Salabhanjika

Description

This sculpture of a salabhanjika represents a woman with stylised feminine features, stood adjacent to a sala tree, grasping a branch. The term 'salabhanjika' in itself translates to 'the one who breaks the branch of the sala tree'. This sculptural motif, often likened to the female tree-grasping yakshini, is also addressed as madanakai, madanika or silabalika in different scholarship. In Buddhsit sculpture, this motif features prominently- depicting the salabhanjika dancing, grooming, playing music etc. Many feminine features- such as breasts and hips- are also often stylised and accentuated, along with bedecked jewellery, to convey a sense of fertility and abundance- likely building upon older popular religion. In mythical terms too, this corresponds to the ritual of dohada- the fertilisation of plants via contact with a beautiful young woman. Yet, the ornamental aspect of this motif in later architecture and sculpture must also be addressed- in both Hindu and Buddhist interior spaces, often as bracket figures.