Eastern Indian School of Mediaeval Sculpture c6: Chapter III. The Rise and Evolution of the Eastern School of Mediæval Sculpture
Eastern Indian School of Mediaeval Sculpture c6
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Chapter III. The Rise and Evolution of the Eastern School of Mediæval Sculpture
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A prolonged examination of the mediæval sculptures found in the North-Eastern provinces of India leads one to the conclusion that a new school of sculpture rose in these provinces in the later part of the mediæval period (800—1200 A. D.). Further investigations prove that the date of the rise of this school synchronized with the formation of a new empire in the eastern half of Northern India by Dharmmapāla, the second independent monarch of the Gauḍa country. Fortunately for us, the majority of images and in many cases architectural specimens also, which have been discovered in these provinces, can be dated with much greater exactitude than sculptures of any other province or school in India. In the case of the majority of these sculptures found in the eastern provinces of India we do not find their dates engraved upon them; but in almost every case, there is either a short votive record or a religious formula inscribed on it. The forms of the characters of these inscriptions enable us to determine, with much greater precision, the date of the sculptures on which they are inscribed, in comparison with sculptures from other provinces, where such data are absent in the majority of cases.
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A detailed examination of these short inscriptions on such specimens, discovered in these eastern provinces, points to the following conclusions :—
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(1) That the rise of the Pāla Empire in Bengal and Bihar gave a great impetus to art in these provinces, which caused great improvement in the plastic art of this country and finally led to the formation of a new school of sculpture in the provinces constituting the first empire of the Pālas.¹ The rise of this school must have taken place soon after the formation of the first empire of the Pālas, viz., in the 9th century A. D.
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¹ See Pālas of Bengal, Memoirs of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, Vol. V, pp. 43-113.
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(2) The decline of the political power of the Pālas, on account of the rise of the Gurjara-Pratihāra Empire in Central and Northern India, had a corresponding effect on the art-products of the eastern provinces of Northern India.
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(3) The revival of the power of the Pālas, under Mahīpāla I, led to the revival of artistic activity in Bengal and Bihar. The final decline of Pāla power in the last quarter of the 11th century led to a general decline of artistic activity in the eastern provinces.
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(4) A temporary increase in civil power under the Senas in these two provinces had practically little or no effect on their artistic activities.
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These conclusions were reached after a detailed examination of such specimens as are available in the museums and other public institutions of this country and those that have been carried away and are now preserved in the museums of Europe. The principal collections of specimens of this school are in the Imperial Museum at Calcutta, better known as the Indian Museum, and the museum of the Varendra Research Society at Rajshahi in Bengal. The collection of sculptures in the Indian Museum consists of stray specimens from different parts of Bengal and Bihar, as well as the magnificent collection of the Bihar Museum, started by the late Mr. A. M. Broadley, I.C.S., which was transferred to Calcutta from Bihar in the Patna District in 1898. Many of these sculptures have since been given away as duplicates to several other institutions by the authorities of the Indian Museum and in this way the museum of the Varendra Research Society has received many important and unique specimens discovered in Bihar. The Calcutta collection was classified and arranged by the late Dr. Theodor Bloch, Ph.D., in 1896 when he was appointed First Assistant to the Superintendent of the Indian Museum. Dr. John Anderson, the first Superintendent of the Indian Museum, had catalogued the archæological collection of the Indian Museum, as it existed in 1882, in two volumes.¹ Later additions, specially the magnificent collection of Bihar were catalogued by Prof. Nilmoni Chakravarti, M.A., of the Presidency College in 1907 and revised by Bloch in 1909.²
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¹ *Catalogue and Handbook of the Archæological Collections in the Indian Museum, Calcutta, Part I, 1882, Part II, 1883.*
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² *Supplementary Catalogue of the Archæological Collection in the Indian Museum, Calcutta, 1911.*
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Up to 1917 the collection in the Museum of the Varendra Research Society of Rajshahi consisted entirely of sculptures collected in Bengal proper and mainly in Northern Bengal. This collection has been catalogued by Prof. Radha Govinda Basak, M.A., Honorary Secretary, Varendra Research Society and Prof. Dinesh Chandra Bhattacharya, M.A., Honorary Librarian of the same Society.³ Other collections of specimens of this particular school are not so important. In India we have the Museum of the Baṅgīya Sāhitya Parishad, which contains a number of fine sculptures. No systematic effort has been made by this Society for the collection of specimens and their museum consists entirely of specimens presented by individual members. A small list of its contents was published by me in 1912.⁴ Since then a larger catalogue has been published by one of the Honorary Curators, the late Mr. Monmohan Gangoly, B.E.⁵ The Museum at Patna, which has been recently started contains a number of specimens discovered in the province of Bihar and Orissa, but no catalogue or list of the contents of this museum has been published as yet. Outside Bihar and Bihar proper, the provincial Museum at Lucknow contains some specimens of this school. The images collected by Major Kittoe, which were for a long time kept in the Queen's College at Benares, were transferred to this Museum in 1904. Outside India, the only museums, which are known to possess specimens of this school, are the British Museum in London and the Victoria and Albert Museum. The late Dr. V. A. Smith had collected all published references to specimens of this particular class of sculpture in his book on "the History of Fine Art in India and Ceylon".¹ The earlier volumes of the Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal also contain a number of woodcuts illustrating certain specimens of this school, many of which were at the same time added to the Museum of this Society, which was transferred to the Indian Museum in 1876-77. A number of fine illustrations of specimens of this school of sculpture have appeared in M. A. Foucher's admirable work on Indian Buddhist Iconography.²
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³ *Catalogue of the Archæological relics in the Museum of the Varendra Research Society. Rajshahi, 1919.*
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⁴ *A descriptive list of Sculptures and Coins in the Museum of the Baṅgīya Sāhitya Parishad, Calcutta, 1911.*
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⁵ *Handbook to the sculptures in the Museum of the Baṅgīya Sāhitya Parishad, Calcutta, 1922.*
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¹ Pp. 183-89.
