Studies in Indian Art c12.s13.28

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.