The following is from the sacred ‘cult image’ portion of my Master’s Thesis for Goddard Graduate School in 1983. At that time the forms of ‘a God or Goddess’ that were religiously consecrated / awakened (PTAH / BUDH) and ‘installed’ for worship in a shrine or temple, were called ‘cult images’ by religious art historians, and ‘idols’ by various kinds of iconoclasts, like Eastern Mayavadis, atheistic Theravadin Buddhists, Muslim, Protestants and some other Eastern Rite (Orthodox) Christians.
As part of my Master’s Thesis i focused on the incarnational theology, the worship rtya / rites, and the evolution of the innovation and diffusion of the materials and techniques of the murti makers in both the ancient Mediterranean region and in the region of ancient Greater India.
Although many scholars use the terms ‘idols’ or ‘cult images’ I do not, because an image is ‘imaginary’ and the word ‘Idol’ from ID-Latria is completely misunderstood. The divinely revealed Form of God is neither imaginary, nor is it forbidden as something ‘seen’ from the root of ‘Vid’! Adoration / Latria of one’s own self / ID is what is forbidden! ID-Latria or self-adoration is forbidden!
Please see Saint Francis of Assisi’s Ecumenical Retreat’s Murti montage:
Radha & Krishna as Rhoda-Kore & Rhodos-Kouros of Rhodes
Developing their naturalistic sculpting skills by making countless Terracotta (baked clay) votive offerings and stone murtis of their God, KOUROS KRISHNA of Rhodes, the sculptors of the Rhodian school of murti makers and their Heliopolitan Asyla Federation Allies became the Greatest in-the-round monumental stone sculptors. Their carving techniques diffused with elements of their religion, throughout the ancient world. These techniques were used throughout Vaishnava India and Buddhist Indo-China.
All expert Vaishnava and Mahayana Buddhist art historians of that era know that Greek-influenced Vaishnava and Pure Land (Mahayana Buddhist) sacred / murti-making techniques diffused from Taxila and Vrindavan-Mathura in the post-Alexandrine Era.
Meanwhile the advanced metal murti making techniques of the East diffused to the West and were used to create the Colossus murti of HELIOS-KOUROS (APOLLO / GOPALA) of Rhodes!
In fact the religio-political relationship between Alexandria Egypt, Rhodes, Taxila Gandhara, Alexandria Indus and Vrindavan Mathura was so amazing during the Indo-Greek Era, that for a while, the Vrindavan-Mathura area was governed by Greeks! This fact has been suppressed by modern Vaishnavas, who have demonized all Greeks as ‘Yavanas’.
Actually the barbarous ‘Yavanas’ referred-to in the Indian Sanskrit epics were a specific tribe of the Ionians that had nothing to do with the indigenous Vaishnavas of the ‘West’, the Afro-Asiatic and Greek Biblical ‘Vaishnava’ devotees.
This is why the era of Greek rule in Mathura fostered an explosion of both Vaishnava and Pure Land Buddhist sacred art development. Actually during the reign of the Emperor Asoka, it has been reported by pilgrims that Asoka’s Buddhist Guru had a monastery / ashram in Mathura with 10,000 monks in it! Would an atheistic Buddhist guru be tolerated in the capitol of royal KRISHNA-VISHNU worship? Of course not.
The Buddhist murti art diffusing from Mathura was emanating the very same art-forms as that of the Vaishnava sacred art. Thus even to today, one can historically trace these sacred Pure Land Buddhist ‘cult images’ all of the way from the school of Mathura throughout the entire Eastern range of Pure Land Buddhism.
The KOUROS / KISHORA age usually has long hair, but is always beardless and lacking any body hair.
When a murti has no beard or body hair but has short hair, as in this beautiful ‘student’ ASCLEPIOS (KOUROS DIONYSOS), it means that He has just shaved-up or had His KOUROS locks cut for the first time as a student initiate under a mentor / mantrin diksha master to learn a specific discipline as a disciple. ASCLEPIOS as a young student. He is still beardless but has had His long locks of a KOUROS shorn off.
The serpent on His medical staff is His alter-form as BALADEVA ANANTA-CHARAKA (as ANANTA SESHA NAGA). There are the most astonishing ancient stories of how his revived ancient worship came to Egypt as SERAPIS (HERU-HAP and pun EUROPA / SURABHI), and to Rome, to save the city from the plague!
