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Studies in Indian Art c13: VII. Gupta Art

Studies in Indian Art c13

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VII. Gupta Art

31. A Survey of Gupta Art

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The surviving records of Gupta civilisation present to us a brilliant picture of advancement in literature, religion, philosophy, social and human ideals, and none the least in art, which ensemble is a mirror of all that was graceful, elegant, sweet and noble in that culture. The permanent spiritual values of life had been cast into an aesthetic mould that we call art. The art creations of this Golden Age are expressions of the spiritual harmony and blissful realisation that were the hall-mark of the superior motifs of thought and life comprised in Gupta culture. There was a passionate desire to cultivate the beauty of the body in all its aspects, e.g., in the dressing of hair as seen in the charming styles of coiffure both in paintings and sculpture, in the elegant diaphanous drapery which aims at revealing the hidden beauty of the figure, the beautiful ornaments on the head, bust and limbs that pressed into service glittering gold and jewellery to enhance physical charm, but with a restraint that is the sign of high nobility. Dance and music constituted the life-breath of the people's culture who regarded them as superior to even religious meditation:

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नृत्यतां गायतां चैव नानावाद्यं प्रकुर्वताम् ।
यथा संतुष्यते देवो न ध्यानाद्यैरिति श्रुतम् ॥
(Jaiminīy āśvamedha, 12.22)
"When the people dance and sing and play on their several musical instruments, they make the Deity happier than by their meditational practices—thus have we heard".

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This was the radiating spirit of buoyant life in the Gupta period. Verily aesthetic culture was wedded to spiritual culture during the Golden Age, as never before and after. Life is rich session of beauty, a lāvaṇya sattra, or rūpa sattra, in which the real emphasis is directed to invoke the presence of Śrī-Lakṣmī as a blessing on the visage of our earthly existence. The Goddess of Beauty is the supreme divinity to be realised as the aim of all our integrated efforts, and objects of art are but symbols of her sparkling effulgence. Besides her concrete manifestation in many a beautiful form comprised in the octave of aesthetic creativity, Goddess Śrī as the consort of Viṣṇu fills the cup of life with superb ambrosia for the ennobling of the human mind and spirit. This confers a higher purpose on Rūpa or Beauty. The Gupta citizen was conscious of this supreme mission; he realised that life should be filled with forms of external beauty in order that it become a fit shrine for the permanent beauty of the spirit as manifesting through the higher moral and religious perfections. Each higher being is a scaling summit of pāramitās, moral and spiritual perfections, and the beauty of the body and the charm of objects that attend are invariable concomitants of that supreme realisation. Such was the positive idealism of life in the Gupta age—beauty and moral perfection must go together; beauty and purity are like the warp and woof of that richly embroidered fabric termed "Life": this is the meaning underlying the statement of Kālidāsa—na rūpaṃ pāpavrittaye (beauty—but not for sin)—in the inspiring message and essence of the aesthetic culture permeating the Golden Age.

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This magnificent and courageous striding of the human spirit into the spheres of concrete realisation is the key-note of Gupta culture. Art provides abundant illustration of this golden synthesis. Gupta art, be it painting, bronze, sculpture, or terracotta, is essentially beautiful. Men and women demonstrate in their person the highest ideals of physical charm. Sensuous beauty is conveyed through an idiom that is easily comprehensible. There is a genuine feeling of joy writ large on the visage of the figures that are so beautiful. Their grace is heart-bewitching, their placid charm haunts the mind, and the heart undergoes a new baptism under the graceful countenance of the Gupta figures.

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During the Gupta period, the beauty that showed itself in images, reliefs, sculptures and temples, was intended to reflect the glory of the Divine Principle called Deva or Viṣṇu or Śiva, etc. Viṣṇu’s heaven is the supreme abode of the cosmic moral order and the perfection of all physical forms. Religious experience consists in a simultaneous vision of these two perfections. This conviction had a genuine significance for the Bhāgavatas (Fig. 113). They believed that the physical world around them must be transformed into a creation of real charm so that it may reflect the glory of heaven where Viṣṇu’s own presence made everything so effulgent. The acceptance of the Bhāgavata Dharma was at once an invitation to share in the divine feast of beauty. The Divine must be made manifest to visual experience through beautiful temples and religious establishments where carved reliefs are fixed as mirrors of heavenly beauty and divine glory. The religious shrine was no common building; it was rather the embodiment of the universal desire to recapture and recreate on earth something that was in heaven, to realise that rūpa of Lord Viṣṇu, which no human mind could conceive and no physical eye could ever see:

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विष्णोरिवास्यानवधारण्यमिदकृतया रूपमियत्तया वा ।

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(Raghuvamśa, XIII.5)

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"Its form is beyond conception either in extent or in nature".

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The invisible Lord should be cast in a concrete form to bestow fixity on Him in time and space. This function is served by the shrine, the image and the worship there, all three being enriched with the devotional and meditational powers of the human mind. Thus the prāsāda loaded with beautiful religious sculpture, plastic forms and decorative elements, together with an architectural symbolism of great richness, became a dynamic factor in the assertive aspects of Gupta culture. It stood as the most dominant symbol of all that was best in literature, art, religion and metaphysics. The carved reliefs depicting themes from Puranic legends were documentaries replete with symbolical significance. Thus the architectural planning of a religios temple, with its circumambulatory railing, stairway, terrace, focal shrine, cella, image, decorative doorframe, friezes, string-course mouldings, an intricate śikhara veneered with gavākṣas and topped by an āmalaka and its kalaśa, was considered to mark a supreme event in the life of the community, and depended for its success on the completest expression of its moral and material responses. The shrine stood as a visible symbol between man and God, as the emblem of human endeavour blest by divine grace showering from above. To understand the springs of life and thought in the Gupta age, one should understand the eloquent symbolism of the shrine, whose interior was lighted up with divine forms rapt in *samādhi* and peace, and the exterior adorned with an unusual decorative fervour drawn from a wide range of plant, animal and human motifs or semi-divine forms. The understanding of art-forms is an invitation to unravel the mystery of its symbolism, especially where the esoteric context is all-important in creating the outer form and symbolism is but the essential language of metaphysical thought.

