Viśvarūpa

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Vaikuṇṭha-Viśvarūpa Vol. III

D:REPORT.NW.BP+KASHMIR,1992/F:REPORT.NW

FELDFORSCHUNGSPROJEKT

AUGUST 1992 - September 1993

DFG-Az .: Ma 1069/3-1

Kennwort: Vaikuṇṭha-Viśvarūpa

Fortsetzung der Berichte an die D.F.G.

vom 30.06.1990 und vom 30.07.1992

Alle Rechte der Vervielfaltigung und Weiterverwendung des

Inhaltes dieses Kataloges sind dem Verfasser vorbehalten.

Copyright (c) T. S. Maxwell 1992, 1993

01. D.Ref.: ROHTAK JHAJJAR #0l-36

DREIKOPFIGER VIṢṆU

Stein: 79.25 x 46 x 17.6

4 Hande

Rohtak, Haryana (Gurukul Ashram, Jhajjar, Haryana).

01.1 DESCRIPTION:

The sculpture is in the private possession of Svami Omanand Sarasvati; it is not kept in the museum of the Gurukul Ashram, but in a locked chamber elsewhere. It was documented, along with other pieces of interest from a separate storeroom, with the permission of Swami Omanand and the cooperation of his staff. I was informed that the piece was recovered from Rohtak. A handwritten ink inscription on the back of the stele bears the name Gokarna and the date 16.11.65.

The sculpture consists of a rectangular stele with a half-paṅcaratha base and a semicircular top which is inset a few centimetres from the vertical sides. One of the earliest examples of the resulting hipped outline occurs in the 10th-century Viśvarūpa sculpture from Suhania at Gwalior (s. Bericht an die DFG vom 30.07.1990: S.I78-217, figs. 3, 12, 13). On the base stands a figure of Viṣṇu, 60.5 cm high, with flanking figures. The back is plain.

The Viṣṇu figure stands on a single lotus pedestal slightly ābhaṅga to the right, with the weight on the out-turned left foot. Body-ornaments include the long vanamālā reaching to below the knees, its surface bearing a continuous disk-and-diamond design; tassels on the thighs, suspended from the waistband: two necklaces of the Candella type, the shorter having long pendants, the longer curving inward at the centre of the chest and enclosing the śrīvatsa; a chunky kirīṭa with a broad flat top; and pendant ear-ornaments. From behind the right side of the head emerges a large profile of Narasiṃha; on the opposite side protrudes a smaller profile of the Varāha, of which the snout is broken, Behind the heads, the nimbus is formed by a large eight-petalled lotus, centred on the top of the crown. The upper right hand holds a large circular lotus blossom on a triple stalk, the upper left a large śaṅkha, upright. The two rear arms are lowered, and the hands rest on Gadādevī (right) and Cakrapuruṣa (left).

Between the feet of Viṣṇu, directly under the central clasp of the garland, Bhūdēvī emerges from the surface of the lotus pedestal. The goddess is apparently shown in the flying posture, her left knee bent and the toes of her foot merged into the base, her trailing right leg hidden, apart from the very top of the thigh, partly in the base and partly behind the right foot of Viṣṇu. The head is turned upward to the left. The right arm is stretched out horizontally to the side, resting on the instep of Viṣṇu's right foot, with the hand curled over its edge; the left arm is held stiffly downward at forty-five degrees, the hand turned and the fingers held under the arch of Viṣṇu's out-turned left foot. This diminutive image thus retains aspects of the Garuḍa figure (the flying posture), which can also appear in this position in North Indian sculpture, but is anatomically female and thus to be identified as the Earth Goddess, as in Kashmiri iconography. The location of this sculpture -- northwest of Delhi, between the Punjab plain at the foot of the Western Himalaya to the north and the desert regions of Rajasthan to the south -- accounts for the ambivalence in the depiction of this base-figure, which shows both Kashmiri and North Indian traits.

The two weapon-personifications stand on the pratibhadras to left and right of Viṣṇu. Gadādēvī (proper right) stands in an exaggerated ābhaṅga posture with the left hip thrown out, the right hand hanging loosely at the side, and the left raised to hold the handle of a cāmara, the top of which is hidden behind her head. The knurled top of the gadā; can be seen above her head. Her counterpart on the proper left is Cakrapuruṣa, standing in an equally exaggerated ābhaṅga to the right, left hand on his thigh, right raised to hold the cāmara-handle. A portion of the spoked cakra is visible between the handle and his face.

