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Hindu Trinity from Central Asia

By

  Priyatosh Banerjee

In the Museum fur Indische Kunst, Berlin, there is an illustrated leaf, in somewhat damaged condition, of B Manichaean manuscript, which shows among other things, four Hindu deities on a decorated carpet. This illustrated leaf was found in Qoco, (Eastern Turkistan); and on stylistic and other grounds it is ascribable to c. eighth-ninth century A.D. It has been described  in detail by A. van Le Coq in his monu-mental work, Die Manichaneischen Miniaturen, pl. 8a, p.50. It has also been reproduced as frontispiece of the book, Painting of Central Asia, by Professor M. Bussagli.

All the four Hindu deities (pl. VIII), painted in flesh colour, are seated in kneeling posture, and they show a vigorous modelling. Of them, the one, in extreme left as already identified by Le Coq is Ga¸e¿a, whose individual representations have been found  in many parts of Central Asia. He has an elephant's trunk with two pointed tusks, and two prominent and vigorously drawn eyes. He is two-armed; the right hand is placed on the thigh and the left holds a bowl of golden colour. He is adorned with a necklace and armlets, also depicted  in the same colour. Again, he a  golden crown (of a Sassanian type) placed on  white turban with concentric lines in black.  There is a circular halo in green around  his head. He is clad in a green dhoti with a golden border, and has a blue uttar¢ya as upper garment.

The other Hindu deities of the panel, identified perhaps for the first time here, are Vish¸u, Brahm¡ and áiva, representing the Trim£rti. Vish¸u is shown here with a boar's head (having a decorated red border behind it) and this, as is well known, represents his Mah¡var¡ha aspect or hoar-incarnation.  In his Var¡ha incarnation he

rescued the Earth from below the water. The epics and the Prur¡¸as describe Vish¸u's feat as Mah¡var¡ha in highly poetic terms. The theme has found ample representation in the plastic art of both north and south India (for example, at Udaigiri and Eran, Madhya Pradesh; Mahabalipuram near Madras; Badami, Mysore; Kanauj, Uttar Pradesh, etc.).

As described in the text, the Mah¡var¡ha's head is shown here with fierce eyes and prominent white tusks. His left ear, open to view, is erect and the locks of his hair rise up in dishevelled manner. This poignant delineation testifies to the skill of the artist as well as his thorough acquaintance with the Indian religious traditions and literature.

Utkshipta-b¡laÅ khacharaÅ ka¶horaÅ

sat¡ vidhunvan khara-roma¿a-tvak/

   khur¡hat¡bhraÅ sita-damsh¶ra-iksha-

                                   jyotirbabh¡se bhagav¡n mah¢dhraÅ//

      Bh¡gavata Pur¡¸a (Gorakhpur Edition),

                                       verse 27, Chapter 13; skanda III

The lower part of the present Vish¸u figure, as his Var¡havatar is usually represented in art, is in human form. He wears a blue dhoti with golden border and has a green scarf round his neck. He is also provided with ornaments, such as a necklace and armlets in golden colour. He is two-armed; he holds in his left hand a vajra in dark green colour and his right hand hangs down on his knee. It may be noted that the vajra (thunderbolt) is not a usual attribute of Vish¸u; so its presence in the hand of Vish¸u in the panel is of great interest. Here he is perhaps looked upon as the chief of the Hindu Trinity in which case, as an all-God, he may possess any attributes, sarvaprahara¸¡yudha, as the Vish¸usahasr¡n¡ma describes him.

Next to Vish¸u, is shown Brahm¡ with a prominent black moustache and a flowing beard in blue. He has long blue hair brushed back, tied with a band of brownish colour. his halo is in pink colour. He seems to have a golden necklace round his neck. He has two hands; the right hand is raised, probably holding a lily, while the left holds a golden bowl as in the case of CaneSa. Further, like the latter, get the same kind of uttar¢ya and dhoti.

Brahmfi is called chaturZnana, four-faced, but his representation with a single head, as shown here, is also not rare in Indian art.

The last of the group is áiva (the left portion of the figure below the arm is, however, damaged and gone). His identity is well-established by the presence of the third eye on the forehead. His right hand is placed on the knee and in the left hand he holds a long sword. He is represented with a moustache (please compare the other áiva figures from Dandan-Uliq, and Balawaste, and Buddha and Bodhisattva figures from Kizil, Bezeklik, etc.). Further, he is shown also with a beard which is generally met with in Bhairava figures. He has black hair the curling locks of which fall on his cheeks and behind the shoulders. He wears an elaborate crown in golden colour on a white turban covering the head as is the case with the Ga¸¿a described above. Behind the head is a halo (a part of which alone is visible) in dull orange colour.

The deity is dressed in a jacket of red and blue colour, and is provided with ornaments including armlets, and a necklace, all shown in golden colour.

In spite of his beard and moustache, the figure has a feminine look, further enhanced by the long locks of hair on the cheeks and shoulders.