Images from Afghanistan: Hidden Treasures from the National Museum, Kabul
P21. Statuette of Herakles, 150 bce. Afghanistan; Ai Khanum, temple with niches, sanctuary. Bronze. National Museum of Afghanistan.
P57: Appliqué: the “Aphrodite of Bactria,” 100 bce–100 ce. Afghanistan; Tillya Tepe, Tomb 6. Gold, turquoise. National Museum of Afghanistan
Important point: the TRIBHANGA form of KRISHNA (and BALADEVA) already existed in the East, but the stone carving techniques of the murti makers of Rhodes and the Rhodian Heliopolitan Asyla Federations were learned and adapted to the already existing clay, wood and metal-working style of murtis of the Indian school of Vrindavan-Mathura. In Taxila Gandhara the same adaptation of the Rhodian Greek stone carving techniques was used in the earliest Mahayana Buddhist art there, but the fully iconic style of Buddha was more, ‘stiff’, frontal and earlier Egypto-KOUROS and Greek. What i am describing is an exchange of stone carving and metal casting murti-making techniques, not a diffusion of the ‘God images’ or ‘cult images’ themselves, who were recognizable between the indigenous Western and the Eastern devotees of KRISHNA-VISHNU (BALADEVA) and RADHA / RHODA-SHAKTI.
The famous Greek lost wax process of casting metal murtis was the same as in India.
Thirty-Two Body Marks (Lakshanas) of a Buddha
Feet with level soles; Thousand-spoked wheels (chakras) on palms and soles; Broad heels; Long fingers; Smooth hands and feet; Webbed fingers and toes; Long legs; Thighs like an antelope’s haunches; Arms that extend below the knees; Well-retracted genitals; Broad and even brow; Smooth and golden skin; One hair in each pore of the body; Hairs of the body stand fully erect; Well-rounded thighs; Well-proportioned body; Torso like a lion’s; Broad shoulder; Erect, upright body; Full, round shoulders; Taste buds that find all food delicious; Jaw like a lion’s; Forty teeth; Teeth of uniform size; Teeth spaced evenly; White teeth; Long and broad tongue; Deep and resonant voice; Deep-blue eyes with lashes like a bull’s; Tuft of hair between the eyes (urna); Curls of hair on the head twist clockwise; Crown protrusion or bump (ushnisha)
The 80 Minor Marks of a Buddha’s Physical Body: Many of these are derivative from the canon of Vaishnava-Pure Land Buddhist Iconography developed in the area of Vrindavan-Mathura during the indo-Greek Era.
Mathura: The most important pilgrimage site in Mathura was Katra (‘market place’), now referred to as Krishna Janmasthan (‘the birthplace of Krishna’). Excavations at the site revealed pottery and terracotta dating to the sixth century BCE, the remains of a large Buddhist complex, including a monastery called Yasha Vihara of the Gupta period, as well as Jain sculptures of the same era.
Mathura district – Art: Mathura School of Art, style of Buddhist visual art that flourished in the Mathura, from the 2nd century bc to the 12th century A.D; its most distinctive contributions were made during the Kushan and Gupta periods (1st–6th century A.d). Images in the mottled red sandstone from the nearby Sīkri quarries are found widely distributed over north central India, attesting to Mathurā’s importance as an exporter of sculpture. The Mathura School images are related to the earlier yakṣa (male nature deity) figures, a resemblance particularly evident in the colossal standing Buddha images of the early Kushān period. In these, and in the more representative seated Buddhas, the overall effect is one of enormous energy. The shoulders are broad, the chest swells, and the legs are firmly planted with feet spaced apart.
These days, around 1,000 craftsmen are involved in making wall hangings at Holi gate and Chowk Bazaar in the pilgrim town of Mathura. These wall hangings delve on religious themes and mostly revolve around Radha and Lord Krishna seated on a swing, Lord Krishna playing flute along with Radha and Gopis, Lord Krishna with herds of cattle, Goddess Saraswati, Vaishno Devi and Lord Vishnu. Wall hangings have the gods and goddesses in highly embellished form, marking the highpoints of the Mathura School of Paintings. Once the brush work is over, the figures are adorned with colourful stars and mica pieces to make them attractive. One of the most brilliant art works of Mathura School of Paintings is Goddess Lakshmi in the midst of lotus flowers.
The below description of Buddhist iconography is extremely biased in favor of the Pali-based Theravadin school of Buddhism.
