale is identical to the first part of the Padakusalamāṇava-jātaka. Moreover,
interestingly, this story of the kiṃnarī and brāhman is enclosed in a tale whose plot, for
the rest, differs from the Theravāda jātaka.6 As is known, the Tibetan Mūlasarvāstivādavi-
naya is a 9th century translation from an original Sanskrit version for the most part lost;
however, this work comprises numerous stories from the life and the former existences
of the Buddha, which are reflected in Buddhist Indian art.7
3 Appleton 2010, 7-8. 4 See Appleton 2010, 52-53. 5 See Appleton 2016, 2.
6 The tale of queen Suśroṇī is translated into English in Schiefner 1906, 227-235.
7 In particular, Schlingloff 2013 has shown that the Mūlasarvāstivādavinaya was the literary reference for a
number of Ajaṇṭā narrative paintings. See Zin 2003, 233, and see infra 3.9 for Aśvamukhī at Ajaṇṭā.
A yakṣiṇī with the appearance of a horse also features in Mahāvaṁsa 10. 53-88.
Paṇḍukābhaya, prince of Sri Lanka, pursued a beautiful mare with a white body and red
feet, who used to wander the Dhūmarakka mountain. She was a yakṣiṇī, Cetiyā by name,
described in the tale either as mare-shaped (vaḷavarūpa-) or mare-faced (vaḷavamukha-).
The king finally bridled her, and she became his adviser and his steed in battle. When he
was finally established on the throne, the king housed the horse-faced yakṣiṇī within the
royal precincts.8
Some more cursory mentions of equinocephalic women are found in Rāmāyaṇa and
in Kālidāsa’s Kumārasambhava.
In the fourth kāṇḍa, the Rāmāyaṇa storyline sees Sugrīva, the king of the monkey al-
lied of Rāma, mobilising all his subjects to discover where Rāvaṇa is keeping Sītā. Before
dispatching the monkey troops in the four directions, the king accurately describes to
them the territories that must be searched. Outlining the northern region, he states (iv,
42. 29-30): “Beyond Mount Krauñca lies a mountain called Maināka, where stands the
dānava Maya’s palace, which he fashioned himself. You must search Maināka including
its ridges, tablelands and caves, where stands the scattered dwellings of the horse-faced
women (strīṇām aśvamukhīnāṃ ca niketās tatra tatra tu)”.9
Kālidāsa also locates the Aśvamukhīs on the Himālayan slopes. The Kumārasambhava
opens with a celebrated description of Himālaya (i.1-17), which, as Boccali (2016) has
shown, can be read on three levels: as a description of a mountain, of a kingdom, and,
indirectly, of a sovereign. Among the semi-divine beings that inhabit this very special
kind of realm, Kālidāsa, in stanza 11, conjures up the horse-headed women: “Though the
path of frozen snow / here pains their toes and heels, / the horse-faced kiṃnara women,
weighed down / by their heavy hips and breasts do not break their slow pace”.10 The
Aśvamukhīs (in the translation rendered as “kiṃnara women”) are thus described as “the
female beauties that grace the mountain, i.e. the realm! As befits a celebration of any
kingdom of such nobility and importance”. 11 Were it not for their very name, we would
not see them as horse-faced hybrid beings, but as beautiful young women. The poet, fo-
cusing on their sensuous bodies rather than on their animal faces, pictures the Aśva-
mukhīs with brush strokes that evoke the Indian ideal of female beauty. Within this
subtle erotic streak, the equine face appears as a harmonised extravagant detail.
These literary mentions of Aśvamukhī (in the last two cases actually in the plural
form) will be discussed in the concluding section, where an attempt will be made to ana-
lyse them also in the light of the figurative representations.
3. Figurative representations
While (Pāli and Sanskrit) textual sources featuring the horse-headed figure are thus
rather exiguous, she is portrayed in a good number of art-historical records.
My survey has identified fourteen figurative representations, but, if we include further
occurrences cursorily mentioned by previous publications without specific details, the
number raises to nineteen. Out of these, nine may belong to different schools of early
Buddhist art. They are, as far as possible in chronological order, as follows:12
8 See Guruge 1990, 548-550. 9 Translation Lefeber 2005, 281.

10 Boccali 2016, 324. 11 Boccali 2016, 324.
12 The secondary sources which deal with Aśvamukhī portrayals are: Coomaraswamy [1927] 1972, 26; Coo-
maraswamy [i vol. 1928, ii vol. 1931] 2001, i. 10, ii. 6; Combaz 1937, ii. 22; Marshall-Foucher [1940] 1982, i. 174, 181-
Fig. 1. A medallion on a railing pillar

