________________
220
THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY
[AUGUST, 1918
describes himself as Parama Saura. The Solar cult which was once so wide-spread and has left such important archæological evidence of its influence cannot be called a "subsidiary' one, and there appears to be no proper foundation for the idea that at Konarak the Sun worship had flourished like a parasite on the ruins of a once popular Buddhist place of worship.
It is not the place to discuss the relative merits of the theories as to whether the Sun worship ultimately got merged or incorporated in Narayanic or Vaishnavic cultor in the Saivaicone, though certain facts are certainly in favour of the former supposition. It is worthy of note that at Vrindaban, one of the principal seats of modern Vaishnavism, Sun is even now worshipped in a temple on the tilâ of twelve Adityas, and at Muttra another sacred place of Vaishnavite pilgrimage there is a Sun temple on the Surya Ghat or Surya tirtha where according to Hindu belief Bali, the lord of the Pâtala regions, obtained from the Sun God the jewel Chintamani as a reward of the austerities practised by him. In the copper-plate grants of Keśava Sena, and Visvarûpa Sena (J ASB., Vol. LXV, Pt. I, p. 9), after the opening words Namo Nardyanaya THÌ ANTUZ (Salutation to Narayana ) occurs the sloka (vande Arabindabana-vândhabam-andhakara-kârânibaddhabhubanatrayamuktihelum ) T
a ha
ATTATHI Salutations to Thee Thou friend of the lotus plants and deliverer of the three worlds from the prison of darkness, &c. That the stanza is to be taken as referring only to the Sun God hardly requires any comment. In reference to the Martand temple is also mentioned the local name of Vishnu as the Sun God.' In popular parlance the Sun God is even to this day referred to in Bengal as Surya Narayana. A carved stone in the Indian Museum--known as Surya Narayana Sila-on the top of which is sculptured the lotus symbol of the Sun seems to bear convincing testimony to the union of the two tenets. At any rate, so far as Konarak iş concerned, there seems to have been no such clashing of rival Hindu sects and the claims now rashly advanced on behalf of Buddhism restricts the discussion to the actual influence, if any, exercised in this part of Orissa by the Buddhist faith alone. In the Arch. Survey reports there is no mention of any Buddhist remains found at Konarak. Nowhere on the temple do we find any representation of the characteristic Buddhist symbol of Tri-ratna. Messrs. Vincent Smith and Havell in their well-known works on Indian Art and Sculpture have made no observations on this point. Mr. R. D. Banerji, now Superintendent, Archæological Survey, Western Circle, who had on more than one occasion studied the Konarak remains on the spot declared to me that nothing Buddhistic has yet been found on the site in the course of excavations made by the officers of the Archäological Survey. Mr. M. Ganguly also maintains a discreet silence and does not commit himself to the views enunciated by Mr. Bishan Swarup.
As we have shown above the so-called evidence adduced in support of the proBuddhist theory is exceedingly unsatisfactory, as Dr. Rajendra Lala Mitra himself admits, 11 and so long as no new results of archaeological or epigraphical discoveries are forthcoming to corroborate such' statements no accurate or scientific writer should speak of Buddhism or Buddhistic influence in connection with the Konarak ruins.
13. The evidence available is certainly exceedingly magre and unsatisfactory, but without the & Bumption of previous sanctity and celebrity it becomes difficult to account for the selection of & seabeach for the dedication of so costly and magnificent a temple as the Black Pagoda" (Ant. Orissa, Vol II, p. 148). As regards the inaccessibility or loneliness of some of the wellknown sacred places of the Hindus, one is tempted to quote from the beautiful lay.sermon of Sir Rabindranath Tagore " What is Art ? " (Personality, p. 28-29 & 32), in justification of the selection of such beautiful sites.
