Indian Antiquary Vol 58

Author(s): Richard Carnac Temple, Charles E A W Oldham, S Krishnaswami Aiyangar, Devadatta Ramkrishna Bhandarka
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 256

20
THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY
JANUARY, 1929
In that case all is clear. During the Pallava epoch the rain water flowed through the crevice. This cascade then represented the Ganges descending to the earth from the heights of Kailasa. On the rock Siva is seen giving an ear to the prayers of Bhagiratha. Thus the personage wbo has so long been mistaken for Arjuna is no other than Bhagiratha, and this grand aight must be called not 'Arjuna's penance, but' Bhagiratha's penance. 26
This authority, who is no other than my friend Prof. Jouveau. Dubreuil of Pondi. cherry, whose methodical work in this branch of Archäology has my sincere admiration, refuses to accept the popular designation of the relief and recognises that it represents Bhagiratha's penance.
The bas-relief has to be car fully examined alongside of the story of Arjuna's penance in the Mahabharata to accept or reject the popular name. The new suggestion has to be equally critically examined to establish a superior appropriaieneas. We shall prove by such an examination that the now prevalent name is the correct one, and the one suggested is hardly appropriate ; and, as a consequence, no further suggestion of a name is called for. The story of Arjuna's penance, as described in the Kairita sarga of the Mahabharata, is briefly as follows:
Arjuna, while in exile with his brothers and their wife Draujali was advised, as a measure of necessary preparation for the war then almost certain, to go to the Himalayas, perform a penance to the god Siva, and, by pleasing him. obtain from him the pihupata, the weapon characteristic of Siva, which, therefore, could be given only by him. Arjuna, went as directed and performed a long and severe penance. Siva was well pleased with the penance, which was of sufficient severity to make the gods feel perturbed as to consequences. All the same the weapon par excellence could not be conferred upon him without testing his Worth. For the purposes of this test Siva assumed the form of a hunter and went in pursuit of a boar, the form assumed by one of his attendants. The boar, as was intended, dashed into the sequestered glade of the forest, where Arjuna was rapt in contemplation in the course of his penance. The inrush of such an unwelcome intruder created such a disturbance about him that he opened his eyes and saw the wild boar. The instinct of the Kshatriya got the better of him ; he took up his bow and with a single arrow, shot from it, transfixed him as he thought. Simultaneously with his action the hunter, who came in the trail of his game, shot also and the dead beast showed the marks of both arrows. The huntsman and the hermit both claimed the honour of the chase and the possession of the quarry. The opposing claims ended in a combat in which they fought hand to hand. Finding in the course of it, the weapon that Arjuna cherished the most proved of no avail, and feeling his own strength ebbing away in the combat, Arjuna bethought him of what he had forgotten. His Kshatriya blood was up and he had forgotten, for the nonce, Siva. During the respite given for gaining breath, he set up a mud image of Siva and placed on its head a bunch of wild flowers which he had at hand. He was surprised to find the bunch on the head of his antagonist. Finding at once that he was fighting hand to hand with no other than the god Sira, he threw himself into the attitude of a penitent, who was determined to wipe out the guilt of this sacrilege by a severer penance thanany he had yet done. Then Siva shewed himself in his usual form to assure Arjuna that he was pleased with the valour he shewed in the combat, which he had brought on for the purpose of testing him. Śiva then asked him to state the boon that he would have. Arjuna, of course, demanded the gift of the pasupata, which Siva gave with pleasure and benignity 36
The whole of this story is exhibited in three tableaux in the bas-relief. The sculptor has chosen the characteristic incidents in the story; (1) the lower part exhibits Arjuna in penance, (2) the second exhibits the chase, the boar galloping away ahead while the other
26 Prof. G. Jouveau-Dubreuil's Pallara Antiquities, vol. I, pego 64. 20 Cantos 42 & 43, Book I, Kunbhakonam Edition.