Pramāṇa · Search · About · API

Studies in Indian Art c12.s13: 27. Mathura Āyāgapaṭṭas

Studies in Indian Art c12.s13

Language
English

27. Mathura Āyāgapaṭṭas

c12.s13.1

The sculptures from the ancient Stūpa at Kankali Tila, Mathura, which was a monument raised by the pious Jaina community of that place, are highly interesting both for their symbolism and for their quality of art. Of the numerous statues and architectural pieces including railing pillars and *toraṇa* lintels found there none perhaps are so worthy of attention as the small number of beautifully carved stone slabs which bear the technical name of Āyāgapaṭṭas. This name was rendered by Bühler as a "tablet of Homage or Worship", since such slabs were put up in temples, for the worship of the Arhats (*Ep. Ind.* Vol. II, p. 314). It appears that in the domain of Indian art the Āyāgapaṭṭa as an item in the repertoire of religious devotees was peculiar to the early Jainas. The Buddhists do not show anything similar to a Jaina Āyāgapaṭṭa amongst the sculptures of their religion found from Mathura, although the two faiths flourished side by side for several centuries and also probably employed the same artists.

c12.s13.2

There is, however, a word in the early Buddhist art terminology which throws welcome light on the meaning and purpose of an Āyāgapaṭṭa. In the excavations at Jaggayyapeta on the site of the old Stūpa, Dr. Burgess discovered in 1882 three inscribed pillars, bearing each a dedicatory inscription in Prākrit recording the gift of five Āyaka-Khambas at the eastern gate of the Great Chaitya at that place. The great Stūpa at Amarāvati also was adorned with such pillars, since the highly ornamental chaitya slabs from that site exhibiting in miniature the Stūpa in all its details show a row of five columns surmounting a balcony in the procession-path opposite each cardinal entrance. The explorations at Nāgārjunikoṇḍa have also brought to light seventeen inscribed specimens of Āyaka-pillars. According to Dr. Lüders who edited these inscriptions such pillars do not appear to have had any structural function as supporting members, but, besides carring well-known Buddhist emblems, they were utilised for dedicatory inscriptions (*Ep. Ind.* Vol. XX, p. 2). The Āyāgapaṭṭas likewise were devoid of an archetectural purpose but were carved with sacred symbols and figures of Tirthāṅkaras for being worshipped. The words *Āyāga* at Mathura and *Āyaka* at Jaggayyapeta seem both to have been derived from *Āryaka* which in Sanskrit means 'honourable' or 'worthy of reverence'. Since the sacred symbol or the figure of the saint carved on the slab was an object of veneration, the slab on which it was carved rightly came to be regarded as a tablet of homage bearing the technical name of Āyāgapaṭṭa¹.

c12.s13.3

¹ The remark of Dr. Burgess that the word Āyaka in Āyakakhambha perhaps means entrance should be modified in the light of the meaning of Āyaka pointed out here (cf. *Amaravati and Jaggayyapata Stupas*, p. III).

c12.s13.4

From the point of view of art the Āyāgapaṭṭas from Mathura rank amongst some of the most beautiful specimens of the Mathura School of Sculpture. They are exceedingly well conceived and the composition adequately conveys the meaning of the symbolism they seek to represent. The grouping of the static and moving figures and the arrangement of the religious symbols produces a fine harmonious effect. The Tīrthaṅkara figure seated in the central circle in meditation, symbolises as it were the bedrock on which Jaina metaphysics bases its conception of world creation. The Arhat figure predominates the whole group, every thing else, viz., the *Triratnas*, the *Svastika* and the other symbols stand fixed in relation to it and revolve round it. An ideal harmony of the static and dynamic aspects of creation seems to have been achieved in art on these Āyāgapaṭṭas (*Figs. 8,104*) The conspicuous *Svastika* on J. 250 with a circle at the centre enclosing the figure of a Jina is primarily a symbol of creation or birth. The *Svastika* has been universally worshipped in India as part of the natal cermonicsal ong with *Shashṭhīpūjana* performed after the birth of the child. Bāṇa Bhaṭṭa gives an elaborate description of the ceremonial of *Svastika* worship after the birth of Prince Chandrāpīḍa and the custom can be traced to earlier times.