from Pāṭaliputra, now in the Calcutta Museum,
early 2nd century BCE. Fig. 2. Sāñcī stūpa n. 2, ground balustrade,
Photo: after A. K. Coomaraswamy 2001 northwest side, central medallion on the pillar 86b
[I vol. 1928, II vol. 1931], I. Plate 12. (inner face), ca. 110 BCE. Photo: C. Pieruccini.
1. Pāṭaliputra, medallion on a railing pillar, now in the Calcutta Museum,13 early 2nd cen-
tury BCE (Fig. 1).
In this relief the brāhman seems to be walking uphill serenely, with his right hand
raised and the left hanging, while at his side the horse-headed woman is gazing at him.
She carries the child Buddha-to-be on her left hip. Thus, the whole family is united here
in a portrayal which, despite the simple, not refined execution, is particularly valuable,
since, to my knowledge, it probably represents the first jātaka depiction known to us.14
2. Sāñcī stūpa n. 2, ground balustrade, northwest side, central medallion on pillar 86b,
2nd-1st century BCE (Fig. 2).
According to Marshall-Foucher (1982: 95) the sculptures in stūpa 2 date from the last
quarter of the 2nd century BCE, probably from about 110 BCE, that is from the age of the
Śuṅgas. A medallion on pillar 86b portrays a horse-headed woman, half-naked, carrying
a turbaned male youth on her hip. He holds a bunch of three mango fruits in his left hand,
as does Assamukhī, who is holding a similar bunch of four mangos in her right hand. Ac-
cording to Rao (1994, 274) “her breasts are exposed but she is clad on her hips like a jungle
182, 223, 229, iii. Pl. xc, iii. Pl. xcvi; Pancamukhi 1951; Taddei 1971; Misra 1981; 133-135, Biswas 1981 a; Biswas 1981 b;
Biswas 1987; De Caroli 2000; De 2005; Zin 2003, 228-235; Subrahmanyam 2009, 301-306. However, none of these
offers a complete survey of all the occurrences of Aśvamukhī, either because some records were discovered and
published after they had been published, or because they only cursorily mention the Aśvamukhī issue.
13 While working on the present essay, I asked Dr. Daniela Bevilacqua, who was in Kolkata, to look for the
Pāṭaliputra vedikā section featuring this medallion in the Calcutta Museum, and to send me some photos, but she
reported that the record was not exhibited and none of the staff could give information about it.
14 Waddell (1903, frontispiece) reports the complete image of the vedikā section recovered.
woman”; the sylvan backdrop is suggested by four bunches or trees with bud shaped and
decorated tops, which surround the interior circular profile of the medallion.
According to Taddei (1971: 21, 22 n. 50), De Caroli (2000: 268), and Zin (2003: 230), the
figure on the yakṣiṇī’s hip is the brāhman, who is being carried away by the ogress. If this
reading were to be accepted, it would be the only preserved example, among those
known to me, where she abducts the brāhman by placing him on her hip.
I believe, instead, that the male figure is to be identified with the Buddha-to-be, de-
picted as a child or as a very young boy: if he were the captured brāhman, why would
he be holding a bunch of mango fruits? The woman does not seem to be forcing him in
any way or forcefully holding him. She is simply carrying her son Indian-wise on her hip,
and they are probably coming back from fruit-picking, as Marshall-Foucher (1982: i.181-
182) deem, the fruits being intended as food for the child, since the mother’s diet consists
of raw human meat.
Certainly, in typical Indian representations of mother and child the dimensions of the
latter are inferior to those of the male figure depicted on this Sāñcī medallion: at Pāṭali-
putra (n. 1) the child is clearly smaller in size than in stūpa 2. The problematic proportions
of the figures on this medallion can be explained by taking into account the technical dif-
ficulties that confronted the early Buddhist sculptors. The craftsmen were accustomed
to carving wood and ivory, while with the balustrade of the stūpa 2 they were called to
create “the earliest important example(s) of indigenous relief-work in stone”, trying to
“make the best of their own traditional methods”.15 So, envisaging their difficulties with
the new medium, we are not surprised to notice the disproportions between the mother
and the child, the awkward profile of her feet, and the treatment of her mane, depicted
“short and erect, giving the impression of a donkey or a khur”.16 Notwithstanding the
unskilled execution, this relief is noteworthy not only as far as the Assamukhī issue is
concerned, but also because it represents one of the few jātaka depictions at Sāñcī (six in
all) and the only one on stūpa 2.
Always referring to the studied records, we can remark that this is the unique pre-
served Assamukhī image where she is represented solely with the child, without the
brāhman by her side. In the other examples where the horse-headed woman appears
with the offspring, from Pāṭaliputra (n. 1 - where she similarly carries the child on her left
hip) and from Bodh Gayā (n. 5), the man stands close by her.
3. Bhājā, vihāra 19, southwestern side of the porch, detail of the relief on the right side
of the cell door, 100-70 BCE (Fig. 3).
At Bhājā, cave 19 – one of the site’s earliest vihāra – presents us with a unique icono-
graphic program, which has defied interpretation attempts over the years by several
scholars.17 On the southwestern side of the cave porch, on either side of a cell door, there
are two elaborate reliefs which are particularly puzzling: notwithstanding the academic
efforts and debates, no reading of these scenes has been able to give reason to all the el-
ements of the disparate imagery.
De Caroli (2000) questions the assumption that all the figures in these reliefs refer to
a single narrative: he argues that the scenes, although placed within a single architec-
15 Marshall-Foucher [1940] 1982, 95.

16 Van deer Geer 2008, 255. The khur is the Indian wild ass (Equus hemionous khur).
17 See the discussion in De Caroli 2000.
tural frame, do not necessarily express a

single meaning. Acknowledging the exist-
ence of similar scenes on fence reliefs at
other sites dated to the same time period
or earlier, he proposes that this wall, and
in fact the entire porch, was an attempt to
recreate a vedikā rail at the entrance of the
vihāra, aiming at setting apart the sacred
from the secular, as is the function of the
vedikā.18 Thus, no single tale would be de-
picted, but “multiple, common vedikā
medallion motifs were purposely repre-
sented in close proximity while attempt-
ing to fill the large architectural space of
the porch”.19
While the possibility that these two
large sculptural groupings represent lost
tales remains, De Caroli is right in identify- Fig. 3. Bhājā, vihāra 19, southwestern side of the
ing parallel reliefs on contemporaneous porch, detail of the relief on the right side of the
railings: the Assamukhī scene is a compel- cell door, 100-70 BCE. Photo: C. Livio - F. Zaghet.
ling piece of evidence. In the relief on the
right side of the cell door, the space is domi-
nated by a large elephant and two riders, surrounded by a myriad of smaller figures.
Below the elephant, between his posterior and anterior feet, a horse-headed woman is
leading away a turbaned man, who has a short sword in his right hand and seems to be
bound. The fact that he is armed questions the relation of this scene with the Padakusa-
lamāṇava-jātaka, where the man is explicitly connoted as a brāhman, and this is how he
appears in the majority of the other figurations I have collected. De Caroli, following
Coomaraswamy, identifies the elephant-rider as Indra and the main figure in the relief on
the left side of the door as Surya; so, are we in a Hindu context? Does this horse-headed
figure represent a pre-Buddhist Aśvamukhī? At the current stage in research, it seems im-
possible to assess this conclusively. Certainly, if a story capable of explaining the whole
Bhājā composition were to be identified, the meaning of the Aśvamukhī figure in pro-
bably both Buddhist and Hindu imagery could be enlightened as well. However, the mere
existence of such a complex, resolving narrative cannot be stated beyond doubt, and we
can therefore just take into account the presence of a horse-headed figure in this motley
relief, whether as a subordinate scene of the entire panel or as an independent cameo.
4. Gurgaon (Haryānā), section of a railing pillar, central medallion, now in the Mathurā
Government Museum 12.191, 1st century BCE (Fig. 4).
In this medallion the two figures are represented standing, the horse-headed woman
gently laying a hand on the man’s shoulder and gazing at him, while he looks straight
ahead. The man wears a turban and a dhotī, and in one hand carries a vessel, which, judg-
18 As is well known, the structures of the most ancient stūpas are enclosed by a fence or balustrade, called vedikā,
through which the visitor enters via toraṇas or gateways. The toraṇas and vedikā separate the central stūpa from
the surrounding environment. 19 De Caroli 2000, 270.
ing from the shape, might be a kind of

kamaṇḍalu, the necked round pot used by
religious students (brahmacārin) and as-
cetics (saṃnyāsin) for water. The pillar was
recovered at Gurgaon, a site near Delhī,
and its red speckled sandstone clearly indi-
cates an origin from the Mathurān area.
However, as often happens for early Ma-
thurā records, in the absence of specific re-
ligious attributes, the sectarian affiliation
remains undetermined: in this case, in the
absence of the child Buddha-to-be, it is not
possible to definitively assess whether the
medallion belonged to a Hindu or to a
Buddhist context.
5. Bodh Gayā, southern section of the