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Fig. 113. Śeṣaśāyī Viṣṇu on a Rathikā of the Devagrah Temple

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Fig. 116

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Fig. 117

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Fig. 115. A terracotta figurine from Ahichhatrā

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Fig. 114. A terracotta figurine from Ahichhatrā

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Art and religion became closely wedded in the Gupta period to command an unprecedented creative enthusiasm and to map out movements of universal dimension, which not only filled the entire country from one end to the other, but also inundated the surrounding regions in a peripheral overflow. It was truly a nation-wide movement in the sphere of art with many a centre functioning in each direction and each region displaying a spontaneous exuberance. Wheresoever the Bhāgavata religion spread its benign influence backed by an impassioned literary appeal, art monuments sprang up in its train as visible reflectors of the popular surcharge. We find the farthest limits of the movement preserved at Dah Parbatiya in Tezpur District on the Brahmaputra in Assam, in the form of a typical brick-temple in Gupta style. Its most beautiful part is the stone doorway with vertical bands covered with floral and scroll designs, but the most typical feature is a pair of flying geese on either jamb which is a unique representation of the *māngalya vihaga* motif mentioned in the *Brihatsamhitā* of Varāhamihira. The influence of the art of Madhyadeśa is patent in every detail of sculpture and architecture, whether the monument was raised in the east or in the west. The monuments were sited on the geographical routes of commerce and general communication and it is easy to discover the principles of planning to link each region with the other. To the west of the Brahmaputra, the country of Puṇḍravardhana, now comprised by Rangpur, Dinajpur, Bogra, Rajshahi, Malda, etc., has yielded a large number of Gupta sites and antiquities. Vaṅga (East Bengal), Samataṭa (the Gangetic Delta), Suhma (West Bengal called Rāḍha) and Puṇḍra (North Bengal), these were clearly marked divisions of the Gupta empire under Samudragupta, each fostering a local school of art, but all together bearing the hall-mark of Gupta style, especially in the refined creations of the terracotta figurines. This rich and fertile land of Vārendra lying between the Brahmaputra on the east and the Kosi on the west and watered by the parallel streams of the Mahānandā, Apunarbhavā, Ātreyī, and Karatoyā (from west to east) was once the cradle of Gupta culture, from which wave after wave travelled via the sea and overland routes to Burma, Malaya and Indonesia, influencing the art and culture of those peoples.

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The next crucible of Gupta art and culture was the region of Aṅga and Mithilā with flourishing centres at Campā and Vaiśālī, the latter being an important centre on the trade-route north of the Ganga, and also a political capital receiving the special attention of the royal house owing to its alliance with the Licchhavis. Vaiśālī, the modern Basarh in Muzaffarpur District, has produced a large number of the inscribed clay sealings and terracotta plaques. On the Ganga was situated Pāṭaliputra, the capital of the empire, known far and near as the 'City of Flowers', and famous throughout Jambūdvīpa for the fashions and fancies of its citizens, whose aesthetic zeal is preserved in numerous sculptures and clay figurines from old sites in Patna, viz., Kumrahar and Bulandibagh. Recently the late Dr. A. S. Altekar exposed a terracotta plaque of unusual quality showing the figure of a rake (viṭa) with a challenging look and vigorous expression so natural to the leader of the courtesan's quarters of Pāṭaliputra. A subsidiary arm of the artistic activity of this period extended towards the south of the Ganga up to Nālandā and Rajgir and thence to the west through Bodhgaya towards the Sone Valley covering the Uchchakalpa territory of the Parivrājaka Mahārājas and also what was then known as the Āṭavikarājya, as well as the fertile valleys of the Betwa, Sindh and Chambal. There is a cluster of Gupta sites in this region, the main commercial routes being all along dotted with art centres as prominent landmarks or stages of journey. The long route connected Magadha with Ujjayinī, intersected towards the east by the Śrāvastī-Kauśāmbī-Chedi sector and towards the west by the Mathurā-Vidiśā sector, all three taking within their lap almost all the principal monuments of this virtual courtyard in the mansion of Gupta culture. The valley of the Sone and its upper feeder Johila (ancient Jyotirathā mentioned by Kālidāsa, Raghuvamśa, VII. 36) was an important highway towards the Chedi country or Jabalpur, and the eastern line of Gupta monuments stood along the Kosam-Jabalpur line of communication. This was an ancient route from Mauryan times and the modern railway line follows it. A few miles from Satna, in the former Nagod State, was built the great stūpa of Bharhut in Aśokan times, later enlarged by stone railings and gateways. The Gupta architects built near Nagod the small Śiva temple at Sankargarh. Uchahra (ancient Uchchakalpa) is a station on this line, and the beautiful Śiva temple of Bhumra is only six miles from here. Another important Gupta centre was Nachna-Kuthara, only about ten miles from Bhumra in the erstwhile Ajaygarh State. At Nachna there were two Gupta temples, one the early so-called Pārvatī temple and the other later, dedicated to Śiva. At Kari-Talai was also built a Gupta shrine, just midway between the headquarter of the Tons on the left and the Sone on the right. Down below on the route is Tigowa where a beautiful Gupta temple has been found. South of Tigowa only a few miles distant is the ancient site of Rupnāth where Aśoka had put one of his edicts. At the upper end of the sector just after Prayāga have been found the Gupta sites at Bhiṭa (ancient Sahajāti) and Gadhwa (ancient Bhaṭṭagrāma); at the latter place sculptural remains of a very magnificent Gupta temple of the time of Kumāragupta had been found by Cunningham. Besides stone there were also brick temples with moulded pillars, pilasters and reliefs. Terracottas and moulded bricks (Figs. 114-7), formed a very popular media of aesthetic expression during the Gupta and post-Gupta times.

