Agrawala, Mahishamardini

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The Goddess Mahiṣāsuramardinī in Early Indian Art Author(s): R. C. Agrawala Source: Artibus Asiae, Vol. 21, No. 2 (1958), pp. 123-130 Published by: Artibus Asiae Publishers Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3248870 Accessed: 05/04/2010 14:21 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use. Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=artibus. Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed page of such transmission. JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. Artibus Asiae Publishers is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Artibus Asiae. http://www.jstor.org

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Mahishamardini

Transcript of Agrawala, Mahishamardini

Page 1: Agrawala, Mahishamardini

The Goddess Mahiṣāsuramardinī in Early Indian ArtAuthor(s): R. C. AgrawalaSource: Artibus Asiae, Vol. 21, No. 2 (1958), pp. 123-130Published by: Artibus Asiae PublishersStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3248870Accessed: 05/04/2010 14:21

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available athttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unlessyou have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and youmay use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use.

Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained athttp://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=artibus.

Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printedpage of such transmission.

JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range ofcontent in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new formsof scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

Artibus Asiae Publishers is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Artibus Asiae.

http://www.jstor.org

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R. C. AGRAWALA, M.A.

THE GODDESS MAHISASURAMARDINI IN EARLY INDIAN ART

Kusana Statuettes:

The Kusana group of Mahisamardini statuettes occupies an important place in the realm of ancient Indian iconography. A number of interesting plaques have now been preserved in the

Archaeological Museum at Mathura and may be described in brief in this paper. It is interesting to note the absence of the lion mount of the goddess in these reliefs of the Kusana period.

A. Six Armed Variety:1 Of these, no. 875 of the Museum collection was described by J. Ph.

Vogel.2 More recently, Mrs. Odette Viennot illustrated the statuette in a learned article, in which she did not present, however, a critical survey of the Kusana icons of the goddess.3 In this particular relief the goddess appears in the samapdda sthdnaka pose and in a relaxed mood

presses down the buffalo animal with the lower hands. The utter absence of irresistible dynamism on her part in subduing the demon has been well illustrated in this group of icons pertaining to the Kusana period. The goddess holds some obscure object in the two upraised hands. Dr. Vogel identified it as a serpent, whereas Dr. V. S. Agrawala interpreted it to be a 'bowel'. To me it

appears to be an iguana (godha) such as was also held by the multi-armed goddess in an identical manner in the Gupta relief carved on the exterior of Chandra Gupta II Cave No. 6 at Udayagiri, near Bhilsa.4 Mrs. Viennot identified this object as a 'drum' and further noted the hands of the

goddess as ten,5 whereas twelve arms of Mahisamardini are quite clear in the panel from

Udayagiri. The depiction of the spear and the trident as weapons (praharanas) of the goddess is clear in

the Kusana statuette no. 889 of the Mathura Museum.6 Another contemporary plaque, no. 878, illustrated by D. B. Diskalkar,7 probably represents an iguana in the upper hands of the six- armed goddess as also noticed above. The goddess here holds a sword in the right lowest hand and subdues the demon with the left. The latter of course appears in the human form - a feature which requires careful scrutiny and consideration by the scholars of Indian iconography. The absence of the buffalo animal in this plaque (no. 878) is to be noted with great interest. The dress and the ornaments of the female deity have of course been depicted under the mighty influence of Kusana style.

l Nos. 875, 889, 993, 2037, 2784 ... etc., of the Mathura Museum. Agrawala, V. S., Journal of the U. P. Historical So-

ciety, Old Series (henceforward abbreviated JUPHS), Lucknow, Vol. XXII, 949, p. I 58. 2 Vogel, J. Ph., Catalogue of the Archaeological Museum at Mathura, p. 97. 3 Viennot, O., Artibus Asiae, Vol. XIX (3-4), 1956, pp. 368-73 and pl. on p. 369. 4 Banerjea, J. N., Development of Hindu Iconography, Second Edition, Calcutta, I956 (henceforward abbreviated DHI),

pp. I72 and 498, Pl. xli, fig. 4. Patil, D. R., The Monuments of the Udayagiri Hill, Gwalior, 1948, p. 35, P1. IX.

5 Viennot, op. cit., p. 372. 6 JUPHS, XXII, p. I 5 8. 7 Diskalkar, D. B.,JUPHS, V(i), Jannuary, 1932, p. 55, pi. 23, fig. 2.

