Ananda Pagoda Temple in the Bagan Archeological Zone, Myanmar
Sidhartha's mother Queen Maya balances herself with a branch from a Sala tree giving birth to the future Buddha from her left side. An emphasis of her fertility is demonstrated by the holding of her attendants breast.
The iconography is much older than the Buddhist religion. The nearly identical representation goes back to the pre-Vedic era. The mother goddess origins on the fertilizing power of women that made the trees blossom by their mere touch.
Yakshis or Yakshini (Sanskrit) are beings found in Hindi, Buddhist and Jain mythology. In South India Yakshis are not benevolent. They exist to seduce men and lure then to their death.
Right side image:Vedika pillar with Yaksini.
In this case, the yaksi is in the form of a vrksa-devata (tree goddess), and specifically, an asoka dohada, that is, a dohada who grasps the branch of an asoka tree. Dohada is a Prakrt word that means "two hearted one" and refers specially to the longings of the pregnant woman, whose body contains her own heart and that of her unborn child. The term is also used to refer to plants at budding time, which is said to long for the touch of a beautiful woman, as this causes them to bloom. A double reference to fruit being brought forth occurs in the blossoming tree and the gesture of the dohada's left hand, which points to her genital area while holding a flowering branch from the asoka tree as if it emerges from her womb.
The Art of Ancient India by Susan L. Huntington
