The Antiquities of Orissa v2.c18.46

v2.c18.46

The face of the stone architrave is divided into nine panels, each containing a human figure, richly ornamented, wearing a high-pointed crown and seated cross-legged on a lotus. The panels are framed by squat pilasters supporting a trifoiled arch ( Plate LVIII ). The design is neat and beautifully executed. The first figure, beginning from the left-hand side, is that of Ravi or the sun. According to a hymn attributed to Vyāsa, he should be of the colour of the hibiscus flower ( jabā ) and very refulgent ; but in sculpture he appears like a genial looking man holding a full-blown lotus in each uplifted hand. The second is Soma or the moon. In appearance it is the counterpart of the first, except in the position of the hands, which are stretched forward, the left holding a water vessel and the right a rosary which he is engaged in counting. The hymn aforesaid assigns him a white colour like that of the conch-shell, or snow. The third is Maṅgala ( Mars ) ; the fourth Budha ( Mercury ), son of the moon ; the fifth Bṛhaspati ( Jupiter ) : the sixth Śukra ( Venus ) ; and the seventh Śani ( Saturn ). In sculpture they are alike in form, feature, ornaments and occupation, except Jupiter who sports a flowing beard. In the hymn, the third is described to be a red-coloured youth, born of the earth, resplendent as an agglomeration of lightning and holding a spike. The fourth is a son of the moon, of a dark blue colour like that of the bud of the priyangu ( Panicum Italicum ), of unrivalled beauty and benign appearance. The fifth is of the colour of gold ; he is the high priest of gods and sages. The sixth is the high priest of the Asuras, and of the colour of the stalk of the winter jessamine ( Jesmenia pubescens ). The seventh is the son of Ravi ( sun ) by Chāyā ( darkness ) and of a deep blue colour. The eighth Rāhu or the ascending node, is the son of Siṃhikā. He was produced by one human body being divided into two, the upper half forming him and the lower half the decending node. He is of a most fierce aspect and the oppressor of the sun and the moon, one or other of which, according to Puranic mythology,¹⁴ he swallows and thereby produces an eclipse. In sculpture he is represented as a grinning grotesque monster, with one immense canine tooth projecting from the upper jaw ; he has a rounded crown with three triangular peaks and a nimbus of rays terminating in dots. In one hand he holds a rounded object, which Mr. Stirling takes for a hatchet, but which is probably meant for the sun, and in the other a crescent moon. The last is Ketu, the descending node, son of Rudra ; he is of the colour of a smoke rising from smouldering straw, fierce and wicked, the oppressor of the stars. The upper part of his body is in all its details similar to that of the first four figures, but the lower part is formed of the body of a serpent which coils round so as at first sight to produce the impression of its being of the same character as that of the first seven figures. The busts of most of the figures are so developed as to appear like those of young women. Mr. Stirling describes the 6th as a youthful female, with ‘plump well rounded figure’¹⁵ ; but the mistake has arisen from the association of the idea of Venus with this figure. As an Englishman, Mr. Stirling could not shake off his early impressions. In India neither the moon nor Venus is anywhere likened to a female. On reference to the photograph ( Plate LVIII ) it will also be seen that the sixth figure does not differ from the others. Images of these planets, besides, occur over the doorway of all the richer temples in Orissa and nowhere has a female been placed in the room of the high priest of the Asuras. In legends Śukra is blind of one eye, but this is not shown in sculpture. The object of placing the planets over the gateway is to make them, who are the arbiters of mundane destiny, subservient to the welfare of the temple.