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Mrs. Viennot has remarked8 that exhibit no. 8622 of the Indian Museum at Calcutta is an

unpublished Kusana representation of six-armed Mahisamardini. Here too the goddess is re-

ported to have held a serpent like object, probably an iguana, in her upper hands. B. Four-Armed Variety: Some years ago, Dr. V. S. Agrawala published an interesting terra-

cotta plaque presenting the four-armed goddess as subduing the docile demon.9 The demon is shown in animal form and is lifted by the goddess in a relaxed manner. The face of the female

deity is completely mutilated as are also the weapons (ayudhas) held in her two upper hands. Dr. Agrawala has assigned the plaque to the Gupta period, but the crude art, the effortless pose, and the ornaments of Mahisamardini suggest an early date for it, i. e., about the second century A. D. It is worth noting that Gupta artists handled this particular theme with great skill and would not have fashioned such an unattractive and crude terracotta specimen. It is therefore

quite reasonable to consider it as an antiquity of the Kusana period. Statuette no. 881 of the Mathura Museum also comes under this variety. The goddess puts

on the typical Kusana girdle and the dhoti as her theer garment.0 Still more interesting is a

panel, no. 66, reproduced by D. B. Diskalkar,II in which the caturbhuja goddess subdues the animal in an identical manner. She holds a sword in the right upper hand and a trident in the

upper left. Her facial expression is absolutely unimpressive as are also the thick girdle, the ear ornaments, the anklets, etc.

Diskalkar, 2 referring to exhibit no. ioio of the Mathura Museum, has stated quite specifi- cally that it belongs to the Kusana period but that the eight-armed goddess therein cannot be identified because the particular plaque is fragmentary. It is therefore hardly possible to include this piece in the Kusana group of Mahisamardini icons from the Mathura region. A few crude miniature stone plaques of the goddess have also been preserved in the museums at Bharatpur and Amber (near Jaipur).

The preceding survey of some Kusana statuettes illustrates that the cult of Mahisamardini was quite popular in the region of Mathura in the early centuries of the Christian era. It is there- fore hardly plausible to agree with Dr. J. N. Banerjea's remark that "extant Mahisamardini

images can hardly be dated before the Gupta period and some miniature stone figures unearthed at Bhita are a few of the earliest summary representations of this aspect of the goddess)."I3 As a matter of fact, in the light of some early finds from Rajasthan, the antiquity of the cult of Mahisamardini may even be pushed back to the pre-Kusana period.

Terracotta Plaques from Nagar: The ancient site of NagarI4 (Jaipur Unit of Rajasthan) has also yielded a number of terra-

cotta plaques of the middle of the first century B. C. or the first century A. D. They have been exhibited in the Museum at Amber, distant about six miles from Jaipur. Of these, one inter-

8 Viennot, op. cit., pp. 368, 37I-72.

9 JUPHS, IX, (2), July, 1936, pl. XVII, p. 35, fig. 53. Io JUPHS, XXII, p. 158. "I Diskalkar, op. cit., p. 55, pl. 21, fig. 3. 12 Ibid., p. 55. 13 Banerjea, J. N., Classical Age, Bombay, 1954, p. 442.

14 Also known as Karkotanagar and Malavanagar. It was an important seat of the Malava republic. An interesting Indra- Indrani terracotta plaque from this very site and pertaining to the first century B. C. has already been illustrated by me in the Journal of Gujarat Research Society, Bombay, XIX (4), I957, pp. 45-46, fig. on p. 45.

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Fig. I

Mahisasurmardini. Terracotta. From Excavations at Nagar Amber Museum

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Fig. 2

Fragment of Mahisasurmardini. Terracotta. From Nagar Amber Museum

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esting piece, made of white clay, is broken into three parts which, when joined together, show a four-armed Mahisamardini presented in pre-Kusana style (fig. i). The goddess subdues the animal with her lower hands as has also been seen in some of the aforementioned Kusana re- liefs from the Mathura Museum. She holds a typical rectangular shield in the upper left hand and a trident in the upper right hand. I wonder how Mrs. Viennot could find only two hands of the goddess in this particular Nagar plaque's which has already been illustrated by me in the Lalit Kald. 16 The importance of the terracotta relief is further enhanced by the presence of a lion, seated below the raised left foot of the goddess. The lion does not help the devi in any way and sits as a docile animal in an unassuming mood. The facial features, dress and ornaments of the goddess suggest a fairly early date (first century B. C. - first century A. D.) for this Nagar plaque. It is hardly possible to agree with Mrs. Viennot, who suggested a later date (i. e., late Kusana or early Gupta) for it. 7 The existing terracotta plaque from Rajasthan also furnishes an idea of the rectangular shape of the 'shield' in the contemporary art.