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² Étude sur l'Iconographie Bouddhique de l'Inde, première partie, 1900, deuxième partie, 1905.
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The existence of a school of sculpture can only be proved by fulfilling certain conditions, the most important of which are sufficiently long duration and extensiveness. It can be proved from inscribed sculptures, that this new school of sculpture, which rose in the Eastern provinces of India in the 9th century A. D., lasted as a school of sculpture till about the end of the 12th century A. D., when the irruption of Muhammadans into the fertile plains of Bihar and Bengal destroyed the ancient culture of these two provinces. The extension of the school can be proved by the discovery of specimens, which undoubtedly belong to it, in places outside the provinces; just as sculptures of the Mathurā School have been found as far east as Rajgir and Patna and as far south as Sanchi; for example, specimens of this school have been found in fairly large numbers in Benares³ and stray specimens have been traced as far west as Sahet Mahet⁴ (Śrāvastī). The influence of this school is so clearly to be felt in sculptures discovered in the eastern districts of the United Provinces that there seems to be no doubt about the fact that these districts were once included within the zone of influence of the Eastern School. This zone of influence seems to have extended westwards, from the ancient province of Tirabhukti, modern Tirhut, along the northern bank of the Ganges, because Benares appears to have stood outside the zone of its influence. Mediæval sculptures found in Benares do not indicate any influence of this school of sculpture, though stray specimens of the eastern school have been found in this place in large numbers. The proper zone of influence of the eastern school, therefore, seems to have lain north of the Gogra as Rai Bahadur Dayaram Sahni discovered sculptures in Gorakhpur, Gonda and Basti Districts in 1906, all of which are undoubtedly specimens of this particular school of sculpture.⁵
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³ Annual Report, Archæological Survey, 1903-04, pp. 212-26.
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⁴ Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, 1889, Part I, Extra Number.
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⁵ Annual Report of the Archæological Survey of India, 1906-07, pp. 193-207, pl. LXXIV.
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While extension can be judged by the number of specimens found in any particular district, the date of the products of any particular school can only be judged from two different bases:—(a) inscriptions and (b) other criteria established by means of extraneous corroborative evidence. Up to the present time, no other school of sculpture in India, except the Mathurā School, can claim to have produced even a fair number of specimens, which are dated. In other schools, for example, the northern School of Gāndhāra, the date of sculptures has been judged on the basis of their proximity to pure Hellenic sculpture. In other schools, so far as present knowledge goes, no attempt seems to have been made to judge the dates of individual specimens. In the Eastern School of Bengal and Bihar about seventy per cent. of the known specimens bear inscriptions of some sort, which are a sure guide for the indication of their approximate date. These inscriptions fall into three different classes :—
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I. The first class is more important for the determination of the date of the school as a whole, as it consists entirely of votive inscriptions, mentioning the name of the reigning monarch, the year of his reign and the name of the donor or donors. The following specimens found in North India belong to this class :—
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(1) Image of Sarvāṇī, a form of Durgā, dedicated during the reign of a King named Devakhaḍga of Eastern Bengal, discovered by Mr. Nalini Kanta Bhattasali, M.A., Curator of the Dacca Museum (Pl. I, c).
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(2) Sculpture bearing the images of Sūrya, Siva and Viṣṇu, with a votive inscription on one side, which records the erection of a four-faced Mahādeva and the excavation of a tank in the 26th year of the reign of Dharmmapāla.¹ This sculpture is now in the Indian Museum at Calcutta. (Pl. I, a).
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¹ Anderson, Catalogue and Handbook of the Archæological Collections in the Indian Museum, Part II, pp. 48-49, B G. 82; Journal and Proceedings of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, Vol. IV, p. 102. See also Indian Antiquary, Vol. XLIX, 1920, p. 193.
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(3) A metal image of a Nāga dedicated in the reign of Devapāla,² discovered at Nālandā.² (Pl. I, b).
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² Ann. Rep. Arch. Survey, Central Circle, 1920-21, p. 39.
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(4) A stone image of Tārā dedicated at Nālandā in the 35th year of the reign of Devapāla,³ discovered at Hilsa in the Patna District. (Pl. II, b).
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³ Journal of the Bihar and Orissa Research Society, Vol. X, pp. 31--36.
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(5) An image of Buddha, erect, in the attitude of giving protection, discovered at Bihar in the Patna District of Bihar and Orissa, dedicated in the second year of the reign of Sūrapāla.⁴ (Pl. II, a).
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⁴ Jour. and Proc. A. S. B., (N. S.), Vol. IV, p. 105, pl. VII.
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(6) A similar image dedicated in the same year of the same monarch's reign, at the same place and by the same donor. The inscriptions, by the way, mention that the images were dedicated at Uddaṇḍapura which is the same as Odantapura of Tārānātha, the Tibetan historian, and modern Bihar town.⁵ (Pl. II, c).
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⁵ Ibid.; T. Bloch—Sup. Cat. of the Arch. Collections in the Indian Museum, Calcutta, p. 52; No. 3764.
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(7) Large inscribed slab now in the courtyard of the great temple of Viṣṇupada, at Gaya, bearing the foot-print of Viṣṇu on the top. The inscription on it records the erection of a temple (matha) at Gaya in the seventh year of the reign of Nārāyaṇapāla.¹
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¹ Memoirs of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, Vol. V, pp. 60-61.
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(8) A metal image of Pārvatī with Kārttikeya (?), dedicated in the 54th year of the reign of Nārāyaṇapāla at Uddaṇḍapura, i.e., modern Bihar, now in the collection of the Baṅgīya Sāhitya Parishad.² (Pl. III, a and b).
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² Indian Antiquary, Vol. XLVII, 1918, p. 110.
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(9) An image of Buddha discovered in Bihar and dedicated in the fourth year of the reign of the Pratihāra Emperor Mahendrapāla, now in the Indian Museum, Calcutta.³ (Pl. III, c).
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³ Annual Report of the Archaeological Survey of India, 1923-24, p. 102, pl. XXXVI (b).
