Indian Antiquary Vol 55

Author(s): Richard Carnac Temple, Stephen Meredyth Edwardes, Krishnaswami Aiyangar
Publisher: Swati Publications

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THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY
(FEBRUARY, 1916
concerned with the garrisons or fauj-i-qilajat, which manned the forts of the Panjab. The system of administering them seems in some respects to have approximated to the arrangements made by Sivāji in the seventeenth century for the Deccan hill-forts.
Mr. Sita Ram Kohli's third paper is well up to the standard set by the previous two, and will repay perusal by students of Sikh history.
S. M. EDWARDES. MEMOIRS OF THE ARCHEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF INDIA.
No. 16. The Temple of siva at Bhumara by R. D. BANERJI. Superintendent, Governmont Printing, Calcutta, 1924.
The tomple described in this Bulletin belongs to the Gupta period and is situated in the village of Bhumra or Bhumara, twelve miles west of Unchehra in the State of Nagod. Cunningham appears to have visited the spot in 1873-74 and there discovered en inscribed boundary pillar, of which the inscrip tion was edited by Fleet some years afterwards. Cunningham missed the temple, however, and it was not discovered till the beginning of 1920 by two officials of the Archäological Survey, Western Circle. According to Sir John Marshall, the temple belongs to the sixth century A.D., though Mr. Banerji is inclined to attribute it to the middlo of the fifth century. The description of the shrine prepared by Mr. Banerji is detailed and exhaustive, and the character of the building and its carvings and ornamentation are well portrayed in the seventeen photographic plates, which succeed the text. Some of the carvings are remarkable, and the Archeological department is to be congratulated on rescuing them from the jungle which has so long hidden them from view.
S. M. EDWARDES. CATALOGUE OF THE INDIAN COLLECTIONS IN THE MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS, Boston, by ANANDA K. COOMARASWAMY, D.Sc., Part Iv. Jaina Paintings and Manuscripte. Museum of Fino Arts, Boston, 1924.
This well-printed work opens with an Introduction by Mr. A. K. Coomaraswamy, in which he briefly describes the character of the Jains religion, the legends connected with Mahavira, P&rávanátha, and other protagonists of Jaina tradition, like KAlakacharya and Salibhadra, and the Jaina cosmology, literature, and painting. Many of the miniatures included in the catalogue are reproduced from MS. copies of the Kalpa Sutra, which Mr. Coomaraswamy believes to have been handed down in practically unaltered form from the fifth century A.D., though the oldest available MS. dates only from A.D. 1237. He argues from the identity of composition of the pictures in the Jaina M88. that the art of Jaina painting, as we meet it, clearly reprennts the survival of an old hieratic tradition, in which stories of the lives of the Jinwe had long been presented in accordance with familiar formule.
It is an art of pure draughtsmanship, or, as he puts it, "the drawing has the perfect oquilibrium of a mathematical equation, or a page of composer's score. Themo and formula compose an inseparable unity, text and pictures forma continuous relation of the same dogma in the same key." The book contains 39 plates of illustrations, very well reproduced, but the average roader would find it difficult to understand their significance without the exorllent explanatory Introduction which precedes them.
8. M. EDWARD . MEMOIRS OF THE ASIATIO SOCIETY OF BENGAL, 1924. 1. Plant and Animal Designs in Mural Decora
tion of an Uriya Village. 2. A Working Model of the Origin of the Ganges
in & Temple in Ganjam. 3. The Boats of the Gangee. 4. The Fishing Methods of the Ganges.
The first of these papers is by Dr. N. Annandalo and is & most useful production, as it illustrates a rustio art which is now fast disappearing. A valuable plan is also given of a composite house on the shores of the Chilka Lake. There is, however, no attempt to give anything beyond a mere account of the designs on the walls of the village houses, and perhaps it is not possible to say anything at prosent. There are excellent photographs attached to the paper by Babu D. N. Bagchi, a Brahman.
The next paper is also by Dr. N. Annandale with the assistance of Mahamahopadhyaya Haraprasad Shastri, and Mr. Percy Brown. The object of the paper is to describe a "little group of sculptures "in the village Kallikote near the Chilka Lake, relating to myths about the Ganges as a body of water. The sculptures are at the Temple of the Clear Springs (Nirmal Jabara), where advantage has been taken of a clear hill stream, in a country where such things are rare, to create a tank, ornament it, and surround it with legend in this case as to the origin of the Ganges. The legend is given in full and ex. plained by Haraprasad Shastri. The sculptures do not appear to be old and are beautifully illustrated.
The third paper by Mr. James Hornell is & valuable one and gives an account of the various kinds of boats sed on the Ganges, written with the peculiar knowledge possessed by the author. He begins with rafts and dug-out canoes, and then Passes on to planko-built boats, including all the familiar Varieties-passenger and fishing boate, large and small, rowing and racing skiffs, travelling houseboate, ceremonial bergee and cargo carriers. In fact the whole of the Ganges system of watercarriage passes before one in these fascinating pages
In the last paper Mr. Hornell is equally fascinating in his thoroughly well-informed account of the various methods of fishing in the Gangetio area, whether in the many ostuaries, lakee or in the river itself. It is well worth study.
R. C. Terle.