Eastern Indian School of Mediaeval Sculpture c11.s2: II.—Miniature Temples
Eastern Indian School of Mediaeval Sculpture c11.s2
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II.—Miniature Temples
c11.s2.1
Though the temples of Bengal and Bihar, for the most part, have been destroyed, we are fortunate in possessing a large number of miniature temples, mostly Buddhist and Brahmanical, from all parts of Eastern India. The majority of the Buddhist temples are copies of the temple of Bodh-Gaya or Mahābōdhi. General Cunningham and Mr. Beglar rescued numerous miniature temples during their excavations at that place in 1890.⁴ Several of these specimens are in the Indian Museum, but the majority were carried away by General Cunningham and have been lost to students of Indian architecture. The stelæ of the first class represent in their reliefs the great temple of Mahābōdhi. Similar representations are to be seen on the terra-cotta plaques or votive seals manufactured by the thousand at Bodh-Gaya and carried away by Buddhist pilgrims to distant parts of the eastern world. Representations of such temples have been found in other parts of Bengal and Bihar. Stele No. Br. 5 comes from a town of Bihar or Uddaṇḍapura in the Patna District.¹ The Sibbati stele is worshipped as Śiva in the village of Sibbati, in an obscure corner of Bengal, in the Khulna District.² Similar representations of the great temple at Mahābōdhi were discovered by me in the town of Dacca in the possession of my friend Babu Priyanath Sen, proprietor of the now defunct Dacca Herald.³ In this case the representations of the incidents of Buddha’s life are absent and we find a figure of Buddha, seated in the attitude of meditation (dhyāna-mudrā) on a lotus throne, under a trefoil arch. This specimen was most probably carved in Northern Bengal rather than in Eastern Bengal. A beautiful little miniature temple was discovered in the district of Dinajpur most probably among the ruins called Bāṇarāja’s Garh. This specimen is characterized by the sloping corners of the śikharas, the use of chaitya-windows on each facade and an āmalaka, disproportionately large for the height of the temple. In addition to these features we find the use of the looped-up garlands with tassels and kīrttimukhas in the interspaces. The use of these ornaments may be taken generally to indicate a decorative member of the Eastern School of Mediæval Sculpture.
c11.s2.2
⁴ Cunningham's Mahābōdhi.
c11.s2.3
¹ See pl. XIX, b.
c11.s2.4
² See pl. XIX, c.
c11.s2.5
³ See pl. LXXXVI, b.
c11.s2.6
Each facade of this beautiful temple bears a niche flanked by tapering pilasters, which support a trefoil arch and each of these niches contains a figure of Buddha. To the same class belongs a miniature temple discovered at Bodh-Gaya, where we find that the śikhara ends in a small stūpa, resting on the abacus of a larger stūpa, which again is supported on the pinnacles of four miniature stūpas, on each facade. On each facade again there is a niche below these stūpas. Here, a miniature stūpa acts as a pilaster, on each side of each niche, and supports the roof of the niche. There is a Bodhisattva or a Buddha in each of these niches.