bhArata-mAtR

(Source: https://threader.app/thread/1470250835674284038)

While I too would’ve preferred an akhaNDa-bhArata (regarding bhArata-mAtR statue in the kAshi-vishvanAtha premises), I think fretting the presence of the idol itself is nonsensical.

In the core shruti there are no recommendations for the images for any of the deities. Yet the lay H today would worship old deities like rudra or viShNu in images. Similarly, the shruti recommends that all Indo-Aryans take the name of bhArata in their fire ritual.+++(??)+++ Moreover in the specific ritual of the clan they worship 3 goddesses sarasvatI, iLA, bhAratI. IMO, this bhAratI is none other the goddess of the land of the Arya-s.+++(5)+++ Its extent & location has been changing over the ages. It might change again or vanish if the H lose the war their enemies are waging on them. But its existence is not in doubt. Hence, making some personification of that deity in a material medium is something keeping with the rest of the religion.

Even after settling in India, the old IE memes dominated; hence, the hydrology mattered more than the bounds of the land itself as it was for the old IEans on the steppe. Hence, the hydrological deities dominated early iconography (most commonly ga~NgA, yamunA) But times change and now the whole land matters for the survival of the H. Hence, making a image of the land of the Arya-s is natural, even if new, expression of a long lasting tradition. Such tendencies are not entirely new itself.

One could see a precedence in the the goddess rAShTrasenA who is said to have been emanated by vindhyavAsinI and became the protectoress and upholder and defining deity of the state of mevAD in their heroic struggle against the marUnmatta-s that inspired the whole H nation.