Chandra Images from Rajasthan

Author(s): R C Agarwala
Publisher: Z_Agarchand_Nahta_Abhinandan_Granth_Part_2_012043.pdf
Catalog link: https://jainqq.org/explore/250041/1

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Chandra Images From Rajasthan
By R. C. Agrawala
Director, Archaeology & Museums, Jaipur. Some early images of Chandra ( Moon ), one of the prominent planets (grahas ), have already been published by Dr. M. R. Majmudar. These include an excellent Gupta stone head from Vidiśā (M. P.) and now preserved in Gwalior Museum; the male head therein is provided with a typical Gupta crown and a halfmoon (ardhachandra) mark behind; the portion below the neck is missing. Earlier representations of moon are of course not reported so far. Standing Chandra from Pahārpur (Bengal) holds a beaded rosary in the right hand, a nectar-pot (Kundikā) in the left, as also enjoined by the Agni Purāņa. The utter absence of any vehicle in the Pahārpur Chandra image is very important (Fig. 1); he is provided with the matted locks (jața) on the head while the prominent half-moon (ardha Chandra) mark appears just above the head. This led some scholars to interpret the Pahārpur relief as Chandra Sekhara Sivamūrti but the mistake was duly corrected by Majmudar 4 and Saraswati.5 Dr. Majmudar has also published a mediaeval (12-13th century) marble relief from Vadnagar,& depicting Chandra and Sürya standing side by side. The latter, appearing to right, carries two lotus-stalks in his hands whereas Chandra (to left) holds a water-pot in the stretched left hand, the right hand having been raised up to carry the beaded rosary; the crescent mark behind his head suggests identification with Chandra, the Moon-god,
The Vishnudharmottara Purana” refers to four-armed Chandra, seated on a chariot driven by 10 horses, a form which is depicted in a rather very late statue in Nagpur Museum.8 Contemporary or mediaeval icons referring to this aspect of Chandra have of course not been reported so far. A few independent carvings
1. M. R. Majmudar, Annals of Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, Poona,
XXIII, 1942, pp. 262-70 and plates. 2. Ibid, plate V. 3. Ibid, plate II. 4. Ibid, pp. 267-70. 5. S. K. Saraswati, Journal of the Deptt. of Letters, Calcutta, pp. 66-7. 6. M. R. Majmudar, op. cit., plate IV. It is situated in North Gujarat. 7. Book III, edited by Dr, P. B. Shah in G. O. Series, Baroda. Vols. I (1958-text
and II (1961-notes). Chapter 68, verse 5. 8. M. R. Majmudar, op. cit., plate VI.
४४ : अगरचन्द नाहटा अभिनन्दन-ग्रन्थ

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(2) Seated Brahmã from Elepha
nta, sow of 'Swans' below the Lotus Seat Drawing by C. Sivarammurti.
*(1) Chandra with Crescent
mark on Read above From Paharpur (Bengal).
(3) Chandra with Vahan which is near
his right Leg Osian (Jodhpur).

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(4) Chandra without a vehicle, Road side Temple
(Osian-Jodhpur).
(5) Chandra Seated with two Swans below
Hari Har Temple No 1, (Osian--Jodhpur). Photo R. C Agrawal

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(6) Chandra with a Single Swan, Pen
gore, Bharatpur Discoverd by Sri R. C. Agrawal

(7) Standing Chandra under of Sun Temple at
Chittorgarh (Rajasthan ); 8th Century, Photo P. G. A., New Delhi

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from Rajasthan are, therefore, worth scrutiny in this paper. On some mediaeval reliefs also we find various representations of Chandra with its Vahana marked on the pedestal. A detailed study of such mediaeval reliefs, by Mrs. Debala Mitra, has revealed the following vehicles of Chandra.
(1) Fish; because of Chandra's association with water. According to the Vishnu Purāna (Book II, Chapter, Verse 3), the horses of Chandra sprang from the bosom of water, as rightly pointed out by Debala Mitra.?
(2) Horse; Mitra, op. cit., plate XII, fig. 12, p. 22. (3) Animal, probably lion (?), ibid, plate XVI, fig. 19, p. 23. (4) Ram (mesha), ibid, p. 20, plate IX, fig. 9.
(5) Crocodile (makara), ibid, plate XII, fig. 15, p. 22, as also on the Navagraha slab from Gorakhpur and now in Lucknow Museum.3 The crocodile is also the vehicle for Varuna, the lord of waters.
The Vishnudharmottara Purana (I, p. 191, Chapter 67, verse 1) states that the Sun and Moon are respectively other forms of Agni and Varuna, and that seems to be the reason why the crocodile was associated with Chandra on some of the Navagraha reliefs. The same Purāņa (I, Chapter 52, verse 18) also refers to Varuna's chariot driven by 7 swans yoked to it-sapta-hamsarathe tasya Varunasya mahātmanaḥ. A similar type of Hamsa-ratha is prescribed by this Purāņa (ibid, Chapter 44, verse 6) for Brahmá as well i. e. jațādharam chaturbahum saptahamse-rathasthitam. This seems to corroborate the sculptural representation at Elephanta, where we find three-headed Brahmā? seated on a lotus seat which is marked by 7 swans in a single row. (Fig. 2). The close association of Brahmā with Soma (Chandra) is very well corroborated by a literary reference in the Märkandeya5 Purana, Chapter 17, verses 10-12. These identifications and affiliations may have led to the transference of Brahmā's or Varuna's hamsa (swan) to Chandra (Moon). Fal and Bhattacharya (op. cit., p. 22) state that "Chandra rides a goose and only the Kriyasangraha Panjikā gives the number of geese as seven. This must have therefore been the literary tradition followed by the artists in Nepal”. According to them (Pal and Bhattacharya, op. cit., p. 22). "the earliest representation of Chandra riding a chariot of geese or swans occurs in the Buddhist paintings of Tun-huang, on the borders of C. Asia and China".
1. Journal of Asiatic Society of Bengal, New Series, Calcutta, VII, (1-2), 1965, pp.
13 38 and figs. 1-21. 2. Ibid, p. 19. plate VII, figure. 8. 3. P. Pal & D. C. Bhattacharya, The Astral Divinities of Nepal, Varanasi, 1969,
figure 7. 4. C. Sivaramamurti, Indian Sculpture, 1961, New Delhi, figure 10 on p. 58. 5. Cited by Pal & Bhattacharya, op. cit., p 21.
इतिहास और पुरातत्त्व : ४५

