Agarchand Nahta Abhinandan Granth Part 2

Author(s): Dashrath Sharma
Publisher: Agarchand Nahta Abhinandan Granth Prakashan Samiti

Page 73

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 Kärttikeya. 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 (pāśa) in his right hand and not a lotus flower. The crescent mark is also absent. It probably represents Varuna, who is associated both with a noose and a swan. According to the Vishnu-dharmottara Purana, cited above, "Varuna even rides on a chariot driven by seven swans". More so, the entire grouping, in the upper portion of Kannauj relief, relates to the dikpālas, such as Indra on elephant, Vayu 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 Varuna riding on a swan likewise in the early Pratihära Kalyanasundara relief form Kämän (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 Pratihara sculptors had also associated a swan with Varuna, the prominent Dikpalas in early Indian art. Varuna, therefore, should not be confused with Chandra (Moon). Dr. K. C. Panigrahi (Archaeological Remains at Bhubaneshwar. 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 Ganesa, 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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