Physical characteristics of the Buddha
In Mahāyāna Buddhism, including the traditions of Esoteric Buddhism, the 32 major characteristics and 80 minor characteristics are understood to be present in a buddha’s sambhogakāya, or reward-body. In contrast, a buddha’s physical form is understood to be a nirmāṇakāya, or transformation-body.
Early history
The earliest surviving phase of Buddhist art was generally aniconic, with the Buddha being represented as symbols such as a footprint, an empty chair, a riderless horse, or an umbrella. Later, iconic sculptural traditions were established, with two of the most important being in the regions of Gandhara and Mathura.
The first statues and busts of the Buddha were made in the Gandhara region of modern-day Pakistan and Afghanistan under Indo-Greek influence. Many statues and busts exist where the Buddha and other bodhisattvas have a mustache.
In the Pali Canon a paragraph appears many times recording the Buddha describing how he began his quest for enlightenment, saying:
So, at a later time, while still young, a black-haired young man endowed with the blessings of youth in the first stage of life—and while my parents, unwilling, were crying with tears streaming down their faces—I shaved off my hair & beard, put on the ochre robe and went forth from the home life into homelessness.
Ariyapariyesanā Sutta
After examining the cult of the Buddha image in India, Gregory Schopen concludes that followers of Mahāyāna at this time played little to no role in introducing statuary and other physical depictions of the Buddha. Mahāyāna sūtras from this period such as the Maitreyasiṃhanāda Sūtra, only address the image cult as an object of criticism, if it is mentioned at all. Schopen states that followers of Mahāyāna were generally uninterested in worshipping buddhas, but rather in becoming buddhas, and their outlook toward Buddhist practice was “profoundly conservative.”
The CHAKRAVARTIN KING is the Incarnate MAHA PURUSHA…
The Vaishnava ADI PURUSHA or MAHA PURUSHA is the Lord, Himself, not a merely ‘Great Man’.
I worship their Lordships Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu and Sri Nityananda Prabhu, whose long arms extend down to their knees, whose beautiful complexions are the radiant yellow of molten gold and whose elongated eyes are like red lotuses. They are the topmost of the brahmanas, the guardians of religious principles for this age, the munificent benefactors of all living entities, and the most compassionate incarnations of Godhead. They initiated the congregational chanting of the names of Lord Krsna.
Sri Chaitanya Bhagavat Adi Lila 1.1 & 4
All glories to Sri Gaurasundara, the supremely powerful Lord of pure transcendence. He has an aura of molten gold, with lotus petal eyes, and His long graceful arms extend to His knees. While He sings the glories of the Lord, He dances in various pleasing postures, His heart inundated by the ecstatic emotions of devotional mellows.
Special mentions! Buddha is the Mahapurusha
The 32 Signs of a Great Man
*This Wiki article is very biased against, and misrepresents, the true history of Mahayana / Pure Land Buddhist iconography, as it diffused from Mathura.*
The Buddha is traditionally regarded as having the Thirty-two Characteristics of a Great Man (Skt. mahāpuruṣa lakṣaṇa). These thirty-two characteristics are also regarded as being present in cakravartin kings as well.
The Digha Nikaya, in the “Discourse of the Marks” (Pali: Lakkhaṇa Sutta) (DN 30) enumerates and explains the 32 characteristics. These are also enumerated in the Brahmāyu Sutta of the Majjhima Nikāya (MN 91).
It is generally held, including by Bhikkhu Analayo, that the 32 marks are a later addition. Texts such as the Dona sutta (AN4:36) mention seeing one of the marks in the footprint, but comparative studies do not include the wheel mark itself.
Government Museum, Mathura: The museum houses artifacts pottery, sculptures, paintings, and coins primarily from in and around Mathura, plus discoveries made by noted colonial archaeologists like Alexander Cunningham, F. S. Growse, and Fuhrer. The museum is famous for ancient sculptures of the Mathura school dating from 3rd century BC to 12th century AD., during Kushan Empire and Gupta Empire. today it is one of the leading museums of Uttar Pradesh.
1. Club = YAHU BAL of the Semites
2. Conch = NARAYANA as MARIMUS ‘Marine’ meaning of the Sea
3. Lotus / F. NYMPHIA, M. NYMPHOS the by-names of RHODA and RHODOS of Rhodes
4. Discus / Chakra the Circle hieroglyph for the HR/L Holy Name HERU / ELI / HARI
In addition to all of the other associations, VISHNU holding the Club, Conch, Lotus and Discus identifies Him as the Supreme Lord of the Rhodes related Mediterranean Afro-Helleno-Semitic Heliopolitan Asyla Federations.
