The Archaeology of Sacred Spaces by Verma Mishra Susan; Ray Himanshu Prabha; & Himanshu Prabha Ray

Author:Verma Mishra, Susan; Ray, Himanshu Prabha; & Himanshu Prabha Ray [Susan Verma Mishra]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Taylor & Francis Group

Conclusion

Discussions of the various images found from different parts of the region demonstrate the diversity in religious forms and worship. It is evident that a study of religion minus these images would provide us with an incomplete picture. Only with the aid of the sculptures can one see that religious developments were not limited to regions around Saurashtra, which contains the architectural remains in the form of temples, vihara, stupas, and caityas. The religious developments in the region are to be viewed as heterogeneous and not as a single whole. While certain regions saw the iconographic development of certain deity/deities, other regions demonstrated a different pattern. In North Gujarat, the mātṛkās seemed to have been more popular, whereas images of Bhairava and Lakulisa were found mainly from South Gujarat.

While religious structures inform us only on a type of sacred site, a study of images reveals many more. Even though mention of different categories of sacred sites are to be found in the literary texts, these are not specific and are difficult to find on ground. It is here that the sculptural data come to our aid, as a study of these reveals that trees, wells and sites with terracotta offerings existed as sacred sites in the region. Stepwells as sacred sites become landmarks in the region by the medieval period, but their beginnings can be traced to the period under study. The stepwell at Dhank demonstrates this as not only are images found in their vicinity, but the wells also contain niches for the installation of deities.

As for Buddhism and Jainism, the complex developments taking place in the religion are demonstrated by the sculptural data. It is only with the aid of images that one can point to the existence of the worship of Bodhisattvas in parts of Gujarat, besides those with structural remains. As for Jainism, it is only sculptural data that corroborate the presence of the Jaina community in the region. The Akota hoard is important because it not only contains the earliest representations of certain images, such as Ambika, but also reveals developments in the religion as well. The images from the hoard make it evident that the female deities, such as Achchhupta, one of the Mahavidyas, and Sarasvati were also now being worshipped. Also that by this time, sixth–seventh centuries CE, yaksis such as Ambika had already gained independent status, though they were also being represented along with the Jinas. The Akota hoard contains the first few images of Ambika as being represented independently, and of Mahavidya Achchhupta, in the country, and hence, are the first sculptural evidence of the developed religious pantheon of the Jainas containing deities besides the Jinas.

Thus, sculptural data reveal much information where architectural data fail to provide clues. While the temples in the region of Saurashtra are relatively plain on the exterior and contain next to no images, the data from North and South Gujarat abounds in sculptural remains. It is these that reveal the complexities in the religions and the developments and changes they were witnessing over time.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.