SCULPTURES • • • Allahabad Municipal Museum • S. C. KALA KITABISTAN '~'...vtures in the Allahabad unic~pal Mruseum By SATISH CHANDRA KALA, M.A. CURATOR ALLAHABAD MUNICIPALม MUSEUM ำนกั หอส ุดกลาง ส KITABISTAN ALLAHABAD MUNSHI RAM 1'1; & j Orientnl Fmc. , ~en.. P.B. 1165. Nai :;,,' D'::.LEl-r.. • FOREWORD Allahabad, at the junction of the Ganges and the Jumna, is one of the nodal points in. the geography, the history and doubtless the prehistory of the great northern plains of India. It is fitting, indeed necessary, therefore, that the city should possess a Museum, and inevitable that this, with lively direction, should rapidly accumulate material of outstanding range and quality. The present Museum is still a young one butกั alreadyหอ containsสมุด muchกล าof essential value. Next to registration and arrangement,สำน the most important task งconfronting the Cura­ tor is that of publication, and I have accordingly a special pleasure in blessing this, the first guide to a part of the collections under Mr. Kala's charge. It is particularly encouraging to note.,.. that the Museum itself is not a product of the "Government Machine" but is primarily the result of the wise enthusiasm of two citizens of Allahabad. May it prosper. SIMLA R. M. WHEELER September 1945 Director General of Archr.eology in India 3 • PREFACE This monograph is intended to serve a double purpose. Firstly, it will be a special guide to the Sculpture section of the Allahabad Municipal Museum and secondly, it will introduce to scholars and art critics some hitherto unknown specimens of Indian Sculpture. I have made an honest effort to identify and discuss the sculptures and deliberately refrained from drawing dogmatic con­ clusions. The fourteen sculpturesกั ห ofอ Bharhutสมุด railingกล described here will fur­ nish several links in the chainำ นwhere the late General Sirา Alexanderง Cunningham left it. Housed in the Museum ส are twenty more specimens of this group which I propose to deal in a separate monograph. For the benefit of the layman who visits the Museum I have included a chapter describing the salient features of Indian sculpture. Some acquaintance with the basic principles of the aft would mean more intelligent appreciation and heightened aesthetic pleasure. I am deeply grateful to Dr. R. E. M. Wheeler, Director General of Archreo­ logy in India who has been kind enough to write a Foreward to this monograph and to permit me to use a set of photographs of the Allahabad Museum sculp­ tures from his office. I am much thankful to my cousins, Messrs. B. D. Bhatt and Shri Charan Kala for some valuable suggestions and to my friend Shri Krishna Dutta Baj­ pai for kindly giving me the correct readings of two inscriptions. I am also grateful to Prof. K. C. Chattopadhyaya of the Allahabad University for kindly going through the MSS. ALLAHABAD SATISH CHANDRA KALA Vijqya DashalJJi, 194~ ... CONTENTS PAGE Indian Sculpture I~ History of the Collection .. หอสมุดกล 17 Description of the Plates ำนกั าง 2.1 Plates ส 7 • PERJOD!' dF l~mAl'. SCCLPTLRE , ;"h... ",~ ,<» It- c t<> :04 B. C , :;unga lS4 RC <C7" n.L ,. Kusan) ., :)rc ,-\. D. IS:" .\_ D. ,,' 4 ('''p'1l A. D ..d" (<> ,\. U. ""'" ,. G.. ;v _\!ecliev~' อสมุด A. D 600 w A. D. ')00 (,. ;.~t{ MtYiii:'Vli ห ก ,',. D to ำนกั ลาง?<"" A. :) n= ส , , LIST OF PLATES PAGE \ I. Image of a Y ak~a .. 35 2. Upright Pillar from Bharhut 37 3· Pillar post from Bharhut 39 4. Fragment ,of a rail pillar from Bharhutอสม ุด 41 5. Pillar with a Y ak~i from Bharhutห .. ก นกั ลาง 43 6. Corner Pillar (A & B)ำ from Bharhut 45 ส 7. Fragment of a coping stone from Bharhut 47 S. Lower portion of a railing pillar from Bharhut 47 9. Lower portion of a railing pillar from Bharhut 47 10. Cross Bar from Bharhut 49 I I. Railing pillar post from Bharhut .. 49 12. Inner face of a coping stone from Bharhut 51 13. Fragment of a coping stone from Bharhut )3 14. Fragment of a coping stone from Bharhut 55 15. Fragment of a rail pillar from Kausambi 57 16. Fragment of an architrave from Kausambi 59 17. Image of a Y ak~a from Kausambi .. 61 IS. Statue of a Bodhisattva from Kausambi .. 