Pramāṇa · Search · About · API

Studies in Indian Art c13.s2: 34. A New Gupta Temple at Darrā in Malwa

Studies in Indian Art c13.s2

Language
English

34. A New Gupta Temple at Darrā in Malwa

c13.s2.1

The small temple at Darrā in Kotah (Malwa) adds one more example to the moderate sized temples of early Gupta period. It stands on a raised plinth measuring 44'×74' with stepped approaches from the left and right corners of the front side. The temple facing east stands nearer the western side of the plinth. The cella or sanctum (garbhagriha) consists of four square pillars, 5½ ft. apart from each other (Fig. 134-5). Each pillar is surmounted by a square capital with projections on the four sides carved with scroll work. Above the two projections on the same side is a lintel covered by a flat stone of moderate size carved with a big full-blown lotus in the centre showing two bands of petals and a band of floral scroll work. There are four similar but smaller lotuses in the four corners.

c13.s2.2

In the sanctum is placed a pedestal 4½ ft. square, with a square recess in which the slab or yonipaṭṭa for the liṅga seems to have been once inserted.

c13.s2.3

On each of the three sides of the sanctum two pilasters have been erected at a distance of 3'9". The pillars are surmounted by capitals with three projections on which three lintels were placed, each covered by a rectangular flat stone carved with five lotuses on the inside.

c13.s2.4

On the front side two square pillars were erected in a line with the sanctum pillars at a distance of 5½ ft. These supported capitals and lintels were covered with a flat top stone, so that on all sides of the temple a continuous circumambulatory path was provided. Outside the pradakṣiṇāpatha a stone course only 16" high from the ground ran on three sides of the temple at a distance of 2'2" from the pilasters.

c13.s2.5

At a distance of 18 ft. from the pillars towards the east side a mukha-maṇḍapa resting on four square pillars was once built, which probably served as a maṇḍapa for the Nandi bull. The pillars of this maṇḍapa were standing in situ until about three years back when the restoration work of the temple was undertaken. Due to some misunderstanding on the part of the P.W.D. Engineer, the old pillars were pulled down and were replaced by modern pillars. The mukha-maṇḍapa seems to have measured 8 ft. square from centre to centre of each pillar. Dr. A. S. Altekar who saw the temple with Dr. Mathura Lal Sharma of Kotah before the Mukha-maṇḍapa was demolished informs me that he read on one of the pillars the name Gopavaraman written in Gupta script.

c13.s2.6

On one of the two pillars of the front porch is written the name Achintya-dhvaja Yogi in characters of about the 11th—12th century A.D.

c13.s2.7

This temple stands inside the Darrā or the mountain pass connecting Malwā with North India, which is now called Mukandara and was a regular highway in the Gupta period and later. The temple seems to belong to the early Gupta period as indicated by the following facts :—

c13.s2.8

1. Small size of the sanctum.
2. Flat-topped roof covered by a single slab.
3. Lotus decoration on the ceiling which is similar to the lotus on the parasol of the Gupta period Buddha images and also that of the Kushāṇa period Bodhisattvas.

c13.s2.9

Fig. 134 Carved Toraṇa—Śiva Temple at Darra.

c13.s2.10

4. The architectural feature of the square flat top of the sanctum is similar to the square parasol of the Bodhisattva images found at Maholi and Mathura, placed above freestanding images installed inside a small Gandhakuṭi improvised for the purpose. The design of the temple is extremely simple.

c13.s2.11

About 100 ft. to the west of the temple stands a Śiva-liṅgam, 2'8" above the ground and 3'9" in girth on a modern chabutrā. It is a plain liṅgam and seems to have originally belonged to the main temple, but removed to its present site after the temple had fallen.

c13.s2.12

Fig. 135 Carved ceiling of Gupta Siva Temple—Darra.

c13.s2.13

Adjoining the chabutrā is a well of moderate size built with ashlar masonry and having steps on one side leading to the water.

c13.s2.14

The Darrā temple is worthy of being declared a protected monument. It would be better if measures for its complete restoration are undertaken, since majority of the carved architectural stones were either still standing in situ or lying on the terrace when I visited the temple on 13th February 1950.

