Underground Shrine Queens Stepwell Patan

Author(s): Jaikishandas Sadani
Publisher: B J Institute of Learning & Research

Page 15

Underground Shrine: Queen's step-well at Patan anywhere in the world. It presents a real panorama of life with all its weals and woes, transcending in a spiritual life of redemption through such magnificent sculptures on the panels and niches on the walls. Miss J. Jain, Neubaunes says, "The workmanship of the sculptures display a deep feeling for movement and naturalism." The sculptures in the panels and niches of Queen's step-well present over 500 sculpted Puranic episodes and literary lores prevalent in those days. They present a concrete symphony of beauty, full of grace, dignity and charm, which leaves the visitor spellbound. They reveal as it were, the epic poetry inscribed in visual form with delicate emotions of devotion and active dynamic action. They animate the hardness of stone. These sculptures set before us the vast drama of creation through myths, allegories, symbols and the popular lores presented by the superb insight of the ancient masters, leaving for posterity a most enviable and rich heritage of sublime art.
The sculptures of Queen's step-well deal with great ingenuity the religious fervour, thought and emotions expressed in Puranic Lores in a very original and evocative manner. Yet the artists gave expressions to the images within the parametres laid down by the canonical treatises on Indian Art, like Agni Purana, Matsya Purana, Aparajita Precha, Rūpamaṇḍana, Šilpa Ratna and others. It is precisely by these texts that we can understand the meaningful connotation of each icon.
The artists, as we all know, have a very sensitive feel for life and depict its multifarious activities with deep insight and aesthetic ethos. The temporal and the spiritual, the emotional and the reflective, the individual and the social, the indulgent house holders and the austere saints, the demons and gods, the maidens and goddesses, the birds, animals and reptiles, nine planets Nava-Grahas with their astronomical bearings, all embellish the walls of the step-well. These panels, as it were, sing the song of life, which touches the very core of human sensibility and ingenuity, such that the whole surrounding atmosphere is surcharged with the all pulsating vibrancy of life. Such is the serene spiritual candour that one is lifted to realms which point to human emancipation, freed from the shackles that bind man to worldly joys and sorrows.
The genius of the artists of the Queen's step-well is expressed in the beautiful icons, pointing to the fulfilment of man's life as he journeys on this beautiful earth. The aims of life envisioned by the thinkers of yore, the dharma, artha, kāma and mokṣa are well expressed in the series of sculptures. Dharma is the value based system regulating human life with religious and ethical sense for, Dharma is the law of our own being. It harmonizes progressive attainments of worldly prosperity and