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(10) A slab bearing representations of the ten incarnations of Viṣṇu, now built into the wall of a small shrine at Rāmgaya, on the opposite bank of the river Phalgu, near Gaya : which was dedicated in the 8th year of the Pratihāra Emperor Mahendrapāla.⁴
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⁴ Memoirs of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, Vol. V, p. 64.
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(11) An image of Buddha now placed in a modern shrine at Guneriya in the Gaya District of Bihar and Orissa. The inscription records its dedication in the ninth year of the reign of the Pratihāra Emperor Mahendrapāla.⁵ (Pl. III, d).
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⁵ Ibid
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(12) An image of a female deity, discovered at Itkhauri, in the Hazaribagh District of Bihar and Orissa, dedicated in the 8th year of the reign of the Pratihāra Emperor Mahendrapāla.⁶ (Pl. IV, b).
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⁶ Annual Report of the Patna Museum for 1920-21, p. 44.
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(13) An inscribed pillar in the Jain temple at Bargaon, ancient Nālandā, in the Patna District of Bihar and Orissa, which records the visit of a merchant to this place in the 24th year of the reign of Rājyapāla.⁷
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⁷ Indian Antiquary, Vol. XLVII, 1918, p. 110.
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(14) Pedestal of an image found at Bodh Gaya recording its dedication during the reign of Gopāla II.⁸ (Pl. IV, c).
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⁸ Journal and Proceedings of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, Vol. IV, p. 105, Pl. VII. Anderson, Cat. and Handbook, Part II, pp. 54-55, B.G. 120.
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(15) Image of the goddess Vāgīśvarī, dedicated at Nālandā, in the first year of the reign of Gopāla II; found at Nālandā by Cunningham and removed by Broadley to the Bihar Museum, whence it was transferred to Calcutta in 1898.⁹ (Pl. IV, a).
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⁹ J. & P. A. S. B. (N. S.), Vol. IV, p. 105, No. 3947; Suppl. Cat. of Archl. Collections in the Indian Museum, Calcutta, pp. 87-88.
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(16) Image of Viṣṇu discovered at Baghaura, in the Comilla District of Bengal, dedicated in the 4th year of Mahīpāla I.¹⁰ (Pl. IV, d.)
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¹⁰ J. & P. A. S. B. Vol. XI, p. 17, pl. X.
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(17) Image of Buddha, now worshipped as one of the five Pāṇḍava brothers and placed inside a small modern shrine, in front of the great temple of Mahābodhi at Bodh Gaya in the Gaya District of Bihar and Orissa. This image was dedicated in the 11th year of the reign of Mahīpāla I.¹
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¹ Memoirs, A. S. B., Vol. V, p. 75.
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(18) Doorjamb of the great temple at Nālandā, which was restored after a fire in the 11th year of the reign of Mahīpāla I, now in the Indian Museum, Calcutta, (No. 3959).² (Pl. VI, a).
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² J. & P. A. S. B., Vol. IV, p. 106, pl. VI. Bloch, Suppl. Cat., p. 72.
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(19) Image of Buddha, discovered at Bihar in the Patna District, but now in the Indian Museum, Calcutta. It was dedicated in the 13th year of the reign of Vigrahapāla III.³ (Pl. V, a).
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³ Memoirs of the A. S. B., Vol. V, p. 112; Journal Asiatique, Dixieme Series, Tome XIII, pl. 7, p. 56.
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(20) Image of Tārā discovered at Tetrāwān in the Patna District and dedicated in the 2nd year of Rāmapāla, but now in the Indian Museum, Calcutta (No. 3824).⁴ (Pl. V, c).
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⁴ J. & P. A. S. B., Vol. IV, p. 109; Suppl. Cat., p. 65.
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(21) Image of the Bodhisattva Lokanātha found at Chandimau, near Giriyek in the Patna District, and dedicated in the 42nd year of Rāmapāla, now in the Indian Museum, Calcutta (No. N. S-76).⁵ (Pl. V, b).
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⁵ Memoirs, A. S. B., Vol. V, pp. 93-94; Annual Report of the Archæological Survey of India, 1911-12, pp. 161-62, pl. LXXII, Fig. 8 and LXXIII, Fig. 1.
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(22) Image of Pārvatī, dedicated in the 3rd year of reign of Madanapāla, preserved in the Patna Museum.⁶ (Pl. VI, b).
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⁶ Cunningham, A. S. R., Vol. III, p. 124, No. 16.
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(23) Pedestal of an image dedicated in the 14th year of Madanapāla found at Jaynagar in the Monghyr District of Bihar and Orissa.⁷
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⁷ Ibid., p. 125, pl. XLV, No. 17. Memoirs of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, Vol. V, p. 101.
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(24) Image of Pārvatī dedicated in V. S. 1232 = the 14th year of the reign of Govindapāla, at Gaya, in the compound of the Viṣṇupada temple. (Pl. VI, c).
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(25) Image of the goddess Chaṇḍī now in a small temple on a masonry ghāṭ of the Buriganga river, called Patharghat near Dalbazar, in Dacca, the ancient capital of Eastern Bengal. This image was dedicated in the 3rd year of Lakshmaṇasena, the fourth king of the Sena Dynasty of Bengal.⁸ (Pl. VI, d).
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⁸ Journal and Proceedings of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, Vol. IX, p. 290, pl. XXIII.
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II. The second class of inscriptions consists almost entirely of votive inscriptions mentioning the name of the donor and in many cases the place of his habitation also, but omitting that of the reigning sovereign and the date.
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III. The third class of inscriptions consists entirely of religious formulæ; usually the Buddhist creed Ye dhammā hetuprabhavā, etc., is to be found on the majority of Buddhist images. Images with ordinary votive inscriptions which do not contain the name of the reigning sovereign and the date as well as those inscribed with religious formulæ, form the majority of the specimens of the Eastern School discovered up to date. Among these inscribed specimens, those from Bihar preponderate. Of the specimens from Bengal proper only about ten per cent are inscribed.