- Vishnu is always to be depicted holding the four attributes associated with him, being:
- A Conch shell or Shankha, named “Panchajanya”, held by the upper left hand, which represents Vishnu’s power to create and maintain the universe.
- The Chakra, a sharp-spinning discus-like weapon, named “Sudarshana”, held by the upper right hand, which symbolises the purified spiritualised mind.
- A Mace or Gada, named “Kaumodaki”, held by the lower left hand, symbolises Vishnu’s divine power is the source all spiritual, mental and physical strength.
- A Lotus flower or Padma, held by the lower right hand, represents spiritual liberation, Divine perfection, purity and the unfolding of Spiritual consciousness within the individual. The lotus of Lord Vishnu which he is holding in his hand can be called “Leela Kamal” . This 6 petaled lotus has 6 opulences (knowledge, beauty, fame, renunciation, wealth, strength).
||SB 12.11.18||
भगवान् भगशब्दार्थ लीलाकमलमुद्वहन् |
धर्मं यशच्श्र भगवांच्श्रामरव्यजनेSभजत्
bhagavān bhaga-śabdārthaṁ līlā-kamalam udvahan
dharmaṁ yaśaś ca bhagavāṁś cāmara-vyajane ’bhajat
Playfully carrying a lotus, which represents the various opulences designated by the word bhaga, the Supreme Lord accepts service from a pair of cāmara fans, which are religion and fame.
VISHNU is an unbearded long haired KISHORA KOUROS with the Helmut of YAHU-BAL and/or the Compound Crown of the God-of-Gods DJED DJED NETER / JAGANNATHA. His peacock feather eye identifies Him with the worship of KRISHNA and SURYA NARAYANA (the ‘Solar’ HELIOS) both in India and the sacred cities of Jerusalem and Heliopolis in the Mediterranean region. He stands on/in / united-with His HLADINI SHAKTI in the Form of His Eternal Rose (red or pink) Lotus (NYMPHIA) Abode. His bodily self-effulgence is His TEJAS / DOXA ‘Glory’ or Brahman Effulgence / Brahma Jyoti. His stance is His CONTRAPOSTA / TRI BHANGA graceful three folded bending form. He has four or more KARA / KRI pun Creator KRITA / KARTRI / VISHVA KARMA Creative Ray-Hands. He is KRITA the Creator and KRITA-KRITA the Creator of Creators!
Sometimes in other cultures these multiple limbs are depicted as actual Ray-Hands, sometimes as wings with or without hands, or as some wings and some extra arms with hands. In Egypt the Universal ALL-GOD, HX / HEXA / HEKA (HELIOS as the Lord of HEKATE) has arms with hands, wings with and without hands. Altogether He may have many limbs and heads!
He typically carried a club / Gada, wore a Helmut instead of a Crown and was worshiped in Palm Oasis.
The Club and Helmut were prominent symbols of YAHU-BAL.
Please note how many times VISHNU has a Helmut style head dress! This distinctive feature of VISHNU can be traced, along with His Asyla Federation compound crowns to Kush in Meroe Africa, Cyrus the Great’s FRAVASHI in Pasargadae Persia and throughout India all of the way to Angkor Wat and places in the Pacific Islands.
Note that as in Pure Land Buddhist Murtis the small figure in the top of His top of His ‘Crown’ represents His original Form / person or KA / KAYA.
Because the main scepter that He is holding is His Theban WAS (VASU DEVA) scepter, and the first row beneath Him apparently has Theban Alliance ‘Nome Gods’, this HEKA Stela is primarily Thebes-related.
Egyptian Universal All-God HERU-AUSU-ATUM as HEKA, on top of the Metternich Stela.
All of the Upper Egyptian ‘WAS’ (VASU-DIOS / VASU DEVA) scepter NETERU (see later Coptic NOUTI / NATHA Lords) or ‘Elohima’ ‘Gods’ and all of the Lower Egyptian AUSU (AUSAR = Greco-Roman OSIRIS) staff / scepter NETERU ‘Gods’ are arrayed below Him as His Nome city-state alliance forms in united Upper and Lower Egypt. Theban WAS / VASU DIOS = Heliopolitan AUSU = Hebrew YAHU. Compare TOVA-YAHU with AUSU and WASU DIOS / THEOS.