c12.s13.5

The *Dharmachakra* and the *Triratnas* are other symbols prominently figured on the Āyāgapaṭṭas. Dr. Coomarswamy in his paper on the meaning of *Kha* and other words denoting Zero has shown that the axle point of the wheel represents the ultimate reality, the "rock of ages", serving as the central point of the great wheel of creation. This wheel known as the *Dharmachakra* symbolises the two-fold cosmic forces of rest and motion. The centre of the wheel is firm, devoid of changes, but its circumference is the rallying plane of infinite forces whirling and moving under the governance of a central fixation based on the navel of the wheel. The wheel is thus the most appropriate symbol to express the harmony and synthesis between the two creative forces and conditions one of which is referred to in the Vedas as *apihita*, hidden, and the other *jāyamān*, manifested. The perfect *Dharmachakra* forming the central figure on the Āyāgapaṭṭa represents in a beautiful manner the above two aspects of the wheel symbolism. The eight Maidens of Space, *Dikkumārīkās*, poised gracefully in a circle around the periphery of the *Dharmachakra* are according to the Jaina Texts goddesses of the Bhavanapati class, presiding over the quarters of space, and as stated in the *Jambūdvīpa-prajñapati* they come first in the priority to celebrate the glorious event of the birth of a *Tīrthaṅkara*.

c12.s13.6

The *Dharmachakra* and the elephant also appear as symbols surmounting the two side pillars on Āyāgapaṭṭa No. J. 249. Just as the Buddha is spoken of as the bull and musk-elephant among great spiritual leaders (*Mahagani—asabha—gandhahathi*, *Ep. Indi*, Vol. XX, p. 17), similarly the Jainas apply to their Tīrthaṅkara the virtues implied by these noble comparisons. The elephant, the bull, and the lion were accepted as common symbols both amongst the Jainas and the Buddhists, and the two arts bear testimony to it.

c12.s13.7

The scheme of eight auspicious symbols (*aṣṭamaṅgalas*) is adopted for decorative purposes on Āyāgapaṭṭa No. J. 249, and the same is repeated, although somewhat weakly on No. J. 250. The symbols that may be readily identified are the two fish (*Mīna-Mithuna*), the pot of jewels (*Ratna-pātra*), Triratna, lotus garlands (*Puṣpa-dāma*), Śrīvatsa and the full vase (*Pūrṇa-kumbha*). The second symbol in the upper row may represent the celestial abode (*Deva-vimāna-ghara*) which was one of the fourteen dreams seen by the Brāhmaṇi Deva-daṇḍā at the time of her conceiving as described in the *Kalpasūtra*.

c12.s13.8

The Āyāgapaṭṭas with their emphasized symbolical character have greater affinities with the earlier Indian art as known to us in the monuments of Sāñchī which are the products of an age in which symbols constituted the language *par excellence* for the expression of religious and philosophic thought. That phase fell into the background after the emergence of the cult images of the Tīrthaṅkaras and the Buddhas, both perhaps serving a common religious urge in about the 1st century A.D. In the art of Mathura itself the symbols gradually give place to the image. But on the Āyāgapaṭṭas there is still a stage of transition and it is clearly apparent that the symbols there are not less important a medium of the artist's language than the figure of the principal saint. They may be taken to belong to about the early first century A.D., when the symbol worship and the image worship existed side by side, the one as a significant heritage of the past and the other as an usher of a now era The rich and famous school of sculpture which flourished during the Kushāṇa and Gupta periods (cir. 1st century— 6th century A.D.) at Mathurā has to its credit a considerable number of Brāhmanical images, in addition to the vast and varied collections of Buddhist and Jaina sculptures which are well known. Belonging to the formative period of Indian art when the earliest images of gods and goddesses in all the above three religions were being evolved, these statues are of the utmost importance. We know that early examples of the Buddha image have been found at Mathurā, which according to Coomaraswamy was the place where the image of the Buddha originated¹, a conclusion in which there is much more substantial truth than is at first recognised.

c12.s13.9

¹ The Indian Origin of the Buddha image, *J.A.O.S.*, Vol. 46, 1926.

c12.s13.10

Fig. 104 A Āyāgapaṭṭa from Mathura

c12.s13.11

The images of the Jaina Tīrthaṅkaras also for the first time appear on the Ayāgapaṭṭas discovered from the site of the Kaṅkālī Ṭīlā, and may belong to the beginning of the first century A.D.²

c12.s13.12

² The only exception, an earlier Jaina Tīrthaṅkara image, is the recently discovered image of the Maurya period from Bankipur, published by K.P. Jayaswal, *J.B.O.R.S.*, March 1937, pp. 130-32. R. P. Chanda, *A.S.R.*, 1925-26, p. 180, 'The earliest images of the Tīrthaṅkaras have been found at Mathurā'.

c12.s13.13

Like in Buddhist and Jaina statuary, the first iconographic forms of the Brāhmanical gods and goddesses can be traced in Mathurā. The fact that Mathurā artists were fashioning the deities of these three religions at one and the same time, must have had its own causes in the religious history of India of the early Kushāṇa period. It appears that Mathurā was the nucleus of powerful devotional movements in the religious thought of the Jainas, the Buddhists and the Hindus. So far as Hinduism is concerned we know that the religious movement centring round Vāsudeva Kṛiṣhṇa and his brother Balarāma originated at this ancient city. It is therefore natural that the urge for shaping the gods in their human form should have been felt strongest at Mathurā.

