Journal of Bengal Art, Vol. 25, 2020, 53-80
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UNPUBLISHED OR LITTLE KNOWN VIṢṆU VIŚVARŪPA
IMAGES FROM EASTERN INDIA
Claudine Bautze-Picron
One of the most enigmatic images produced in Eastern India between the 8th and 12th
centuries shows Viṣṇu as having more than four arms, with possibly more than one face, human
or animal, or a snake-hood protecting him. A particularly extensive corpus of 50 such images,
often showing the snake-hood and/or a dancing character in a medallion carved in the pedestal
immediately below the god has recently been the object of an in-depth paper by R.K.
Chattopadhyay, D. Acharya and G.J.R. Mevissen (2017).1 This group which has been well
identified by these authors is mainly distributed in the Purulia/Bankura region, with some more
images collected in North Bengal.
Some more images of the „Viṣṇu Viśvarūpa‟ type are also observed in various sites of
Eastern India, differing from the Purulia/Bankura group in not having the snake-hood above the
god and the Sudarśaṇacakra in the pedestal but relate to the type encountered in North and West
India and which has been mainly analysed by Thomas S. Maxwell in various studies. 2 These
images, broadly produced around 800 AD and at a later period, around the end of the 11th and in
the 12th centuries, do not, however, form a coherent group. Their iconographies show indeed
variations with respect to the numbers of arms and faces, to the nature of these faces, human or
animal, or to the depiction or not of deities on the back-slab.
Two such unpublished images were recently brought to my attention (Images 1-2) besides
a fine carving outlining the god on the wheel (Plates 4.16-4.17). These two sculptures, both
showing the twenty-armed god, chronologically frame the entire production of this intricate
iconography in West and North Bengal, thus marking the limits of the evolution of this
iconography in the region. As seen below, the first and earliest carving and the wheel are most
important in relating to the material from Purulia/Bankura. The second and later three-headed
image, most probably from North Bengal (Image 2), has an earlier counterpart located in the
Surya Mandir at Badgaon, Bihar (Image 9).
In this context, we should also reconsider the sculpture found in Vikrampur preserved in
the National Museum of Bangladesh previously published by Afroz Akmam in this journal
(Journal of Bengal Art) (Image 4) and which shows similarities with two outstanding images
located in Kushinagar district (Uttar Pradesh) which have practically remained unnoticed
(Images 5-6): the three of them share a detailed rendering of the world of gods on the back-slab
and can be dated in the 11th or 12th centuries. From an earlier period, late 8th/early 9th century,
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two further images from Bihar were analysed by Gerd Mevissen, also depicting this topic but in
a very different manner, with gods irradiating out of the central deity (Images 7-8). Similarly,
two other early images (Images 9-10) announce the later tall images in Kushinagar district
(Images 5-6) in showing heads of his main avatāras emerging on either side of Viṣṇu‟s face.
Image 1 (Plates 4.1-4.3):
This perfectly preserved carving which can be dated in the early 9th century and measures
around 80 cm in height shows the god accompanied by his two wives Lakṣmī and Sarasvatī,
respectively holding padma and vīṇā.3 His vāhana Garuḍa is depicted in the pedestal, kneeling
and with hands folded in the gesture of veneration, and facing a nāga also kneeling and
presenting a jar of abundance; both are carved in high relief on the flat surface covered by the
low-relief elegantly drawn leaves and
stalks of the three lotuses on which the god
and his wives stand. This fully adorned
lower part contrasts with the upper part
which has a large plain surface bearing two
divine flying figures offering garlands to
the god; both converge on either side of a
seated male figure who tops the whole
composition.
A row of flames runs along the edge
of the plain round slab which is cut around
the head and the body of the god: the open
space creates a three-dimensional image, a
feature often appearing in the imagery of
Viṣṇu, allowing his divine energy and
power to irradiate in all directions.4
Seated in a relaxed posture with legs
held in place by the yogapaṭṭaka, the
character sitting at the top of the image
calls for some attention: he holds a waterpot and a rosary, wears a jaṭā with an
element apparently emerging from the top
(perhaps a snake ?) and only basic pieces
Plate 4.1: Viṣṇu Viśvarūpa, Private collection.
of jewellery, and is apparently frowning
(Plate 4.2). His nimbus has clearly drawn leaves or petals, rests on the frame of a throne and is
similarly carved in an image of Viṣṇu preserved at the National Museum, New Delhi.5 His two
UNPUBLISHED OR LITTLE KNOWN VIṢṆU VIŚVARŪPA IMAGES
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attributes are those of the nāgas known to us from various images from Bihar:6 might we
recognize here Ananta/Śeṣa?