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Fig. 118. The Varāha Avatāra-Udayagiri

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Fig. 119. Decorative Panel from Dhamekha Stūpa-Sarnath

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Fig. 120. Buddha-Sarnath

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Along the western vertical sector connecting Mathura with Bhilsa, marked by the river Betwa, the number of Gupta monuments is large enough; those at Deogarh, Udayagiri, Sanchi and Eran being famous. The Daśāvatāra temple at Deogarh is a veritable gem of Gupta sculpture and architecture. Its carved reliefs and the decorative doorway are inspired works of great artists, in which one is face to face with the equipoised and restrained power of their aesthetic creations (Fig. 113). The cluster of monuments on the Udayagiri hill, only five miles from Bhilsa (now Vidiśā), preserves celebrated works of Gupta carvers. In the words of Coomaraswamy, "The Varāha Avatāra of Udayagiri is of unsurpassed splendour and unabated energy; here Viṣṇu as the Primal Boar raises the earth (goddess) from the cosmic waters at the initiation of a new cycle of creation (Fig. 118)".¹

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¹ A. K. Coomaraswamy, "Indian Sculpture," The Art News, New York, April 27, 1929, p. 45.

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The small fertile valley between the Betwa and its tributary the Bina was adorned by its Bhāgavata citizens lavishly through the erection of a number of temples. The chief centre was Eran (ancient Airikiṇa) on the left bank of the Vīṇā river as an important stage on the route from the east towards Ujjayinī, and from the north linking Mathura with Vidiśā. The temples dedicated to Varāha, Viṣṇu, and Narasimha are typical Bhāgavata monuments with a wealth of gigantic sculptures and beautiful reliefs, and also the monolithic Vaishṇava pillar, 43' high, set up by the two devotees of Viṣṇu, Mātṛiviṣṇu and Dhanyaviṣṇu in the reign of Budhagupta in A.D. 485. The small Śiva temple at Mukandara just on the point of the mountainous pass between Kotah and Jhalawar is in simple early Gupta style but charming in its carved reliefs.

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The resourceful builders in this period evolved the technique of brick shrines conceived from top to bottom in terms of moulded courses and terracotta plaques loaded with religious and secular scenes as well as floral and geometrical designs of infinite variety. From Shorkot in the Punjab to Mirpur Khas in Sindh, and from Bhitargaon in Kanpur District to Sirpur in Raipur District, there are hundreds of Gupta brick temples of which an account as yet remains an unwritten chapter in the glorious records of the Golden Age. Cunningham wrote about the Shorkot finds; "The moulded bricks are the most characteristic feature of all the old cities in the plains of the Panjab. They are found of all sizes, from about 6" to 18" in length. The variety of patterns is infinite".² Some of them were decorated with bangle designs for the wrist, called kaṭaka (kaḍaga in the Aṅgavijjā), for the feet, called khaḍaga (Aṅgavijjā), with leaves, petals, and sepals, with floral rosettes and lotuses, with trumpeting elephant heads (hatthika in the Aṅgavijjā), with the trident or the kuñjarākṣa motifs of diaper variety. There were rectangular and square (lekhakāra) or even round bricks (maṇḍaleśṭakā).

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² Alexander Cunningham, Archaeological Survey of India, Report for the Year 1872-73, Vol. V, Calcutta, 1865, pl. XXX.

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Fig. 118. The Varāha Avatāra-Udayagiri

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Fig. 119. Decorative Panel from Dhamekha Stūpa-Sarnath

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Fig. 120. Buddha-Sarnath

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moulded pillars, pilasters and reliefs. Terracottas and moulded bricks (Figs. 114-7), formed a very popular media of aesthetic expression during the Gupta and post-Gupta times.

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Along the western vertical sector connecting Mathura with Bhilsa, marked by the river Betwa, the number of Gupta monuments is large enough; those at Deogarh, Udayagiri, Sanchi and Eran being famous. The Daśāvatāra temple at Deogarh is a veritable gem of Gupta sculpture and architecture. Its carved reliefs and the decorative doorway are inspired works of great artists, in which one is face to face with the equipoised and restrained power of their aesthetic creations (Fig. 113). The cluster of monuments on the Udayagiri hill, only five miles from Bhilsa (now Vidiśā), preserves celebrated works of Gupta carvers. In the words of Coomaraswamy, "The Varāha Avatāra of Udayagiri is of unsurpassed splendour and unabated energy; here Viṣṇu as the Primal Boar raises the earth (goddess) from the cosmic waters at the initiation of a new cycle of creation (Fig. 118)".¹

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¹ A. K. Coomaraswamy, "Indian Sculpture," The Art News, New York, April 27, 1929, p. 45.

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The small fertile valley between the Betwa and its tributary the Bina was adorned by its Bhāgavata citizens lavishly through the erection of a number of temples. The chief centre was Eran (ancient Airikiṇa) on the left bank of the Viṇā river as an important stage on the route from the east towards Ujjayinī, and from the north linking Mathura with Vidiśā. The temples dedicated to Varāha, Vishnu, and Narasimha are typical Bhāgavata monuments with a wealth of gigantic sculptures and beautiful reliefs, and also the monolithic Vaishṇava pillar, 43' high, set up by the two devotees of Viṣṇu, Mātṛiviṣṇu and Dhanyaviṣṇu in the reign of Budhagupta in A.D. 485. The small Śiva temple at Mukandara just on the point of the mountainous pass between Kotah and Jhalawar is in simple early Gupta style but charming in its carved reliefs.

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The resourceful builders in this period evolved the technique of brick shrines conceived from top to bottom in terms of moulded courses and terracotta plaques loaded with religious and secular scenes as well as floral and geometrical designs of infinite variety. From Shorkot in the Punjab to Mirpur Khas in Sindh, and from Bhitargaon in Kanpur District to Sirpur in Raipur District, there are hundreds of Gupta brick temples of which an account as yet remains an unwritten chapter in the glorious records of the Golden Age. Cunningham wrote about the Shorkot finds: "The moulded bricks are the most characteristic feature of all the old cities in the plains of the Panjab. They are found of all sizes, from about 6" to 18" in length. The variety of patterns is infinite".² Some of them were decorated with bangle designs for the wrist, called kaṭaka (kaḍaga in the Aṅgavijjā), for the feet, called khaḍaga (Aṅgavijjā), with leaves, petals, and sepals, with floral rosettes and lotuses, with trumpeting elephant heads (hatthika in the Aṅgavijjā), with the trident or the kuñjarāksha motifs of diaper variety. There were rectangular and square (lekhakāra) or even round bricks (maṇḍaleṣakā).