c12.s13.14

For studying the origins of Brāhmanical images we should concentrate on the earlier statues of the Kushāṇa and Gupta periods. Their total number may be about five hundred. The following is the full list of the pantheon for these two epochs: I. Kushāṇa: 1. Brahmā. 2. Śiva. (a) Śiva in *liṅga vigraha*. (b) Śiva in *purusha vigraha*. (c) Śiva as *Ardhanārīśvara*. (d) Śiva with Pārvatī. 3. Kārttikeya. 4. Gaṇapati. 5. Viṣhṇu. 6. Sūrya. 7. Indra-vajrapāṇi. 8. Kāmadeva. 9. Balarāma. 10. Sarasvatī. 11. Lakṣhmī. 12. Durgā Siṃhavāhinī. 13. Mahiṣhāsuramardinī. 14. Sapta Mātṛikās. 15. Nāgarājñī.

c12.s13.15

Fig. 106 Early Brāhmaṇical relief showing four gods

c12.s13.16

Fig. 105 A scene from Kṛṣṇa's life

c12.s13.17

Fig. 107 Balarāma

c12.s13.18

Fig. 108 Śiva Pārvatī

c12.s13.19

Fig. 110 Sūrya

c12.s13.20

Fig. 109 Ardhanārīśvara

c12.s13.21

Fig. 111 Sun-god

c12.s13.22

II. Gupta period: All the above with the addition of the following: 16. Hari-Hara. 17. Rāvaṇa lifting Kailāsa. 18. Viṣṇu as Trivikrama. 19. Piṅgala. 20. Daṇḍa. 21. Navagrahas. 22. Gaṅgā. 23. Yamunā. 24. Āyudhapuruṣas.

c12.s13.23

Of this list only Sūrya, Siva-liṅga and Gaja-Lakṣmī were known in the earlier art preceding the epoch of the great Mathurā school.

c12.s13.24

BRAHMĀ. In the Brāhmanical triad Brahmā comes first as the creator of the universe. The idea of Trinity consisting of Brahmā, Viṣṇu and Śiva seems to have been fully realised in the religious philosophy of the Kuṣāṇa age. Brahmā is shown as the deity with four faces (caturmukha). We have three Kuṣāṇa images of Brahmā in the Museum. The earliest image (382) shows the god with three faces and a haloed bust superimposed at the back of the central head to complete the number of four heads. On the reverse is carved an Aśoka tree similar to that in Nāgarājñī and Indra images (392) which also belong to the Kuṣāṇa period. The right hand of the projecting figure is held in abhayamudrā and the left shoulder is covered with drapery like in Buddha images of this period. Statuette No. 2134 shows an identical arrangement with the difference that the three lower faces have all beards and matted locks. Statuette No. 2481 shows only three heads, as the fact of the invisibility of the fourth one in a front view came to be gradually recognised. A halo is shown at the back of the head. Another feature of importance is the pot belly, which in the case of Brahmā persists throughout later art.

c12.s13.25

VIṢṆU. We get evidence of Viṣṇu worship in the Śuṅga period from the Besnagar pillar of Heliodoros and the Ghoṣuṇḍi inscription of Saṅkarṣaṇa Vāsudeva. At Mathurā itself a lintel of the time of Mahākṣatrapa Soḍāsa (1st century B.C.) mentions a shrine dedicated to Bhagavān Vāsudeva¹. But the earliest representation of Viṣṇu in human form is found in the Kuṣāṇa period, the Viṣṇu image appearing as almost a replica of the Budhisattva image with two additional hands holding a long, heavy gadā and a chakra. Image No. 2487 is typical and shows all these features clearly. The prominent necklace of Viṣṇu is noteworthy as it is taken from the images of Indra (cf. 392). In some statuettes Viṣṇu wears the high 'kirīṭa' of Indra which may be due to the fact that Viṣṇu as Upendra was looked upon as the younger brother of Indra.

c12.s13.26

It is strange that no early image depicting the life incidents of the cowherd deity Kṛṣṇa has come to light at Mathurā. An exception may be deemed in the case of a relief (1344) of the Kuṣāṇa period bearing a scene which Daya Ram Sahni interpreted as one showing Vasudeva walking across the river Yamunā to transport the new-born Kṛṣṇa to Gokula for safe custody¹ (Fig. 105), I agree with this view and think that the relief is the earliest representation of a scene from Kṛṣṇa's life.