Still more interesting is an unpublished fragmentary piece from Nagar itself, made of the same white clay. It also has been preserved in the Amber Museum and now measures about 2 '/2

inches in height. In this plaque, the upper part of the goddess, including her face, is now com- pletely mutilated, as is also the raised up left foot (fig. 2). Here too the girdle, the nether gar- ments and the ornaments of the goddess have been shown probably under the influence of the art of the first century B. C. or mid-first century A. D. as may also be seen on some of the con- temporary figures from Karle and other places. Still more, the goddess in tlhis fragmentary spe- cimen from Nagar appears in a dynamic pose and shows a stubborn resistance to her opponent, the buffalo demon. She has grasped the left horn of the animal in her right hand with so much force that the buffalo has come under her firm grip. Nay, it appears between the legs of the mighty goddess. The raised up left leg of Mahisamardini was probably placed on the head of the lion. Since the lower portion of the plaque is broken, it is of course not possible to hazard a definite view in this connection.

Gupta Statues and Panels:

It is now evident enough that the Kusana artists did not succeed in presenting graphic representations of Mahisamardini in the plastic art of their times. It was in a subsequent period that the theme was probably handled by the Gupta artists who were able to produce some of the finest statues and panels of superb workmanship. Some of them may be described in brief as follows:

I. Sir John Marshall excavated a few interesting miniature stone reliefs at Bhita depicting a two-armed Mahisamardini engaged in combat with the buffalo-demon.I8 The lion mount is absent in the Bhita statuettes.

2. The Gupta temple at Bhumra presents an elegant figure of a four-armed goddess holding the tail of the buffalo in her lower left hand and piercing the animal with a trident held in the lower right hand. The head of the animal has been forcefully trampled under the right foot of the devi. The relief is full of animation and such a lovely representation of the goddess is not to Is Viennot, op. cit., p. 372. 16 Lalit Kala, Lalit Kala Academy of India, nos. I-2, pp. 72-74, pl. XVIII, fig. i. I7 Viennot, op. cit., p. 372. 18 Archaeological Survey of India, Annual Report, 1911-1z, p. 86, pl. XXXI, figs. I3-14.

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be found elsewhere in the realm of Gupta art. A circular shield in the upper left hand of the

goddess and a sword in the upper right befit the representation of the goddess in a vigorous mood. Her typical ornaments and wig-like headgear enhance the beauty of the relief still further.I9

3. An eleven-foot high stone statue from Besnagar is also an imposing product of this

period.zo It has been described and illustrated by Harihar Nath Dvivedi.2I The goddess stands on the head of a buffalo (mahisa) in the samapdda sthanaka pose. The position of the female deity and the animal head is rather peculiar and reminds us of a similar but later rock-cut relief at

Mahaballipuram.22 The animal head in the Besnagar statue has been carved between two seated lions who are facing in opposite directions. The buffalo demon has already been subdued: the

smiling goddess simply stands on the animal head in the samapdda pose. The lions do not help the devi in any way and appear to have been carved simply to enrich the composition of the relief. The goddess, in this statue, had six hands, as was rightly suggested by Dr. D. R. Patil.23 Patil's date for this statue is early (i. e. Kusana) whereas it appears to have been a product of the fifth century A. D. The dress and the ornaments of the goddess bear close resemblance to details found in contemporary reliefs from Deogarh, Mandasor, and other Gupta sites of the

country. In the Besnagar statue, the goddess keeps her lowest left hand on the rope-like girdle appearing over the dhoti, her front right hand remains in the abhaya pose, and one of the re-

maining two right hands probably supported a spear or a trident. Her smiling face and top- knot hair (jatd), close breasts, etc., further enhance the elegance of the statue. The colossal image from Besnagar (ancient Vidisa) is of great iconographic interest, and is the only extant specimen of its kind in early Indian art.

4. A late Gupta statuette (no. 842) of the Mathura Museum presents the devi holding a sword, a dagger and a noose, and curbing the buffalo demon. The lion and the personified demon are conspicuous by their absence.24 Exhibit no. D. 12 of the same museum was regarded by D. B. Diskalkar as a product of Gupta art,25 but Dr. V. S. Agrawala has rightly assigned it to the early mediaeval period.26

