The Age of the Imperial Guptas c7.64

c7.64

After Viṣṇu and Śiva the next important deity in Hinduism of the Gupta period is Sūrya. The worship of this deity has practically disappeared from modern Hinduism and with the exception of solitary shrines in important holy places like Gayā and Benares, temples dedicated to the Sun god are extremely rare. In the Gupta period inscriptions prove the existence of a number of shrines of Sūrya. The earliest record which mentions this deity is the Indor Khera copper plate inscription of the time of the emperor Skandagupta. From this inscription we learn that there was a temple of the Sun at Indrapura, a town in the *Antarvedī* or the Ganges-Junina Doab, built by two Kṣatriyas named Acalavarman and Bhrukuṇṭhasimha.³ There was a great temple of the Sun god in the ancient city of Daśapura in Mālava, modern Mandasor in the Malwa Prānt of the dominions of the Mahārāja Śinde. During the reign of Kumāragupta I, when Mahārāja Bandhuvarman was the Governor of Daśapura, this temple was built by the Guild of silk-weavers from their accumulated wealth. After 36 years, when it had fallen into disrepair, it was rebuilt by the same Guild in V. S., 529 = 471 A. D.¹ Images of the Sun god are common. The most beautiful example of the representation of the Sun god is to be found in a medallion discovered at Bhumra where the figure is of the type of a Scythian king.² It is robed exactly like Kāṇiṣka³ as seen in his statue discovered at Mat in the Mathura district. There are no horses in the Bhumra medallion but there are seven such on the Liṅga from Kaman in the Ajmer Museum.⁴ In this case the Sun god is squatting on his haunches like the unknown Kuṣāṇa statue from Mat.⁵ In many cases the forms of Hindu gods and goddesses are totally unlike their present forms. Mahiṣamardinī, now called Durgā, is represented with ten hands at the present day, with eight or twelve in the mediaeval period (800-1200