On the left and right bhadras of the base stand the two consorts of Viṣṇu. Lakṣmī stands on the proper left, behind Cakrapuruṣa, in a slight ābhaṅga posture with the right hip thrown out. Her left arm hangs down loosely, the right is raised to hold up the śaṅkha. On the proper right, behind Gadādēvī, stands an almost identical goddess; the object held in her raised left hand cannot be ascertained.

Four small figures appear on the left and right margins of the stele, each seated on a lotus, the stalk of which emerges from the surface of the stele immediately below it between two curling tendrils. Two of these figures appear at the level of Viṣṇu's heads, the lower two at the level of his waist.

The figure in the upper right position, beyond the Narasiṃha head, represents Brahmā, three-headed, his beard tied in a knot beneath his chin, wearing the upavīta, and seated in ardhaparyaṅkāsana on the curved top of the lotus. The right front hand is held in abhayamudrā, the front left supports the kamaṇḍalu. The rear right held a long object now damaged, presumably the large sacrificial ladle, and the rear left the manuscript. Behind the top of the pustaka appears an agnikuṇḍa, a small fire-place, presumably indicating the god's ritual function.

His counterpart on the proper left, beyond the Varāha-head, is Śiva, seated similarly on a lotus, his front hands identical to those of Brahmā.

The rear right hand holds the triśūla (damaged), and the rear left originally held up a snake, the details of which are obliterated, although its serpentine outline is preserved.

The figures in the middle of the two margins are human and virtually identical, being seated on smaller lotuses, facing toward Viṣṇu, with one leg loosely curved in front, and the other bent with the foot placed on the opposite thigh. Their heads are slightly bent forward over their hands, which are joined in the aṅjalimudrā. They have short matted hair conforming to the shape of the head, and appear to represent the mortal devotees of Viṣṇu who have attained a higher state of being, halfway between the earth (Bhūdēvī and heaven (Brahmā and Śiva).

The stele is pierced beside the figure of Viṣṇu, from the level of his upper arms down to his feet. The back of the stele is opened up behind this to form a rectangular opening in which the visible parts of Viṣṇu's anatomy and ornaments have been cursorily carved.

01.2 PRELIMINARY IDENTIFICATION:

The sculpture represents the form of Viṣṇu Vaikuṇṭha which resulted from the convergence of influences from the east (Candella kingdom in Central India) and from the northwest (Karkota kingdom in Kashmir, and the Kashmir-influenced regions of the Western Himalaya) on this boundary zone between the Punjab plain and northern Rajasthan. The dominant influence is Candella.

The image represents a late penetration of the Vaikuṇṭha concept from Central India into the southernmost extension of the Punjab plain, possibly within the territories of the Tomara kings, combined with some influence from the Northwest (Bhūdēvī), and it may be dated to the late 10th or early 11th century.

Nr. 01: Jhajjar

Gurukul Asram 

Visnu Vaikuntha, Rohtak Haryana

02. D.Ref.: KASMIR VK SPS(l) DEVSAR #0l-23

SIEBENKOPFIGER VIṢṆU

Bronze: 21.5 x 11.5

10 Hande

Devsar, Anantnag District, Kashmir (SPS): Figur an der Spitze eines Bronzerahmens.

02.1 DESCRIPTION:

This multi-headed image dominated a series of originally thirteen deities contained in circles, including ten preserved forms of Viṣṇu, on an arched framework (186 cm high) apparently intended to surround a large seated figure, now lost. Among the lower figures on the frame are two seated three-headed Viṣṇu Images, which are also dealt with in this Report (Nos. 3 and 4).

The iconography of this apical standing figure is basically that of Vaikuṇṭha, having the side-heads of the Nṛsiṃhā and Varāha, emergent

Bhūdēvī between the feet, two of the hands lowered on to the heads of Gadādēvī and Cakrapuruṣa, and the padma and śaṅkha held in the two front hands. The remaining six attributes have to be divided into three pairs. These are khaḍga and khaṭvāṅga, sruk and pustaka, and two disks representing the sun and moon.

The skull-staff, and presumably the sword opposite, refer to Śiva as decapitator of Brahmā; the three heads in human form above the Vaiṣṇava faces thus have to be considered as those of Śiva. This arrangement of the heads of Śiva (omitting the apical head of Īśāna placed above those of Viṣṇu accords with the description of Viśvarūpa in the Viṣṇudharmottarapurāṇa 3.83.3-4a:

ādau devasya kartavyāś catvāro vaiṣṇavā mukhā

teṣām upari kartavyās tathā māheśvarāḥ punāḥ

īśānavaktrahinās te yathā proktā mayā purā.