c12.s13.27

¹ Archaeology and Vaiṣṇava Tradition, by Rama Prasad Chanda, A.S.M.5.

c12.s13.28

The Kuṣāṇa relief No. 2520 acquired from the collection of the late Pandit Radha Krishna, appears as a veritable document of Brāhmanical iconography (Fig. 106). It shows the following four figures, all standing with right hands in ‘abhayamudrā’: 1. Two-armed Śiva in ‘ardhanārīśvara mūrti’, with the right half bearing male and the left half female features, viz. breast, extended hip, long dhotī, and a bracelet round the foot. Śiva is shown ‘ūrdhvaretā’, which is of unique importance for the study of the early phases of Mathura Śaivism. 2. Four-armed Viṣṇu, holding a heavy mace and a Chakra in the two additional hands. The two normal hands are exactly like those in the Bodhisattva images, i.e. the right in ‘abhayamudrā’ and the left holding a monk’s bottle of long neck and conical bottom. Of all the Viṣṇu images found in India, this may be said to be the earliest specimen, and may be assigned to the Ist century A.D. It shows the transition from a Buddhist to a Brāhmanical image. 3. Two-armed female figure holding a lotus in her left hand as in the Hārītī images of the Kuṣāṇa period. Above the canopied head the sculptor has shown a pair of miniature elephants in order to distinguish Gaja-Lakṣmī from Hārītī. This Gaja-Lakṣmī type is distinct from the well known Gaja-Lakṣmīs rising in the midst of lotuses², of the Śuṅga period found at Sāñchī, Budhgayā, Kosam and Anantagumphā, etc. The stamp of a Kuṣāṇa period Hārītī is obvious in her form and composition. 4. Two-armed male figure holding a purse in the left hand and a mace-like staff under the left armpit. It depicts Kuvera without his usual corpulence. We also have one Gaṇeśa statuette without this feature which is otherwise almost universal in both cases (No. 1112). These details make the above relief of unique importance for a knowledge of the earliest features in the iconography of these divinities.

c12.s13.29

² Sāñchī, north toraṇa of Stūpa I, fig. 53 in H.I.I.A. ; Bodhgayā, C.H.I. Vol. I, fig. 50 ; Kosam, Annual Bibliography, 1934, fig. d, pl. II ; Anantagumphā, C. H. I. Vol. I, fig. 75. Cf. also Coomaraswamy's article Śrī-Lakṣmī, Eastern Art, January 1929.

c12.s13.30

A fragmentary statuette of the Kuṣāṇa period (1010) showing an eight-handed male figure is of exceptional interest Of the four right hands which are preserved, three seem to carry the mount Govardhana, ‘pāśa’ (or śakti), and ‘daṇḍa’ and the fourth one doubled at the elbow is stretched towards the breast and also held an indistinct object. This represents the Virāṭ form of Viṣṇu and is the only male figure of the Kuṣāṇa period in which such multiplicity of hands is visible.

c12.s13.31

With the advent of the Gupta period Viṣṇu worship received a fresh impetus and images became much more common. There were Viṣṇu temples at Kaṅkālī (image in the Lucknow Museum, H. 111), Jamālpur (G. 7, Viṣṇu torso), Gāyatrī ṭilā (1342, colossal Viṣṇu-bust), etc. There is also ample evidence to show that a magnificent Brāhmanical temple dedicated to Viṣṇu was built at the site of Kaṭra Keśavadeva³ by the emperor Chandragupta II whose inscription was also unearthed from this place. Architectural and sculptural pieces which formed part of this building were recovered in excavations and are kept in the Museum. One piece shows Viṣṇu in his Trivikrama incarnation (2664) with the left leg stretched aloft. Dancing and adoring Jāmbavān, the demon-head typifying Brahmāṇḍa and kneeling Pṛthivī Devī are shown. Viṣṇu wears the *vaijayantī* and *ekāvalī* necklace. The panel is surmounted by a dwarf Gupta railing and was enclosed between two pilasters.

c12.s13.32

¹ A.S.R., 1925-26, pp. 183-84.

c12.s13.33

³ Kaṭra-Keśavadeva, the Birth-place of Kṛṣṇa, by V. S. Agrawala, Gītā Dharma, Benares, Vol. I, pp. 666-76.