balustrade round the Great Temple, two
upper half-medallions and a medallion on
three different pillars, middle of the first
century BCE (Fig. 5a and 5b; Barua 1934,
Fig. 66 c).
At Bodh-Gaya, Assamukhī and the
brāhman appear in two half-medallions
and in a medallion, that is to say in three dis-
crete scenes, which illustrate the different
phases of the story. In the first relief (Fig.
5a) the horse-headed woman is leading a
young man by his wrist, gazing back at him
while walking forward. He seems to grab
on to a tree behind him with his other
hand. Square blocks of boulders strewn
across the background and under the feet
of the two figures suggest a rugged terrain.
In the second scene (Fig. 5b) they are sit-
ting in front of one another, engaged in a
Fig. 4. Gurgaon (Haryānā), board game (caupaḏa, according to Misra
section of a railing pillar, central medallion, 1981, 134).
now in Mathurā Government Museum 12.191, The third relief (Barua 1934, Fig. 66c),
1st century BCE. Photo: after Biswas 1987, Fig. 30. enclosed in a medallion, is damaged, but
from what is discernible it appears that the
brāhman is standing on the left, placing one hand on the arm of the yakṣiṇī. Her pose is
reminiscent of a śālabhañjikā, with her left foot placed across her right while her hands
are raised above her head and joined, maybe grasping the branch of a tree. The child
Buddha-to-be figures standing on the right, close to the left leg of the mother.
At Bodh Gayā, thus, the story unfolds in three different moments, on distinct pillars:
abduction, life in common, and a happy family with the child Buddha-to-be.
a) b)
Fig. 5. Bodh Gayā, southern section of the balustrade round the Great Temple,
two upper half-medallions on two different pillars, middle of the 1st century BCE. Photo:
a) Archeological Survey of India, online archive at <disc.leidenuniv.nl>; b) Naing Zaw.
6. Sāñcī, stūpa n. 3, southern toraṇa, south face, lower architrave detail, early first part of
the 1st century CE (Fig. 6).
According to Marshall-Foucher (1982, 43), the gateway of stūpa 3 is the latest of all the
five toraṇas at Sāñcī, probably added in the early first part of the 1st century CE. The lower
lintel depicts a mountainous landscape, at whose middle a god-king holding a vajra sits
on a throne, in a pavilion, surrounded by his court. Along the inferior border of the land-
scape a beautiful meandering river sprinkled with fish and conches flows, spreading into
two lakes on both sides of the pavilion. The slopes are populated by a wild hunter, lions,
peacocks, and various kinds of mythological creatures, such as nāgas, gandharvas, yakṣas,
yakṣīs, and musicians with vīṇās; among these, to the left of the viewer, there is the horse-
headed woman with the brāhman. Both sitting on the rocks along the lake, the equine
figure seems to be detaining the brāhman by force holding his arm, while he seems to
exert an opposite force, trying to distance himself.
Marshall-Foucher (1982, i. 229) have no
doubts about the identity of the central fig-
ure: he would be Indra represented in his
royal palace, which rises on the top of
Mount Meru. The landscape, thus, would
portray the most popular of the paradises,
the paradise of Indra. According to Zin
2016, instead, a divine figure holding a vajra
at Sāñcī is not necessarily Indra; she deems
that the architrave represents the most
beautiful example of the tradition of de- Fig. 6. Sāñcī, stūpa n. 3, southern toraṇa,
picting mountains at the entrances. This south face, lower architrave detail, early first part
tradition, which is not limited to the Bud- of the 1st century CE. Photo: C. Pieruccini.
dhist monuments, “has much to do with

the old pan-Indian belief that if someone
wants to reach heaven, he must cross the
Himālayas, the passage between the world
of humans and that of the gods”.20 Indeed,
examples of rocky landscapes flanking the
entrances are also found at the Ajaṇṭā
caves. Interestingly, the Himālayan scenery
is portrayed in the incipit of Kumārasam-
bhava as well, that is to say at the “en-
trance” of a poem which narrates divine
love. Kālidāsa populates the Himālayan
slopes with different kinds of semi-divine
beings, including the Aśvamukhīs, as seen
above, giving life to a lively picture which
is very similar to the architrave of stūpa 3.
7. Chandraketugarh (North 24 - Parganas

district), terracotta plaque, now in State
Archaeological Gallery of West Bengal, 1st-
Fig. 7. Chandraketugarh, terracotta plaque 2nd century CE (Fig. 7).
(North 24 - Parganas district), now in State The rectangular plaque, which is almost
Archaeological Gallery of West Bengal,
1st-2nd century CE.
intact, depicts the horse-headed woman,
Photo: after Sengupta 2007, 216. nude, with her legs and arms flexed in a
pose suggesting flight, while carrying the
young brāhman on her shoulders. He
wears a turban and holds a harp (according to Biswas 1981b, 92) or a bow and arrow (ac-
cording to Sengupta 2007, 216) in his right hand. The sylvan environment is suggested by
a tree in blossom in the background.21
8. Mathurā, lower portion of a railing pillar, now in the Cleveland Museum (CMA 77.34),
Kuśāṇa period, probably late 2nd century CE (Fig. 8).
This pillar strongly reflects the influence of Hellenistic culture, in particular of
Gandhāran sculptures with bacchanalian scenes. Decorated on two sides, it depicts
in the upper-central registers female figures half-draped and seemingly inebriated,
with celestial musicians appearing above their heads. The costumes, the drapery treat-
ment, the poses, the vessels’ forms, the instruments, and the growing grapevines in
the background are all Graeco-Roman features most likely inspired by the Kuśāṇa
Gandhāra.
In the lower portion of the pillar, both the left and the right faces are framed by a rocky
backdrop; the former represents a hunch-backed woman pouring wine for a portly male
figure, probably a yakṣa, while the latter features a nude horse-headed woman kneeling
in front of a young boy. She is pleading with him or trying to beguile him, stretching one
hand towards his shoulder. He, by contrast, turns his back to her, and, clutching an axe,
20 Zin 2016. 21 This plaque is only described by Biswas (1981 b, 92) and by De (2005, 36, photo 11).
watches her with fear. Is this male youth,

clad in a leaf loin-cloth, the Buddha-to-be,
trying to escape from his mother Assa-
mukhī? In other words, is this a jātaka
illustration or simply the typical scene of
the horse-headed yakṣiṇī trying to abduct a
young male?
According to Carter 1982, while the
features of the reliefs must certainly have
been borrowed from the Kuśāṇa
Gandhāra, the piece has a clear Mathurān
origin, as is revealed not only by the type
of stone – mottled Sikri sandstone – and
by the pillar’s shape, but also by the ripe,
rounded volumes typical of the Mathurān
style, here dressed in an emphatically ex-
otic coating. Moreover, Carter deems that Fig. 8. Mathurā, lower portion of a railing pillar,
this is “a corner post of a type known to now in Cleveland Museum (CMA 77.34), Kuśāṇa
period, probably late 2nd century CE.
have belonged to stone railings surround- Photo: after Carter 1982, Fig. 4.
ing early Buddhist stūpas”.22 However, just
like for the other, earlier record from the
Mathurā area seen (n. 4), in the absence of
a greater context, it is difficult to make a conclusive assessment, and to establish
whether the scene alludes to the jātaka tale or not. Nevertheless, as it stands, the relief
on the Cleveland pillar would be the only explicitly Buddhist-connoted scene, and the
only narrative one, in an otherwise bacchanalian and non-narrative decoration. So, it is
highly probable that here it depicts a motif dear to the popular imagery, belonging to
that yakṣa world which was felt to be very akin to the Dionysian cortege especially in
the Kuśāṇa Gandhāra.23 Most likely, the Mathurān sculptor who carved this pillar,
trained in the Gandhāran tradition, also decided to locate the figure of the horse-
headed yakṣiṇī on the slopes of the north-western mountains, where grapevines flour-
ished. The fact that Aśvamukhī was known in the Mathurā region is proved by other
reliefs from the site portraying her (cfr. n. 4),24 while her mountainous habitat is a re-
current feature in the figurative records, usually being evoked by a rugged terrain with
boulders similar to that depicted here (see the Bodh Gayā medallion, n. 5, and the Sāñcī
stūpa 3 architrave, n. 6). Moreover, the jātaka, the Rāmāyaṇa passage and the Kumāra-
sambhava stanza place the abode of the yakṣiṇī at the foot of a mountain.
22 Carter 1982, 247-249.