c13.s2.15

The glory of Gupta art is fully exemplified in the Gupta Śiva-liṅga from Uchahara area. Śiva's face shows the perfect expression of *samādhi* as described by Kālidāsa in the *Kumārasambhava* (III. 44-50). The gorgeous matted locks in two tiers are charmingly depicted in an orderly fashion, with a girdling band in the middle and strands of descending locks on the two sides also arranged in a happy manner. The whole treatment is distinguished by a balance and well defined features, and the effect of eminence imparts dignity to the expression. It is the *unnaddha-jaṭā-kalāpa* of the poet, but without the ophidian ribbons which would only be scaring in such a serene countenance. The digit of the new moon above (*bālendu*) and the vertical eye in the forehead below (*kapāla-netra*) perfectly balance each other in a face aesthetically perfect, and the neat *akṣamālā* on the neck serves as the fitting base of an ascending symbolism. The moon is the symbol of Soma, the ambrosial essence of life and the death-conquering principle of mental illumination or *samādhi*. According to the *Ṛgveda* (X. 90.13) the moon is the symbol of the cosmic mind of the Creator (*candramā manaso jātaḥ*), representing its basic serenity and peaceful coolness which nothing can disturb, as also an orderly fluctuation of light and darkness manifesting as the brightness of creation and the invisibility of its withdrawal. Kālidāsa has brilliantly interpreted the moon symbol by speaking of Śiva's mind as collected in perfect concentration (*samādhi-vaśya manas*) and restrained from the sense attractions of the 'nine doors' in the citadel of the body (*nava-dvāra-niṣiddha-vṛtti*). It is the condition of the withdrawal of the mind into its own unmanifest source or centre expressed in Vedic terminology as *hṛdaya* (*hṛdi vyavasthāpya*). The introvert gaze was a typical feature of *samādhi-mudrā*, and all the five points detailed by the poet are here represented, viz., the slightly beaming pupils made motionless, the eyelashes still, the vision directed to the centre of the eyebrows, the rays shooting downwards, and combined effect of it all being one of self-vision. It is difficult to escape the impression that the artist of this perfect image had a real grasp of the poet's conception of Śiva in *samādhi*. In the whole range of Indian sculpture this particular Śiva-liṅga is hard to be surpassed for the expression of spiritual contemplation or *samādhi* in its face. It is verily the flaming lamp of supreme wisdom, untrammelled by outer flickers—a *niṣkampa pradīpa* in the words of Kālidāsa. It is only in the Gupta age that we find such perfection gracing the endeavour of the artist. He was no doubt a real genius who captured a vision of the truth in one of his rare moments. The image seems to have been carved in the last quarter of the 4th or the first quarter of the 5th century when Gupta art was at its best. The height from base to top of the liṅgam is 38" and that of the head 10".

c13.s2.16

It may also be noted that there are three Śiva-liṅgas from Khoh or from Uchahara area published so far. One is preserved in the Allahabad Museum and illustrated by S. C. Kala on Pl. XXA, B, of his book *Sculptures in the Allahabad Municipal Museum*, and described: "N. 164 Ekamukha Śiva Liṅga (6"×18") from Koh. Gupta Period. The lower part is roughly chiselled. Above it there is a plain cylinder which contains on one side the bust of Śiva". (P. 30). A second Śiva-liṅga similar in style to the above but with more elaborate ornamentation in the form of a broad torque round the neck, a *maṇimālā* near the line of hair on the forehead, and a *gavākṣa-cūḍāmaṇi* ornament on the hair above, really belonged to the Bhumara Śiva temple and was published by R. D. Banerji in his Memoir, *The Temple of Śiva at Bhumara* (1924; Pl. XV c). This was reproduced by A. K. Coomaraswamy in his article entitled "Indian Sculpture" published in the special art number (dated April 27, 1929) of the magazine *The Art News* (New York), fig. 16. Somehow Coomaraswamy mentioned it as a find from Khoh, and in borrowing the figure from Coomaraswamy the same mistake was committed by me in my *Gupta Art* (1947; fig. 5, pp. 6 and 35). The third example is the present one, which is decidedly the best specimen amongst all such examples. It was found somewhere in the Uchahara area and at present is in the collection of Smt. Pupul Jayakar, in New Delhi (*Fig. 136*).