c12.s13.34

A perfect example of a Gupta Viṣṇu is E. 6 of Vogel's *Catalogue*¹. It shows all the highest qualities of the Golden Age, the face revealing the contemplative serenity of celestial *samādhi*. The elaborate crown is adorned with the jewel (forming a *triratna* shape with its scroll), lion-faces emitting pearl festoons *siṃhāsyodgīrṇa mauktika-jāla* and a *makarikā* ornament consisting of two addorsed alligator heads. The figure wears a *vaijayantī yajñīya suvarṇa-sūtra*, *keyūras*, *ekāvalī* and *śatayashṭika* derachanda necklace, and also a creased clinging loin cloth (*sūkṣhma vimala kaṭi-vastra*) held by a girdle technically known as *netra-sūtra* in contemporary literature on account of its similarity with the cord round the *manthana daṇḍa*². The image was four-armed. The fore-arms separated near the elbow, the bifurcating line being still visible on the left side.

c12.s13.35

¹ Cf. St. Kramrisch, Die figurale Plastik der Gupta Zeit, p. 22, fig. 5; Wiener Beitraege zur Kunst und Kulturgeschichte Asiens, vol. V, 1931.

c12.s13.36

² This netra-sūtra cord used in churning is still known as 'neti' in the Hindi speech of North India.

c12.s13.37

Another important image of Viṣṇu (2525) resembles the above in its artistic decoration but shows the god with a Nṛsiṃha face on the right and a Varāha face on the left. Coomaraswamy published the bust of a Nṛsiṃha-Varāha Viṣṇu from Mathura (now in the Boston Museum), which is almost like our figure. He says "The figure exhibits the broad shoulders and slender "lion" waist of the Indian ideal type, with the firmness and fullness of flesh and massive modelling characteristic of the Gupta period; it is an important document equally of art and iconography"³. This Viśvarūpi Viṣṇu presents a combination of Varāha and Nṛsiṃha *avatāras*. The Museum also has a terracotta panel (2419) showing a similar four armed Viṣṇu, two of whose arms now broken must have held the symbols *padma* and *śaṅkha* in their natural form, and two others were placed on the heads of dwarfish *chakra* (male) and *gadā* (female) *āyudha puruṣas* squatting in *utkuṭikāsana*. Kālidāsa, Raghu. 10, 60, mentions the dwarfish statues of the Vaiṣṇava *āyudha puruṣas* in the Gupta period. The representation of the symbols both in their natural and personified forms and also the placing of the right leg a little in front of the left, suggest affinities of this image with the Para-Vāsudeva form mentioned in Hindu Iconography⁴

c12.s13.38

³ Bulletin of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, Dec. 1919 No. 104, pp. 60-62, Gupta torso of Viṣṇu.

c12.s13.39

⁴ T. Gopinath Rao, Hindu Iconography, Vol. I, pp. 242-43.

c12.s13.40

BALARĀMA. Patañjali refers to Balarāma in his Mahābhāshya (Kielhorn, Vol. I. p. 426.) "let the power of Kṛiṣhṇa increase with the assistance of Saṅkarṣhaṇa". Saṅkarṣhaṇa is the name of Balarāma, the elder brother of Kṛiṣhṇa, who is said to have changed the course of the Yamunā near Mathurā by his ploughshare. The legend must have been popular in the days of the Bhāshyakāra in the 2nd century B.C. Again in a quotation given by Patañjali mention is also made of temples dedicated to Kuvera, (Bala) Rāma and Keśava (Kṛiṣhṇa): प्रसादे धनपतिरामकेशवानाम् (ibid. Vol. I. p. 426).

c12.s13.41

It is not surprising that an image which must have once adorned such a temple, was actually found by the late Pt. Radha Krishna in 1929 from the village named Junsuti, six miles off Mathurā on the road to Govardhana. It was sold to the Lucknow Museum and is now kept there. It is published here from photos found in the record of the late Panditji (Fig. 107). The back entry gives its ht. 2'-6". Balarāma is standing with a canopy of six serpent hoods and holds the 'musala' in his right hand and the 'hala' in his left, both the 'āyudhas' resting against his shoulders. He wears a very conspicuous turban, heavy earrings in cloven ears, a torque with single cylindrical bead and double wristlets. The upper body is nude and the lower is draped in a dhoti, its creased arrangement, triangular fold and the girdle being exactly similar to those on the ancient Yakṣha statues of the Śuṅga period. The image can not be later than the second century B. C., and must be regarded as the earliest representation of any Brāhmanical deity in the whole field of Hindu iconography. Its importance therefore cannot be exaggerated for throwing light on the most controversial question of the origins of iconographic art in India. The Bankipur Tīrthaṅkara image of the Maurya period and the Mathurā Balarāma image of the Śuṅga period together prove that the religious tradition of the land had allowed the shaping of the principal deities in human form for purposes of worship much earlier than is often conceived by archaeologists in relation to the question of the origin of the Buddha image.

