History of Orissa from the Earliest Times to the British Period v2.c47.12

v2.c47.12

A. The earliest mediaeval sculptures characterised by naturalism, perfect equipoise combined with a very high standard of idealistic excellence—with the exception of the figures in situ—are a Kubera with two hands (No. 6943 of the Indian Museum) and a two armed Lokeśvara (No. 6942 of the same collection) and a Mārichi with eight hands (No. 6957 of the same collection). Very probably a Vajrapāṇi (No. 6953 of the same collection) belongs to the same group. In Mr. Ajit Ghosh’s collection the upper part of a fine image of Vajrapāṇi attended by a miniature figurine of the Dhvāni Buddha Akshobhya, seated on a lotus, is certainly the best and the oldest.¹ Prof. Chakladar’s photographs include several images still esconced in their orginal niches. These niches are perhaps at the base of Lalitagiri (modern Naltigiri) described by earlier writers like Beames and Banurji.² Unfortunately Prof. Chakladar’s description is not very clear and therefore a certain amount of confusion has been added to that already existing on account of transpositions in the captions of the Bengali magazine *Prabāsī*. The figure labelled *Devī* from Lalitagiri is really one of Vajraghaṇṭā as identified by Dr. Benoytosh Bhattacharya, M. A., ph. D.³ The photographs published by Prof. Chakladar show that this image also is esconced in a niche proving that some old remains still exist on the Ratangiri. The Lokeśvara labelled Kubera is really a Sthirachakra, as the presence of the sword on a lotus clearly indicates. In the Jambhala from Lalitagiri there is a certain amount of grossness, which is perhaps due to individual artistic capacity; but in general lines this image belongs to the earlist group of mediaeval sculptures of Orissa. This grossness is decidedly absent from the two Buddha figures in *Bhumi-sparśa Mudrā*, one on the Lalitagiri and the other on the Udaygiri. The former undoubtedly belongs to the highest point of excellence reached by the artists of Orissa. One of these two, again, the Buddha from Lalitagiri, has been brought to public notice by Prof. Chakladar.