Salabhanjika or Madanika
Salabhanjika or Madanika or Silabalika refers to the sculpture of a woman, displaying stylized feminine features, standing near a tree and grasping a branch.
This is used in Indian temple architecture as a decorative element. Salabhanjika usually represents richness and peak of health. Hence their features like hips and breasts are often exaggerated. They usually have a complex hairstyle and are lavishly decorated with lot of jewellery! Usually, these young female figures stand under a tree in various poses like dancing, grooming herself or playing a musical instrument.
These figures are usually seen in temples where worshippers engage in circumambulation. Mostly they are used as bracket figures.
The finest examples of Salabhanjika are seen in Iswara Temple, Jalasangvi, Chennakesava temple of Belur and Ramappa Temple of Telangana.
This gallery presents some of them from these temples!
Kamaleshwara temple, Jalasangvi, Karnataka, India
Chennakesava Temple, Belur, Ka, India
Ramappa Temple, Mulugu, Telangana, India