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The dates of specimens in classes II and III can be determined with some degree of exactness by means of a palæographical examination. The chronology of the Pāla kings of Bengal and that of the Pratīhāras of Kanauj or Mahodaya is practically settled. The dates of the Pāla Kings, though they cannot be determined with the same degree of exactitude as those of the Pratīhāra Kings of Kanauj, can now be definitely said not to fluctuate, in any case, over a period longer than a quarter of a century. The date of any of the inscribed specimens in classes II and III, described above, can be determined by a comparison of the form of its test letters to those used in inscriptions of the Pāla Kings. In this fashion it appears after a complete analysis that it is possible to determine the date of each and every inscribed sculpture with a very close approach to exactitude.
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In order to determine what were the test letters during the reign of the second and third sovereigns of the Pāla dynasty of Bengal, it is necessary to turn to the inscriptions of their reigns discovered up to date. Of Dharmmapāla, the second sovereign, we possess two inscriptions; the inscribed basrelief of the 26th year of his reign mentioned above and a copper plate grant issued in the 32nd year of his reign which is now in the Museum of the Varendrra Research Society at Rajshahi.¹ These two inscriptions were most probably incised in the ninth or the last decade of the 8th century A. D. In the Bodh Gaya inscriptions we find three different forms of the palatal sibilant :—(a) The ancient form with the round top as in *Silābhidah* (l. 1), *Keśava* (l. 2), and *Shaḍvinśati* (l. 7); (b) the later form without a cross-bar as in *Mahādēvaś = chaturmukhaḥ* and *Śrēshtha* (l. 2); and (c) the transitional form in which the cross-bar lingers and the loop is not complete as in *śrēyasē* (l. 4). On analysing the characters of the Khalimpur Plate of Dharmmapāla we find that the looped form has been used in all cases and neither the transitional form in which the cross-bar is absent, nor the later form without the cross-bar is to be found even in one case. These two forms of the palatal *śa*, viz., the looped form and the transitional form with the cross-bar, are to be found in the Aphsad inscription of Ādityasena of the seventh century A. D.² In the case of the Bodh Gaya inscription of Dharmmapāla, we find that the usual procedure has been reversed. Ordinarily, later forms of a particular letter are to be found in copper plates only, because the scribes use such forms, with which they are familiar in ordinary correspondence, while stone inscriptions contain a larger number of archaic or monumental forms. Here we find that the stone inscription shows the use of more modern forms while archaic forms are only adhered to in the copper plate inscription. As the later form occurs only in two instances we may reject it as not being a type-specimen of the palatal *śa* in this particular period. Of the next king Devapāla, five inscriptions are known. One is a copper plate grant, which is missing and of which no facsimiles are available. The second is a copper plate grant discovered at Nālandā and issued in the 38th year of this King.¹ The third is an undated inscription on the back of a metal image discovered at Nālandā.² The fourth is a stone inscription discovered at Ghosrawan in the Patna District which is now in the Indian Museum, Calcutta.³ In this inscription we find that the transitional form of *śa* with the cross-bar has been used in the majority of cases. It may, therefore, definitely be stated that the type specimen of the palatal *śa* during the reigns of Dharmmapāla and Devapāla is the transitional form used in *śreyase*, in line 4 of the Bodh Gaya inscription of Dharmmapāla of the 26th year of his reign. With this datum we may turn to the inscribed specimens discovered in Eastern India up to date. The remaining inscription of Devapāla was discovered on an image found at Hilsa.⁴
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¹ The origin of the Bengali Script, University of Calcutta, 1919, p. 51.
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² Fleet's Gupta Inscriptions, pp. 202-5, pl. XXVIII.
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¹ *Ep. Ind.*, Vol. XVII, p. 310 ff.
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² It reads:—1. *Om Śrī-Nālandāyāṁ Śrī Devapāla-deva-haṭṭe- 2. Mala Vairasya Śrī Ujjakasya vahu visiṭṭha 3. Kārya devadharmmāyaṁ prati(ti)pādi(di)ttāḥ(taḥ).* "In the square of the lord, the illustrious Devapāla, at Nālanda, this religious work, the various and extraordinary work of Mala Vaira, Ujjaka was completed." Pl. II d.
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³ *Indian Antiquary*, Vol. XVII, pp. 309-10.
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⁴ *Journal of the Bihar and Orissa Research Society*, Vol. X, p. 33.
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Inscribed specimens which can definitely be referred to the pre-Pāla period are very few in number. Thus the Calcutta Museum, which contains by far the largest number of specimens of this school of sculpture, can boast of only two or three specimens, which can be definitely referred to the pre-Pāla period. Unfortunately the image of the Sun god discovered by Cunningham at Shahpur, which was dedicated in the sixty-sixth year of the Harsha Era = 572 A. D., cannot be found now. This image, if it is rediscovered at some later date, will furnish important evidence about the condition of plastic art in the eastern provinces, after the decline of the early Guptas, in the seventh century A. D. and before the rise of the Pālas in the eighth. It is true that King Lalitāditya of Kāśmīra had taken away an image of Buddha from Magadha, which he gave, later on, to his minister Chaṅkuṇa, but we do not know whether Chaṅkuṇa and his master were attracted by the reported sanctity of the image only or by its artistic merit.⁵ Among the very few specimens in the Indian Museum, Calcutta, which can be definitely assigned to the pre-Pāla period, is an image of Buddha which was dedicated by a general (*balādhikṛita*) named Malluka, which was discovered at Bihar in the Patna district of Bihar and Orissa and was removed to the Calcutta Museum before the transfer of the Bihar collection in 1898.⁶ The form of the characters used in this inscription bears very great resemblance to those used in the Deo-Banarak inscription of Jīvitagupta II. The image is a short one representing the Teacher in the attitude of giving protection. The head and body are disproportionately large in comparison with the legs.⁷ The second inscribed specimen comes from the modern Śaiva monastery at Bodh Gaya and represents Buddha being protected by the Nāga Muchalinda from heavy rains. The Buddhist creed is inscribed in two lines and the characters of this inscription are not very far distant from those of the preceding inscription. In this image the coils of the Nāga's body are conventional and impossible in reality and the image itself is a squat heavy affair without any artistic merit.¹ Another image of Buddha, belonging to the Indian Museum Collection (No. 3746), is uninscribed, but most probably belongs to this period.² We find a total want of grace in the delineation of the body though the sculptor was more fortunate in carving out a smiling face. The third image in the Indian Museum Collection which can be ascribed to this period is also that of Buddha (No. 3711)³ which bears a mutilated inscription in two lines, probably in verse, on its pedestal. This image is the best specimen of the pre-Pāla period that has come to light, up to date, but here also the want of proportion between the body and the legs is at once noticeable.
