Woman of Indian Sculpture - Part I
If you want to see some real action involving amorous
couples, and threesomes, and foursomes going rumpy-pumpy, head for Konark,
India’s erotic capital frozen in stone. If you want to get knocked senseless by
the unidimensional fertility symbol exploding into an explicit femme fatale
with in your face oomph and sexuality, come to Khajuraho to seek the Scorpion
Apsara.
देखो रे, देखो रे, देखो उतर गयो बिछुआ
टूट के रह गयो डंक, उतर गयो बिछुआ
सैयाँ को देख के जाने
किधर गयो बिछुआ
कैसो रे पापी बिछुआ, बिछुआ
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| The rare pair of Scorpion Apsaras found in the Pradaksinhapath of Kandariya Mahadev Temple - Khajuraho, MP |
The scorpion
chooses its quarry carefully. The women are all alone, unbelievably voluptuous and
sensuous and in various stages of disrobing.
You are totally
bewitched with the recently seen image of this voluptuous woman with a scorpion
on her thigh. A woman whose breasts defy gravity and who will never need a
corset, disrobed and exposed. Simona Cohen describes her as ‘full-blossomed
young apsarā (Celestial Nymph) figure
who is provocatively displaying the sexuality of her ripe breasts and exposed
genital area’. You have seen
erotica in Khajuraho and Konark and have seen lone women giving pleasure to
themselves but you do not remember ever seeing this iconography of a disrobed and
exposed woman with a scorpion climbing her thigh.
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| This is how hard it is to locate the Scorpion Apsaras! |
The woman is
apparently from Khajuraho. This will require you to go into the depths. No pun
intended. You have always visited Khajuraho without the point and shoot zoom
cameras. You are sure there should be something in the projecting rows of images
on the exteriors of the temples especially in the Western Group. Entire morning
is spent in zooming the photos and hoping to find the scorpion woman. For the
first time, you are actually looking at the images that brings tourists from
all over the world for their erotic content.
Now that you
notice, apart from the few images of Gods and their manifestations, the
sculptures mostly capture the forms and moods of 11th century milieu.
In most images, the women are shown with their partners dressed in finery and
adorned with some fantastic jewellery and hairdos. Others, but very few
compared to Konark which has erotica spread over every inch, show amorous men
and women, sometimes with multiple partners, engaged, how to put it, in varying
and innovative styles of rumpy-pumpy.
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| While the monkey tugs at her dress on the right, the left Apsara is luckier with the scorpion riding her thigh |
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| Photo Courtesy: Khajuraho & Orchha by Dr Rajaram Panda |
You look for
the lonesome ones. Wait a minute – finally! But what is this? The woman is
undressed but there is no scorpion on her thighs. Instead a little monkey is
tugging at her wraparound like dress. And then you see the figure next to her. She
too is in in the act of disrobing revealing her genitals. You can make out the
disfigured form of a scorpion on her left thigh. This is exciting. More digging
and you come up with several images from several places and across temples. There
are a total of 22 extant Scorpion Apsaras in eight temples, with the grand
Kandariya Mahadev Temple alone having twelve images.
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| The Apsara from Patan's Rani ni Vav with the scorpion on her robe |
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| This time the scorpion has climbed her thigh and she looks quite pleased - Rani ni Vav, Patan, Gujarat |
Hundred years
later the motifs of scorpion and lizard will appear in Hoysala temples but not
on the thigh as the Khajuraho woman. Does Konark, the erotic haven, has Scorpion Woman? And what about the monkey? It is all getting interesting. Friends have
chipped in with photos from Gujarat’s 11th century Rani-ni-Vav in
Patan with images of the Scorpion Woman!
 |
| The Apsara that started it all - where is she - is she still extant in one of the temples or now located in a museum? Photo Source: Unknown |
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| In all probability, the prettiest Apsara is the one you have been looking for. And you are so happy that she has a head and wow; she is beautiful! |
And what about
the image that got you started in the first place. You are not sure if the
image is currently housed in some museum or it is one of the 22 images still
extant in some projection of the temples.
 |
| The Apsara pleasuring herself even as the scorpion climbs her thigh. Photo Source: Alamy |
So, what does
the scorpion on the thigh signify and why is only the Apsara associated with
the scorpion?
- Is the Apsara
disrobing out of fear of the scorpion?
- Is scorpion just
symbolic?
- Is the
iconography auspicious alankar with fertility symbolism and as sakti or power
for cosmic creation?
- Does she denote
the passion of devotee towards diety ?
- Is this unfulfilled
desire?
- Is the scorpion
and apsara combo propitious and apotropaic or both?
 |
| While the neighbouring Apsara is dressed and pleasuring herself, our Scorpion Apsara is already disrobing for the encounter |
Simona Cohen
examines this in her interesting paper which you will try to summarize here:
Apsaras are the
heavenly nymphs that came into being during the Churning of Ocean, are grouped
with the Gandharvs, live on Mount Meru and have names like Urvasi, Menaka,
Rambha, Tilottama, Sukesini, Manorama. The Apsaras can be usually found playing
musical instruments and dancing with Gandharvs. Hoysala temples have the
musical aspect of the Apsaras. Apsaras are also known to corrupt sages as
embodiment of sexual desire and pleasure. No literary evidence exist that explains
the iconography of the Apsaras so there is no way of knowing why a scorpion sits
on the thigh.