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² Alexander Cunningham, Archaeological Survey of India, Report for the Year 1872-73, Vol. V, Calcutta, 1865, pl. XXX.

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Cunningham obtained similar material at Bavanni, ten miles from Montgomery on the Ravi,¹ at Gulamba and Asraur.² A very large number of such ornamental bricks was obtained by Hiranand Shastri from Sahet-Mahet, and typical specimens are still in situ fixed in the brick stūpa at Sarnath. This was the technique of broadcasting aesthetic culture by means of transferring geometrical, floral, animal and human patterns to essential building material like bricks and baked pilasters. Its possibilities were fully exploited, as evidenced by the large number of monuments distributed over an extensive area. As Bāṇa has suggested in the Kādambarī, the architecture in stone and in baked clay enjoyed equal rank (stambhita iva, likhita iva, utkīrṇa iva, pustamaya iva) and the production of clay and stucco work on a mass scale beautified all the distant quarters of space. As already stated, the Dah Parbatiya temple in the Darrang District of Assam was made of bricks, with terracotta plaques discovered around the stone doorframe, which have been considered to be the best examples of terracotta art known at present. The style was flourishing in Bengal as demonstrated by the finds from ancient sites in Dinajpur, Rangpur, Rajshahi, Bogra and Malda, and last but not the least at Paharpur where the tradition as developed later has preserved a veritable feast of ornamentation in the thousands of plaques fixed in the temple.

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Continuing through Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, the line of monuments extends to the Rang Mahal region near Suratgarh in Bikaner, and then crossing the Thar Parkar desert in the stūpa of Mirpur Khas in Sindh. The moulded brick and terracotta plaques and pilasters from the temples at Rang Mahal and in the vicinity which once were highlights in this region of the Dṛiṣhadvatī are some of the gems of Indian plastic art. There is amongst them a figure of the Chakra-Purusha of Vishṇu and another of Ahirbudhnya, a form of Rudra worshipped by the Pāśupatas. Thus it is evident that this region once came under the influence of the Pāñcharātra Bhāgavatas who were the strongest advocates of the view that religion must be made concrete through shrines, pillars or art monuments. A similar phenomenon was witnessed in the Fatehpur District of Uttar Pradesh where the banks of the Ganga are dotted by numerous Gupta temples in brick and terracotta like the magnificent fane at Bhitargaon in Kanpur District. The rich merchants who had amassed wealth by the riverine trade along the Ganga donated it to founding many religious establishments and art monuments in their territory. The western-most extension of this movement is embodied in the Great Stūpa (Maheśākhya Chaitya) at Mirpur which must have been the result of an enlargement of the earlier monument there.

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The selection of its site was quite happy, being on the junction of two vital commerical arteries, viz., the one transversing north Gujrat and south Rajasthan to Pāṭala in Sindh. The same route passes through Barmer to Hyderabad (Sindh) at present, but in ancient times it had much greater importance as the connecting link on the one hand between the marts of Barygaza (Bharukachchha) on the mouth of the Narmada and of Ujjayinī in Malwa, which was the richest trading town in the whole of Asia and rightly celebrated as the Sārvabhauma Nagara or the City International in the Gupta age, and on the other the Central Asian markets, from which flowed an uninterrupted stream of commodities along the two routes on both banks of the Indus which were picked up at Pāṭala. These routes are mentioned with their two sectors both in the Pāli and Sanskrit-Buddhist literature, and the occupation of Sindh by the Indo-Greeks and their successors the Śaka Satraps of Ujjain was the outcome of wars waged to control the rich trading prize of the Dvārāvatī-Bāhlīka route. The magnificent *stūpa* at Mirpur Khas shone as the visual symbol of the double glories of this route. Very naturally its decorative motifs and figure sculpture display the art influences of both Gandhāra and Malwa, which were its two feeders.

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¹ Ibid., pp. 104-5.

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² Ibid., pp. 112-4., p.l XXXV, figs. 1-12.

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A comprehensive survey of Gupta art monuments with reference to the sites where they originated is indispensable for understanding the national character of the movement. The geographical factor played a dominant role in the distribution of the monuments, and the pulsating forces of commerce and religious propaganda determined their character and magnitude. We have seen how certain areas received a special share of the visible fruit of this aesthetic creativity. Owing to historical reasons the largest number of well preserved monuments is found in Madhya Pradesh at present, but at one time the cradle-land of Uttar Pradesh was enriched by temples and buildings in Gupta style on an extensive scale. Sarnath, Rajghat, Kosam, Bhita, Gadhwa, Sahet-Mahet, Bilsad (Farukhabad), Sankisa, Atranji Khera (Eta), Kudarkot (ancient Gavidhumat in Etawah District), Bhitargaon, Ahichchhatra and Mathura—these and many other sites have produced valuable material of Gupta art in the form of temples, *stūpas* (Fig. 119), sculptures, architectural pieces, terracotta plaques and figurines, bricks, pottery, beads etc. These antiquarian objects may have been casually observed and even illustrated, but have not yet been made the subject of an overall study to demonstrate the extent and quality of the great art fostered in the Gupta period. In Uttar Pradesh, Mathura and Sarnath gave birth to two local styles of great vitality and beauty which exercised far-reaching influences on the art of the northwest and Central Asia and China through the overland route on the one hand, and on the art of Burma, Malaya and Indonesia on the other.