The ladle and manuscript in North Indian tradition refer to Brahmā, of course, but in this Kashmiri image they were transferred to Hayagrīva, as can be seen in the image of this deity in the 3rd position on the left side of the frame.

Hayagrīva there clearly takes over the conventional attributes of Brahmā, who is represented in a circle below, with Śēṣaśāyyin Viṣṇu, as a single-headed figure.

The mythology regarding horse-headed appearance of Viṣṇu (as Hayagrīva/Aśvagrīva/Turṅgamūrdhan) as rescuer of the Vedas and slayer of the demons Madhu and Kaiṭabha is depicted on the Devsar frame, where Śēṣaśāyyin and Hayagrīva appear in adjacent circles at the bottom left; this tradition originates in Kashmir, since reference is made to it in the Viṣṇudharmottarapurāṇa (3.80.5-6):

aśvagrīveṇa devenā purā vedāḥ samuddhṛtāḥ

vedā hṛtā dānavapuṅgavābhyāṃ rasātalād devāvareṇa tena

samuddhṛtā yādavavaṃśamukhya turaṅgamūrdhnā puruṣottamena.

Nevertheless, there may a degree of ambiguity in the identity of the three heads in the second row, above those of Viṣṇu. They might represent Brahmā, as well as Śiva, since the Viṣṇudharmottarapurāṇa, in its description of Viśvarūpa, states at 3.83.3b that the heads of Brahmā appear above those of Śiva:

teṣām upari kartavyā mukhā brāhmā yatheritāḥ.

The solar to belong to the iconography of Śiva in some Kashmiri bronzes (Pal 1975: nos. 6 and 7), while the two disks raised in both rear hands are known in a Śaiva goddess bronze from Himachal Pradesh (Pal 1976: no.91) and in the iconography of multiple Śiva even in Kuṣāṇa times at Musanagar and Rang Mahal (Maxwell 1988: pls.17 and 30). However, in the 3rd position on this side of the Devsar frame itself, these two disks are held by Hayagrīva, and there can be no doubt that here, like the ladle and manuscript, they refer to Hayagrīva, not Śiva.

The seventh head at the apex of this image is that of a horse, which can only refer to Hayagrīva, thus confirming the predominance of Viṣṇu in this image. The attributes of Hayagrīva held by this image are the ladle and manuscript, and the two disks. Hayagrīva is one of the apical figures in the multi-headed stone images of Viṣṇu Viśvarūpa produced in Gurjara-Pratihāra areas of North India as early as the 8th century (s. Bericht an die DFG vom 30.07.1990, S.172-177: Tumain): this suggests mutual iconographical influence between Madhya Pradesh and Kashmir in the 8th century.

The image (probably 10th century) has its closest Kashmiri parallel, and its most immediate prototype, in the eroded stone relief flanking the entrance to the 8th-century Martanda temple on the left (northern) wall of the maṇḍpa, opposite another representing multi-headed Śiva. It therefore belongs to a definite Kashmiri Hindu cult tradition which is represented in the archaeological record, however, only by the Martanda relief and this bronze image: further examples from the 8th-10th century period in Kashmir may therefore be expected to come to light in the course of time. The Martanda relief is dealt with below in this Report.

The icon is shown standing on a lotus base placed between two octagonal pillars, the wedge-shaped abaci of which support a trilobate arch crowned by an āmalaka. This is the typical Kashmiri temple entrance construct, So that the image is made to appear standing In the doorway of Its temple; North Indian Viśvarūpa images of the 10th/11th centuries (e.g. Suhania, Bhusawar) are also depicted in front of a temple doorframe, and this suggests that there was iconographical contact between certain schools of Vaiṣṇavism In northern Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Kashmir during that period. It is therefore possible that this image represents the Kashmiri version of the Viśvarūpa icon, though it is unlikely to have been known by that name in Kashmir.

02.2 PRELIMINARY IDENTIFICATION AND INTERPRETATION:

This is primarily an image of Viṣṇu, consisting of the combination of four-armed Vaikuṇṭha with four-armed Hayagrīva, to which the heads and the skull-staff of Śiva are added. It is thus not a syncretistic image in which Viṣṇu and Śiva are equally represented (Hari-Hara), but an augmentation of Viṣṇu through the incorporation into his iconography of the powers of the lesser god. The resultant magnified deity is not Vaikuṇṭha in the conventional Kashmiri Paṅcarātra sense, because the additional heads and attributes do not represent an interpretation of the Vaikuṇṭha form. It is closer to the Viśvarūpa concept: though its iconography does not conform to representations of this cosmic form as they were known in North India, it can only represent the Kashmiri equivalent of Viśvarūpa, particularly as the disposition of the heads corresponds to some extent with the Viṣṇudharmottarapurāṇa description of this supreme form.