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⁵ *Kalhana's Chronicles of the Kings of Kashmir*, by Sir Aurel Stein, Vol. I, p. 147.
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⁶ *Pl. VII d.*
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⁷ Anderson; *Cat. and Handbook*, pt. II, p. 81, Br. 9.
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¹ Pl. VII a.
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² Supplementary Catalogue, p. 45; Pl. VII c.
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³ Ibid., Pl. VII b.
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⁶ J. A. S. B. (N. S.), Vol. IV, pp. 101-9.
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Next in order are the specimens, which on account of the inscriptions on them can be definitely referred to the reigns of the early Pāla Emperors. The dated sculptures of this period are very few in number. The basrelief, dedicated in the 26th year of the reign of Dharmmapāla, is not an object of art at all. An oblong slab of stone has been divided into three niches by means of two plain square pilasters, some space being left at each end. These three niches contain images of Sūrya, Śiva and Viṣṇu. The sculptor has finished his work in a very crude fashion and the specimen cannot be said to possess any artistic merit. Three dated sculptures of the reign of Devapāla have been discovered, one at Hilsā⁴ and two at Nālandā.⁵ We possess two specimens dedicated in the third year of Sūrapāla or Vigrahapāla I. One of these images represents the incident of the taming of the mad elephant, Nālagiri or Ratnapāla, by Buddha, while the second represents the descent of Buddha from the Heaven of the thirty-three gods, attended by Brahmā on the left and Indra, holding an umbrella over his head, on the right. Both images appear to be the work of the same artist and possess various characteristics in common. Now, in these two images the older looped form of the palatal sibilant has been used in one case while a second transitional form, which will be discussed below, has been used in the majority of cases. They therefore are certainly later in date than those in which the looped form has been used invariably. Among inscribed images of the second class, i.e., images which bear inscriptions not containing the name of the reigning sovereign and the date, specimens, in which the looped form or the older form of śa has been used, are quite different from the degenerate specimens of the 7th century A. D.
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⁴ I am indebted to Professor Jadu Nath Sarkar, M.A., C.I.E., I.E.S., for early information about the discovery of an image dedicated in the 35th year of the reign of Devapāla. A note on the inscription has appeared in the Journal of the Bihar and Orissa Research Society, Vol. X, pp. 31-36.
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⁵ The discovery of the new copper plate grant and the image of the reign of Devapāla has thrown a flood of light on the remains at Nālandā, which appears to have enjoyed the patronage of that king, to a very great extent. Ann. Rep. of the Archæological Survey of India, Eastern (now Central) Circle, 1920-21, pp. 27-28; Epigraphia Indica, Vol. XVII, pp. 310-327.
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The majority of inscribed sculptures of the second and third classes belong to the Indian Museum and can be sub-divided into four groups. The first group consists of specimens, in the inscriptions of which the looped form of the palatal *śa* has been used along with another transitional form, in which the cross-bar is present but the upper curve is slightly reduced in size. This transitional form is not noticeable in dated epigraphs of the early Pāla period but is to be found in the Ghosrawan inscription of the time of Devapāla, the third emperor of this dynasty. It is certainly earlier than the pure looped form which we find in the Khalimpur grant of Dharmmapāla and in the Badal pillar inscription of the time of Nārāyaṇapāla¹ and is an intermediate form between this looped form and the ancient Kushān form, in which the cross-bar is parallel to the upper part of the letter, or in that, in which the upper part itself being curved, the cross-bar is perfectly horizontal. Among specimens of this group we find that the older form of the palatal *śa*, in which the cross-bar is parallel to the top of the letter, has been used on one occasion only. This is an image of Lokanātha, standing, with six hands. In this case the Buddhist creed, inscribed on the backslab, contains the older form of the palatal *śa*, while the votive inscription on the pedestal shows the use of the pure looped form. From this votive inscription we learn that the image was dedicated by one Suvarṇṇika, son of the merchant Vajjraka, who was a lay worshipper (*upāsaka*). In two of its left hands the figure holds a rosary (*aksha-sūtra*), and a round indistinct object, the third being in the posture of blessing (*varada-mudrā*). In the right hands he holds (1) a lotus with stalk, (2) a noose (*pāśa*) and (3) a *kamaṇḍalu*. On his left a female stands with hands clasped in adoration, while in the crook of her right hand is the stalk of a lotus. On the right we have a four-armed female figure with a *chaitya* in her headdress. Two of her hands are clasped in front while the other two hold indistinct objects (No. 3860).² In the next five specimens we find the transitional form of the palatal sibilant, which is intermediate between the older form, with the perfectly horizontal cross-bar as well as the pure looped form. In this form the curve in the upper part of the latter is narrowed to form a smaller semi-circle with a portion of the cross-bar as its base. In this category we have the fine image of Buddha (*Vajrāsana-Buddha-Bhaṭṭāraka*) from Kurkihar, in the Gaya District of Bihar and Orissa (Kr. 3).³ From a votive inscription on the pedestal we learn that this image was dedicated by the Buddhist monk Lokeśvaradeva, an inhabitant of the Pāṇḍi Vishaya. In the second image, this transitional form of the palatal sibilant is very distinct. It is an image of Lokanātha with two hands. The god holds a lotus with stalk in his right hand while the left holds an indistinct object. In addition to the two-armed female on the left and the four-armed female on the right, there are a number of subsidiary attendant figures. Thus, we have the figure of the *Dhyāni-Buddha* Amitābha on the headdress and another *Dhyāni-Buddha* in the *bhūmisparśa-mudrā* over his head. On each side of the head we have two seated Bodhisattvas, of which only that on the left is recognisable as being Vajrapāṇi. Over the halo we have the representation of rocks with emaciated figures of Ṛishis coming with offerings. On each side of the Bodhisattva's legs we have two additional figures. On the left we have a preta, with an emaciated body and a protuberant belly, drinking with an upturned face something, which appears to be falling from behind the left hand of the Bodhisattva. On the right we see a dwarfish male rushing out (No. 3807).¹
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¹ *Ibid.*, Vol. II, pp. 161-64.