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The temple No. 2 at Osian", near Jodhpur in Rajasthan preserves, on the exterior south wall of the main sanctum, an image of standing and two armed Chandra with crescent mark at back; he carries a Kamandalu in his left hand while the right holds the aksha-mala. The relief may still be seen between the niches containing images of Trivikrama and standing Agni; the vehicle of Chandra appears to be a lion (?) here (Fig.3), which is of course conspicuous by its absence in a somewhat similar type of standing Chandra in the back niche of roadside temple at the same site (Fig. 4). Most important of course is seated Chandra on the exterior of Hari Hara Temple No. 1 at Osian (Fig. 5); the face of the moongod is partly peeled off; he has got matted locks on the head and holds a beaded rosary in the raised up right hand; the left hand carries a water-pot Below the seat of Chandra appear two swans, each facing opposite directions. This is quite an unusual sculpture (13 inches x 9 inches); the two swans may here suggest Chandra's association with sapta-hamsa-ratha. There is nothing to reflect any Buddhist impact on it; the entire complex of these temples at Osian is Brahmanical and hence the existing carving of a Chandra relief 'with two swans' on a Hari-Hara Temple at Osian is of great artistic and iconographic interest. This motif appears to have travelled to Central Asia, under the impact of Indian art traditions. The symbolic representation of Sun and Moon, as weapons carried by Siva, in earlymediaeval paintings from Dandānuiliq and Bālāwaste3 in Central Asia, should also be kept in view; Sun is represented by a 'wheel' and moon by a 'crescent' mark. The same motif should now be looked into the multi-headed representation of Siva in a Shāhi relief4, and also in the famous early Gupta SivaPārvati terracotta from Rangamahals, now preserved in Bikaner Museum. What has till now been interpreted to be Ganga or some obscure Gaņa figure, just above the central head of Siva in the Bikaner terracotta, may well be identified as the Śiva bust, carrying a wheel (Sun) in the right hand and crescent (ardha-Chandra= Moon) in the left. The Chaturmürti aspect of Śiva, in this early Siva-Pärvati relief from Rajasthan, should therefore be carefully examined. The Sun & Moon as emblems, carried by Siva in all sculptures & terracottas, may also be seen in the Chaturmürti Siva image recently discovered by Dr. N. P. Joshi at Mūsānagar,
-
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1. Stella Kramrisch, The Art of India, 1965 edition, plate 116, p. 209, D. R. Bhan
darkar, Archaeological Survey of India - Annual Report. 1908-9, plate 37-B. 2. Anand Coomaraswamy, A History of Indian & Indonesian Art, 1929. London,
plate 94, figure 285. 3. M. Bussagli, Painting of Central Asia, Geneva, 1963, figure on p. 60. 4. Douglas Barret, Oriental Art, London, III (2), 1957, fig. 12 on p. 58. 5. Lalit Kala, 8, 1960, plate XXIV, figure 14. I have discussed this problem in
detail in my paper published in the Bulletin of Museums and Archaeology in U. P., Lucknow, No. 3, June 1969 pp. 9-13. and plates.
४६ : अगरचन्द नाहटा अभिनन्दन-ग्रन्थ