c12.s13.42

ŚIVA. The god Śiva is known to us in an earliest form from the Guḍimallam liṅga of the Śuṅga period. The Bhiṭā Śiva liṅga of the 'pañcha-mukha' type comes next in order. After that we get the representation of Śiva both in liṅga and 'puruṣha' form at Mathurā in the Kuṣhāṇa period. Śiva worship at this time must have been extremely popular in the religious life of this city. D. R. Bhandarkar editing the Mathurā Śaiva inscription of the time of Chandragupta II, showed that a powerful branch of the Pāśupata Śaivas adhering to the tenets of the teacher Lakulīśa was established at Mathurā by one of his four disciples, Kuśika, in the beginning of the 2nd century A. D.¹ This pillar also shows the representation of god Lakulīśa, a form of Śiva holding a 'daṇḍa' and his trident. We also find Śiva standing against his Nandi bull on the reverse of the coins of Kuṣhāṇa emperors, and a well-known coin of Vāsudeva shows the polycephalic god Oesho who can be on other than Pañchānana Śiva or Īśa. The heroic Vema takes pride in calling himself a Maheśvara in the legend of his Śaiva coins. How devoutly the alien Kushāṇa chiefs paid homage to the great god is vividly depicted on a recently acquired bas-relief (2661) which shows a liṅga installed on a pedestal and two Kushāṇa noblemen in the attitude of worshipping it with garlands and flowers (JISOA, vol. IV, Pl. XXIII, Fig. 1). It also contains a flying 'deva' performing 'puṣpa-vṛiṣṭi' as in Buddhist images. A relief slab of the Kushāṇa period showing Śiva and Pārvatī standing as a typical dāmpati gives us the earliest human form of Śiva different from a Yakṣa (G. 52). But for the ūrdhvareta so prominently shown in the case of Śiva, we would take it as a common 'mithuna relief.'¹ Śiva is two armed, there is no bull or any symbol except that the right hand is in 'abhaya mudrā'. Śiva wears ear-rings, torque and scarf and there are no 'jaṭās'. This scene becomes very much transformed, though retaining its essential features, in the Gupta period as evinced by the Śiva-Pārvatī and Nandī relief (2084) carved on both sides. Both Śiva and Pārvatī hold a 'nīlotpala' that is symbolical of their married life.

c12.s13.43

¹ Ep. Indica, Jan. 1931, p. 5.

c12.s13.44

¹ For an image of Śiva-Pārvatī from Kosam, showing ūrdhvaliṅga Śiva holding the right hand in abhaya and an amṛita ghaṭa in the left, see A.S.R. 1913-14, part II, plate LXXC. It is inscribed and belongs to the Gupta period. (Fleet, G.I.I., p. 266).

c12.s13.45

One of the most unique Śiva images from Mathura is illustrated by Coomaraswamy in his History of Indian and Indonesian Art (Fig. 68). It shows the four-armed 'ūrdhvareta' Śiva carved in high relief against a liṅga in the same manner as the Guḍimallam Śiva². The Gupta sculptors of Mathurā also made Ekamukhī Śiva liṅgas of the Bhumara and Khoh type. We find them installed in several places in the city, still in worship³(cf. also Museum collection, 2312). We have also specimens of two-faced (462) and five faced⁴ (516) Śiva liṅgas of the Gupta period. Most probably the five heads have reference to the Īśāna, Tatpuruṣa, Aghora, Vāmadeva, and Sadyojāta forms of Śiva. Of the 'līlās' of Śiva not one has been traced in Kushāṇa art. The Gupta sculptures, however show a representation of the famous scene of Rāvaṇa lifting the mount Kailāsa on which Śiva and Pārvatī are seated (2577; Fig. 108). Iconographically as well as artistically this piece is of great importance. It is full of lively commotion resulting from the unprecedented upheaval. The giant king with protruding eyes is exerting his full vigour to summon all the resources of his great might. The wavy lines and the reticulated breaks in the ridges of Kailāsa express the strain to which it was put reminding us of the famous and almost contemporary description in the Meghadūta of Kālidāsa (158), viz. कैलासस्य.........दशमुखभुजोच्छावसितप्रस्थसंधेः । The eminences of the peak as well as the ridges appear like dense masses of clouds layered one upon another. Pārvatī sits to the right of Śiva, and her left hand finds support on the right shoulder of her lord, who is bracing up at a time when the great oscillation must have convulsed all nature.

c12.s13.46

² I found a photo of this from the collection of the late Pt. Radha Krishna giving in the back entry its ht. 2'-5", but the present whereabouts of the image are unknown. It may be in some European private or museum collection.

c12.s13.47

³ A note on a Gupta Śiva Liṅga at Mathurā, V. S. Agrawala, J. U. P. H. Society, July 1935, pp. 83-85.

c12.s13.48

⁴ For illustration, see my article in Hindi on the Brāhmanical Sculptures in the Mathurā Museum, fig. 19, Journal of the Hindustani Academy, Jan. 1937.