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In the Punjab, Gupta relics have not yet been systematically surveyed. But it is important to mention the Jaina temple at Murti, near Choa Suidan Shah in the Salt Range which was visited by Sir Aurel Stein in the old town of Simhapura, of which the remaining antiquities are preserved in the Lahore Museum. The other sites include those of Pattan-Munara with its brick tower, of the Gupta period, Bhera (Shahpur District), Sangla-tiba, Shorkot, Sunet (Ludhiana District), Sugh (Ambala District), Theh Polar (near Kaithlal), Amin (Karnal District), Agroha (Hissar District), and Khokra Kot (Rohtak District). The time is now ripe for an intensive search which is likely to make a substantial addition to our knowledge. This survey ought to be extended to Gujrat, Saurashtra, Bombay, Berar, Hyderabad, Andhra, Tamiland, Mysore and Malabar on the mainland of India, and to Ceylon and the islands of Greater India, which received in full measure strong influences of Indian art as it flourished in the Gupta age. As literary and religious heritage was transported across the seas so also vital styles of art and architecture were borrowed by the colonies from the Indian homeland.

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The ideal of Gupta culture was harmony and synthesis. The householder's path of sensuous life and that of the recluse in rising above the senses to obtain a consciousness of the Divine were both honoured and the same found expression on the formula *bhukti-mukti-prada*, i.e., a way of life that is "true to the kindred points of heaven and home". Active participation in the affairs of the world and a release from their tension to acquire the serene repose of higher bliss, both were cultivated with an equal zest in the different stages of life. This attitude so widely reflected in literature and religion exercised a very wholesome effect in the realm of art. On the one hand it invokes beauty with all its perfection of physical form and ornamental and decorative make-up, and on the other part pays full homage to the ideal of spiritual realisation as seen in the figures of Śiva, Viṣṇu, Buddha (Fig. 120), Bodhisattva, etc. All are representatives of the invisible divine principle which confers infinite richness, peace and bliss on human beings and is the only essential reality worth striving for to escape from the ups and downs of life. There is no doubt a perpetual session of beauty portrayed in the art of Gupta inspiration, but all that is dedicated to the spiritual ideal which is everywhere dominant. Art, dance, drama, music, literature—all are aspects of the goddess Sarasvatī, and should be designed to lift the mind to higher planes of consciousness where the individual merges itself into the pure realm of the Universal. This divine symbol is cast in the concrete form of the Gupta image enshrined in temples, which was the eternal light approached within the interior of the *garbhagṛhas* or the human hearts. Serenity, repose, calmness, joy, unruffled fixity of the mind, control over the objects of senses, perfect knowledge, compassion, discrimination and wisdom—these are some of the great principles of life and character which the divine images make manifest in the abiding charm of their visages which once seen can never be forgotten. Hundreds of such images and paintings are extant to proclaim firstly the aesthetic perfection and secondly the attainment of the highest spiritual vision for which art was dedicated.

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The depth and purpose of Gupta art can be perceived in the religious and philosophical literature of the age, specially the Purāṇas, Pañcharātra Saṃhitās, Śaiva Āgamas, Sanskrit-Buddhist texts and the Jaina Āgamic commentaries. That task remains to be done, viz., the correct understanding of the ideals and symbolism of Gupta art in the light of contemporaneous statement. Art was not a fleeting stimulation but a perfect dedication to the ideal of life in which best of human action and thought are in harmony.

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The works of Kālidāsa provide a rich literary documentation of the art and iconography of the period in which the great poet flourished. This untapped evidence throws some clear light on the vital problem of his date. That the poet lived in the early Gupta period is now the majority view. Most likely the tradition of Kālidāsa being placed in the court of Vikramāditya to be identified with Chandragupta II of the Gupta dynasty rests on true foundation, although archaeological evidence for the same is still lacking and perhaps may never come. In the absence of the same, dating within the prescribed limits of a particular king's reign could not be warranted by positive evidence, still the intrinsic testimony of the poet's own works points eloquently and unmistakably to the Gupta period (4th-5th century) as the age when he lived.

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A satisfactory solution to the chronological basis of the evidence furnished by the poet's works should be looked for in classifying the internal data under the following heads and then placing him at the point where all the lines of evidence may converge. The various approaches are : (1) literary forms and motifs ; (2) vocabulary, language and style ; (3) geographical and historical allusions ; (4) social life, economic conditions and political institutions ; (5) religious pantheon and Puranic myths as studied in the light of their growth from simple to elaborate forms ; and (6) art and iconography.

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It should be definitely possible to arrive at some chronological basis for the date of Kālidāsa from the picture of cultural life known to him. The present essay is confined to the evidence of art as providing the following important landmarks in this enquiry.

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1. *Elaborate Lotus-like Halo.*

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The halo in the images of the Kushāṇa period (1st-3rd century) is quite plain marked only by an edge of scallops (Sanskrit *hastinakha*). This halo becomes elaborate in the Gupta period as seen in the famous Buddha images from Mathura and Sarnath. The essential element in the decoration of the Gupta halo is a lotus flower. Kālidāsa makes specific reference to this kind of halo styling it as *padmātapatra-chhāyā-maṇḍala* (*Raghuvamśa*, IV, 5). In comparing the halo of his ideal hero Raghu with a lotus parasol the poet imagines that invisible Lakshmī held a lotus-parasol on the head of the king, this cast a shadow, and the shadow was the halo itself resembling a lotus.¹ A lotus parasol reflects itself in the lotus halo.

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¹ छायामंडललक्षणेन तमदृश्या किल स्वयम् । पद्मा पक्षातपत्रेण भेजे साम्राज्यदीक्षितम् ।।

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The scheme of lotus decoration so far as the parasol is concerned was developed in the Kushāṇa period, an example of which is found in the big round *chhatra* in the Sarnath Museum once crowning the colossal Bodhisattva dated in the year 3 of Kanishka (Fig. 3).¹ The lotus also figures in the centre of the square fragmentary parasol of the Kushāṇa period belonging to the Maholi Bodhisattva dated in the year 92.² The change in the Gupta period consisted in the lotus design shifting from the parasol to the halo (Fig. 120).

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¹ D. R, Sahni, *Catalogue of the Archaeological Exhibitis in the Sarnath Museum*, 1910, p. 34, pl. VIII.

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² V. S. Agrawala, *New Sculptures from Mathura, Journal of the U.P. Historical Society*, Vol. XI. Pt. II (Dec., 38), p. 72, pl. II ; also *Journal of the India Society of Oriental Art*, 1937.