23 Carter (1982, 253) remarks that “perhaps the Bactrian Greek invaders of northern India were the first to
actively foster a syncretism involving Dionysos and his bacchants with Kubera and his yakṣas”.
24 In addition to the considered records, a horse-headed figure appears on another piece from Mathurā,
mentioned by Coomaraswamy ([i vol. 1928, II vol. 1931] 2001, ii. 6), Taddei (1971, 22), and Biswas (1987, 84), and re-
produced in Rosenfield (1993, fig. 40). It is a fragment of a stone lintel representing scenes from the life of the Bud-
dha along with other Buddha and Buddha-to-be figures. Belonging probably to a pre-Kuśāṇa period, it is from the
Huvishka vihāra, Jamālpur, and is now kept in the Lucknow Museum (no. B 208). Here the Aśvamukhī figure is
seen standing alone, appearing among the rocks of the Indraśālaguha without a male figure alongside, thus I have
not included this piece in the list. As Coomaraswamy argues, here she is probably only a “part of the scenery”.
Fig. 9. Ajaṇṭā, cave xvii, ceiling, painting on the right side, late 5th century.
Photo: after Behl 1998, 177.
9. Ajaṇṭā, cave xvii, ceiling, painting on the right side, late 5th century (Fig. 9).
This painting appears near a gazelle portrayed in the act of teaching and a scene with
two bulls. The horse-headed woman is represented in three-quarter profile, crouched
down in a squatting-like position – her left leg flexed and her right stretched – with her
torso bending towards the man. She holds some mangoes in one hand, while with her
other hand she touches the man, who is depicted a lot smaller than her. He sits frontally
and in his turn he is bending over, moving away from Aśvamukhī’s snout and forming a
diagonal parallel to hers with his torso. He is grasping her forearm, while raising his other
arm above his head: according to Zin (2003, 231), he is trying to protect himself from the
woman by covering his head – a gesture which in Ajaṇṭā is usually an expression of terror.
His long hair may indicate his status of brāhman, while the shape of the pot on his right
closely recalls in shape the vessel already seen at Gurgaon (n. 4) – in both case, it is pro-
bably a kind of kamaṇḍalu, which connotes the man as a brahmacārin or a saṃnyāsin.
The pictorial technique and the good status of preservation allows us to appreciate
the expression of Aśvamukhī’s equine face, which has a quid of human countenance; in-
stead, in the majority of sculptural records, the lineaments of her face are unfortunately
bevelled, the only exception being the Belūr example (n. 14), where, similarly to this
painting, Aśvamukhī shows an expressive snout.
10. Aihoḷe, Lāḍ Khān temple, Mukhamaṇḍapa, south porch, southwest wall, right porch
pillar, Early Western Cāḷukya, second half of the 6th century CE (Fig. 10).
The two life-size figures are standing under the shelter of a plantain tree. The naked,
horse-headed woman has a long mane that falls on her shoulders and, while looking
straight ahead, with ease she holds the man by his necklace. He is in three quarter
profile, and holds a round object in his raised left hand, which perhaps is once again a
Fig. 10. Aihoḷe, Lāḍ Khān temple, Fig. 11. Aihoḷe, Durga temple, southeast corner
Mukhamaṇḍapa, south porch, southwest wall, of the porch, right porch pillar, Early Western
right porch pillar, Early Western Cāḷukya, Cāḷukya, circa second half of 6th century C.E.
second half of the 6th century CE. Photo: C. Livio - F. Zaghet.
Photo: ©regents of the University of Michigan,
Department of the History of Art, Visual
Resources Collections.
kamaṇḍalu (cfr. the water-pot at Gurgaon, n. 4, and at Ajaṇṭā, n. 9). Is he going to use
the vessel as a weapon against Aśvamukhī? Unfortunately, due to the partial damage to
the stone, the lineaments of his face, and thus his expression, are no longer discernible.
11. Aihoḷe, Durga temple, southeast corner of the porch, right porch pillar, Early West-
ern Cāḷukya, circa second half of 6th century CE (Fig. 11).
The figures of Aśvamukhī and brāhman on the Durga temple are very similar in pose
and appearance to the same couple represented on the Lāḍ Khān temple (n. 10). The
man, dressed in langoṭī, holds a pot in his raised left hand, while the horse-headed woman
pulls him close to her by his necklace. Unfortunately, the sculptures are more damaged
here than in Lāḍ Khān, and the faces are completely worn away, although it is still pos-
sible to read the alluring pose of the woman: here she holds the necklace with her left
hand, her left arm traversing her belly and making the gesture more similar to an em-
brace than in the other sculpture; moreover, the man is portrayed here completely in
Fig. 12. Aihoḷe, Huchchappayā Māṭha, Fig. 13. Paṭṭadakal, Pāpanātha temple,
East façade, pillar on left side of the entrance, East façade, porch pillar, first half of 8th
Early Western Cāḷukya, 7th century. century. Photo: ©regents of the University
Photo: ©regents of the University of Michigan, of Michigan, Department of the History of Art,
Department of the History of Art, Visual Resources Collections.
Visual Resources Collections.
profile, thus somehow closer to the yakṣiṇī. These slight variations between the two
Cāḷukyan temple sculptures make one wonder whether both couples were executed by
the same workshop within a short time of one another.
12. Aihoḷe, Huchchappayā Māṭha, East façade, pillar on left side of the entrance, Early
Western Cāḷukya, 7th century (Fig. 12).
The horse-headed woman, naked, is trying to pull the man towards her, wrapping her
arm around his neck, holding his arm with her other hand, and turning her snout to-
wards him. The man, dressed in langoṭī with a rosary in his hand, is looking straight
ahead with an unusual expression on his face: according to Zin he seems to be satisfied
(zufriedenen Eindruck) although he is being constrained,25 but, in my view, he might
merely be terrified.
13. Paṭṭadakal, Pāpanātha temple, East façade, porch pillar, first half of 8th century
(Fig. 13).
The female figure, naked or almost naked, elegantly displays the tribhaṅga pose of de-
hancement, thrusting her left hip towards the man beside her. He replays the pose and
wraps one arm around her waist. Unfortunately, her face is badly abraded: although she
25 See Zin 2003, 231.

