The Local Protective Goddess of Khotan: Images of the Earth Goddess

Among the pictorial remains unearthed from Buddhist monastery sites in the Khotan region, a distinct category of female deities holds considerable significance. Belonging to the local protective pantheon of Khotan, they fulfilled the dual functions of safeguarding the Buddhist Dharma and protecting the local population. The Earth Goddess (Pṛthivī-Dṛḍhā) discussed in this paper is a particularly representative example of such goddesses. This study will focus on early Chinese translations of Buddhist scriptures, with particular reference to and utilization of the Khotanese and Tibetan Buddhist textual materials unearthed from Dunhuang, as well as relevant scholarly findings. Through these sources, this paper attempts to explore how this relatively inconspicuous minor protective deity in early Gandhāran Buddhist art rose to prominence in Khotan during the 9th to 10th centuries, becoming a greatly venerated local protective goddess who assumed the status of a wet nurse (or nurturing mother) figure for the Khotan region. The iconography of the Earth Goddess, as known from early Mahāyāna scriptures and Gandhāran art, underwent a prolonged process of transformation and reinterpretation in Khotan, evolving from textual sources into visual representations. This transformation highlights the creative agency of the ancient Khotanese in the realms of culture and art.