c13.s2.17

The iconographic form of the Ekamukhi and Pañchamukhi Śiva-liṅgas had been developed as early as the Kushāṇa period, but in the Gupta period the former became much more popular and was extensively installed by the Māheśvara teachers in the shrines established under their inspiration. In the five-faced form, the five faces correspond to the five elements as follows:

c13.s2.18

1. Sadyojātā—Earth (front face);
2. Vāmadeva—Water (next face to the proper right side);
3. Aghora (and Ghora)—Fire (the Terrific face on the proper left side);
4. Tatpurusha—Air (the face on the back side):
5. Īśāna—Sky (top face).

c13.s2.19

Śiva is conceived as *aṣṭamūrti*, the Eight-formed Deity. It was a Vedic conception explaining the principle of manifestation through the eight-forms of Agni, also called the Eight Vasus, whose names are given in the *Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa* (VI. 1. 3. 10-18, *tānyetāni aṣṭau Agnirūpāṇi*). For the Purāṇa writers the theme of Agni manifesting as Rudra was a popular one, and they have elaborately described the eight forms of Śiva. Kālidāsa enumerates them in the first verse of the drama *Abhijñāna-Śākuntala*, and says that they are the ‘eight visible forms’ (*pratyaksha tanu*) of Śiva. The list includes the Five Elements, the Sun and Moon, and the *Yajamāna*. Although at first sight couched in sacerdotal terminology, the whole conception is rational and clear; the Five Elements represent the gross body or the material form; the Sun and the Moon symbolize the Twin forms of energy or the Life Principle expressed as *prāṇa* and *apāna*; the *yajamāna* represents the mind as explained in the *Śatapatha* (*mano yajamānasya rūpam*, XII. 8. 2.4). Manifestation is thus a combination of Mind, Life and Matter, where Life results from the union of Matter with Mind:

c13.s2.20

Fig. 136 Śiva-liṅga from Uchahara; early 5th century A.D.

c13.s2.21

Fig. 139 Mahānaṭa Śiva in the Tāṇḍava dance

c13.s2.22

Fig. 138 Gaṇa

c13.s2.23

Fig. 140 Family of Deer Nachna Kuthara

c13.s2.24

Fig. 137 Male Figure

c13.s2.25

I. Matter—Five Elements (*pañcha-bhūta*); II. Life—Sun-Moon (*prāṇa-apāna*); III. Mind—Focal centre of manifestation, called the *yajamāna* of the *yajña*.

c13.s2.26

In the *Pañchamukhī* Śiva-liṅga, the symbolism of the Five Elements as the Five Face (*pañcha brahma*) is explicit. But the *Ekamukhī* form was a more subtle formula. Here the one face is taken to symbolise all the five senses or the Five Elements, all of which have their centres in the head as ears, eyes, nose, tongue and skin. The liṅga framing the head is explained in the *Liṅga Purāṇa* as the Invisible Reality called *avyakta* (*avyaktam liṅgam uchyate*, III. 1), which embodies and symbolises both life (*prāṇa*) and mind (*mānasatattva*). The two rings in the ears, described by Kālidāsa as *karṇāvasakta akṣasūtra* (*Kumārasambhava*, III. 46), and as shown in the present example, were also interpreted to signify the two *maṇḍalas*, viz., the transcendant and the immanent, the absolute and the relative, the *paramākāśa* and *daharākāśa*. The conception of Śiva offers a detailed formula of the creative principle or cosmogony as originally evolved in the Vedas and later elaborated in the Purāṇas. The images offer concrete iconographic solutions to the problem. The formless Liṅgam is the flaming Pillar of Fire that resides within each one of us as the *akṣara* or Imperishable *Prāṇa*, and the human is the gross material form in which life incarnates or manifests on the visible plane within the orbit of sense-experience.