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² Bloch, *Supplementary catalogue of the Archæological Collections of the Indian Museum, 1911*, p. 59. See pl. VIII *a*.
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³ Anderson—*Catalogue, etc.*, Part II, p. 73. See pl. VIII *c*.
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¹ Bloch, Supplementary Catalogue, p. 58. See pl. VIII b.
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The next specimen is a standing image of Lokanātha with six hands, which was dedicated by one Chakshu-glāṇa Ujjaka. In this image we find two seated female figurines on each side of the head, on lotus brackets. The one on the left has four hands and that on the right, two hands. The Bodhisattva has the figure of Amitābha in his headdress. One of his left hands is in the posture of giving protection, the second holds a rosary (akshasūtra), while the third is broken. In the upper right hand he holds a lotus with stalk, with the second he holds an object which resembles a trident, while the third is broken. As in the two previous cases we have a two-armed female attendant on the left and a four-armed female on the right, both being headless (No. 3796).²
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² Ibid, pp. 57-58. See pl. VIII d.
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The collection of Mañjuśrīs in the Indian Museum, Calcutta, contains a fine image of this Bodhisattva with two hands holding a stalk of a lotus on which rests a book, which is the symbol of this Bodhisattva. The left hand is in the posture of giving protection. It is a neat and very fine image (No. 3808).³
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³ Ibid, p. 59. See pl. IX d.
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The next image of this class is an image of Tārā seated on a lotus throne, which can happily be identified from the votive inscription on its pedestal. The goddess has two hands of which the left is in the posture of blessing while the right holds an indistinct object. She is attended by two other female figures, both seated; the one on the right having four hands and holding the skin of an elephant over her head with two of them, while the one on the right has two hands. On each side of the pedestal there is a male figure. On the right we have a stout male seated with a rosary in his left hand; and on the left a male ascetic is seated with crossed legs. From the inscription on the pedestal we learn that this is an image of the Potalaka Upatārā, dedicated by a man named Vāmuka (I. M. No. 3820).⁴ The remaining images of this group all show the use of the definitely formed loop in the place of the upper curve of the older form or the shorter curve of the transitional form. In “the origin of the Bengal alphabet”⁵ this type of the palatal śa has been designed to be a trasitional form, but a detailed examination of the votive inscriptions of the early Pāla Emperors shows that this looped form is not a transitional one, but one of the settled forms of this test letter, which lasted in Eastern India for about two centuries, from the reign of Ādityasena of the Gupta dynasty of Magadha to that of Nārāyaṇapāla of the Pāla dynasty.
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In the group of images, in which the looped form of śa has been used, is a beautiful image of Lokanātha (?) with two hands, in which we find a *Dhyāni-buddha* seated on the top of the lotus which the Bodhisattva is holding in his right hand. He is attended by two seated male figures instead of the females (No. 5861).¹ The next specimen is an image of Vajrapāṇi (?), seated, with two hands, holding a thunderbolt in his left hand. On the pedestal, we find a female figure rushing towards the right, with a mace in her left hand and a noose in her right hand, while under the throne we find two peacocks (No. 3784).² The third image is a fine specimen of a Maitreya, with two hands and with the *chaitya* symbol in his headdress. The Bodhisattva holds a lotus with stalk in his right hand while the left is in the posture of blessing. He is attended by two female figures both standing and with four hands (No. 3790).³ The figure on the left holds an arrow (*śara*) and a skull cup (*Nara-kapāla*) in her left hands, while she holds a bow (*dhanus*) in one of her right hands, the other being placed on her thigh. The figure on the right holds a branch of a tree and an elephant-goad (*aṅkuśa*) in her left hands, while in her right hands she holds a wheel (*chakra*) and an indistinct object. The elbow of her second right hand rests on a battle axe (*paraśu*).
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There is a *chaitya* to the left of the head of the main figure and another resting on a lotus leaf to the right, near the right hand of the figure.⁴ Another six-armed standing image of Lokanātha belongs to this group, as we have the pure looped *śa* in the Buddhist creed inscribed on its backslab. In this case we find Amitābha on the headdress and a *Dhyāni-buddha* on each side of the head, the one on the left being in the *bhūmisparśa-mudrā*, while the one on the right is in the posture of blessing (*varada-mudrā*). The figure holds a rosary in the upper left hand, and an indistinct object in the second while the third left hand is in the posture of blessing. In his right hands he holds a lotus with stalk in the first, an indistinct object in the second and a *kamaṇḍalu* in the third.⁵ The finest specimen in this group is, however, an image of Mahattarī Tārā, seated on a lotus throne, with the left foot placed on a lotus below the throne. She holds a lotus with stalk in her right hand, while the left hand is in the posture of blessing. This image was declared by Sir John Marshall, the Director General of Archæology in India, and Mr. O. C. Gangoly, the well known art-connoisseur of Calcutta, to be the finest specimen produced by the Eastern School of Mediæval Sculpture (No. 5862).⁶ The Indian Museum possesses a fine image of Lokanātha in the collection of terra-cotta plaques discovered at Bodh Gaya during the excavations of Sir Alexander Cunningham.
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Here we find Lokanātha seated, with two hands, holding the usual lotus stalk in the right, while the left is in the posture of blessing. The date of this plaque can be deduced from the votive inscription which has been impressed on the backslab from a small round seal (No. B. G. 140).⁷
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⁴ Ibid, pp. 64-65. See pl. IX c.