This Universal or All-God (AMUN-RA) HEKA (see HEX ‘Magical’) Form of HERU-AUSU-ATUM is His central theophany as KALAH PURUSHA in His Bhagavad Gita. He is also the ‘Universal Form’ of AVALOKITESHVARA as revealed in the essential Pure Land Buddhist Sanskrit scripture, the Saddharmapundarika or the Lotus of the True Law / Lotus Sutra.
His primary head is semi leonid as ZURVAN, the pre-Zoroastrian Persian Supreme God as lion-headed leontocephalos time. He is KRISHNA as NARASIMHA KALAH PURUSHA, the world-devouring form of time, and the wrathful form of YAHU TZABAOTH the ‘Lord of Hosts’ of the Jewish Exodus story.
HEKA has actual heads or symbols of multiple heads or elaborate compound crowns, and has multiple arms, wings and hands which are holding multiple weapons and scepters. He is at the top center of the stela with the arch of the Universe over Him and the conquered enemies of life, defeated, contained / controlled beneath His Anga / Naga feet.
Someone has prudishly edited-out the erect phallus on this icon. I have seen that the original line rendering of this stela (shallow stone relief carving) has the erect phallus of MN / MIN / MANU / MENES on it.
See WIKI Neptune and Triton
Triton, Neptune’s son, is positioned below Neptune’s legs, thrusting himself forward to blow the conch shell. He is noticeably younger, maybe a teenage boy, though also with defined musculature. He blows his shell as a horn to announce that the king of the earth and oceans is approaching. Triton grasps Neptune’s leg and ducks his left shoulder between the thighs of Neptune.
Bernini’s Triton is double-tailed, simulating the two-legged human, both in this sculpture group and in his later work, the Triton Fountain in Rome.
As the Universal God-of-Gods He has multiple heads with a primary leonid head (HERU as KALAH PURUSHA). He has 4 limbs with wings and His right hand holds the ‘peg’ symbol of the Egyptian KOUROS, while His other hands held other scepters / Astras / symbols which have been lost, but can be compared to other Murtis of HEKA for estimation.
His erect phallus is His hieroglyph for MN / MIN / MANU (and MENES) the father of humanity and one of the legendary founders of the civilizations of Egypt and Crete.
On His thighs and feet He has more rearing URAEUS NAGA (Biblical NACHASH) Serpent (Sarpana) heads that identify Him as the ‘titan’ God of the Naga worshiping Yadus, who were the Erechtids / Anguipeds ‘snake-footed’ (ANGA / NAGA pun language) peoples of the East. These were Yadu related inhabitants of Dwarka / Uruk / Warka. See the city of Bab-Elyon the Gate (Door Dwar) of God / EL ELYON.
In Egypt the ‘ALL-GOD’ Form of HERU-AUSU-ATUM / HELI-OS-ATOMOS / ELI-YAHU-ADON as HEKA (See F. HEKATE / SEKHET / SHEKINAH / SHAKTI) holds multiple weapons and scepters in His multiple hands and has either multiple heads or the Compound Crown of DJED DJED NETER / JAGANNATHA (see Coptic NOUTI / Sanskrit NATHA ‘Lord’) The Universal GOD-OF-GODS.
Vishvarupa (“Universal-form”), also known popularly as Vishvarupa Darshan, Vishwaroopa and Virata rupa, is an iconographical form and theophany of the Hindu god Vishnu or his avatar Krishna. Though there are multiple Vishvarupa theophanies, the most celebrated is in the Bhagavad Gita, “the song of God”, given by Krishna in the epic Mahabharata, which was told to Pandava Prince Arjuna on the battlefield of Kurukshetra in the war in the Mahabharata between the Pandavas and Kauravas. Vishvarupa is considered the supreme form of Vishnu, where the whole Multiverse is described as contained in him.
The by-names of the Supreme KORE and KOUROS of Rhodes were many, but prominent among them were RHODA and RHODOS, the RODANIM, ASTERIA and ASTEROS the Galaxia Goloka ‘Star Lovers’ of the Tanabata Divine Lovers Circle Dance in China and Japan (see also TARA as a SHAKTI of KRISHNA-VISHNU), and NYMPHIA and NYMPHOS. F. NYMPHIA and M. NYMPHOS means ‘KORE and KOUROS’ or Roman JUNO JUVENTA and JUPITER JUVENALIS / RADHA-YAUVANI and KRISHNA YAUVANA, and F. and M. Lotus.