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The next reference to an elaborate halo occurs in the description of Pārvatī where the poet conceives of her beautiful form to be embellished with a radiating halo (*sphurat-prabhāmaṇḍala*). The term '*prabhāmaṇḍala*' has since the time of Kālidāsa all along been used for the halo. The radiating pencils of light forming the halo have been compared by the poet to the slender ribs of crystal (*udbhinna-ratna-śalākā*). This imagery rests on a real feature in the decoration of the halo as illustrated in the orb of some images, e.g. the standing Buddha image from Mathura dated in Gupta era 230 (549-50 A. D.) (B. 10³ Lucknow Museum) and also a Tīrthaṅkara image from Kankali Tila (J. 117,⁴ Lucknow Museum). It is undoubted that the decorative elements of these Gupta halos were derived from parasols in actual use at that time. The halo on the Buddha image No. A.5⁵ from Mathura occupied by a full-blown lotus at the centre shows in concentric bands the designs of a rope, small rosettes (*phullāvalī*), foliated scroll consisting of peacock design, a coiled garland, a border of beads, and lastly an edge of simple scallops. The peacock design and the pearl beading are actually referred to in the *Bṛhatsaṃhitā* of Varāhmihira as motifs decorating a royal *chhattra*. Bāṇabhaṭṭa also refers to this decoration as the female peacock in the midst of a lotus pond (*padmavana-śikhaṇḍinī*).

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³ J. Ph. Vogel, *La Sculpture de Mathura*, pl. XXXI, fig. 1.

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⁴ V. A. Smith, *The Jain Stupa and Other Antiquities of Mathura*, Allahabad, 1901, pl. XCI.

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⁵ V. S. Agrawala, *Gupta Art* (1947), p. 17.

2. Conch and Lotus

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Kālidāsa refers to conch and lotus as decorating the door-jambs of houses. The Yaksha in the *Meghadūta* points out to the cloud that the cognizance of his house was the painted figures of *śaṅkha* and *padma* on the two sides of the entrance.⁶ This motif is typically a feature of Gupta art as seen in the Devagarh temple where figures of conch and lotus with scroll work rising from them are carved on the jambs framing the three exterior wall-panels (*rathikābimba*) depicting Gajendramoksha, Śeṣaśāyī Viṣṇu (Fig. 113), and Nara-Nārāyaṇa.⁷ In several pillars from Mathura of the same period these decorative symbols are carved with beautiful rising scroll (*patralatā*). In no specimen of Kushāṇa art have *śaṅkha* and *padma* as regular features of entrance decoration been found, although as individual motifs without the rising scroll both were known to early art. The poet here seems to be drawing upon a familiar motif of his time.

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⁶ *Dvāropānte likhitavapushau śaṅkha-padmau cha dṛiṣṭvā*, Meghadūta, II, 17.

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⁷ V. S. Agrawala, *Gupta Art* (1947), pl. XII-XIII.

3. Figures of Gaṅgā and Yamunā

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The reference to the goddesses Gaṅgā and Yamunā manifesting in human form and serving as attendants of ‘Deva’ (god Śiva) with flywhisks in hand (mūrte cha Gaṅgā-Yamune tadānīṁ sachāmare Devamasevishātām, Kumārasambhava, VII, 42) reflects greater chronological precision. This was the most typical decoration on the door-jambs of the Gupta temple. No specimen of early or late Kushāṇa art has so far been found portraying this feature. Indeed, with the emergence of the flat-roofed small shrines in the early Gupta period (4th century A.D.), the frame work of the entrance to the temple received special attention and various elements of decoration were introduced to impart beauty, grace and life to the architectural portion leading to the place of the deity in the shrine. No doubt the various elements of decoration of the doorways of Gupta temples, namely, the projecting image in the centre of the lintel (dvāralalāṭa-bimba), attendant figures (pratīhārī) occupying the lower one-fourth portion of the jamb, auspicious birds on wing (maṅgalya-vihaga), usually flying geese, auspicious tree (Śrīvriksha), stylised svastika, Full-Vase (pūrṇakalaśa), amorous couples (mithunas), foliated scrolls (patralatā), rosettes (phullāvallī), dwarfish figures (pramathas), and last but not the least figures of Gaṅgā and Yamunā standing on their vehicles, have invested these architectural specimens with exquisite richness and delightful form, seldom equalled by anything else in Indian art. The existing specimens of temple doorways at Devagarh in Jhansi (Fig. 11), Tigowa (Jubalpur district), Bhumra (Nagod State), Nachnā Kuthārā (Ajaigarh State), Khoh (Nagod State), Dah-Parbatia (Darrang district, Assam,) furnish these details in varying degrees, but the figures of Gaṅgā and Yamunā are conspicuously shown on most of them. Indeed, this motif became an established feature of temple decoration throughout the later temple architecture. We have definite proof that the figures of Gaṅgā and Yamunā had begun to be carved in the reign of Chandragupta II (375-413 A.D.), as in the Udaigiri cave depicting a colossal figure of Mahāvarāha in the act of lifting the earth, we find two flanking scenes showing the descent of Gaṅgā and Yamunā¹ on earth to the accompaniment of celestial music and universal rejoicing. The rivers Gaṅgā and Yamunā, the two arteries of Madhyadeśa, seem to have become the symbols par excellence of the homeland of the rising powers of the Guptas.

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¹ V. S. Agrawala, Gupta Art (1947), figs. 6 and 7.