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⁵ The origin and development of the Bengali Script, Calcutta, 1919, pp. 51-55.
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¹ *Supplementary Catalogue*, p. 58. See *pl. IX b*.
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² *Ibid*, p. 62. See *pl. IX a*.
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³ *Ibid*, p. 61. *Étude sur l'Iconographie Bouddhique de l'Inde*, 1er partie, p. 112, fig. See *pl. X a*.
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⁴ See *pl. X a*.
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⁵ See *pl. X b*.
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⁶ *Supplementary Catalogue*, p. 67. See *pl. X, c*.
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⁷ *Catalogue and Handbook*, Part II, p. 60. See *pl. XI b*.
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Among Brahmanical images in the Indian Museum collection, the oldest specimen belonging to the Eastern School is an image of Viṣṇu, the votive inscription on the pedestal of which shows the use of the looped form of the palatal śa (No. 3876).¹
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¹ Supplementary Catalogue p. 81. See pl. XI a.
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In the second group of inscribed images, the loop form of śa gives way to another transitional form, leading to the regular eleventh century form, in which we have two different semi-circles placed side by side on the top of this letter. In this transitional form the upper part of the palatal śa once more consists of a single semi-circular curve, which touches the straight line to the right of this letter, but which does not merge in this straight line; as was the case with the older form, in which the cross-bar was perfectly horizontal or in the eleventh century form in which we have two semi-circles side by side. That this transitional form is later than the looped form, need not be proved. In one votive inscription this transitional form has been used side by side with the looped form. This is an image of Lokanātha with six hands. The figure is seated and we have Amitābha on the headdress. The upper left hand holds a rosary, the second is in the posture of giving protection (abhaya-mudrā), while the third is in the posture of blessing (varada-mudrā). Among the right hands we find the lotus with stalk in the first, a book (pustaka) in the second and a kamaṇḍalu in the third. There are three attendant figurines under the lotus throne on which the Bodhisattva is seated. In the centre a dwarf is seated with a cup in his hands with a female standing on each side. The dwarf appears to be Hayagrīva, the two-handed female Tārā and the four-handed female Bhṛkuṭī. The image came from Bargaon, ancient Nālandā, in the Patna District (No. 4473).²
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² Ibid, pp. 72-73. See pl. XI c.
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In the second group of inscribed images, there are three different classes of the transitional form of the palatal sibilant. The earliest of these is, no doubt, the form in which the cross-bar is still present but at the same time the right end of the upper curve does not merge in the upper end of the vertical straight line on the right but on the other hand forms an angle with it. The number of specimens which bear this particular form of the transitional śa are very few in number. These are:—(1) A large four-armed image of standing Lokanātha, whose identity is revealed by the seated figure of Amitābha in his headdress. Two divine beings are carrying a crown over the head of the deity, who holds a lotus on which rests a book in the upper right hand and a kamaṇḍalu in the lower. A rosary is held in the upper left hand while the lower is in the posture of blessing. To the right of the figure is a small fat dwarf (Hayagrīva) resting his right hand on a mace and to the left the figure of a preta kneeling and drinking something flowing from the lower left hand of the Bodhisattva (No. 3962).³ (2) The two remaining instances are females. One is that of Vajravārāhī, or Mārīchi with six hands, bending forward on her right leg. She has three heads of which the front one is damaged and the side ones those of a sow. Among her six hands she holds in the left ones a sword (asi), an arrow (śara) and a drinking cup (?). In two of her right hands she holds a bow (dhanus), and a noose (pāśa) while the third hand is broken. On the backslab we find representations of tongues of fire issuing from all parts of the body of the goddess. On the pedestal we find a wheel and seven sows with a female charioteer seated between the legs of the deity, and below her the bust of a male, probably representing Rāhu (I. M. No. 6267)¹. (3) The third image is perhaps Hindu. It represents a goddess seated on a cushion with one leg down resting on a lotus. She has four hands, in which she holds an elephant-goad and a round object in the left, while in the right she has a curious wand, ending in the head of a makara, the remaining one holding a child on her lap. The image was discovered at Ghosrāwān in the Patna District and an inscription on the pedestal records its dedication by one Chandraka, son of Vishnu in the village of Tentadī. The main figure is called Muṇḍeśarī or Puṇḍeśarī (No. 3952)².
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³ This image used to stand in the vestibule of the Indian Museum from 1895 to 1921 but was not included in the Supplementary Catalogue. See pl. XII a.
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¹ See pl. XII b.
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² Supplementary Catalogue, p. 95; pl. XII c.
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The largest number of specimens of the second group show the use of another sub-variety of the palatal sibilant in their inscriptions. In this sub-variety, the left arm of the letter does not touch the vertical straight line on the right, which forms its right limb. But there is another sub-variety of the palatal sibilant to be found in images of this particular group, in which, like the variety described above, the upper curve touches the vertical straight line on the right, but there is no cross-bar. The specimens which show this particular variety of the palatal sibilant are only two in number. One of these is an image of Kuvera seated with two hands of which the right has been lost. The short inscription on the pedestal records that it was dedicated in Nālandā (No. 3917)³. The other specimen is one of those special images, peculiar to the Eastern School of Mediæval Sculpture, representing a particular incident of the life of Buddha, i.e., the descent of Buddha from the heaven of the thirty-three gods (No. N. S. 2072)⁴.
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³ Ibid, p. 73, pl. XIII a.
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⁴ From the collection of images presented to the Indian Museum from the Belvedere palace after the abolition of the Lieutenant-Governorship of Bengal in 1912. See pl. XIII b.
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Images in which the left limb of the palatal śa does not touch the vertical straight line on the right are largest in number in the second group. In this particular class there are three different varieties of images. The first variety consists of that particular type of images, which represents a particular incident of the life of the Teacher. In this variety there are two specimens; one representing the birth of the Buddha and the first seven steps (No. B. G. 50)⁵, and the second representing the presentation of a bowl of honey to Buddha by a monkey at Vaiśālī, the modern Basārh in the Muzaffarpur District of Bihar and Orissa (No. N. S. 2074)⁶.
