Indian Antiquary Vol 09

SR No.: 032501
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Jas Burgess
Publisher: Swati Publications
Publication Year: 1984
Total Pages: 398
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 17 MB

Page 134

116
THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
[APRIL, 1880.
the south-east corner of the surrounding wall, out- side: below is an inscription in characters of the 8th or 9th century :-Paindapdtikadhiyendrabhadrasya-"(Gift) of Paindap&tika Dhiyendrabhadra." The two figures on which the third stands are-Bhatt under the left foct, and under the right Bhato: it is a Tantric er secret image of a Bodhisattwa," but Dr. Rajendralla passes it off (p. 139), simply as a figure of Bhairava
On plate xxxiv. fig. 2 he has a long story (pp. 155-56) to toll, which seems to have little to do with the sculpture except that it relates to a Kinnari: but the Buddhist Kinnaras had human busts and birds' wings and feet. We may refer for examples to the Barabat tope, early Mathura, and Mavallipuram sculptures, or the wall-paintings at Ajanta. But the figure here has not a horse's head even (as the Brahmanica legends represent the Kinnaras), it bus the short mane and long ears of an a88.18 How would it wear the "jewelled coronet" he speaks of ? On the inner side of a pillar of the rail of the second stupa at Sanchi is a similar sculpture where the Becond figure is a child with three mangoes in his hand, and carried on her side over the rocks by this asinine mother. So here, we suspect, it is her son she holds by the hand. A third example was found recently by Mr. Burgess at BhAjQ where it occurs in the midst of a crowd of other figures. It most probably relates to some story of a Gardabhi dêvî, as yet unknown.
Plate xxxv. fig. 5 represents a man sitting in front of a cave on a rocky hill,-not stone house as the B&bu has it (p. 157). In all sculptures and paintings of the Buddhist period, hills are represented as in this figure.
The "acrobatic performance" (p. 158) in fig. 1 plate xxxvii. is familiar to us in Buddhist sculptures as a Gandharvayugmd, or a Gandharva and Apsara; and fig. 6 is well known as a kiritimukha (also plate xliv. fig. 5).
Plate xliii-the Dharmadhdtumandala perplexes the learned doctor (p. 143)- he does not even give its name. But in the area of almost every Buddhist temple two or more of these are to be seon of stone or brass or other metal. They vary in details but are all of the same type. The outer band is not" of leaves" as he describes it, but flames, and the circle is called judldvali; the 2nd, vajrdvali; and the 3rd, padmavali. Inside this is the jagati (or surrounding wall) with its four doors, and in the centre is the deana or seat, upon which is sometimes laid a large vajra. At the Svayambhunath tope in Nepal is a large gilt copper Dharmadhdtumandala and on it lies a huge vajra with an inscription of
the time of Pratâpamalla. The Mabâyâna sectaries say that Indra made such a throne for Sakya Muni when he was about to become a Buddha. : it closely resembles the samavasarna of the Jainas.
More than two pages (160-63) are devoted to prove that General Cunningham was quite wrong in supposing that the figure in plate I represents Apollo or Sarya. Now General Cunningham's account is quite correct-he speaks of the "two attendants" however without stating that they are females. What the Babu thinks the sculpture does represent he does not make very clear. We hold that it is Sarya in his chariot; and similar figures may be seen at Elure and Sanchi, and always with his two wives Chh&ya and Prabha, shooting at the Rakshasas. Mortal women do not usually shoot or fight for their husbands in Hindu poetry; the goddesses only do so: and this alone is fatal to the idea of its being any râja or human being who is driven in the chariot.
We have now indicated sufficient mistakes, we think, to show how unscientific Dr. Rajendralala is in his treatment of these parts of his subject, in which he ought to be most at home, and the reader will be surprised to learn from these specimens that the great native savant of Calcutta should have been guilty of so uncritical a spirit. If those he criticises are liable to occasional errors, he himself is quite as much so. We reserve the examination of the inscriptions for another occasion.
(To be continued.)
DIE RÅVANAVAHA, Von. S. GOLDSCHMIDT, (1st part,) Strassburg; K. J. Trübner, 194 pp. 4to.
The first instalment of Professor S. Goldschmidt's long-promised edition of the Rdvanavaha (more generally known as the Setubandha or Setuprabandha) has recently appeared at Strassburg. It gives the Prakrit text with various readings and critical notes, a complete Index (Prakrit and Sanskrit,) and an introductory essay on the materials from which the editor has constituted his text, and the principles of criticism by which he has been guided. A full account of this important publication will be rendered in the Indian Antiquary when the second instalment shall have appeared, which will give a German translation, explanatory notes, and a general introduction on the author and his work. Suffice it here to say, that this edition, the outcome of many years of patient labour and rosearch, will be sure to secure for Professor Goldschmidt the thanks of Sanskrit scholars for having so successfully acoumplished what may fairly be considered as one of the most difficult tasks in Indian philology.
R. R.
19 A counterpart of this figare may be seen in a plato in Raffles's Java (vol. II. p. 56), from & metal cast found near the mountain Dieng or Prabu.
15 We always refer to the originala: the plates, as already noted, not being quite trustworthy.
1. They can be bought in Nepal for Rs. 10 to 12.