has clearly non-human lineaments, we

would not have recognised her as Aśva-
mukhī were it not for the comparison with
the other sculptures featuring the horse-
headed woman and the brāhman. Differ-
ently from the other occurrences, how-
ever, here the man clearly appears to be
seduced by Aśvamukhī.26
14. Belūr, Cennakeśava temple, north wall,

exterior detail, Hoysaḷa, circa 1117 (Fig. 14).
Similarly to the previous Paṭṭadakal
example (n. 13), at Belūr the couple is
depicted in an amorous embrace. The man
wraps an arm around Aśvamukhī’s
shoulders, the equine snout and the man’s
face converge on each other, and their
hands are woven together – she holding his
hand in hers – in the focal point of the
sculptural ensemble, emphasising the
union.27
In addition to the listed records, Aśva-

mukhī and a male figure are depicted on Fig. 14. Belūr, Cennakeśava temple, north wall,
five other pieces briefly mentioned in the exterior detail, circa 1117. Photo: C. Pieruccini.
secondary literature, which either have no
details regarding the exact provenance and
the possible dating, or do not adduce a picture of the object, or refer to a publication that
I was unable to access. For the sake of completeness, the information about these records
has also been gathered below:
15. A Śuṅga terracotta plaque in the Baroda Museum and Picture Gallery collection,
which according to Biswas (1981b, 93) is from Pāṭaliputra, depicts the horse-headed
woman standing aside a male figure, holding his right hand. Both the figures wear elab-
orate drapery and ornaments.28
16. A terracotta plaque from Tamluk (Medinipur district), now preserved in the Tāmra-
lipta Museum and Research Centre, shows “the yakṣī wearing a short piece of cloth
26 None of the publications dealing with Aśvamukhī mentions this sculpture; I found this occurrence while
searching the Leiden University Digital Collections, where it is captioned as “couple with a horse-headed yakṣī”.
This appears indicative insofar as other examples of the couple, not known to me and catalogued with names other
than “Aśvamukhī” or even not including the term “horse”, might well exist.
27 It might be relevant to mention that this hand gesture does not allude to pāṇigrahaṇa, the marriage ceremony
where the groom takes the bride’s hand in his, since this ritual consists in a dextrarum iunctio, whereas in this case
the woman’s right hand clasps the man’s left. Significantly, among the sources I have consulted, the only scholar
who mentions this Aśvamukhī occurrence very briefly is Zin (2003, 231).
28 The plaque is mentioned by Biswas 1981b, 93; Biswas 1987, 83; Handa 2004, 46; and De 2005, 154.
tightly tucked at the waist and in the moment of landing down carrying on her shoulder
the ‘not-very-unwilling’ young man whom she loves. The action is suggested by her
‘wing’-like gesture of arms and her figure little bent by the impact of gravitation. That
she has jumped down is further indicated by snapped and falling leaves and fruits of a
tree. On stylistics grounds, the plaque may be ascribed to c. 2nd century AD”.29
17. A terracotta plaque from Chandraketugarh, similar to n. 7, represents a brāhman

who “wears a necklace with a talisman flanked by two amulets of triratna design”.30
18. At Aihoḷe, a pillar in the front porch of Huchappayā Guḍi “bears the representation
of a sage completely seduced by the Kinnari. Here too the horse-faced Kinnari is standing
nude with a creeper in her hands placing her right hand on the shoulder of the nearby
sage, who in turn puts his left hand behind her back so as to touch her private parts. The
sage has a long beard and is dressed in dhotī”.31
19. Another pillar in the same porch as above, in Huchappayā Guḍi at Aihoḷe, figures a
nude equine-headed woman “holding a bunch of mango fruits in her hand. The sage by
her side […] has a long beard and is dressed in a short chaḍḍi”.32
Moreover, I have purposefully omitted from the list the cases in which the horse-
headed figure appears alone. In secondary literature, some of these are included among
the Aśvamukhī occurrences, namely: the coins of Agathocles and Pantaleon, the Indo-
Greek kings, where she is usually identified as “dancing girl” wearing “oriental”
trousers;33 a fragment of a Mathurā lintel (pre-Kuśāṇa period, see note 25); a Gupta panel
from Maṇḍor, Rajasthan, depicting Mt. Govardhana and featuring a horse-headed
woman among the wild beasts.34
The disproportion between the textual and the figurative sources makes the interpre-
tation of the latter quite problematic. We may presume that the representations from
eminently Buddhist sites, namely Sāñcī (n. 2 and n. 6), Bhājā (n. 3), Bodh Gayā (n. 5), and
Ajaṇṭā (n. 9) are allusions to the jātaka tale, and so may possibly be the depictions from
sites which had a more or less prominent Buddhist côté, namely Pāṭaliputra (n. 1 and n.
15), the Mathurān area (n. 4 and n. 8), and the Western Bengal delta (n. 7 and n. 17 from
Chandraketugarh, n. 16 from Tamluk). However, the latter three, and the occurrences
from the Karnataka region, in temples patronised by important Hindu dynasties such as
the Cāḷukyas and the Hoysaḷas (n. 10, 11, 12 at Aihoḷe, n. 13 at Paṭṭadakal, and n. 14 at
Belūr), reveal that the theme knew a remarkable diffusion not only in space and in
different time periods, but also beyond Buddhist environments and perhaps at different
social levels.
29 Biswas 1981b, 93. The piece is also described by De (2005, 154), who literally relies on Biswas.
30 De 2004-2006, i. 36, literally reported also in De 2005, 154. 31 Pancamukhi 1951, 43-44.
32 Pancamukhi 1951, 44. 33 See Misra 1981, 134.
34 See Coomaraswamy [1927] 1972, 241; Taddei 1971, 22; Misra 1981, 135. According to Biswas (1987, 85) there is a
depiction of Assamukhī and the brāhman also on two panels from Nāgārjunakoṇḍā; he refers to Longhurst 1938,
indicating plate xxxii a, b. However, I have been looking at the plate and searching through Longhurst’s study, but
I have failed to find the horse-headed figure either in the pictures indicated by Biswas, or in others, or even men-
tioned in the text. Moreover, no other scholar, to my knowledge, has identified Assamukhī in records from
Nāgārjunakoṇḍā.
4. Concluding remarks
4.a. Leaving the Mahāvaṁsa narrative aside
Various scholars have referred to the Mahāvaṁsa passage starring Cetiyā to interpret the
horse-headed female images, somehow placing this chronicle text on the same level as
the jātaka.35 However, it can hardly be used for shedding light on the considered icono-
graphy. While the story of Cetiyā assumes interest for the wider theme of therianthropic
yakṣas, two issues prevent us from connecting it specifically with the Aśvamukhī case,
notwithstanding their obviously common equine traits. On the one hand, the text is am-
biguous concerning Cetiyā’s appearance, since she is described either as completely a
mare (vaḷavarūpa-) or as mare-faced (vaḷavamukha-): this may suggest fluidity between the
human and the animal shape, a metamorphic power rather than a fixed hybrid appear-
ance. On the other hand, after fleeing from the prince Paṇḍukābhaya, the yakṣiṇī is sub-
jugated by him, letting him mount her, and then helping him in reaching his objectives,
in particular the widening of the realm – consequently, she is assigned a privileged posi-
tion within the royal precincts. In other words, she is brought under the control of the
prince, while in the examined figurative representations the balance of power between
the horse-headed woman and the man is clearly the opposite.
4.b. Do the early artistic records illustrate the Padakusalamāṇava-jātaka?