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near Kanpur (U. P.); the relief is datable to the Kushāņa period; the fourth Siva bust is shown just above the central Siva-head; here also he carries the sun and moon symbols in the upper arms. The inspiration for Central Asian and Shāhi representations therefore seems to have been derived from the earlier carvings from India. The famous inscribed Varäha from Mathura Museum and datable to the Kushāņa period holds two circular discs in his upper hands, the same bear, in the circular space, carvings of a male person seated on a chariot driven by two horses. It is likely that the sculptor associated Chandra and Surya with Mahā Varäha in this particular Kushāņa panel and depicted them alike. The seven horses for Sun's chariot and ten horses for Chandra's chariot were probably not fully carved in this particular relief due to the paucity of space. The Matsya Purāna (More Edition, 247, 68) calls Varāha as the the 'holder of the eye of the day and night' and that may possibly be the reason for carving such discs, with solar figures, in the upper hands of Varāha. The entire problem needs further probe.
From Rajasthan may also be reported another interesting stone relief studded into the right exterior niche of Sun Temple at Chittor and datable to the 8th century (Fig. 6). Two armed and standing Chandra here appear in the company of an animal, which is equally unusual. The animal standing behind Chandra appears like a 'dog' (?) though we are not aware of such a Vahana for the god, Other details, including the weapons, matted locks on the head and crescent mark behind, rope-like garland hanging down to the knees etc , have been delineated quite vividly; the rosary in the right hand and a kamandalu in the left hand of Chandra are very well preserved. Hardly do we come across any Sürya temple wherein we notice an image of Chandra carved independently as the one from Chittor under review.
During my recent explorations in Bharatpur region I was able to discover at Pengore (near Kumher) a colossal stone relief where appear carving of two armed Chandra in standing pose. He holds a water-pot in the left hand and rosary in the other. The tiny figure of a single swan near his right leg is very interesting. The relief, now in Bharatpur Museum, is datable to the Pratihāra period (Fig. 7). All these are very important early-mediaeval representations of two armed moon god on Pengore panel in exterior niches of Osian temples.2 The grouping of Ganesa, Sürya, Chandra and the Guardian of Quarters including Kubera on the exteriors of
1. N. P Joshi, Mathura Sculptures, 1965, Hindi, Mathura, plate 101, Appendix 2. 2. Figure 2 has been copied from Indian Sculpture by Mr. C. Sivaramamurti. Pho
tograph of Figure 4 (Chittor Chandra) has been supplied by the Director General, Archaeological Survey of India, New Delhi, negative number being 25171962, figure 3 by the author and the rest by the Director, Archaeology and Museums, Rajasthan, Jaipur.
इतिहास और पुरातत्त्व : ४७

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these temples at Osian (distt. Jodhpur) is all the more interesting which amply proves that Chandra did not represent any Dikpala at that stage. In Hari-Hara Temple No. 1 at Osian we notice seated Chandra (Fig. 3) on the southern side of the sanctum while naravahana Kubera appears in a northern niche of the same shrine.
Let us also scrutinise the dikpalas as depicted on the upper portion of Kalyanasundara slab from. Kannauj and datable to the Pratihāra period. Mr. Mohan Mukhopadhyaya has made a fresh study thereof (Journal of Indian Society of Oriental Art, Calcutta, New Series, 1967-58, Vol. II, pp. 4-6 & plate I, fig. 1) In the topmost left corner of Kannauj relief may be seen a male figure riding astride on a swan (hamsa), though some scholars have wrongly identified the same as Kārttikeya. Mr. Mukhopadhyaya likes to identify this figure as that of Chandra, the Moon god, but that does not seem to be reasonable in view of a noose (pasa) in his right hand and not a lotus flower. The crescent mark is also absent. It probably represents Varuņa, who is associated both with a noose and a swan. According to the Vishnu-dharmottara Purāņa, cited above, "Varuņa even rides on a chariot driven by seven swans". More so, the entire grouping, in the upper portion of Kannauj relief, relates to the dikpalas, such as Indra on elephant, Vāyu on horse, Yama on a buffalo, Niriti on a man (he is not Kubera,......etc.; potbellied Kubera is there seated to right and just above appears seated Ganesa, not identified by Mukhopadhyaya. We may also note the depiction of Varuņa riding on a swan likewise in the early Pratihāra Kalyanasundara relief form Kāmän (Bharatpur) and now preserved in the National Museum at New Delhi. Varuna in Ellora panel of course rides over a crocodile (makara). It appears that some of the Pratihāra sculptors had also associated a swan with Varuna, the prominent Dikpalas in early Indian art. Varuņa, therefore, should not be confused with Chandra (Moon). Dr. K. C. Panigrahi (Archaeological Remains at Bhubane shwar, 1961, Calcutta, p. 72, figure 40) illustrates the two-armed statue which he calls Chandra, though there is utter absence of the crescent mark and the vehicle in the photograph of Parasurameśvara relief published by him.
I have recently come across at Sikar, a 10th century panel depicting dancing Gaņeśa, standing Sun & Moon in a single row. Chandra here has got a crescent mark behind his head. This combination is equally unusual.
1. It is an unpublished relief studded near the stair-case of modern temple on
Harsha Hill, near Sikar in Rajasthan.
४८: अगरचन्द नाहटा अभिनन्दन-ग्रन्थ

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एन मिश्रा के लेख हिस्टोरिक बैकग्राउण्ड आफ राजस्थान कल्चर

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Platc No 18
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76
78°
EARLY STONE AGE SITES
IN RAJASTHAN
SCALE
160 KM
TOOMILLS
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LAND OVER 5OOMETRES
MAP
INDIA
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