The Antiquities of Orissa v2.c18.89

v2.c18.89

**Santa Madhava.** At a mile and a half to the west of Yājapur, in a field, occurs a colossal figure which, when first noticed, appears half buried under earth. Sir John Phear had the place dug round the exposed portion and found the other half buried at a little distance. The two portions put together have been photographed, and a drawing thereof published in the *Proceedings of the Asiatic Society* for 1872, Plate III. The upper portion from the crown of the head to little below the navel, measures 9 ft. 1½ in. and the lower from the pubis to near the ancle 7 ft. 11 in. : the feet are lost. The measurements would give a total of about seventeen feet six inches for the entire figure. The figure is now called Sānta Mādhava, a name of Kṛṣṇa, but in reality it is an image of Padmapāṇi, the well-known Bodhisattva, holding by the left hand a lotus-stalk and bearing an image of Buddha on his head. It affords the most conclusive evidence of Yājapur having been a place of importance among the Buddhists before the bulk of its people became Hindu and of at least a good portion of the sculptures and architectural ruins now found there being of the Buddhist period.