These three Deities of Vrindavan [Madana-mohana, Govinda and Gopīnātha] have absorbed the heart and soul of the Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇavas [followers of Lord Caitanya]. I worship Their lotus feet, for They are the Lords of my heart.
CC Adi 1.19
The Vṛndāvana Deities of Madana-mohana with Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī, Govinda with Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī, and Gopīnātha with Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī are the life and soul of the Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇavas.
CC Antya 142-143
KORE-KOUROS, YAUVAN (see Youth / Juvenile) and NYMPHIA-NYMPHOS mean virginal or young. KOUROS literally meant, like Sanskrit of the KISHORA and KISHORI age when the boys still have long hair and no body hair, no beard, underarm or public hair, and the girls have no body hair.
Every Asyla Federation ‘Polis’ city state had its own ‘ISTHA DEVATA’ Patron Form of PER-AUSU / POLIEUS / PURUSHA and His TYCHE / FORTUNA ‘Lady LUCK’ LAKSHMI. Thus in the lands where Semitic languages were spoken, originally YAHU was commonly called by His BL name! This is now acknowledged by all real Biblical scholars. The Holy Name BL was ‘put away’ by some Jews because of the rise of the false pseudo-dionysian tamasic ‘baal’ worshipers.
However other Jews did not put away the BL Holy Name but instead retained it as a kind of title, meaning ‘Lord’ or ‘Master’. Thus even today the title BL is in use. For example see the name of the great Rebbe Baal Shem Tov.
In countless Semitic temples and shrines throughout the lands where Semitic languages were spoken, YAHU as BAAL / Greek BELOS etc. and related Afro-Egyptian and Indo-European languages were used, the Supreme Lord as BL / BALA DEVA BAL DIOS was worshiped. See how His Great Physician Form was worshiped by the Irish!
Belenus (Gaulish: Belenos, Belinos) is an ancient Celtic healing-god. The cult of Belenus stretched from the Italian Peninsula to the British Isles, with a main sanctuary located at Aquileia, on the Adriatic coast. Through interpretatio romana, Belenus was often identified with Apollo, although his cult seems to have preserved a degree of autonomy during the Roman period.
They became more acquainted with the right hand side of God, HARI-HARA, so the anti-Catholic Protestant version of Judeo-Christianity appears to be patriarchal for its ‘apparent lack of a Goddess’ because such Protestants will swear there is no Goddess, only Divine Father and Son. No ‘Brother’ Second Person of God. Other Vedic Rasas are lost too with the right-handedness neglecting RADHA but concealing Her for those with eyes to see. She is not to be enjoyed separate from KRISHNA.
So of course it’d be dangerous, esoteric or tamasic to speak of any Goddess without KRISHNA, and the BALADEVA Bhaktas who get ‘the Father’ through Him are initiated slowly into the Divine Hierosgamos Love Mysteries of BHAGAVAN and VASUDEVI on a need to know basis, because ADI-GURU makes up the difference with causeless mercy, and KRISHNA makes their faith steadfast!
ITI PRABHĀṢYA TAṀ DEVĪ MĀYĀ BHAGAVATĪ BHUVI
BAHU-NĀMA-NIKETEṢU BAHU-NĀMĀ BABHŪVA HA
In Her Majestic Form as YOGAMAYA BHAGAVATI, She declares to King Kamsa “All over the surface of the Earth, I will be known in many different places, by many different names”.
This lack of the ‘Goddess’ is only a fanatically anti-Catholic Protestant phenomenon. In fact the fear and hatred of ‘Queen of Heaven’ MARY worship is at the very foundation of anti-Catholicism.
But it seems derived to call on MARY the Queen of Heaven or JESUS the Son of God because while the orthodoxy can agree on such conclusions, naysayers will say it is wishful reading between the lines. Not satisfied unless a verse was dedicated to articulating ‘Verily verily the Queen of Heaven is MARY’.