61 19. Head of the Buddha from Bhip. 63 20. Ekamukha Siva Liriga from Khoh (A & B) 65 21. Chaitya window from Bhumra 67 22. Cross stone slab from Bhumra 69 23. Cross stone slab from Bhumra 69 24. Door Jamb from Nagog. (A & B) 71 25. A post-Gupta Pillar from Ahar 73 2.6. Image of Siva-Parvati from Khajuraho 75 1 f, II .' INDIAN SCULPTURE The earliest creative expression of mankind was myths. These were as much the primitive man's explanations for natural events as they were his at­ tempts to control and compel the forces of nature. The myths deified the ele­ ments of nature and ritual soon developed around them. Such sacred legends formed the corner stone of earlv Indian art. The inexhaustible wealth of J สม these, ' played a dominant role กั inห shapingอ ุดtheก ลsensibilitiesา of Asiatic peoples. Pressed into the serviceำน of religion from the veryง start, Sculpture ส derived all its characteristics from the Indian attitude to religion with which it remained inextricably bound. The earliest unsophisticated Vedic myths, the theological hair-splitting of the Brahmat).as and the contemplative renun­ ciation or' the Buddha find ample expression through the Sculptor's intractable medium of stone. The stories of the creation, preservation and destruction, the cycles of births and deaths, the doctrine of karman and cosmic illusion !lnd the rich Hindu pantheon were subjects where form put the imagination of the artist aglow. Life in its fluidity and multifariousness was held as if by the fore­ lock and studied in the round. It was because of this organic visiori and uncanny intuition that the Indian Sculptors could fathom depths too deep for ordinary mortals. He could reveal the essential dynamism of life. The serenity of a Buddha figure is as much a work of masterly creation as is the frenzy of a dancing Siva. Indian Sculpture is not realistic or representational in the \Vestern sense. Physical appearance or athletic perfection do not appeal to the Indian artist. His extraordinary plastic feeling gives his work a dynamic strength and imita­ tion is inconsequential for him. It is the inner meaning, the eternal value or the essence of nature which the artist tries to capture through his intuitive power. Like the Indian religion, Indian art also emphasizes the experience of reality and the reality of an Indian artist, consists in 'the relation of the forms of the visible World with an inner rhythm.' The delicacy of the content to be revealed of necessity led the Indian artist to use images and symbols in abundance. But an Indian image is not a fetish. It is in fact a medium through which the artist tries to scale the walls of the finite. The ancient Indian artist was both a yogin and a devotee. He evoked the Gods through Dhyana Mantras and spi­ ritual discipline. On many occasions he was transported to the state of super­ consciousness or trance. In this divine state he °saw ideal types of Gods and Goddesses. These forms he imnwrtalized in stone and colour. Thus the heroes of Indian art belong to a World whi~h is beyond the artificial barriers of space and sight, and are the result of a persistent search for spiritual reality. The Gods belonged to a higher W'orld. They should have therefore such identification marks which would place them above the ordinary mortals. They were to be endowed with the qualities of the superman. An ordinary mor­ tal attains the distinction of a supermanกั ห eitherอส byม sacrificeุดกล orา by spiritual achieve­ ment or by universal dominion.สำน The superman should haveง thirty two identi­ fying marks on his body. The wheels on the palms and soles, the bump over the head, elongated ears and the hairy mole between the eyebrows are some of the typical marks. The Indian artist does not follow the Aristotelian definition of beauty as symmetry, proportion and an organic order of parts in a united whole. Indian art has a perspective and anatomy but its guiding principles originate from a deeper consciousness. In Indian figural sculpture the anatomical de­ tail"(i are suppressed. The canons lay injunctions against the portrayal of swelled vei~s in hands or legs. Even the bones of the wrists and other parts are to be hidden under flesh and blood. Indian figmes have nothing of the Greek ath­ letic ':iuality to show strain and movement of the muscles. Mter the suppres­ sion of all the prominent parts a graceful form of most superior linear rhythm comes into being. The Gods are portrayed either in meditation or engaged in some parti­ cular task. How these mute figures were to convey their actions? The Sculptors solved this difficulty by evolving some mudras or gestures through which action and emotion could be communicated. There are about sixty four mudras in art and one hundred and eighteen in the tantra. The meditative mudras are chiefly indicated by full or half closed eyes, lowered eyebrows and the fixity of the gaze. There are again postures or a,sanas in which a God has to be depicted. According to the Vi~~udharmottara there are thirteen such poses. In the Brihat Sarphita and Pratimamana-Iak.sa~a there is a detailed account of the various measurements according to which the images are to be shaped.