INTRODUCTION

Also in the topic of fertility and abundance, I shall start with the comment that the symbols and key elements derived from nature or everyday life described in Chapter 1, were enriched with new elements in the first centuries CE. It can be assumed that the basic repertoire remained valid, and the symbols of abundance and fertility continued to be an important component of the images related to fecundity and protection of offspring in the sculpture of this time. As previously, here also mainly female depictions were associated with the offspring, but one can also find male spirit-deities in this group, though in slightly smaller numbers. The supernatural character of the figures is indisputable, they are imaginary beings – first without the use of a chisel created in the human mind, illustrated in cultural narratives, then – successively, thanks to the talent and effort of Mathura craftsmen, visualised in red sandstone. Each character presented in this chapter is commonly referred to with specific name. These names are used in various studies, and for the sake of order and clarity, I will stick to them (i.e., Ekanamsha, Hariti, Matrika, Naigamesha, Shashthi, Skanda. My main goal is to trace how a given character was visualised, what nature legends attributed to it, and most of all, what it could do to people, what kind of interaction was possible between humans and the supernatural beings, or in what spheres of life they could become useful. Thus, how was its function expressed in the visual sphere (referring to strong symbols).

Chapter 3 is therefore a key part of the work, based on a group of selected sculptures from various collections. They represent the most popular or the best known and most numerous figures in the visual culture of the time and region, relevant to the topic in question. They were mainly related to motherhood and played a key role in treatments focused on the protection of offspring, not only during the so-called the Kushan era. I will present their profiles in alphabetical order. It is worth mentioning at the outset that there were many more characters associated with requests for offspring than this group.