I grew up in a community of fanatic WASP (white Anglo-Saxan Protestants) They became more acquainted with the right hand side of God, HARI-HARA, so the anti-Jews and anti-Catholics, and then spent years studying them, by going to their Bible studies and churches, and despite all of their other endless sectarian differences, the one thing that they all have in common is associating the Catholic church with the ‘abomination’ of Goddess worship in the form of MARY. Such protestants consider the Catholic (or Orthodox) devotion to MARY and female saints and SOPHIA (Orthodox) as devotion to the ‘Whore of Babylon’. They identify all of Catholic Mariology as proving that Catholicism is the Whore of Babylon. The Church itself is the whore and MARY is its ‘Queen of Heaven’ pagan goddess.
Of course MARY has all of the names of the TYCHES / Queens of the Heliopolitan Asyla Federation ‘Goddesses’ because they were all Theaphanies or Apparitions or even ‘Incarnations’ of Hers!
The Vaishnava Doctrine that it is demonic to desire or worship RADHA without KRISHNA is related to the prohibition of desiring or worshiping MARY separately from the Holy Trinity.
Moreover, the degraded concept of the mundane ‘Goddesses’ was not to be associated with MARY, who as THEOTOKOS the Bearer of God, is unique from all other created beings. Thus the apostles had adoration for God, veneration for Angels (‘gods’) and saints, but Hyper-dulia alone for MARY! This special worship for MARY is abhored by all anti-Catholic Protestants as the very worst kind of idolatry.
Like the Supreme Lord, the persons of the Most Holy Trinity of PURUSHAS, ‘Our Lady’ in Her Maiden-Mother-Crone Form is known in every language and thus has countless Holy Names, like Mary’s litanies of by-names which include…
STELLA MARIS ‘Star of the Sea’ (TARA is ASTERIA / RHODES), MARI or MARIAM NARI-NARAYANI (NAARI in Hebrew means the same as Greek KORE or NYMPHIA. NAAR M. and NAARI F. mean young virginal man or woman), like MARIS or Roman MARINA and NARAYANI the name MARIAM means ‘of water’ or ‘of the sea’. MARINA and MARINER are from the F. JUNO MARINA. JUPITER is MARIMUS / NARAYANA. Lord JESUS is NAZARENUS / NAHARENUS the Lord of NAHARAIM / the land ‘of the waters’ (two rivers) Mesopotamia. MARY-MARIAM’s name is not a derivative of the Hebrew root ‘bitter’.
These Sri Yantra stars have symbols of Her other names in them. Above see what appears to be her tower associated with BETH EL / HET HERU ‘House of God’ name and next to that is clearly Her water lilly / lotus Fleur De Lis, which was originally a reflected water lilly / lotus blossom, a sign of Her untouchable virgin purity and that She is NYMPHIA of Rhodes!
Afro-Egyptian ‘HET’ meaning ‘house’ is cognate with Sanskrit ‘KUT’ as in Bhajan Kutier and English ‘HUT’ meaning a house. HET-HERU is cognate with MARY’s Hebrew name BETH-EL meaning ‘House of God’. HET HERU is a name of ISIS or HATHOR as the Mother of GOD / HERU. MARY as BETH (Hebrew BET) EL is cognate with the Sanskrit HARI KUTIR, meaning the House of HARI.
MARY’s other Holy Names also include ROSA / RHODA MYSTIKA the Mystical Rose / RADHA.
She usually has a red (Rhoda) inner dress and a blue (NILA) outer veil. These pictorial puns identify Her as RHODA / red and NILA / blue, a name of DURGA DEVI! She is both the inner RADHA and outer DURGA SHAKTI of SRI HARI!
MARY-MARIAM is NARI-NARAYANI, She is TARA / ASTERIA / STELLA MARIS. She is BETH EL / HET HERU / HARI KUTI. She is HEKATE / HEXAD / SEKHET / SHEKINAH the SHAKTI of HERU / HELI / ELI / HARI, the Sri Yantra or Sat Kona ‘Star’ or ‘Megan David’ of the House of ELI-YAHU HERU-AUSU / HARI VASUDEVA. She is NYMPHIA the ever-virgin untouched lotus abode of HELI / HERU / ELI / HARI. She is REGINA the Queen of Heaven / RADHA-RAJANI, RADHA-RANI the ‘Mystical Rose’! Her outer blue veil or Heaven Sky blue dress identifies Her as NILA DURGA DEVI, the Mother of all ‘Material’ Universes. As the ‘BLACK MADONNA’ She is associated with the rich fertile Mother Earth! She is Mother EORTHA / EARTHA / FERTA Fertile Fruitful Birth-Full / EPHRATHA / BHARTHA!
