frog and princess(?)

[Valerie J Roebuck]

Vidyasankar Sundaresan writes

>A friend sent me pictures of a small statue, that he would
>like to identify (place/period/myth behind it). It is a very
>realistic depiction of a frog with a woman (princess/goddess?)
>sitting on the left hind leg. Images of varAha or narasimha
>with bhU/SrI are common, but I can't think of any Indian myths
>involving a frog with a wife. The only woman I can think of is
>maNDodarI, wife of rAvaNa, but then, maNDodarI is not the wife
>of a maNDUka, so this is puzzling.

It's certainly an intriguing little statue--clearly South Indian, though
it's not really possible to date it from the picture.  As you suggest, the
female figure is in the pose of a consort of a god (GaNes'a's wife, for
example, as well as those you have mentioned).  Apart from that, I'd wonder
whether she was a local river goddess with a frog as her symbol, as GangA
has the makara and YamunA the turtle.  But they normally stand on their
vAhanas' backs, rather than sit on their knees!  One thing in favour of
this identification, though, and against the consort theory, is that her
right arm seems just to be resting against the frog, rather than wrapped
round his neck.  But then it is rather an unconventionally shaped neck...

Is this definitely a separate piece, or could it be part of a decoration
from some larger object?  South Indian figures of deities normally have a
base to rest on, often a lotus throne on a larger pedestal.

Valerie J Roebuck
Manchester, UK