Gadhegāls from Goa, India Harshada D. Wirkud 1 1. Department of Ancient Indian History, Culture and Archaeology, Deccan College Post Graduate and Research Institute, Yerwada, Pune‐ 411 006, Maharashtra, India (Email:
[email protected]) Received: 30 August 2017; Revised: 09 October 2017; Accepted: 04 November 2017 Heritage: Journal of Multidisciplinary Studies in Archaeology 5 (2017): 201‐211 Abstract: Gadhegals/Gadhegāls, a unique type of land or such grant stones, generally, are inscription (inclusive of the Gadhhegāli i.e. the ass curse) bearing stones with a sculptural panel depicting sodomitic copulation between a donkey and a woman. It is from this panel that they are termed as Gadhegals (Gadhe: Donkey and Gal: Stone).Thus, Gadhegāl Stambha or simply Gadhegals are prepared, mostly unifaced stone pillars or blocks either dressed or undressed usually with three panel divisions, with one panel informing readers about the gift/donation made by a King/Ruler to a Brahmin or such worthy person/s and imprecatory verses cursing the person who dares oppose that which has been informed on the pillar, a typical scene of bestiality depicted in another panel and a sacred Kalaśa panel with sun and moon symbols denoting eternity. The depictive panel which pictorially represents the curse in toto, is perhaps a phenomena observed for the first time in case of direct correlation with the inscription. Gadhegāls of such description have been found mainly in Maharashtra and also from various others states namely Gujarat, Hyderabad, Bihar, Goa etc though with variations. In this paper the author will be discussing instances of Gadhegāls from the state of Goa namely from temple complexes and museums in colligation to the art historical details, stylistic variations and similarities with those from Maharashtra.