Devi Annapoorna is the quintessential Hindu Mother Devi. The crown jewel of all the manifestations of Lord Shiva’s wife, She is the deity of nourishment, eternally loving and giving.
Her name is a portmanteau of ‘anna’, Sanskrt for foodgrain, and ‘poorna’, which means sufficiency. Straight out of a Hoysala temple, the Annapoorna Devi murti that you see on this page captures Her in all Her nourishing maternal beauty.
Upon a wide-bottomed lotus pedestal She sits, cradling a bowl of food and a ladle in Her hands, ever ready to give out as much as a devotee needs and wants.
An embroidered dhoti of silk clothes Her long, curvaceous legs, crossed afore Her. The same is held in place by a layered girdle of gold, in keeping with the rest of Her shringar. The rest of Her shringar comprises a thick breast-band that barely conceals Her life-giving nipples, and streams of solid gold necklaces that leave nothing of Her decolletage to view. The karnakundalas and the characteristic crown on Her head frame a face that seems to look on lovingly as Her devotees draw nourishment from Her.
The main characteristics of Hoysala art are in the striking aureole behind the central figure. On a pair of densely engraved blocks are Yali brackets, the likes of which are to be found in ancient temple entrances of Karnataka. A couple of peacocks atop the same, flanking the Devi’s crown, and a flaming curve that gathers at the zenith in an ornate Kirtimukham motif.
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