Indian Art and Letters

Author(s): India Society
Publisher: India Society

Page 48

Archaeological Explorations in India, 1932-33 they had either been made on the spot by Javanese artists, or been brought over from Srivijaya or Java. Another Dutch scholar (Dr. A. J. Bernet Kempers) has already, on grounds of style, etc., shown this view of Dr. Bosch to be untenable, and the recent find in a monastery at Nalanda other than the one built at the request of the Sumatran king supplies further valuable proof of their having been manufactured by local metal-casters of Nalanda during the reign of the Pala kings of Bengal (A.D. 800-1000).
Other minor antiquities included some three thousand terra-cotta or un burnt clay objects, including miniature Chartya models (Fig. 6), seals, and seal impressions (Fig. 7). Among the latter two types are the commonest-viz., those seal impressions that were attached to letters and parcels and retain on their backs marks of string or tape with which they were secured, and those that were used as tokens or offerings to priests or temples. Of the former class those belonging to "community of the noble monks residing at the great monastery of Nalanda " are the most interesting. Personal seals include those of certain kings of the Gupta and other dynasties and one of the Pala king Devapaladeva, who flourished in the ninth century A.D. Another noteworthy object found was a large-sized die of iron, making the words “Sri Buddha." which was probably used for branding animals in the same way as bulls are branded in modern times with Siva's trident and other sacred symbols.
The great temple with its enclosing monastery at Paharpur in the Rajahahi district is the largest single monument brought to light by excavation anywhere in Eastern India; it is only a little smaller than the rectangular court around the great Step Pyramid at Saggara in Egypt. An interesting stone inscription of the late Buddhist period in Bengal which was found at Nalanda and published by Mr. N. G. Majumdar reveals the fact that a monk from Paharpur had made extensive donations for the construction and repair of religious edifices at that site and at Nalanda. One of the structures built by this monk at Paharpur was a temple of the Buddhist goddess Tara, and this temple has been brought back to view and conclusively identified with the help of a large number of terra-cotta plaques all impressed with eight-armed figures of that goddess.
Since Sir John Marshall's excavations of 1905-06, no systematic excavations had been carried out at Rajgir. Some small digging recently carried out has helped to ascertain the true character of an interesting structure, situated in the middle of this hill-girt city of Kasagarapura, as it was called in antiquity. When first exposed, this structure was believed to be a colossal linga constructed in imitation of a Buddhist stupa. The recent excavation has disclosed the existence on this site of two structures of different periods built one upon the other. The lower structure is a circular Saiva shrine of the Gupta 118