c12.s13.49

The Ardhanārīśvara form of Śiva (326; *Fig. 109*) though known in Kuṣāṇa times (cf. Pl. XIV. Fig. 2) was handled by the Gupta artists with an unexcelled perfection. It illustrates those elements that are present in two cosmic forces which are irresistibly drawn towards each other to embrace and fuse themselves, but are held back to preserve their entities by an invisible axis.

c12.s13.50

SŪRYA images of Sūrya of the ancient Indian type seated on a chariot of four horses are known from the art of Bodhgayā (Fig. 61, H. I. I. A), Bhājā (Fig. 24, H. I. I. A), and Anantagumphā,¹ where chāyā and Sajñā also occur. The Mathurā examples of the Kuṣāṇa period, however, are different. They are shown squatting in European fashion, wearing the Northern dress (*udīchya vesha*) consisting of a coat, trousers and padded boots, and holding a dagger in the left hand between the legs and a lotus cluster in the right. The chariot is drawn by two horses (894)².

c12.s13.51

¹ Hackin's *Memoir on the Researches at Khair Khaneh near Kabul*, p. 15, footnote. See also *Anceint Monuments in Bihar and Orissa*, by M. H. Kuraishi, p. 273.

c12.s13.52

² A bigger example is illustrated in Vogel's *La Sculpture de Mathura*, plate XXXIIIb, and Coomaraswamy's *H.I.I.A.*, fig. 64, where it is identified as Kuṣāṇa king.

c12.s13.53

The number of horses later on is increased to four (cf. Sūrya image D. 46, in which the solar orb is also shown), and subsequently to seven. We have an interesting variety of Sūrya images in the Gupta art of Mathurā, showing Sūrya dressed like a Sassanian king. One soapstone statuette (1258; *Fig. 110*) in which the two acolytes Piṅgala and Daṇḍa also occur, has a beard and a round apron style tunic fringed with pearls like the solar image from Khair Khaneh discovered by Hackin, by which it appears to have been inspired. Its age should coincide with the reigns of Shapur II and his successors Ardashir II and Shapur III, i.e., between 309 and 386³ A. D. Another bust in the Mathurā Museum representing the Sun god (D. 1 of Dr. Vogels *Catalogue*) is even more marked by Sassanian influences, bearing the ‘sun and moon’ *Chandra-divākara* symbol on the *kulah* cap. He has frizzled bushy hair as in Gupta figures, a bearded chin (*śmaśrula mukha*) of the honey-comb design (cf. ‘*saraghāvyāpta kṣaudrajaṭala*’, *Raghuvamśa*, IV. 63), knotted scarf and pinafore like cuirass (*Fig. 111*).

c12.s13.54

³ *Recherches Archéologiques au Col de Khair Khaneh prés de Kabul*, by J. Hackin, p. 13.

c12.s13.55

Though the two solar attendants occur on the Khair Khaneh relief, Mathurā is the only place where independent images of Piṅgala and Daṇḍa of the Gupta period have been found. Pot-bellied Piṅgala (513) has a halo and is holding a pen in the right hand and an inkpot in the left. His hair is bushy and on the *kulah* cap occurs the globule and crescent sign. A Gupta relief from Kaman shows the eight Grahas, Ketu being left out. Except Sūrya, the other six wear *jaṭā-jūṭa* and Rāhu is in *tarpana mudrā*. This agrees with Mahā- bhārata, Sabhā Parva, ch. 11, verses 28-29, which mention only eight Grahas attending the audience-hall of Brahmā (pitāmaha-sabhā).

c12.s13.56

KĀRTTIKA. The figure of Kārttikeya with his name inscribed occurs on one series of the Yaudhaya coins about the second century A.D.¹ Of about the same period is a statuette in the Mathurā Museum (2332) showing the standing figure of haloed Kārttikeya holding a spear in the right hand and a cock in the left².

c12.s13.57

¹ J. B. O. R. S. 1936, p. 61.

c12.s13.58

² A very similar Kārttikeya image with spear and cock was recently found at Taxila. See A.S.R. 1934-35, p. 31, plate VIII (f) where it is doubtfully identified with Kuvera.

c12.s13.59

A singular image of the Gupta period in the Mathurā Museum (466) shows Skanda seated on his peacock (cf. mayūra prishṭhāśrayinī guhena, Raghu. VI. 4) with an important iconographic feature, viz. the performance of his abhiṣheka by four-faced Brahmā on the right and Śiva on the left side holding jars, both wearing matted locks.