The bronze frame (Pal 1975: No.11a) is usually dated to the 10th century on stylistic grounds. A certain degree of interaction between the kingdom of Kashmir and the rising Candella power in Central India at this time is indicated by the iconographical parallels between this Kashmiri image and Stone sculptures at Khajuraho. The sanctum of the Lakṣmaṇ temple at Khajuraho (AD 9541 contains a version of the Vaikuṇṭha image (s. Bericht an die DFG vom 30.07.1992: S96-113). Reliefs on the outer side of the sanctum walls there show Narasiṃha, Varāha, and Hayagrīva (not Kapila), while the large l0th/11th-century Vaikuṇṭha image in the Archaeological Museum at Khajuraho has the face of a horse, presumably representing the head of Hayagrīva, carved on the back. The importance accorded to Hayagrīva at Khajuraho is seen also in the Devsar frame, where Hayagrīva is shown holding the emblems of Brahmā: and his horse-head appears at the apex of the image of Para-Viṣṇu, which also holds the attributes of Brahmā (sruk and pustaka) that are transferred to Hayagrīva. Moreover, the Lakṣmaṇ temple inscription at Khajuraho explains the appearance of animal-faced

Vaikuṇṭha in terms of demon slaying, and the Devsar frame from Kashmir prominently depicts Viṣṇu as demon-slayer (in the fourth, seventh, ninth, and tenth circles, as Madhusūdana and Kaiṭabhajit, twice as Varāha, and as Narasiṃha). Not only the Vaikuṇṭha iconography, but also the Daityārāti mythology referred to in the Lakṣmaṇ temple inscription, which is unknown in North Indian Sanskrit literature, could thus have been derived from Kashmir. It may well have been a Kashmiri cult that was partly related to that represented by the Devsar bronze frame -- particularly by the Hayagrīva figure and this apical deity -- which was introduced into Khajuraho in the 10th century; it was not the conventional and older Kashmiri Vaiṣṇavism of the Pāṅcarātra Saṃhitās. 

Nr. 02: Devsar

SPS Srinagar

Visvarupa, Devsar, Anantnag Distt.., Kashmir

03. D.Ref.: KASMIR VK SPS(1) DEVSAR #24-29

DREIKOPFIGER VIṢṆU

Bronze: 15.5 x 12.5

4 Hande

Devsar, Anantnag District, Kashmir (SPS): Figur Nr.6 von unten an der linken Seite eines Bronzerahmens.

03.1 DESCRIPTION:

The implication of the archaeological evidence is that at least four varieties of the four-headed Viṣṇu image must have been created in the 9th century for the corner-shrines of the Avantisvāmin temple at Avantipura (Maxwell 1991: 115-125, The Royal Image of Vaikuṇṭha). This miniature bronze Viṣṇu, the 6th from the base on the left side of the Devsar frame, along with the adjacent 5th image, demonstrates that at least two different forms (or three, if the apical figure is taken into account) were known at the time this bronze was made (c.10th century).

The image shows Viṣṇu seated on a lotus base, left knee raised and right knee bent with the foot presented to the left Viṣṇu wears the long vanamālā, the upavīta, keyūras, a short pearl necklace, flower-shaped ear-ornaments, and the tripartite crown. The large profiles of the Nṛsiṃha fright) and the Varāha (left) emerge from the sides of the central head. In the raised rear hands, Viṣṇu holds the padma (right) some distance in front of the Nṛsiṃha Pace, and the śaṅkha immediately before the mouth of the Varāha face (left). The front right hand displayed a mudrā; the hand is broken. The front left arm is broken off at the elbow.

The figure kneeling with hands joined in the aṅjalimudrā at the left side of the lotus on which Viṣṇu sits, though damaged, is clearly female, and presumably represents Lakṣmaṇ the chief Śakti of Viṣṇu, possibly receiving the Vaiṣṇava teaching from the god (compare miniature image no.5 in this bronze: No.4 in this Report).

03.2 PRELIMINARY IDENTIFICATION:

There can be no doubt that this image represents either Vaikuṇṭha himself, enthroned and accompanied by his chief Śakti; or a variant form of Vaikuṇṭha whose precise identification, in the absence of one of the attributes and part of the mudrā, is impossible. The probability is however that it represents a conventional image of Vaikuṇṭha VIṢṆU seated at ease with his usual consort, Lakṣamī.

