The “Shameless Woman”

A headless nude figure squatting to reveal her vulva: this is Goddess Lajja Gauri whose name doesn’t find mention in any religious text or scripture. An analysis of her iconography and history reveals fascinating elements associated with Indian artistic and sculptural traditions.

Lajja Gauri, Alampur Museum, Telangana. Source: CAA Exhibitions

Goddess Lajja Gauri has been the subject of much scholarly debate among historians, archaeologists, and iconography enthusiasts. ‘Lajja Gauri’ is the generic name given to a large number of images and sculptures having certain distinct iconographical features: a female body (in the shape of a pot) with legs spread wide apart, revealing the vagina; and a blooming lotus in place of a head.

A literal translation of the term ‘Lajja Gauri’ seems to be in complete contrast to the bold and erotic overtones of the characteristic stance of this figure. While some scholars interpret this pose as suggestive of uttanapada or childbirth, others call it sexual and exhibitionist in nature. The word lajja, can be translated into ‘modesty’ or ‘bashfulness’. The semiotic tension arising out of the juxtaposition of these two conflicting ideas is perhaps best exemplified in H.D. Sankalia’s translation of the term ‘Lajja Gauri’ as ‘shameless’ in his widely acclaimed essay on the subject (“The Nude Goddess or "Shameless Woman" in Western Asia, India, and South-Eastern Asia”). It also brings to light the aspect of the influence of colonial and Victorian morality upon the discourse of Indian art. Kamala Ganesh in her paper, “Mother Who Is Not a Mother: In Search of the Great Indian Goddess”, in a bid to explain this anachronism, suggests that the goddess has been catachrestically termed as Lajja Gauri by her lay worshippers.

Lajja Gauri (6th Century CE), Madhya Pradesh, Source: Wikimedia Commons

So, what is this ‘immodest’ and ‘unbashful’ goddess trying to convey? Over the decades scholars have tried to interpret Lajja Gauri in a variety of ways. This is expected given the diverse forms that Lajja Gauri figures assume depending on their temporal and spatial contexts. The images range from minimally anthropomorphic forms, such as a pot bearing a lotus and a pair of legs, to a fully anthropomorphic goddess, complete with a torso, limbs and a head. Carol R. Bolon in her comprehensive work, Forms of Goddess Lajja Gauri in Indian Art, based on an exhaustive study of extant Lajja Gauri images, discusses the goddess as one of fertility and procreation. She does so by highlighting certain core iconographical features that remain more or less consistent in the goddesses’ representation over the centuries.

One of the most significant symbols associated with the iconography of Lajja Gauri is that of the ‘lotus’. In the Indian artistic and sculptural traditions, the lotus symbolises fortune, fertility and reproduction. It denotes the rise of one’s consciousness to its full potential in a way of renewal of life or rebirth. The mature blooming lotus that often replaces Lajja Gauri’s head in the sculptures symbolises perfect wisdom, while the (handheld) new buds stand for the promise of new life. Another elemental symbol associated with Lajja Gauri is the ‘pot’ or the purna kalasha: considered a symbol of the womb and fertility in Indian artistic and mythological traditions. As is often the case with the purna kalasha motifs, the figures of Lajja Gauri are also sometimes adorned with a necklace around the neck and a piece of cloth around the girth.

Lajja Gauri (6th-8th century CE), Source: Wikimedia Commons

Lajja Gauri images are primarily found in the Deccan region of the Indian subcontinent, especially in the states of Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh. They have also been recovered in good numbers from Karnataka, Gujarat and Rajasthan. These images are believed to belong to the period between the 1st and the 7th centuries CE. The Lajja Gauri cult seems to have been of great significance to the Chalukyan kingdom (6th-12th cent CE) and is said to have attracted royal patronage. In fact, Bolon hypothesizes that the Lajja Gauri cult might have originated as a gramadevata or a village god and subsequently rose in stature and popularity to attract royal patronage. According to her, this can be explained in the context of the iconography of the goddess progressing from a simple aniconic form (consistent with most tribal deities) to a fully anthropomorphized goddess (linked with power, patronage and temple worship) often equated with Siva’s consort Gauri. Lajja Gauri is sometimes seen as Lakshmi owing to her association with the lotus (Padma Lakshmi) and the elements of fortune and well-being. However, given the vast diversity of stylistic details of Lajja Gauri figures, any homogenous description runs the risk of being simplistic and reductive. A Lajja Gauri image was also discovered in the context of a Buddhist cave at Aurangabad, a fact that only further exemplifies the complexity and layers of interpretation involved in the cult of Lajja Gauri.

Today, sculptures of Lajja Gauri situated in the Lakuslisa Temple at Siddanakolla (Karnataka) and Bala Brahma Temple at Alampur (Telangana) are worshipped by local women in the hope for progeny. Lajja Gauri images continue to turn up at new sites making its study an ongoing process. A carved image of Lajja Gauri was found recently in July 2021, on a huge boulder at Cherial village, near Jangaon in Telangana by archaeology enthusiast Rathnakar Reddy. As more specimens come to light, it is hoped that historians will be able to further deconstruct this enigmatic goddess.