According to Vidya Dehejia, a visual narrative can be defined as “monoscenic” when the
artist chooses to represent an easily identifiable event of the story, which “serves as a ref-
erence to the narrative”.36 Do the early representations of the equine-headed woman
and the brāhman make use of the monoscenic mode of narration?
We may observe with Marshall-Foucher (1982: i.223-224) that at Sāñcī there are only
five representations of the former lives of the Buddha, against the thirty scenes of the
last life of the Buddha. They suppose that
the iconographical role of the jātaka, which was so great in the decoration of Bharhut, was […] al-
ready slipping into background, awaiting later restoration to favour. Great as was the charm of
these illustrated fables, they were naturally somewhat puerile, and that might further explain why
among the five jātakas kept at Sāñchī, the Buddha-to-be appears only twice reincarnate in an
animal shape. Even the interest of his human reincarnations paled before stories borrowed from
his real biography.37
In particular, at Sāñcī, compared to the other jātaka illustrations, Assamukhī receives a
quite accessory attention, to the point that Marshall-Foucher count the Padakusa-
lamāṇava-jātaka reliefs apart, as the possibly sixth Sāñcī jātaka representation. Nonethe-
less, in the medallion in stūpa 2 the reference to the jātaka story, though minimal, is un-
doubtedly direct, thanks to the figure of the child carried on Assamukhī’s hip: to the eyes
of the viewer from that time, the scene would have immediately awakened the association
with the tale in which the Buddha-to-be was born from a mare-faced ogress, stimulating
the story-telling process in his/her mind, as the monoscenic mode of narration wants.
35 See Coomaraswasmy 1928, 16; Taddei 1971, 21; and Misra 1981, 134.
36 Dehejia 1990, 378. 37 Marshall-Foucher [1940] 1982, 224.
Instead, we may wonder whether in the stūpa 3 architrave Aśvamukhī and the
brāhman are simply part of the mountainous landscape, without any intent by the artists
of depicting the jātaka. As described briefly above (n. 6), the lintel depicts various semi-
divine beings, such as nāgas, gandharvas, yakṣas etc. Coomaraswamy ([I vol. 1928, II vol.
1931] 2001, i.10) already remarked that “the kiṃnaras and the kiṃpuruṣas, and gandharvas
too, typically half-human, half-equine, are a class of beings frequenting forests and
mountains […] and as such are sometimes naturally represented as a part of the scenery,
and in such cases there need be no reference to the jātaka”.
Moreover, some consecutive stanzas from the incipit of Kālidāsa’s Kumārasambhava,
describing the Himālayan realm, frame the portraits of various semi-divine, or also
human but wild, creatures that populate the slopes: from n. 5 to 11 (except for 9), and
then 14 and 15, appear in order siddhas, kirātas, vidyādharas, kiṃnaras, forest-dwellers,
aśvamukhīs, kiṃpuruṣas, and kirātas again. “Together these form a veritable corps de ballet,
who fill in the gaps while the main characters are not on the stage, creatures devoted to
the arts but on the edge of society (…)”.38 The symphony thus created is very similar,
more in the general tone than in the specific melodies, to the architrave of stūpa 3.
This motif of extraordinary beings inhabiting the mountains therefore occurs in a
Buddhist 1st century CE monument and in a 5th century court poem: not limited to these
two examples,39 which are nonetheless significant enough, this motif appears as a topos
of the Indian imaginary as a whole. In particular, the mountainous habitat of the horse-
headed women finds confirmation in the Rāmāyaṇa passage, which places their cave
abodes on a specific mountain, Maināka (see above, section 2).
The scene of Aśvamukhī and the brāhman is clearly set in a rocky landscape not only
at Sāñcī 3, but also in the Bodh Gayā first half medallion (n. 5), and in the Mathurā relief
(n. 8). In the jātaka the encounter between Aśvamukhī and the brāhman also takes place
at the foot of a mountain (pabbatapāde), where the ogress dwells.
So, how can we understand when a horse-headed figure is meant to represent the
jātaka and when it simply depicts one of the genii inhabiting the mountains? I propose
that the presence of the child could be considered as a quite safe indication of the artist’s
intention in representing a story whose plot was similar enough to the text passed down
to us as part of the Jātakatthavaṇṇanā. Applying this criterion, among the figurative re-
cords examined, only three may be safely considered jātaka monoscenic illustrations,
namely the ones from Pāṭaliputra (n. 1), Sāñcī stūpa 2 (n. 2), and Bodh Gayā (n. 5). To be
precise, the latter case presents not the monoscenic but the linear narrative mode, since
three different events of the same story are depicted in a clear sequential manner within
separate frames.
I would thus interpret the scene of Sāñcī stūpa 3 as non-narrative, while in the remain-
ing five occurrences (from Bhājā, Gurgaon, Chandraketugarh, Mathurā, and Ajaṇṭā) I
would leave the interpretative options open, insofar as these representations are possibly
either a straightforward jātaka illustration, or the depiction of a tale whose plot was anal-
ogous to part of the jātaka known to us, or even still a scene without elaborate narrative
content, simply portraying a typical motif. The case of Bhājā is probably the most puz-
zling and the potentially most interesting, while Zin (2003, 233) also deems that the Ajaṇṭā
painting, though contemporary to the redaction of the Jātakatthavaṇṇanā, was probably
not meant to directly illustrate the jātaka, but simply reflected a typical motif.
38 Smith 2005, 17-18. 39 See Zin 2015 and Zin 2016.