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| Scorpion Apsara epitome of Khajuraho erotica - On the exterior of Kandariya Mahadev Temple |
Britannica says:
Apsara, in Indian religion and mythology,
one of the celestial singers and dancers who, together with the gandharvas,
or celestial musicians, inhabit the heaven of the god Indra, the lord of the
heavens. Originally water nymphs, the apsaras provide sensual pleasure for
both gods and men. They have been beautifully depicted in sculpture and
painting in India and throughout areas of South and Southeast Asia influenced by Hinduism and Buddhism. Notable examples are
the 5th–6th-century frescoes at Ajanta in India and at Sigiriya in Sri Lanka and the
sculptures and bas-reliefs decorating the temples of Angkor, Cambodia.
 |
| While the anonymous Apsara is busy getting dressed and ornamented our Scorpio Apsara is ready for some fireworks |
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| Photo Courtesy: Eicher Goodearth Travel Guide |
The earliest such iconography was seen on a seal of
Indus Valley. A female figure / goddess is seen flanked by two scorpions
displaying her genitals. The constellation of the scorpion controls the
genitals, sexual passion, fertility and progeny. Bhadrakali, a fierce emanation
of Parvati is the scorpion goddess and is shown with a scorpion on her
emaciated belly; a total opposite of the Apsara. One of the Yoginis of Hirapur
Odisha has scorpion as her Vahana. Four different verses of the Yavanajataka
(4th to 6th century), emphasize the association
between Scorpio and the genitals. Al-Biruni, in his book on astrology, written
in 1029 A.D. just about the time that the Kandariya Mahadeva temple was
constructed and shortly after his own trip to India with Mahmud of Ghazna in
1022 A.D., states that in India, Scorpio was associated with the genitals,
fertility, progeny and hermaphrodism.
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| She is most dressed of all - Khajuraho |
Are the Apsaras
actually wearing scorpion amulets? Tribals around Khajuraho who worship village deities still wear ancient
scorpion amulets. In Bundelkhand, the girl in the
course of the rai dance, sings that she will die because a scorpion has bitten
her. Scorpion here is her lover. In contemporary Gujarat, the women have motif
of scorpion embroidered on their ghaaghro.
The scorpion is malevolent towards any man trying to steal the woman from her
husband. Further, in Bundelkhand, a horny wife is called dankini and in Rajasthan a sex-obsessed wife is called bichchhuri, pointing to the observation
that a female scorpion usually kills the male after mating.
Now’s the Time for the Breakdown!
Scorpions have
ambivalent characteristics – they both kill and protect. Temples always had
erotic imagery as prescribed by sacred literature and shilp texts which had
both Propitious - Apotropaic purposes. So, for a brief time in the
making of Khajuraho temples, especially during the raising of Kandariya
Mahadeva Temple, the Shilp-in-Chief got this idea of putting a scorpion on the
thigh of this overtly oomphy Apsara. The sensuous Apsara, breasts filled with
amrit, uninhibited and seductive will be the epitome of free-spirited allure
that is Khajuraho. The Skunk Works team sat down to decide the
iconography. Word is sent out in the neighbouring villages and some voluptuous
maidens descend into the studio with live scorpions. The Scorpion Apsara will
be clad in this diaphanous sarong like outfit and the sculpture will capture
the moment when she sees the scorpion on her dress climbing up her thigh. She will
be shown untying the knot around her waist revealing her genitals.
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| She is the prettiest Scorpion Apsara in Khajuraho - and who says the Apsara is frightened seeing the scorpion - here she is already fantasizing about the impending copulation |
Now you are
not sure if she is supposed to throw off the scorpion thus indicating fighting
off the lust and desire or if she is actually preparing for the impending
copulation; the raised sting signifying ithyphallic scorpion. Some scholars opine that there is a look of fear in the eyes of the Apsara when she sees the scorpion climbing her thighs. But to you all you see is unadulterated delight and excitement on her beaming face. All the longing and yearning for her lover is just about to come to an end.
This was a huge evolution. While other single women
mostly indulge in self-pleasure without exposing themselves, the Scorpion Apsara
ups the ante; she is one among the anonymous group of Apsaras who has just graduated from the
Plain Jane fertility symbol to full blown femme fatale with in your face explicit
eroticism. Instead of being almost utilitarian, even as she throws off her
robes, she puts on the dress of ambivalence; just like the ambivalent scorpion,
who can kill and protect at the same time, as it makes its way up the thigh
towards the sweet world of pleasure. This world is again ambivalent – the
participants will experience the highs of both life and death together in those
few ecstatic moments. The invoked experience of orgasm is like ‘half-death’ –
it is almost halfway to heaven.
References:
The
Scorpion Apsarās at Khajuraho: Migrations of a Symbol
by Simona Cohen published in JOURNAL OF THE ASIATIC SOCIETY OF BOMBAY Volume
74/ 1999
Simona
Cohen (Professor Emeritus), Art Historian at Tel-Aviv University, has published
extensively on Renaissance iconography, Venetian painting, medieval and
Renaissance animal symbolism and depictions of Time. Her recent books, Animals
as Disguised Symbols in Renaissance Art, and Transformations of Time and
Temporality in Medieval and Renaissance Art, were published by Brill (2008 and
2014). Indian Art History is her second field of research and teaching.
The Scorpion in Muslim
Folklore by Jurgen Wasim Frembgen in Asian Folklore Studies, Volume 63, 2004,
95-123
Erotic Sentiment in
Indian Temple Sculptures by Rekha Rao
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