Indian Antiquary Vol 47

Author(s): Richard Carnac Temple, Devadatta Ramkrishna Bhandarkar
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 228

212
THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY
[ AUGUST, 1917
peculiar style of architecture and the subject of some of the principal decorative sculptures.
As regard traditions, as to the so-called Buddhist ceremonies, much has been made of the car-festival or Ratha Yatra, as already alluded to. Whatever may be the origin of this festival there is no doubt about the fact that the system of perambulation in cars and other conveyances appear to have been early adopted as an integral part of some of the Hindu observances.
In the Agni Purana, we find, even in connection with such a rather unimportant affair as the consecration of hand-written books or manuscripts that after the Pratisthâ ceremony the book is to be perambulated (apparently round the city or town) in cars or elephants Rathena hastind vâpi bhrâmayet pustakam naraiḥ.' (Vol. I, p. 186, chap. 63, v. 16, Biblioth. Indic.) Thus it would appear that mere perambulation or carrying to and fro in cars of an image or simulacrum cannot always be taken as a Buddhist observance-specially in a period when Buddhism had no longer any hold on the province.
In his otherwise excellent monograph on Konarak published under the authority of Government Mr. Bishan Swarup tries to make out a strong case in favour of the "Buddhistic" theory. The name Kona Kone or Kona Kona occurs in certain verses in the copper-plates of Narasimha Deva II (JASB., 1896, p. 251, and of Nrisimha Deva IV, (JASB., 1895) referred to above (Konâ Kone Kutir Kamachikara Dushya rashme ) कोणा कोण कुटिर कमचिकर टूष्ण रश्मे. The common sense inference from this is that the place was known at the time as Kona Kone or Kona and the word Konaraka means only the Arka or Sun God at Kona. This explanation (simple as it is) has met with the approval of so careful a scholar as Mr. V. A. Smith (History of Fine Art in India and Ceylon, p. 28, foot-note). Mr. Bishan Swarup, however, makes bold to assert that Konakona is an abbreviated or corrupted form of Kona Kamana or Kona Gamana, the name of one of the previous Buddhas (Konarka, p. 85). Whether phonetic decay can account for this change seems to be very much open to doubt, but when the ingenious author of Konarka proceeds to account for the last two syllables in Konaraka by bringing forward from the Sanskrit dictionary, Amarakosha (1, 1, 15), the word Arka Bandhu as one of the appellations of Buddha-one though convinced of the ingenuity of the explanation can hardly accept it as & correct or scientific statement of actual facts.
Then as regards the form, the temple looks like a huge car furnished with wheelsbeautifully sculptured in the plinth. There are still some remains of big stone horses, which Mr. Havell regards as splendid specimens of Indian sculpture. Any one acquainted with Indian iconography would admit that the Sun God is represented as being drawn by seven horses in a car driven by his charioteer Aruna. Though there is nothing to show that the number of these horses at Konarak were increased at any subsequent date, Mr. Bishan Swarup supposes--I do not know on what authority-that the number of horses in this car pagoda was originally four and was increased to seven at some later date (Konarka, p. 89). He was apparently thinking of some sculpture at Bodh-gaya, reference to which will be made in a subsequent part of the paper, wherein Apollo is said to be represented as being drawn in a car with a team of four horses,