4.c. The horse-headed yakṣiṇī or kiṃnarī

As stated supra, the figure of Aśvamukhī appears in few texts, starring as a literary char-
acter only in the non-canonical part of a jātaka. As is well-known, the jātaka prose nar-
rative reflects, to a certain degree, the popular imagery: most likely, this theriocephalic
figure was known prior to the Buddhist period, as a hybrid being who was used to abduct-
ing men, especially ascetics, in order to – ambiguously – devour them or seduce them.
According to Marshall-Foucher (1982, 1.174), the horse-headed female figure would be
a native of the Near East, whence it would have penetrated both into Greece and India.
In the former case, it would have been re-conceptualised in the figure of Demeter of Phi-
galia. However, more recent studies (see Aston 2014, 91-109) have demonstrated that the
figure of horse-headed Demeter is the local form of a pan-Hellenic deity, strictly related
to a sacred cave on the Arkadian Mount Elaion, in the territory of Phigalia: thus, it is not
necessary to refer to a foreign origin. As regards India, while Marshall-Foucher are pro-
bably right in recognising a Western origin for the type of the she-centaur, the same ex-
planation of an external influence does not fit for the case of Aśvamukhī: she appears
undoubtedly Indian both in iconographic conception and folkloric context.
Some male equinocephalic figures, with different degrees of relevance, are found in
Hindu mythology and cult: the Vedic sage Dadhyāñca; the divine twins Aśvins;
Hayagrīva, a non-canonical avatāra of Viṣṇu; and Tumburu, the best among the celestial
musicians or gandharvas. They prove that the horse-headed figure was a widespread type
in the religious and mythological imagery of the Indian Subcontinent.
Moreover, an already mentioned class of semi-divine beings, the kiṃnaras, may be rep-
resented with equine traits in both textual and iconographic sources; in fact, the identi-
fication of their distinctive iconic composition poses some problems, insofar as three ty-
pologies of kiṃnaras are attested. In Buddhist tradition, kiṃnaras are depicted with
ornitomorph features: they have human heads and torsos, bird wings and, from the waist
down, bird form. In Hindu art and literature, instead, they are usually conceived as half-
human and half-equine; the Viṣṇudharmottara-purāṇa at iii 42, 13-14 describes them in
these terms: “The kiṃnaras are said to be of two types – one with human heads and
equine bodies and the other type is said to have human bodies and equine faces” (trans-
lation Mukherji 2001, 189).40 “Kiṃnarī” may thus be considered a less circumscribed or
less connotative synonym of Aśvamukhī: the term appears, indeed, in the Tibetan ver-
sion of Mūlasarvāstivādavinaya to define a character very similar to Padakusalamāṇava-
jātaka’s Assamukhī (see above, section 2). Kimpuruṣas are usually identified with
kiṃnaras, though sometimes the term is “applied to other beings in which the figure of
a man and that of an animal are combined” (Monier-Williams s.v. kimpuruṣa). Gandhar-
vas, instead, may be represented not only with the hindquarters of a horse or a donkey
but, often, also with the face of a bird.41
Wendy Doniger has written extensively on the mare in Indo-European mythology
and folklore, interpreting this animal as a symbol of “the evil mother, the dark mother,
40 See Pancamukhi 1951; Biswas 1981a; and Biswas 1987, 79-90. However, there is evidence that the bird-form of
the kiṃnaras was not unknown to the Hindu artists.
41 While these statements refer to the majority of the cases, the representations of kiṃnaras, kiṃpuruṣas, and
gandharvas, in texts and iconography, attest other combinations of equine, bird, and human traits. See Pancamukhi
1951.
the erotic and devouring mother, the whore, in contrast with the good mother, the white
mother, the milk-giving chaste cow. Instead of feeding her child (as the cow does), the
mare eats her child. Moreover, like the female praying mantis, she devours her husband
as well”.42 Whether or not one agrees with this strongly coloured analysis, it is interest-
ing to note that while the threatening and seductive folkloric figure of Aśvamukhī ap-
pears to fit into this frame, the jātaka character Assamukhī only initially corresponds to
the devouring mare typology. At the beginning of the tale she is used to attacking and
carrying off men, but then she knows love, harmonious conjugal life, and maternal care,
to the point that she dies of grief because her son and her husband abandon her: in other
words, she turns into an example of extreme marital and maternal love. Is this trans-
formation the result of the Buddhist attempt to convert a folkloric being?
Widening the horizon to species other than equines, we may observe that some of
the earliest sculptures with animal faces and human bodies are ascribed to the ample
category of yakṣas; scattered evidence of theriocephalic yakṣas are also found in textual
sources.43 As is well known, in what has been defined popular (laukika) religious prac-
tice, so as to differentiate it from brāhmanical worship, the yakṣas play a crucial role.
They belong to that ranks of local deities or spirits intimately associated with the natu-
ral world, with fertility and disease, and believed to reside in particular trees or pools.
They are honoured and appeased through offerings often consisting of meat and
liquor; in return, they would provide divine assistance, protection, or bestow extraordi-
nary faculties.44
Very early in the history of Buddhist phenomenon these local beings were incorpor-
ated into Buddhism’s religious beliefs, imagery, scriptures, and art. There is often evi-
dence of an effort to make them appropriate to the new contexts: for example, numer-
ous tales attest a “conversion” of a local figure, who, through the words of the Buddha
or important monks, understands the truth of the Buddhist doctrine.45 Most likely, the
case of Aśvamukhī is thus but one of the old beliefs that were integrated into Buddhism,
possibly turning her destructive and erotic allure to a maternal and nurturing behaviour.
Subsequently, the theriocephalic feminine type experiences a re-use in the context of
the Śaiva yoginī cult. Here, among the different typologies of yoginīs, the therianthropic
one emerges somewhat as the most powerful and the most related to a magic dimension:
the older tradition of representing animal-headed semi-deities or yakṣas lends itself to a
re-utilisation in a new, Śaiva and often Tantric, context, where its original meaning is re-
interpreted (see Policardi 2016). In particular, the horse-headed figure is attested by sev-
eral iconographic examples, among others: a yoginī sculpture from Rikhiyan (Madhya
Pradesh), probably from the 10th century; another from Barha Kotra (Banda, Uttar Pra-
desh), presently located at the Lucknow Museum, from the 11th century; another from
Uttar Pradesh or Madhya Pradesh, from the 11th century, now at the Chicago Art Insti-
tute. Most likely, these medieval sculptural records were once part of yoginī temples.46
Moreover, a suggestive link between Aśvamukhī and yoginīs is offered by their abode.
In early tantric texts, guhyakā is a term used as a synonym of yoginī or to designate a sub-
42 Doniger 1980: 207. 43 See Misra 1981, 132-135.

44 See Coomaraswamy [i vol. 1928, ii vol. 1931] 2001; Misra 1981; Sutherland 1991; and De Caroli 2004.
45 See De Caroli 2000, 276, n. 33, and in general De Caroli 2004. Several Buddhist tales discourage the offerings
of meat and liquor to these spirit-deities.
46 Investigating the origins and meanings of the theriantropic figures in Indic traditions, with a particular focus
on yoginīs, is one of the main tasks of the broader research underlining this article.
category of yoginīs. In particular, the Siddhayogeśvarīmatatantra specifies that the gu-

hyakās hide in secret (guhya) places such as mountain caves (guhā):
kuhare gahvare caiva gūhasthāneṣu guhyakāḥ //
krīḍante ca mahābhāge yoginyo bhairavapriye /
Yoginīs, guhyakās [who live] in holes, caverns and secret places, shall play [with the practitioner], o
Fortunate One, Beloved of Bhairava.47
This passage, placed in a broader frame of re-use evidence, points towards the idea that,
in the tantric phenomenon, local, minor beings or semi-deities would have been elevated
to potent deities, capable of transforming the adepts.48
4.d. A popular motif, an oral tale?