Nr. 03: Devsar

SPS Srinagar

Vaikuntha Visnu, Devsar, Anantnag Distt., Kashmir

04. D.Ref.: KASMIR VK SPS(1) DEVSAR #30-37

DREIKOPFIGER VIṢṆU

Bronze: 17 x 11.25

4 Hande

Devsar, Anantnag District, Kashmir (SPS): Figur Nr.5 von unten an der

linken Seite eines Bronzerahmens.

04.1 DESCRIPTION:

This miniature figure appears in the 5th position from the base on the left side of the Devsar bronze frame, immediately below the image no.3 in this Report.

In some ways it is the mirror image of the figure above it: it is here the left leg which is lowered, the foot of which is presented to the right; a kneeling figure appears here on the right edge of the base lotus. The body-ornaments of the Viṣṇu figure are the same, with the exception of the vanamālā, which is here omitted.

The rear right hand holds the padma in the same position, in front of the Nṛsiṃha face. The rear left, however, is raised to the Varāha face with the extended index finger placed on the snout just above the mouth, clearly in the maunamudrā signifying silence; this appears to signify the opposite of the meaning suggested by the other image, In which it is the śaṅkha, the trumpet-shell, which is held before the Boar's mouth. The front left arm is broken off at the elbow. The front right resting on the right knee is extended and the hand, in the varadamudrā or gesture of granting a boon, holds under the thumb a manuscript which is clearly being offered to the kneeling figure.

This small figure is male, with long hair piled up on the head and his eyes directed at the proffered manuscript. He has four arms. The two lower hands are joined in the worshipful aṅjalimudrā, as in the case of Lakṣmī in the image above, though here the gesture is directed at the manuscript. The raised rear right hand appears to hold an akṣamālā looped around the fingers; the rear left, also raised, appears to hold a short stick-like object (manuscript?). though this is more likely to be merely a thin supporting bar of the kind seen elsewhere in this bronze frame.

There is nothing in the iconography of this kneeling figure to indicate that it represents anthropomorphic Garuḍa. The figure is identical, in hairstyle, robe over the left shoulder, folds of the dhotī on the thighs, kneeling posture, and gesture of obeisance, to the two priestly or ascetic figures which flank the seven-headed Viṣṇu at the apex of the frame. Being a four-armed priest or ascetic, this figure could be identified as single-headed Brahmā, the apotheosis of the brahman priesthood, receiving the manuscript containing the Vaiṣṇava scriptures to replace the book of the Vedas, which Brahmā conventionally holds in his upper left hand. Indeed, the god Brahmā is shown as a single-headed and four-armed figure with the same hairstyle and a robe over the left shoulder in the miniature image of Śeṣasāyyin in the 2nd position on this side of the frame. If the iconography of these two figures in the 5th position does indeed represent the conversion of Brahmā to Kashmiri norms, this kneeling figure would be the representative of the new priesthood of Kashmiri Vaiṣṇava Brahmans (the 'Kashmiri Paṇḍits'). In the mythology of Kashmir Nīlamatapurāṇa,"the standard religious text of the Paṇḍits" - H. Sender, The Kashmiri Paṇḍits, Delhi, 1988: 6), the Kashmir brahmans are descended from the ṛṣi Kaśyapa, who is there said to have been instructed in the indigenous forms of Kashmiri religion (the Nāga cult) by the serpent Nīla; here, certain of the descendants of Kaśyapa, the Kashmiri Vaiṣṇava brahmans, represented by Brahmā, are shown being instructed instead, within the Vaiṣṇava cult, by Vaikuṇṭha, the Kashmiri Viṣṇu.

04.2 PRELIMINARY IDENTIFICATION

The image represents Vaikuṇṭha Viṣṇu as teacher, the role which he assumes in the Kashmiri Vaiṣṇava Saṃhitās, where the doctrine is taught by Viṣṇu Viṣvātman (=Vaikuṇṭha) to Nārada (Jayākhyasaṃhitā) or Śiva Ahirbudhnya (Ahirbudhnyasaṃhitā). The means of communication of the doctrine are the scriptures themselves, represented by the manuscript proffered in the god's right hand. The kneeling figure is the god BRAHMĀ, whose birth is shown below, is the Śeṣaśāyyin image, as apotheosis of the Kashmiri Vaiṣṇava priesthood, whose semi-divine representatives kneel the feet of Para-Viṣṇu at the apex of the frame.

Nr. 04: Devsar

SPS Srinagar

Vaikuntha, Devsar, Anantnag Dist., Kashmir

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