frog and princess(?)

[Valerie J Roebuck]

Further thoughts on the mysterious statue: in South India, metal images* of
deities are cast solid, but other figures--donors, ornamental figures
etc--don't have to be.  Your friend can probably check this by eye, or at
least by the weight of the piece.  This would at least give a clue what
*kind* of image this is.

Valerie J Roebuck
Manchester, UK

*  generally but not quite accurately called "bronzes", since they're made
of a different alloy of copper.

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.

I wrote

>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.