Indian Antiquary Vol 62

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

Page 242

228
[DECEMBER 1933
THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY
NOTE ON A STONE IMAGE OF AGNI, THE GOD OF FIRE, IN THE POSSESSION
OF SIR ERIC GEDDES. BY J. PH. VOGEL, PH. D.
visām rājānam adbhutam adhyaksam dharmanām imam Agnim ile.-Ṛgveda VIII, 43, 24. "Of settled tribes the wondrous king, The warden of eternal laws,
Agni I praise."
In the summer of 1932 Sir John Marshall drew my attention to a piece of Indian sculp ture belonging to Sir Eric Geddes, and, with the owner's permission, afforded me a welcome opportunity to inspect the original, which is preserved at the latter's country seat, Albourne Place, near Hassocks. I here wish to record my indebtedness to Sir Eric Geddes for kindly allowing me to examine the sculpture in question and to make use of it for publication purposes. The excellent photograph reproduced here (Plate I) I also owe to his courtesy. The sculpture is here published for the first time.
According to the information kindly supplied by Sir Eric it must have been about the year 1898 that the sculpture was presented to him by the well-known numismatist, Mr. H. Nelson Wright, I.C.S. (ret.). Concerning the locality from which it originates, Mr. Wright has been good enough to supply me with the following particulars in a letter dated the 10th October 1932:
"I came across it when I was camping as joint Magistrate in the Sirathu and Manjhanpur "Tahsils of Allahabad District, in the cold weather of '94-'95 or '95-'96. I can't remember "the exact findspot, but think it was near Kara in Sirathu Tahsil, though it may have been "near Kosam (Kausambi) in Manjhanpur. I found it lying about in a village, and negotiated "for its purchase."
The circumstance that the sculpture apparently comes from Kosam or from a place near by adds greatly to its interest. Thanks to the researches of Rai Bahadur D. R. Sahni, the present Director-General of Archaeology in India, the identity of Kosam with the famous town of Kausambi, first proposed by Sir Alexander Cunningham, may now be considered as established.1 I presume that Kara in Sirathu tahsil is the fort of Kara, where the inscription was found which has contributed to the identification.
The stone sculpture, which on account of its style may be attributed to the 11th century represents Agni2, the Vedic God of Fire. The central figure is characterized as the Firegod by the oval of flames surrounding his head after the manner of a halo. The goat, too, standing on the right hand side of the figure, is the usual vehicle of the divinity in question. The god has a pointed beard, a moustache, elongated ears and a high head-dress, the matted. hair being gathered on the top of the head in the form of a top-knot (Sanskrit jala). This is still a well-known feature of ascetics in the India of to-day. He is dresssed in a single garment, the well-known Indian dhoti, which leaves the upper part of the body bare.
The abdominal development is another noticeable and rather conspicuous feature not uncommon among the gods of the Hindu pantheon. In connexion with such deities as Kubera, the god of wealth, and Ganesa, who is essentially a god of good luck, it is a characteristic requiring no further explanation. In the case of a god like Agni it is not so easy to explain. It may, however, be pointed out that, strange as it may seem, corpulency is sometimes associated in Indian iconography both with asceticism and wisdom.
1 Cf. Annual Bibliography of Indian Archaeology for the year 1926 (Leyden 1928), pp. 10-12.
2 Sanskrit agni(8) "fire", the same word as Latin ignis. The sculpture is made of grayish limestone. It measures 2 ft. 5 in. in height and 1 ft. 4 in. in width. The central figure is 1 ft. 9. in. high.