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Vinayaki is an elephant-headed Hindu goddess. Her mythology and iconography are not clearly defined. Little is told about her in Hindu scriptures and very few images of this deity exist.〔 Due to her elephantine features, the goddess is generally associated with the elephant-headed god of wisdom, Ganesha. She does not have a consistent name and is known by various names, Stri Ganesha ("female Ganesha"〔), Vainayaki, Gajananā ("elephant-faced"), Vighneshvari ("Mistress of obstacles") and Ganeshani, all of them being feminine forms of Ganesha's epithets Vinayaka, Gajanana, Vigheshvara and Ganesha itself. These identifications have resulted in her being assumed as the shakti - feminine form of Ganesha.〔Mundkur p. 291〕 Vinayaki is sometimes also seen as the part of the sixty-four yoginis or the matrika goddesses. However, scholar Krishan believes that Vinayakis in early elephant-headed matrikas, the Brahmnaical shakti of Ganesha, and the Tantric yogini are three distinct goddesses.〔 In the Jain and Buddhist traditions, Vinayaki is an independent goddess. In Buddhist works, she is called Ganapatihridaya ("heart of Ganesha").〔Mundkur p. 295〕 ==Images== The earliest known elephant-headed goddess figure is found in Rairh, Rajasthan. It is a mutilated terracotta plaque dated from the first century BCE to the first century CE.〔 The goddess is elephant-faced with the trunk turning to the right and has two hands. As the emblems in her hands and other features are eroded, a clear identification of the goddess is not possible.〔Mundkur p. 292〕 Other elephant-headed sculptures of the goddess are found from the tenth century onwards.〔〔 One of the most famous sculptures of Vinayaki is as the forty-first yogini in the Chausath Yogini Temple, Bhedaghat, Madhya Pradesh. The goddess is called ''Sri-Aingini'' here. Here, the goddess's bent left leg is supported by an elephant-headed male, presumably Ganesha.〔 A rare metal sculpture of Vinayaki is found in Chitrapur Math, Shirali. She is full-breasted, but slender, unlike Ganesha. She wears the ''Yajnopavita'' ("sacred thread") across her chest and two neck ornaments. Her two front hands are held in ''abhaya'' ("fear-not") and ''varada'' (boon-giving) mudras (gestures). Her two back arms carry a sword and a noose. Her trunk is turned to the left. The image is probably 10th century from north-western India (Gujarat/Rajasthan) and belonging to the Tantric Ganapatya sect (who regarded Ganesha as the Supreme God) or to the vamachara (left-handed) Goddess-worshipping Shakta sect.〔Mundkur pp. 296-8, 301〕 A Pala Vinayaki from Giryek, Bihar, is also not pot-bellied. The four-armed goddess carries a ''gada'' (mace), ''ghata'' (pot), ''parashu'' (axe) and possibly a radish. A Pratihara image shows a pot-bellied Vinayaki, with four arms holding a gada-parashu combination, a lotus, an unidentifiable object and a plate of modak sweets, which the trunk grabs. In both images, the trunk is turned to the right.〔 Damaged four-armed or two-armed Vinayaki images are also found in Ranipur Jharial (Orissa), Gujarat and Rajasthan.〔 In another image from Satna, Vinayaki is one among five theriocephalic goddesses. The central figure, the cow-headed yogini, Vrishabha, holds the baby Ganesha in her arms.〔 Vinayaki, a minor figure, is pot-bellied and carries an ankusha (elephant goad) like Ganesha.〔Mundkur p. 297〕 In this configuration, Vrishabha may be considered as a mother of Ganesha and other goddesses, thus signifying a sibling relationship between Vinayaki and Ganesha. Another interpretation suggests that all the female deities, including Vinayaki, are mothers of the infant god.〔Cohen pp. 118-20〕 A similar image of Ganeshyani is also seen at the Bhuleshwar Temple of Shiva, near to Pune, Maharashtra. In Cheriyanad Sreebalasubramaniya Swamy Temple, consider as the Desadeva (God of Locality) of Cheriyanad village, we can see a Wooden Statue of Vinayaki which is situvated in "Balikal Pura" of Temple. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Vinayaki」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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