4. Vishnu's Attributes in Dwarfish Human Form

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An important reference in the Raghuvamśa may be considered of capital value for our enquiry, as the truth of its picture entirely depends on contemporaneous iconography, although its exact significance remained obscure. The poet imagines that when Vishnu's germ had entered the womb of the queens (Kauśalyā and others), the usual attributes of Vishnu transforming themselves into dwarf human figures posted guard on the deity in the embryo. Each of them was distinguished by his respective symbol, namely, lotus, sword, mace, bow and disc.¹ This picture is based on three facts verifiable only in the Gupta period, viz. (1) that the attributes were conceived in human form, i.e., the *āyudhas* had become *āyudha-puruṣas*; (2) that as attendants they were of dwarfish size (*vāmana*); and (3) that in addition to the human form (*puruṣa-vigraha*), each was marked (*lāñchhita*) by its respective real form (*mūrti*). The first feature is referred to in a more explicit manner in the same canto of the *Raghuvamśa*, speaking of Viṣṇu as being received with acclamations of victory by his *attributes in living form*.² All these three features appear for the first time in the images of Viṣṇu of the Gupta period, more particularly the images from Mathura illustrate these features in a distinct manner. Viṣṇu images of the Kuṣāṇa period at Mathura show the *āyudhas* in their natural form. In the Gupta images the attributes specially the *gadā* and *chakra* began to be represented in human form, carved as dwarfs on the two sides of Viṣṇu and at the same time marked by the natural figures of mace and disc. Viṣṇu figures, Nos. Kt 191, B28 and 2419 (a terracotta panel showing a seated figure of Narasiṁha-Varāha Viṣṇu), are typical specimens in the Mathura Museum illustrating these features, the first image being carved on a lintel which formed part of a Viṣṇu temple at the site of Katra Keshavadeva built in the early Gupta period, probably during the reign of Chandragupta Vikramāditya whose inscription was found at the same site.³ Kālidāsa had carefully observed these distinguishing features of Viṣṇu iconography as developed in the Gupta period. It was not a mere convention, but definite iconographic data which supplied the poet with his material for the picture presented in the above verse.

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¹ *Guptaṁ dadriśur-ātmānaṁ sarvāḥ svapneṣu vāmanaiḥ ; jalajāsi-gadāśārṅga-chakra-lāñchhita mūrtibhiḥ*, Raghu., X. 60.

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² *hetibhiḥ chetanāvadbhiḥ*, Raghu., X 12.

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³ J. Fleet, *Corpus of Gupta Inscriptions*, No. 4, p. 26.

5. Other Iconographic Form

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The history of Brahmanical iconography based on the evidence of art shows distinct stages of evolution from the Kuṣāṇa to the Gupta and from the Gupta to the medieval period. The available evidence shows that images of Brahmā, Śiva, both in human and *liṅga* form, Viṣṇu, with four arms, Sūrya in "Northern dress" (*udīchyaveṣa*) wearing coats, trousers and boots, Indra, Kāmadeva, Kubera, Kārttikeya standing and holding spear, Lakṣmī, Durgā, Saptamātṛkā and Mahiṣāsuramardinī had made their appearance in the Kuṣāṇa art of Mathura. The pantheon developed further in the Gupta period and also the various forms of each deity became more elaborate, e.g. Viṣṇu sleeping on Śeṣa, Mahā-Viṣṇu with the faces of Narasiṁha and Varāha added near the shoulders, Vāmana, Trivikrama, Rāma and Kṛiṣṇa incarnations of Viṣṇu, Śiva in his various exploits, Kārttikeya riding on peacock, these are the forms for the first time seen in the Gupta art. A reference to these forms in the works of Kālidāsa does appear to have some chronological bearing, as for example, the description of Viṣṇu seated on a serpent's seat (*bhogibhogāsanāsinaḥ*) with Lakṣmī shampooing his extended foot is a definite iconographic form (*Raghu.*, X. 7, 8). The mention here is of Viṣṇu not sleeping on the serpent but seated (*āsina*) on the coiled body (*bhoga*) of a snake (*bho-in*). The reclining form of Viṣṇu is pictured in *Raghu.*, XIII. 6. In the Devagarh temple both the reclining and seated forms are present together. In the lintel of the main doorway the projecting figure¹ is that of four-armed Viṣṇu seated on snake coils with the hoods forming a radiate halo at the back (cf. Kālidāsa, 'whose body was made effulgent by the gems fixed on the canopying hoods').² The right extended leg of Viṣṇu is held in the hands of the seated figure of Lakṣmī (*Fig. 12*). Thus the forms presented in art and the literary description are in complete accord. The form of Viṣṇu lying on Śeṣa with Lakṣmī shampooing the foot is found on the panel of an exterior niche in the same temple. The first form, however, seems to have been limited to the Gupta period, whereas the reclining form continues throughout in Indian art.

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¹ V. S. Agrawala, *Gupta Art* (1947), fig. 25.

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² *Tat-phaṇā-maṇḍalodarchi-maṇi-dyotita-vigraham*, *Raghu.* X. 7.

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In *Raghuvamśa* VI. 4, Kārttikeya is mentioned as seated on the back of a peacock (*mayūra-pṛṣṭhāśrayiṇā Guhena*). An inscribed image of Kārttikeya recently found at Mathura and the only one known from the Kuṣāṇa period shows the deity in standing pose holding a spear but without the peacock. The Gupta images on the other hand mark him out as riding on peacock.³

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³ V. S. Agrawala, *A Handbook of the Sculptures in the Museum of Archaeology Mathura* (1939), Fig. 40. A prominent example of this type of Gupta Kārttikeya is now in the Bharta Kala Bhavan, Banaras.

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Kālidāsa's reference to the goddess Kālī wearing skull ornament (*kapālābharaṇa*, *Kumār.*, VII. 39; *Raghū.*, XI. 15) is a later iconographic feature which cannot be reconciled with anything known in Śuṅga or Kuṣāṇa art and thus provides a strong argument against a date prior to the Gupta period. The Seven Divine Mothers (*Saptamātaraḥ*, *Kumār.*, VII. 30, 38) were also unknown in the Śuṅga period. Their earliest origin lies in Kuṣāṇa art and they take a pronounced place in the iconographic list of the Gupta period. The reference in *Kumārasambhava*, XIV. 2-12 (although this portion of the book does not enjoy unchallenged authority) mentioning Kārttikeya with *śakti*, Indra on elephant, Agni on ram, Yama on buffalo holding *daṇḍa*, Nairṛta on corpse (*preta*), Varuṇa on makara, Vāyu on deer, Kubera *naravāhana* holding *gadā*, and Rudra riding on *mahāvṛṣa*, is only an amplification of the Brahmanical gods represented in Gupta temples, e.g. the Gupta sculptures of several of these deities from Bhumara in the Allahabad Museum. They agree with the list of the guardian deities of the eight quarters recorded in the Amarakosha (1, 3, 2-3).

