The Age of the Imperial Guptas c7.19

c7.19

The attempt of the Brāhmaṇas to re-establish the religion of the Vedic Aryans can be seen from the performance of the *Aśvamedha* by Samudragupta and his grandson Kumāragupta I The performance of the *Agnihotra* and the five great sacrifices by Brāhmaṇas in the Koṭivarṣa district also indicate the initiation of Vedic sacrifices in the jungle country in Northern Bengal where they were not known before. But Vedic sacrifices no longer appealed to the masses and therefore a very large number of images were carved. The worship of images in India most probably became widespread after the introduction of Northern Buddhism during the rule of the great Kuṣāṇas. How widespread the worship of images had become will be found in a next chapter. The most popular gods were Viṣṇu, Śiva, and Śurya. But forms of these deities with which we are familiar were not so widely diffused as they are now. For example the standing image of Viṣṇu with four hands is rare among Gupta sculptures. We find Viṣṇu either in the form of some of the incarnations or riding on Garuḍa. The later *Avatāras* such as Paraśurāma, Rāmacandra and Balarāma, Buddha and Kalkin are unknown. The most popular *Avatāra* was the Boar (*Varāha*). The Damodarpur plates mention the White Boar *Śveta-Varāha-svāmin*. Koka-mukha-svāmin is most probably Śiva and Durgā, as in the case of the Kosam image dedicated in G.E. 139.¹ The phallic emblem of Śiva (*liṅga*) is fairly common. The ordinary modern *liṅga*, which is a cylinder with a round edge top is also known. Such is the *liṅga* dedicated by Pṛthivīṣeṇa, the commander-in-chief of Kumāragupta 1 at Karamdanda in G.E. 117. The shaft is circular with a round top but the lower part is octagonal and the inscription is incised on this portion. But the *Eka-mukha-liṅga* was more common. In these *liṅgas* there is a human face on the body of the shaft. The later *Caturmukha-liṅga* is rare in the Gupta period. *Eka-mukha-liṅgas* of the Gupta period are very common in Benares city and in the shrine of the Akṣaya vaṭa inside Allahabad fort. Such are the magnificent *liṅgas* discovered by the writer at Śaṅkargaḍh and Khoh in the Nagod State of the Baghelkhand Agency of Central India,² and the gigantic specimen discovered during the excavation of the Gupta temple found on the plateau of Bhumra in the same State. This *liṅga* is one of the largest known and was discovered inside the sanctum.³