c13.s2.27

The next sculpture (*Fig. 137*) is the head and bust of a male figure found in the jungle round Nachna Kuthara. Its height is 18". A typical Gupta feature is the pearl string (*ekāvalī*) round the neck and a big necklace pendant from the left shoulder reminiscent of the *śeṣa-hāra* described in the *Kādambarī* which became known as *toḍara* in the medieval period. The figure is powerfully built and the head thrown up with a partial twist towards the right.

c13.s2.28

*Fig. 138* represents a Pramatha or one of Śiva's *gaṇas*. Śiva is the lord of cosmic energy; as Fiery Rudra he is the supreme director and controller of all that lives and moves. He personifies the collective principle, the cosmic form which is one indivisible whole as the supreme divinity. But He manifests himself in creation as so many *gaṇas*. The One becomes the many, and this is creation. Each *gaṇa* symbolises the principle of individualisation and Śiva is the lord of all the *gaṇas*. A *gaṇa* is aptly designated as a Pramatha, a turbulent unit of energy, challenging and aggressive, possessing a destructive tendency, unless controlled by the master and in tune with his cosmic dance. The *gaṇas* are represented in the pose of frolicking young boys. They are the wonderful Boy Heroes submitting to the power of the Eternal Yogi or sage that is Śiva. In Śaiva temples a number of them were depicted in an endless variety of postures, as shown on pl. X of the Bhumara Memoir by R. D. Banerji. The playful *gaṇas* became a favourite motif of Gupta architecture, to which reference is made in the *Vāsavadattā* of Subandhu as *māṇavaka krīḍita* (Jivanand's ed., p. 53), as *bāla-krīḍā* in the *Kādambarī* (Vaidya ed., p. 52), as *dharma-bālāpatya* in the *Avantisundarī* (p. 5), and as *śiśu* in the *Nalachampū*. In an age surcharged with the ideal of Kumāra, the depiction of those playful boys received added significance as a decorative motif in residential buildings and shrines. The present one is a fine vigorous example of this motif duly adorned with fluttering ringlets, writslets, armlets, a tiger's claw-pendant (*vyāghra-nakha*) and a waistband.

c13.s2.29

The next sculpture (*Fig. 139*) is reported to have come from Nachna Kuthara; its height is 13" and breadth across the arms 18½". It depicts Mahānaṭa Śiva in the Tāṇḍava dance, only the upper portion of the bust being now preserved. Fortunately what has remained, viz., the head and the arms, adequately illustrate the action of the cosmic dance undertaken by the deity. The expression on the face bespeaks great majesty and steadfast support to the titanic pulsations of the dance. The released energy is expressed through the upper two arms rhythmically thrown up and artistically framing the head, and also the pair of lower arms, one of which in puissant horizontal extension is partially preserved. The fourth arm and the legs must have been portrayed in a manner to convey adequately the power and rhythm inherent in the performance. The twist of the bust towards the proper left is a very significant feature marking both the direction of the force and the overall restraint exercised in its liberation. Dance is primarily the creation of rhythms, the balancing and equipoising of revolutionary tensions in one restrained harmony. This appears to be the earliest representation of the Tāṇḍava motif so far known in Indian art, and one may at once concede that the artist's effort has been crowned with complete success in the portrayal of the necessary elements of the theme, viz., cosmic power lashing into motion but wedded to eternal poise and rest. The ruffled matted locks, the *chintāmaṇi* jewel on the head, the *ananta-valaya* on the arms and the bangles on the wrists serve as happy items of decoration enhancing the general effect of the subject.

c13.s2.30

The last example (*Fig. 140*) showing a family of deer (height 16", breadth 16"), originates from the older temple at Nachna Kuthara and was found near it. Most probably it was fixed in the outer surface of the wall of the verandah. In a hilly terrain a male deer with two does and a young one is majestically seated in a reposeful attitude. The group represents a fine treatment of animal sculpture in early Gupta art of about the beginning of the 5th century A.D.*

c13.s2.31

∗ Figs. 137, 139 and 140 are also in the collection of Smt. Pupul Jayakar. Fig. 138 has been gifted by Smt. Jayakar to the Prince of Wales Museum of Western India, Bombay.

Linked texts (8)