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Another reference characteristic of Gupta iconography relates to the lifting of Kailāsa by Rāvaṇa, the ridges rendered loose by the upheaval.¹ The scene is found depicted for the first time in Mathura art, Museum No. 2577.²

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¹ Kailāsasya daśamukhabhujochchhvāsitaprasthasandheḥ; *Meghadūta*, I, 58.

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² V. S. Agrawala, *Brahmanical Images in Mathura*, J.I.S.O.A., 1937, p. 127, pl. XV (fig. 1.).

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6. *Pearl Necklace with Central Sapphire Bead.*

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A typical neck ornament of the Gupta period consisted of a necklace with a single string of pearls variegated by a central larger and elongated bead of sapphire. Its most graphic illustrations are found in the Ajanta paintings in both male and female figures. The great Avalokiteśvara painted in Cave I illustrates the single pearl string with a blue sapphire woven in the centre (*Fig. 121*). Kālidāsa refers to this ornament as *muktāvalī* (*Raghu.*, XIII, 48) or *muktāguṇa* (*Meghadūta*, I, 46). In the latter place mention is made of the big sapphire bead in the centre (*sthūla-madhyendranīla*). A cloud hanging low to drink the waters of the Charmaṇavatī is compared to a bead of sapphire decorating a single stringed pearl necklace. This ornament seems to have enjoyed a universal vogue, as not only paintangs but sculpture and terracotta figurines also show it to be in fashion. The poet himself remarks in another place: 'Remarkable is the beauty of the pearl itself, nothing to say when combined with the radiant sapphire'.³ The same comparison of the pearl necklace (*muktāmayī yaṣṭi*) with sapphire is found in the description of Gaṅgā and Yamunā (*Raghu.*, XIII, 54). The poet saturated with the lore of contemporary life gives expression to its cultural details in delightful fine touches. In the seventh century this ornament had attained the climax of popularity under the name of *ekāvalī* to which Bāṇa frequently refers.

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³ *Prāgeva muktā nayanābhirāmā prāpyendranīlam kimutonmayūkham*, *Raghu.*, XVI, 69.

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7. *A Painted Terracotta and Painted Sculptures.*

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Kālidāsa has only one occasion to refer to a terracotta figurine where he does not fail to observe that the clay peacock of the Ṛishi child Mārkaṇḍeya was painted with colour (*varṇachitritamṛttikāmayūra*, *Śakuntalā*, VII). Although terracotta figurines were known as early as the Śuṅga period it is only the Gupta terracottas which reveal the use of brush by skilful painters. Unfortunately a limited number only preserve the traces of this once common decoration. Gupta terracottas of this kind were found in 1911-12 at Bhitā about which Sir John Marshall wrote: "Side by side were produced in Gupta times, figurines of a far more finished style, which reflects in minor measure the artistic spirit of the paintings and sculptures of that epoch. Some of the figurines are without a slip or paint; others are painted in a monochrome—red or yellow, for instance, and others are coated with a slip and adorned with a variety of colours—red and pink and yellow and white".⁴ More recently a few of the numerous clay figurines found at Rajghat show colour and line paintings on them. The *sārī* of a female figure is painted in wavy bands of red and white and the breast band (*kuchapaṭṭikā*) is indicated in black. On the figure of a small boy the short drawers are marked by vertical bands in alternating colours. On some female heads the painter has indicated in fine black lines the ornaments on the body. In others the eyebrows and the eyelids are marked in clear black colour.¹ Painted female heads with rich varieties of hair dressing and colours were also unearthed at Shāhgirda near Begram. Indeed, during the Gupta times paints were used to finish off the exterior surface of not only clay figurines and stuccos but also sculptures as seen in the stone images of the Ajanta Caves. In another place (*Raghu.*, XVI, 17) Kālidāsa refers to the female figures carved on pillars which had become dull on account of losing their colours.

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⁴ *Annual Report*, A.S.I 1911-12, p. 12.

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¹ V. S. Agrawala, Rajghat Terracottas, *J.U.P.H.S.*, XIV, Pt. 1, (July 1941). p. 6.

8. Styles of Hair

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Numerous references to the *alaka* style of hair occur in the works of Kālidāsa and Bāṇabhaṭṭa. According to the *Amarakosha*, a document of the Gupta period, the *alaka* style of coiffure consisted in arranging the hair in curls (*chūrṇakuntala*). But even a more explicit explanation is offered by Kālidāsa himself in describing the hair of Indumatī that her *alakas* were frizzled or twisted in small spirals (*valibhṛit*, *Raghu.*, VIII. 53). The female toilet experts (*prasādhikā* women) employed scented paste in order to secure the effect of spiral twisting. In the description of Yakshiṇī living in separation from her husband, the poet styled her hair as *lambālaka* (*Meghadūta*, II), i.e. long hair loosely falling on shoulders, since the devoted wife had denied to herself the luxury of toilet, and her Spartan bath (*sudhā-snāna*) had made the *alaka* hair rough (*Parusha*) for want of oil, thus letting it fall on the cheeks (*Meghadūta*, II, 28). The *alaka* hair style is vividly illustrated in the portraiture of male and female heads in Gupta terracottas, sculpture, and painting, being the typical style of popular coiffure in that period (*Figs. 122-4*). Beyond India the style found its devotees in the fashionable society of Sassanian Iran and Imperial Rome. As negative evidence it may be stated that in none of the art specimens of the Kushāṇa period has the *alaka* style of spiral locks been so far seen. The spiral locks of hair when well-dressed and arranged in parallel tiers framed the face in charming manner as is evident from some of the terracotta female heads from Rajghat and Ahichchhatra exposed during recent excavations. The style seems to have been considered a distinct contribution to female beauty. (*Figs. 122-25*)

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