Eastern Indian School of Mediaeval Sculpture c5.74

c5.74

Specimens of sculpture of the early Gupta period have not been found in large numbers in the Eastern provinces. We find that in Bengal proper the specimens of sculpture belonging to the early Gupta period are very few in number. The splendid basreliefs from Chandimau in the Patna District, originally found at Rajaona in the Munger District,¹² which most probably came from a Saiva temple, and represent scenes from the Kirātārjunīyam, may be cited as some of the best examples of this period.¹ The standing Buddha image of copper found by the engineers of the East Indian Railway near Sultanganj Station in the Bhagalpur District² of Bihar and Orissa forms another example of early Gupta art. Some of the best images discovered in Eastern India have been found at Bodh Gaya or Mahābodhi in the Gaya District and during the excavations at Nālandā in the Patna District. At Bodh Gaya many of them are worshipped inside the great Saiva monastery, which contains the most important images in this holy place of Buddhism. In Bengal images of the Gupta period have been occasionally discovered. A splendid image of Buddha was discovered at Biharoil in the Rajshahi District. This image is remarkably identical in type with the Buddha images discovered at Sarnath and the material is also Chunar Sandstone. Had the findspot not been correctly noted, one may have supposed easily that this specimen was found at Sarnath instead of Rajshahi. The second specimen is a copper image of Vishnu discovered at Kumārpur in the Rajshahi District. Both of them are now preserved in the Varendra Research Society’s Museum, Rajshahi.³