A UNIQUE HĀRITĪ IMAGE FROM GANDHĀRA

Hariti, the 'Rapacious one', the 'Thief', the destroyer as well the protectress of children is one of the important minor Buddhist female deity. According to the Buddhist lore and as I-tsing (AD 671) mentioned, Hariti was an evil Yaksini in the previous birth, who used to devour the children of Rajagriha.

Transcribed from the prepared edition. This is the beginning of the article, not a summary — open the PDF to read it in full.

उषा जैन गांधार की एक हारीती प्रतिमा प्रकाशित करती हैं। हारीती वह यक्षिणी थी जो बालकों का भक्षण करती थी और बुद्ध ने जिसे बालकों की रक्षिका बना दिया। लेखिका संयुत्तनिकाय, महामायासूत्र, सद्धर्मपुण्डरीक, इत्सिंग तथा संयुक्तवस्तु से कथा संकलित करती हैं और मूर्ति की तुलना ज्ञात प्रकारों से करती हैं। Usha Jain publishes a Gandhāran image of Hāritī, the child-devouring yakṣiṇī whom the Buddha turned into a protectress of children. She gathers the legend from the Saṃyutta Nikāya, the Mahāmāyā and Saddharmapuṇḍarīka sūtras, Yijing and the Saṃyukta Vastu, and compares the sculpture with known types.

Written by the archive’s cataloguers, not by the author.