Compare English Cottage, Hut, Ancient Afro-Egyptian HET, Hebrew BET (BETH), and Sanskrit KUT. In these Indo-European, Afro-Egyptian and Biblical Hebrew Semitic cognates we see again that all of the language families did share some in-common words from some extremely remote time!!! These are not late ‘borrowed’ words.
Kutira, Kuṭīra, Kuṭira: 13 definitions
Sanskrit dictionary
[«previous (K) next»] — Kutira in Sanskrit glossary
Source: DDSA: The practical Sanskrit-English dictionary
Kuṭira (कुटिर).—A cottage, hut.
Derivable forms: kuṭiram (कुटिरम्).
— OR —
Kuṭīra (कुटीर).—[kuṭīśamīśuṇḍābhyo raḥ P.V.3.88] A hut, cottage; U.2.29; Amaru.56 (prakṣiptaśloka in the note).
-ram 1 Sexual intercourse.
2) Exclusiveness.
Derivable forms: kuṭīraḥ (कुटीरः), kuṭīram (कुटीरम्).
See also (synonyms): kuṭīraka.
Source: Cologne Digital Sanskrit Dictionaries: Edgerton Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Dictionary
Kuṭira (कुटिर).—(m. or nt.; Sanskrit Lex.; Sanskrit kuṭīra), hut: Kāraṇḍavvūha 60.9 (prose) parṇa-kuṭira-, compare (parṇa-) kuṭi, -kuṭikā.
Source: Cologne Digital Sanskrit Dictionaries: Shabda-Sagara Sanskrit-English Dictionary
Kuṭira (कुटिर).—n.
(-raṃ) A hut, a cottage. E. kuṭi a house, rā to be like, ḍa aff.
— OR —
Kuṭīra (कुटीर).—m.
(-raḥ) A small house, a hut, a hovel. E. kuṭī a house, and ra aff.
Source: Cologne Digital Sanskrit Dictionaries: Benfey Sanskrit-English Dictionary
Kuṭīra (कुटीर).—[kuṭī + ra], n. 1. A hut, [Gītagovinda. ed. Lassen.] 1, 27. 2. Sexual intercourse, [Bhartṛhari, (ed. Bohlen.)] 3, 66.
Source: Cologne Digital Sanskrit Dictionaries: Cappeller Sanskrit-English Dictionary
Kuṭīra (कुटीर).—[substantive] hut, bower.
Source: Cologne Digital Sanskrit Dictionaries: Monier-Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary
1) Kuṭira (कुटिर):—[from kuṭ] n. (= kuṭīra) a hut, [cf. Lexicographers, esp. such as amarasiṃha, halāyudha, hemacandra, etc.]
2) Kuṭīra (कुटीर):—[from kuṭ] a mn. ([Pāṇini 5-3, 88]) a cottage, hut, hovel, [Bhartṛhari; Vikramāṅkadeva-carita, by Bilhaṇa] (cf. kuñja-k)
3) [v.s. …] Name of a plant [gana] bilvādi
4) [v.s. …] n. sexual intercourse, [cf. Lexicographers, esp. such as amarasiṃha, halāyudha, hemacandra, etc.]
5) [v.s. …] = kevala (exclusiveness?), [cf. Lexicographers, esp. such as amarasiṃha, halāyudha, hemacandra, etc.]
6) [from kuṭila] b etc. See, [ib.]
Source: Cologne Digital Sanskrit Dictionaries: Yates Sanskrit-English Dictionary
1) Kuṭira (कुटिर):—(raṃ) 1. n. A hut.
2) Kuṭīra (कुटीर):—(raḥ) 1. m. A small house, a hut.
Source: DDSA: Paia-sadda-mahannavo; a comprehensive Prakrit Hindi dictionary (S)
Kuṭīra (कुटीर) in the Sanskrit language is related to the Prakrit word: Kuḍīra.
Collected Works Archive of Bhakti Ananda Goswami 
Lengthy beautiful one indeed. It’s too lengthy that requires second reading before I make my input.
A fantastic summary of the ancient worldwide forms (sacred murtis or statues) of the Lord and His Power Personified (Shakti – Goddess – Radha – The Rose – Kore – Shekhina – Mary – Virgo – Hecate – the Lotus – Isis etc.). Today, this oneness and diversity of the One-Truth has become lost or perverted. Many thanks to Elijah, Vrindavan, and the research team who continues this revolutionary work of Sripad Bhakti Ananda Goswami.