Arabian Goddesses

[Narayan R.Joshi]

In the book, "The Parthians" by the author Malcolm A.R. Colledge, there is
a photograph of statues of three ladies (or may be one man in the middle
and two ladies- I am not sure). The book described the photo as the
religious relief of the goddess Allat between two acolytes above a lion
from Hatra.The figure of Allat is imitated from Athena of Greek Art but
transmuted in Parthian style. The two lesser goddesses raise their right
hand in blessings. The height of statues is 1.28 meters and they are in
Iraq museum. What puzzles me is that the dress of two lesser goddesses look
like Indian saries and they look like wearing bangles.The middle figure is
slightly taller than the side figures and has separate upper garment from
the lower one having multiple folds (like Indian dhoti or sari)hanging from
waist. It also has a cap like a cowherd boy while the lesser side goddesses
have crowns.The Phoenix journal of 1965(vol.XI) has the same photo on page
226 with the title "Relief of Manat, al Lat, and al Uzza. To the best of my
knowledge, the Prophet of Islam said these were the ladies of the exalted
status from the very ancient history of Arabia.The kingdom of Hatra existed
in the Middle-east around 1AD.Arabia was always in close contact with south
India hundreds of years before Islam. Arabs were trade partners of India
through the Red Sea.The question is-Are these Arabian Goddesses wearing
Indian saries or Indian Goddesses wearing Arabian saries. Was there sari in
India around 1AD? Before Islam there were temples of deities all over
Middle-east. The Phoenix journal also shows the photos of King Sanatruq and
his daughter Princess Wasfari. She also looks like wearing sari with the
right hand raised in blessing and left hand holding to sari.She has a crown
and nice long necklace.Around 250 AD another famous kingdom was established
at Palmyra in Syro-Arabian desert by its first ruler Odenathus (Arabian-
Udhaina). There were stories about Lunar race king Udayan in India.These
Arab king had strong Armenian mixture in them from very ancient time (2000
BCE). Before 1AD Armenians were not Christians and of course they were not
Muslims.There were Hurrian temples of the goddess Khebha sitting on lion.
And the name of the governer of Jerusalem was Abdi-Kheba (the servant of
Goddess- Devi-Bhritya).Ancient Hebrews were also influenced by Armenians.It
is possible that the ancient Armenians and Georgians (these are different
from Medes and Persians-Iranian-Aryans)might have deities in their temples.
Thanks.