5. A passing reference to the Gupta relief of Mahisamardini on the exterior of Cave no. 6 at Udayagiri has already been made above. The goddess therein has been shown as twelve- armed- a feature which is very important from an iconographic point of view. Her two upper hands perhaps hold an iguan i a (i. e., god) and there appears a sword in one of the right hands and the tail of the animal in the left. The head of the mahisa is being trampled with great force under the right foot of the goddess. Further details of the figure cannot be made out because of

damage to the panel. Dr. J. N. Banerjea has spoken very highly of this particular Gupta panel.27 19 Memoirs of the Archaeological Survey of India, No. G6, 1924, pi. XIV, fig. B. Cf. Kramrisch, S., Indian Sculpture, I933,

pi. XXII, fig. 64, and Khare, G. H., Murti Vijnana, Marathi, Poona, I939, fig. 72 also illustrating this imposing panel. 20 Alexander Cunningham called it the image of a Telin, cf. CASR, X, pp. 39-40. 21 Dvivedi, H. N., Gwalior Rajya Men Murtikala, Hindi, Gwalior, ist edition, p. 36, fig. 47. 22 Illustrated, Rao, T. G., Elements of Hindu Iconography, Madras, 1(2), pi. Ioi facing p. 343. Cf. Banerjea, J. N., Classical

Age, p. 443. 23 Patil, D. R., Proceedings of the Indian History Congress, Session held at Delhi, 1948, PP. 96-100. 24 JUPHS XXII, p. 158. 25 Diskalkar, D. B., op. cit., p. 55. 26 JUPHS, XXII, p. 159. 27 DHI, p. 498. The specimen prepared from a mould and procured at Peshawar is equally an interesting relic. It has an

important bearing on the early iconography of the goddess. See DHI, pi. XLII, fig. I, p. 500o.

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Mention may also be made of another well preserved rock-cut representation of multi- armed Mahisamardini on the exterior of Cave no. 17 at Udayagiri itself.28 Here too she pro- bably supports an iguana in the raised upper hands; a bow, a shield, and a cup, etc., in the left

hands; and an arrow, trident, etc., in the right hands. The mouth of the buffalo has been raised

up while its tail is being stretched by one of the right hands of the goddess. She has been further shown piercing the animal with a trident- headed spear held in one of her right hands.

6. During my exploratory tours in Mewar, I was also able to discover a late Gupta frag- mentary image of this variety at Jagat, about 27 miles from Udaipur. In this particular specimen, carved out of greenish-blue schist (locally known as Parevd)29, the absence of the lion and the demon in human form is to be noted with great interest. A few early mediaeval miniature

plaques of the same stone from Kejada and Kalyanapur, now preserved by me in the Udaipur Museum, also present the goddess in the same manner. The lion mount is absent in these flat

pieces also. They may well be compared with similar terracotta plaques from Ahichhatra (U. P.).30 Early Mediaeval Art: The iconography of Mahisamardini underwent a slight change during

the sixth and seventh centuries A. D. In some icons of this period we notice the depiction of the lion mount in the company of the devi although no man comes out of the decapitated trunk of the buffalo demon. Of these figures, one fragmentary specimen from Elephanta has now been

preserved in the Prince of Wales Museum of Western India at Bombay.3I In it, the lion appears to have chased the buffalo from the back. A relief from Aihole is an elegant representation of the

goddess carrying a bell and a conch in the left hands.32 The anatomical details, the vigorous pose, dress and ornaments, etc., have been executed quite vividly. The buffalo demon is being pierced with a long spear, while the lion mount of the goddess stands near her right leg as a silent onlooker. In a Badami relief of the seventh century A. D., however, the lion mount is

absent; the four-armed goddess tramples the buffalo demon under her right foot and holds its tail firmly in the lower left hand. The panel from Badami is fairly well preserved and presents a

charming study of the aggressive form of the devi in the early mediaeval art of the country.33 In some of the panels from Mamallapuram34 and Ellora3s the goddess has been shown

riding the lion (i. e. simhavdhini) and attacking the buffalo-faced demon - a full scale man of her stature - with great force and vigour. In the Mamallapuram relief cited above she bears eight arms and rides the vahana (i. e. lion) astride; the pose of the goddess and the demon differ

slightly from the Ellora relief. In such reliefs, both the goddess and her mount are full of

dynamism. The demon in his hybrid form was vanquished by the goddess and had to retreat.

Figures of divine onlookers have also been carved quite successfully. It is worth noting that

28 Patil, D. R., Monuments of the Udayagiri Hill, op. cit., pl. XIV, pp. 40-4I. 29 A few early statues carved out of this stone have already been published by me in theJournal of Indian Museums, Bombay,

XII, 1956, pp. 30-33 and pls. V-VIII. More than two dozen other reliefs of this group are under publication in the Lalit Kala, nos. 5-6. These post Gupta and early mediaeval finds from Mewar have an important bearing on the con- temporary iconography of Western India including Southwestern Rajasthan.