The brāhmanical status of the men depicted alongside Aśvamukhī is mostly shown by
their attire; in addition, in four different representations a distinct iconographical feature
appears, the kamaṇḍalu. While details such as the mango fruits in the relief of stūpa 2 or
the board game at Bodh Gayā probably reflect the genuine inventiveness of the artists,
the vessel deserves attention insofar as it is depicted in different places, time periods, and
in both Hindu and Buddhist sites, namely at Gurgaon (n. 4), at Ajaṇṭā (n. 9), and at Aihoḷe,
both at Lāḍ Khān (n. 10) and at the Durga temple (n. 11). In particular, if the sculptor of
the Gurgaon medallion made the effort of adding the vessel in an otherwise rather mini-
mal iconography, it may be a salient element of the depicted scene. As alluded to supra,
judging from its shape, it may be a kind of kamaṇḍalu, “a vessel made of wood or earth
used for water”,49 which was used in particular by ascetics for ablutions. Moreover, Pāniṇi
mentions the kamaṇḍalu (iv 1, 71), and, on the basis of the comment by Patañjali (I, 347),
it is possible to infer that this vessel was one of the accessories proper to a student.50 In
short, the men abducted by Aśvamukhī may be either religious students (brahmacārin) or
ascetics (saṃnyāsin) – both categories are usually characterised by celibacy.
Apart from the earliest representations (n. 1 and n. 2), where the family note or the
maternal tone prevails, and from the latest representations (n. 13 and n. 14), where the
amorous embrace is unambiguous, in all the other scenes the constant element is the
more or less explicit gesture of detaining the brāhman by force on the part of Aśva-
mukhī. While this is not sufficient to claim a narrative content of the scene, it is enough
to argue a meaningful interaction between the two characters.
In conclusion, we may suppose that both the jātaka and the artistic records reflect a
popular, typical motif of Indian imagery concerning a horse-headed woman, abiding at
the foot of the mountains, who takes delight in abducting/seducing men, in particular
ascetics.
We may speculate that this motif would have been the core, the minimal narrative
unit, of a widespread tale, perhaps transmitted orally, and/or in vernacular language.
One variant of this tale would have been incorporated in the Buddhist repertoire, where
it is translated into a jātaka by making the hybrid creature the mother of the Buddha-to-
be and the donor of a special power to him; it should have been a quite fluid process,
47 Siddhayogeśvarīmata 27.27cd-28ab. Edition and translation by Törzsök forthcoming.

48 See Policardi 2016. 49 Monier-Williams, s.v. kamaṇḍalu-.
50 See Sannino Pellegrini 1992, 402.
since, at that time, tales about Buddha’s former lives were orally preserved, and thus still
malleable. In popular imagery, however, the most powerful scene would have remained
the abduction by the ogress, insofar as none of the examined representations depicts the
Bodhisattva’s skill in recognising footprints, or the second part of the jātaka, narrating
the deposition of the king, which is the part related to the canonical verses and the one
with a quite explicit moral content.
Probably, according to the time periods, places, storytellers, and workshops, the typi-
cal motif might have been immersed in a narrative dimension or not. The Tibetan tale
in Mūlasarvāstivādavinaya might attest the existence – in the Russian formalist terminol-
ogy – of a fabula entailing a non-human, equine character who falls in love with a
brāhman and bears him a son, who inherits extraordinary skills from his extraordinary
mother. These raw materials of the story might have been conveyed in different syuzhet
(narrative procedures) according to, again, the time periods, places, and storytellers.
The Cāḷukya and Hoysaḷa representations provide evidence for a widespread currency
of the Aśvamukhī-brāhman scene also in the Hindu tradition, in particular in the Karna-
taka area, and as late as the 12th century. However, the harmonious embraces of Paṭṭada-
kal and Belūr make us wonder whether in this later period the motif is no longer “alive”,
and the theriocephalic woman is simply an extravagant detail, a sort of variatio of the
typical mithuna couple depiction.
However, we cannot exclude beyond doubt that a literary narrative, circulating also
in Hindu contexts, was transmitted written, maybe for a certain period, but has not sur-
vived, as is unfortunately the case for much of the ancient Indian literature. At the same
time, we cannot exclude the possibility that the story may somehow lie concealed under
different appearances or in unsuspected texts, and waits further research to be identified.
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co m p o sto i n c a r att ere serr a da nte da lla

fa b ri z i o se rr a e dito re, pisa · ro m a .
sta m pato e r ilegato nella
t i p o g r a f i a d i agna n o, ag na no pisa no (pisa ).
*
Finito di stampare nel mese di
Settembre 2018
(cz 2 · fg 21)
*
Periodico iscritto alla Cancelleria del Tribunale di Roma
in data 7 marzo 2006 n. 121/06
Raffaele Torella, Direttore responsabile
Periodico già registrato in data
30 aprile 1958 n. 6299

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THE CASE OF THE Y AK Ṣ IṆ Ī A Ś V A M U KH Ī:

A yakṣiṇī called Aśvamukhī in Sanskrit, Assamukhī in Pāli, is peculiarly represented as horse-headed

A yakṣiṇī called Aśvamukhī in Sanskrit, Assamukhī in Pāli, is peculiarly represented

https://doi.org/10.19272/201803804008 · «rso · n. s.», xci, 1-4, 2018

138 chiara policardi [2]

[3] the case of the yakṣiṇī aśvamukhī 139

140 chiara policardi [4]

8 See Guruge 1990, 548-550. 9 Translation Lefeber 2005, 281.

[5] the case of the yakṣiṇī aśvamukhī 141

Fig. 1. A medallion on a railing pillar

142 chiara policardi [6]

15 Marshall-Foucher [1940] 1982, 95.

[7] the case of the yakṣiṇī aśvamukhī 143

tural frame, do not necessarily express a

144 chiara policardi [8]

ing from the shape, might be a kind of

5. Bodh Gayā, southern section of the

[9] the case of the yakṣiṇī aśvamukhī 145

146 chiara policardi [10]

dhist monuments, “has much to do with

7. Chandraketugarh (North 24 - Parganas

[11] the case of the yakṣiṇī aśvamukhī 147

watches her with fear. Is this male youth,

22 Carter 1982, 247-249.

148 chiara policardi [12]

[13] the case of the yakṣiṇī aśvamukhī 149

150 chiara policardi [14]

25 See Zin 2003, 231.

[15] the case of the yakṣiṇī aśvamukhī 151

has clearly non-human lineaments, we

14. Belūr, Cennakeśava temple, north wall,

In addition to the listed records, Aśva-

152 chiara policardi [16]

17. A terracotta plaque from Chandraketugarh, similar to n. 7, represents a brāhman

[17] the case of the yakṣiṇī aśvamukhī 153

4.b. Do the early artistic records illustrate the Padakusalamāṇava-jātaka?

154 chiara policardi [18]

38 Smith 2005, 17-18. 39 See Zin 2015 and Zin 2016.

[19] the case of the yakṣiṇī aśvamukhī 155

4.c. The horse-headed yakṣiṇī or kiṃnarī

156 chiara policardi [20]

42 Doniger 1980: 207. 43 See Misra 1981, 132-135.

[21] the case of the yakṣiṇī aśvamukhī 157

category of yoginīs. In particular, the Siddhayogeśvarīmatatantra specifies that the gu-

4.d. A popular motif, an oral tale?

47 Siddhayogeśvarīmata 27.27cd-28ab. Edition and translation by Törzsök forthcoming.

158 chiara policardi [22]

Secondary sources and translations

[23] the case of the yakṣiṇī aśvamukhī 159

160 chiara policardi [24]

co m p o sto i n c a r att ere serr a da nte da lla

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