c12.s13.60

GAṆEŚA. A Mathurā frieze of the Kuṣhāṇa period (2325) shows a row of five elephant-headed Gaṇas very similar to the Amarāvatī relief depicting the same figure³ (about 2nd cent. A.D.). Of about the same period is a statuette (758) in which elephant-headed Gaṇeśa appears as an ithyphallic nude figure with pot-belly and nāga yajñopavīta. He is two armed and is tasting the sweet balls out of the cup in his left hand. These are the earliest Gaṇapati figures so far known.

c12.s13.61

³ Coomaraswamy, Yakshas, part I, plate 23, fig, 1, p. 23.

c12.s13.62

Miscellaneous gods: Vajrapāṇi. A torso (E. 24) shows the god Vajrapāṇi holding a double thunderbolt. He wears heavy ear-rings, torque and flat triangular necklace like Bodhisattva images. But the feature that shows the Brāhmanical nature of the image is the conspicuous vanamālā arranged on the left side which justifies his identification with Vajrapāṇi Indra of Hindu mythology (cf. Kālidāsa, Raghu. IV. 42). The vaijayantī is the principal distinctive feature of the Brāhmanical gods employed by the Kuṣhāṇa and Gupta sculptors.

c12.s13.63

KĀMADEVA. A beautiful terra-cotta (2452) of about the first century A.D. shows the god Kāmadeva standing in a flowery field with a sheaf of arrows in the right hand and a long sugar-cane bow (ikshu-dhanus) in the left hand. He is standing upon the chest of a young man who is in a supplicating attitude. I am indebted to Dr. Johnston (letter dated Oxford, 8th Dec. 1936) for identifying the scene with an old legend about Kāmadeva in which the leading persons are the fisherman Sūrpaka and the princess Kumudvatī. The details are uncertain, but apparently Kumudvatī fell in love with Sūrpaka, who did not return her love, till he was conquered by Kāmadeva. Aśvaghośa refers to the legend in his kāvyas, viz. Buddhacharita, XIII, 11 and Saundarānanda, VIII, 44, which as may be inferred must have been very popular in his days.

c12.s13.64

INDRA. In Buddhist iconography Indra and Brahmā occur as attendants of the Buddha. Some times Indra alone is shown paying homage to the Buddha in the Indraśaila Guhā at Rājagṛiha but in the Kushāṇa art of Mathura the iconography of Indra had a much greater significance. There is a unique image in which Indra is shown as polycephalic (having many heads) figure, i.e. with one figure in the centre and five others emerging out of his shoulders and head. This should be identified as the representation of the Pañchendra form or this deity to whom detailed reference is found in the Pañchendropākhyāna of the Mahābhārata and the Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa. Indra is also depicted as Yaksha Vajrapāṇi, i.e. holding a thunderbolt in his hand. The one distinguished feature of Indra images is a high cap, rather a projecting crown, on his head. Some times a third eye is also shown over his forehead.

c12.s13.65

AGNI. In the Pañchāla coins of Agnimitra we always find a deity with a halo of flames. He is depicted on the Kushāṇa coins as an Iranian deity under the name of Athso. No image of the early Kushāṇa period has been found but there are several Gupta sculptures showing Agni as a Brāhmanical deity with a halo of flames round the body and also with jaṭājūṭa, a beard, Yañjopavīta, pot-bellied and holding amṛtagaṭa in the right hand.

c12.s13.66

DURGĀ. There are images of Durgā having four arms and seated on a lion assignable to the Kushāṇa period but the form, which was extremely more popular, was that of Mahishāsuramardinī, i.e. goddess Durgā in the form of killing the demon. Her images with two, four and six arms are found in considerable number in Kushāṇa and Gupta art. The most eloquent description of her exploits and power is contained in the Devī-Māhātmya of the Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa. The worship of Mahishāsuramardinī became popular throughout the country and we find a magnificent representation of the conflict of the goddess riding on a lion with the demon Mahishāsura in the early Pallava art.

c12.s13.67

SAPTA-MĀTṚIKĀ. In the Kushāṇa period the worship of the female goddess of the form of Reality as so many goddesses found its most tangible expression as the sculptures representing a group of the Sapta-Mātṛikās (Seven Divine Mothers), Brahmāṇī, Vaishṇavī, Ambikā-Pārvatī, Indrāṇī, Kaumārī, Vārāhī, Nārasimhī, and Chāmuṇḍā.¹

c12.s13.68

¹ These were the images of Śakti of the respective gods. As a matter of fact these were developed in the mystic symbolism of Yoga as depicted Sakties of various Chakras or nervous centres in the body. These were known as the Mātṛikās. Gradually their number increased to 8, 9, 10, 12 and 16 (Shodaśa Mātṛikās). All these again were the varying symbols of an esoteric discipline of thought and meditation.

Cites (19)