30 Illustrated by Dr. V. S. Agrawala in Ancient India, Bulletin of the Archaeological Survey of India, New Delhi, Vol. IV, pp. I33-I35 and pl. XLVII, B.

3' Chandra, P., A Guide to Elephanta, Bhulabhai Memorial Institute, Bombay, 1957, pl. XXVII. 32 DHI, pl. XLII, fig. 3. 33 Memoirs of the Archaeological Survey of India, No. 25, pl. II, fig. B; The Classical Age, op. cit., pi. XXIX, fig. 71. 34 Rao, op. cit., I (2), pi. I05; Kramrisch, S., The Art of India, London, I954, pl. 86; Munshi, K. M., Saga of Indian Sculpture,

Bombay, 1957, pl. 84. 35 Rao, op. cit., I (2), pl. I04; Munshi, op. cit., pl. 85; DHI, pi. XLI, fig. 2.

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we have not yet been able to discover such panels in Northern India wherein the demon appears as a buffalo-faced person.36

We have already noted above that in another early mediaeval relief at Mamallapuram the

goddess Mahisamardini stands erect on the severed head of the buffalo demon and holds various weapons including the wheel (cakra) and the conch (saiknha) which probably indicate her Vaisnava features.37

The later sculptures of Mahisamardini, chiselled after the seventh century A. D., unmis-

takably show the chopped-off head of the buffalo animal reclining below, with one or two

persons emerging from the decapitated trunk of the animal. Sometimes the lion has been shown as helping the goddess in the combat.38 This form of the goddess was a favourite theme of the

sculptors in Rajasthan as well. The Archaeological Museum at Amber preserves a lovely image of this type - a four-armed goddess holding a bell and a sword in the upper hands and a trident in the lower right - from Abaneri, a finished product of the eighth century A. D.39 Two con-

temporary colossal statues of this type have also been exhibited in the museum at Jhalawar.40 A few mediaeval statues of the Amber and Mathura Museums do not depict the buffalo-demon head as completely cut off from the body of the animal; only the upper portion of the neck has been shown as severed with the result that several demons appear coming out of the body of the mahisa demon.

The cult of Mahisamardini was so popular in mediaeval Rajasthan that even the followers of the Jaina pantheon began to worship the goddess with great devotion but under the name Saccikd or Saciya Mdtd. The Sardar Museum at Jodhpur preserves a white marble image of Mahisamardini, the pedestal of which bears an interesting inscription of the Vikrama year 1234. It specifically states that the goddess represented in this statue is Saccikd. I have discussed earlier the problem relating to the iconography of this goddess.4I It is worth noting, in this connec- tion, that the inscription on the seventh-eighth century brass image of four-armed Mahisamar- dini from Chamba (Pafijab Hill State) describes the goddess as Laksaznd.43 The image appears to have been cast under the influence of early art traditions. The devi lifts the hind part of the buffalo demon by holding its tail, and pierces its neck with a trident. The head of the animal is

trampled under her left foot. The back hands of Mahisamardini hold a sword and a bell, and her standing pose corresponds to the literary text as propounded in the Devi Mahatmya III. 3 7.43

This is a brief account of some interesting icons and panels of goddess Mahisamardini in the

early plastic art of India. The discovery of more objects may yet enable us to have an idea of her representation in Pre-Kusana art. Because of the scarcity of material pertaining to the first and second centuries B. C. and earlier, the antiquity of the cult of this goddess still remains to be determined. 36 The buffalo headed demon occurs in the eighth century in Bhuvaneshvar, Orissa (Vaital Deul; Zimmer, H., The Art of

Indian Asia, pi. 326) and in other, similar, images from Bhuvaneshvar, also of the eighth century. (Ed. note.) 37 Banerjea, The Classical Age, op. cit., p. 443; Rao, op. cit., I (2), pl. IoI facing p. 443. 38 DHI, pl. XLII, fig. 2, from Mayurabhafja. 39 Agrawala, R. C., Lalitkald, nos. I-2, p. 131, pl. 53, fig. 3. 40 Agrawala, R. C., Journal of Indian Museums, Bombay, XI, 1955, pl. VII, fig. i; museum exhibits nos. 70 and 9I. 4' Artibus Asiae, Vol. XVII, nos. 3-4, 1954, pp. 232-4 and pl. on p. 233;Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bombay, XXIX,

no. 2, 1954, pp. 63-66 and pl. on p. 66. cf. Agrawala, R. C.,JASB, Megha Nath Saha Comm. Volume, Calcutta.

42 Vogel, J. Ph., Antiquities of Chamba State, p. 138, pl. VII, fig. B; DHI, p. 498. 43 DHI, p. 498.

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