Panchala and Hariti

Panchala and Hariti

 Gandhar School , 1st Century  AD

              Panchala was the god of wealth; his wife, Hariti was the goddess of food and later  on  she became the goddess of children  and child bearing.   Here the couple  is shown as a  Greek couple.  While he holds a cup of wine, and is offered a purse of money,  she holds a cornucopia, a basket  which supplies endless food. We see two children  (one of them broken  off) spilling water or milk from pots.
              These dieties  will find their way into Buddhist and Hindu iconography.  In Buddhism  they are Kuber and his wife Hariti. In Hinduism Hariti becomes either Annapurna--the goddess of food, or Bal-Lakshmi, the goddess  of children. 
             This sculpture  is  a  fine  example  of  our ability to assimilate  different  cultures.  We grow only when we learn from others.