VIII. Detail of a Manichaean Miniature from Qoco, eighth-ninth century, Berlin Museum Collection, (After the frontispiece, Painting of Central Asia by Professor M. Bussagli)

The above discussion proves beyond doubt that the subject of the present panel is the Hindu Trinity or Trim£rti accompanied  by Ga¸e¿a. The Trim£rti to a Brahmanic conception is the manifestation of the supreme spirit in three forms, Brahm¡, Vish¸u and áiva. According to the original theory of Br¡hmanism, no one of these three ought to take precedence over the other two. They are equal and their functions are sometimes interchangeable, so that they may represent the supreme lord (Parame¿vara) and each may take the place of the other. The following hymns on Trim£rti in K¡kid¡sa's works are significant:

namastrim£rtaye tubhyam pr¡ksrish¶eÅ

keval¡tmane/

gu¸atraya-vibh¡g¡ya pa¿ch¡d-

bhedamupeyushe/

(Kum¡rasambhnva. II.4)

  namo vi¿vasrije p£rvam vi¿va

  tadanubibhrate/

  atha vi¿vasya saÆhartre tubhyaÆ

                              tredh¡sthit¡tmane/

     (Raghuvam¿a, X, 16)

In the early portions of the epics, Brahm¡ is assigned the highest place. But Vish¸u and áiva came into prominence gradually. Though Brahm¡ retained his nominal superiority throughout, the epics are mostly devoted to the praise of Vishnu and a.  As sectarian rivalries were very keen and strong between the followers of these two deities, attempts were made to reconcile their claims by declaring their essential unity or oneness. Addressing a hymn to Mah¡deva, Arjuna says: "Adoration be to áiva in the form of Vish¸u and Vish¸u in the form of áiva, the destroyer of Daksha's sacrifice, to Hari-Rudra." The S¡nti Parva narrates furious fight between Rudra and N¡r¡ya¸a. Brahm¡ came and dissuaded Rudra from fighting and asked him to propitiate N¡r¡ya¸a. Being praised by Rudra, N¡r¡aya¸a said to him, "He who knows thee knows me, he who follows thee loves me, there is no distinction between us, do not entertain any other idea."

This idea of Hari-Hara finally developed into Trim£rti as we find in the Harivam¿a. The following statement of M¡rka¸·eya, dwelling on the essential unity Brahm¡, Vish¸u and áiva is quoting: M¡rka¸·eya says: "I perceive no difference between áiva who exists in the form of Vish¸u and Vish¸u in the form of áiva... He who is Vishnu is Rudra; he who is Rudra is Pit¡mha; the substance (murti) is one, the gods are three, Rudra, Vish¸u and Pit¡maha..." (Muir, Original Sanskrh Texts, Vol. VI, pp. 236-238).

The conception of Trim£rti, thus envisaged, became instrumental in reconciling the sectarian differences of the neo-Br¡hmanic religions and responsible for the creation of a liberal monotheistic view-point which characterises so much the Indian religious thought.

The present panel shows the popularity of the worship of the Trim£rti in Central Asia during the early medieval period. To my knowledge, no other example of the present subject has been discovered as yet in this region. In fact, the Trim£rti panels of ancient and medieval periods are also rare in the Indo-Pakistan sub-continent. An example of the Trim£rti, however, is preserved in the Peshawar Museum, Peshawar, West Pakistan. The image in question was found in a small village mound of Charsadda, the ancient Pushkal¡vat¢. The central figure in this sculpture is áiva leaning against his vehicle, the bull; the head to the proper right is that of Vish¸u and the corresponding one to the other side is that of Brahms distinguished by his grisly beard. On stylistic grounds, it has been ascribed to the second century A.D. This example shows that the Trim£rti cult became popular as early as the Kush¡µa period.

Before we conclude we may refer to a few other interesting features of the present panel from Central Asia. Normally, in the Trim£rti panels Vish¸u is shown with a human head not with a head of the boar as seen here. Incidentally, this may also point to the popularity of the worship of Vish¸u as Var¡ha avat¡ra during the eighth-ninth centuries A.D. This seems to be corroborated by the fact that King Bhoja-dew (ninth century) who seems to have been a great devotee of Vish¸u issued a series of coins showing Vish¸u's Var¡ha avat¡ra with the legend ár¢mad-Ëdiv¡ha.

IX. Var¡ha, Bronze, late Pratihara, tenth-eleventh century A.D.

Further, as is well known, in the representation of Var¡ha avat¡ra of Vishr¸u, he is generally shown as raising the goddess, Prithv¢ (Earth) from below. But in the present panel from Central Asia the Earth goddess is conspicuous by her absence. It may be due to two facts. Firstly, the Var¡ha avatara of Vishnu is also depicted sometimes, though not very often, without the Earth goddess (as for example, the late Pratih¡ra Bronze Var¡ha of the National Museum, pl. IX); and secondly here in the Central Asian panel, the main stress is on the general role of Vish¸u as a member of the Trim£rti, rather than on Vish¸u's special exploits as boar incarnation.

Another important thing to notice in the panel is the presence of Ganesa. He does not seem to have any special role to play here. His presence can, however, be explained by his popularity as a god of success. In India also, he appears often with the m¡trik¡s and other deities as an auspicious god, without, however, any other special significance in relation to the main subject or theme of the panels.

Now to the left of the panel under consideration there appear some other figures (one of which alone is visible in the plate VIII) representing Manichaean deities described in detail by A. van Le Coq, as mentioned above.

Papers by Dr. Priyatosh Banerjee

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