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⁵ Catalogue and Handbook, Part II, p. 43; see pl. XXV a.
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⁶ For the findspot see note 4. Vide pl. XXVII a.
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The second variety consists of Bodhisattva images with inscriptions bearing this particular form of *śa*. Thus we have a fine erect Bodhisattva from Kurkihar in the Gaya District with two hands and attended, probably, by Hayagrīva (No. Kr. 7)¹. The second specimen is a seated Bodhisattva, who holds a lotus with stalk, on which rests a jewel, in his right hand, while the left is in the posture of blessing (No. 5589)². Another image of Lokanātha, seated, with four hands, comes from Kurkihar; the main figure holds an indistinct object in the upper left hand, while the lower left is in the posture of blessing and a lotus and a book in the right hands (Kr. 10)³. A seated figure of Mañjuśrī, with two hands, holding a book on a lotus in the right hand, while the left is broken, was found at Bodh Gaya. In the inscription on the pedestal the image is styled Prajñāprabha (B. G. 74)⁴. There is only one image in the third variety which is that of Tārā, a small miniature figurine, evidently of Mahattarī Tārā, which came from Bodh Gaya (B. G. 135)⁵.
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¹ Catalogue and Handbook, Part II, p. 75. See pl. XIII c.
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² See pl. XIII d.
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³ Anderson, Catalogue and Handbook, Part II, p. 76. See pl. XIV a.
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⁴ Ibid, Part II, p. 48. See pl. XIV b.
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⁵ Ibid, Part II, p. 60. See pl. XIV c.
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In the first sub-variety of this transitional form of the palatal *śa*, in which the cross-bar is still present, and in which the right end of the curve does touch, but does not merge in the upper end of the vertical straight line on the right; but on the other hand forms an angle with it, has not been met with in dated inscriptions. The number of specimens, in which this variety of the transitional form of the palatal *śa*, is to be found, is so small that this particular form may be neglected for the present.
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In the third sub-variety, the left arm touches the upper end of the straight line on the right side but there is no cross-bar. Most probably specimens of the later *śa*, which are to be found in the Ghosrāwān inscription of the time of Devapāla, belong to this variety. Almost all the later forms of this letter in the last line, which look like ordinary tenth century forms, really belong to this variety, but in this case also the instances in which they have been found on sculptures are also very few. By far the largest number of instances, in which this transitional variety of the palatal *śa* has been found on sculptures, is the second sub-variety in which the left limb does not touch the right limb at all. This variety occurs for the first time in the Gaya inscription of the seventh year of Nārāyaṇapāla, where it occurs in conjunction with the first sub-variety of the transitional form, which is described above. It is also to be found in the inscriptions of Mahendrapāla of the eighth year of his reign, discovered at Rāmgayā in the Gaya district and of the ninth year, at Guneria in the same district. It is also to be found in the British Museum image inscriptions of the year nine of the reign of Mahendrapāla.
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The occurrence of these forms in these dated inscriptions leaves no doubt about the position in the chronological scale of the images or sculptures, in the inscriptions on which this particular transitional form has been found.
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They come after the group in which the first transitional form of the Ghoṣ-rāwān inscription of Devapāla and the regular looped form have been used, and they belong more particularly to that period of the history of Eastern India which has been named "The struggle with the Pratihāras",¹ which began with the conquest of Northern Bengal and South Bihar,² by the Pratihāra-Gurjara Emperors of Kanauj and ended with the revival of Pāla power in Eastern India, on the foundation of the second empire of the Pālas, by Mahīpāla I, at the end of the tenth century A. D. During this troublous period, when the Pāla kings of Bengal lost most of their possessions and finally their ancestral kingdom of Northern Bengal, the progress of art in Eastern India, though much slower in comparison with its rate of progress in the preceding century, had not stopped altogether. As a matter of fact certain changes came over the productions of the Eastern School of Mediæval Sculpture during this period, which modified to a great extent the productions of its period of renaissance, under Mahīpāla and his immediate successors. The products of the school, during this troublous period, far outnumbered the specimens that were produced by the sculptors of the Eastern School during the next two centuries i.e., the eleventh and twelfth.
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¹ Memoirs of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, Vol. V, pp. 55-67.
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² Indian Antiquary, Vol. XLVII, 1918, p. 111.
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On account of the paucity of dated inscriptions, which can be referred to this period it is extremely difficult to determine what particular sculptures are to be assigned to it. There is no doubt about the fact, that sculptures, which bear that particular form of the transitional śa, in which the left limb does not touch the right limb, belong to the earlier part of this period, i.e., the latter part of the ninth century A. D. This has been proved by the occurrences of this form of the palatal śa. in the Gaya inscription of Nārāyaṇapāla and the Rāmgayā and Guneriya inscriptions of the time of Mahendrapāla.³ No copper plate or large stone inscriptions, which can be referred to the kings of the Pāla dynasty between Nārāyaṇapāla and Mahīpāla I, both exclusive, have been discovered. Nārāyaṇapāla's son, Rājyapāla, is known from one votive inscription which was incised in the twentyfourth year of his reign.⁴ He was succeeded by his son, Gopāla II, who is known from two inscriptions and one manuscript. One inscription was discovered at Nālandā and was incised in the first year of his reign.⁵ The second inscription was discovered at Bodh Gaya and does not contain any date.⁶ The manuscript is preserved in the British Museum and was written in the fifteenth year of the reign of this sovereign.⁷ He was succeeded by his son, Vigrahapāla II, of whom we have only one manuscript which was written in the twentysixth year of his reign.⁸ There were three Gopālas and three Vigrahapālas, in the Pāla dynasty of Bengal. The colophons of manuscripts or short votive inscriptions do not mention distinctly which particular Gopāla or Vigrahapāla it was, and they have to be assigned on the basis of palæography, reasons for which, in detail, will be found elsewhere.¹ The manuscripts, however, afford no help in the study of the date of sculptures and the state of our knowledge of the miniatures, with which many of these manuscripts are illuminated, is as yet in its infancy.
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