Plate 4.2: Viṣṇu Viśvarūpa, detail.
Plate 4.3: Viṣṇu Viśvarūpa, detail.
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Plate 4.4: Viṣṇu, Balurghat Museum, photo Shubha
Majumder.
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Plate 4.5: Viṣṇu Viśvarūpa, Private
collection.
The two characters seen in the pedestal, the nāga and Garuḍa, embody the antagonistic and
complementary elements of water and fire;7 the vāhana would preserve this position throughout
the centuries while the presentation of the jar of plenty would be made by Bhūdevī, thus
replacing the nāga. The snake-hood in the iconography of Bālarāma8 is assimilated in numerous
„Viṣṇu Viśvarūpa‟ images from Eastern India9 where it is most probably Śeṣa or Ananta, the
snake on which the god lies during his phases of cosmic sleep, thus reminding us that Balarāma
is associated with Ananta.10 The nāga in this lower position in the image might thus allude to
Ananta. Moreover, Viśvarūpa assimilates two major attributes of Balarāma, i.e., the musala
(pestle) and the lāṅgala (plough) which are displayed here in a predominant position, close to
the club and the disk (Plate 4.3), this reinforcing the suggestion that the figure topping the
composition would be Ananta in a human form before the snake-hood which characterizes him
becomes fully part of the Viśvarūpa image.
UNPUBLISHED OR LITTLE KNOWN VIṢṆU VIŚVARŪPA IMAGES
Plate 4.6: Viṣṇu Viśvarūpa, After Basu 1934.
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Plate 4.7: Viṣṇu Viśvarūpa, National Museum
of Bangladesh, photo Tommy Guo.
Ananta is in fact not only the place where the god lies but also the throne on which the god
sits, protecting him with his numerous heads and holding thus the function of a royal umbrella
in cave 3 at Badami or above the entrance of the Deogarh shrine.11 The topic is introduced in
Bihar and Bengal through early pre-9th-century carvings showing the standing or seated fourarmed god (Plate 4.4),12 and from then on it becomes part of the Viśvarūpa images more
particularly found in the Purulia/Bankura region but also isolated and dispersed throughout
Bihar and Bengal.13 It is beyond our scope here to detail the stylistic development which these
images reveal, and which is unfortunately all too often disregarded in favour of basic
iconographic identification, but detailed scrutiny of the images would bring out the dynamics
and creativity underlying the artistic production and enable a much more detailed overview of
the evolution.
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Plate 4.8: Viṣṇu Viśvarūpa, National Museum
of Bangladesh, photo Tommy Guo, Detail.
Plate 4.9: Viṣṇu Viśvarūpa, National Museum
of Bangladesh, photo Tommy Guo, Detail.
Plate 4.10: Viṣṇu Viśvarūpa, National Museum
of Bangladesh, photo Tommy Guo, Detail.
Plate 4.11a: Viṣṇu Viśvarūpa, National Museum
of Bangladesh, photo Tommy Guo, Detail.
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59
This sculpture belongs to a group
of 9 -century Viṣṇu images found in
various sites of North Bengal, all
sharing the wide openings in the backslab, a plain background, and the god
being attended by his two wives, for
instance.14 A slightly later image in this
group introduces the structure of the
throne behind the god, rows of pearls and
flames around the head opening – thus
introducing the nimbus as encountered
from now on.15 Three further images
belong to an even later period in this early
phase, having, among other features, a
much more richly adorned back-slab
covered by the throne and its animals and
possibly the monstrous face at the top of
the slab, with rows of pearls and flames
circling the opening of the nimbus, the
god wearing richer jewellery (girdle with
large pearled loops falling over the thighs,
multiplication of girdles).16
th
The present image is a rare example
of the god with twenty arms (Plate 4.3)
which spread around, each hand holding
an attribute clearly recognizable, with his
Plate 4.11b: Viṣṇu Viśvarūpa, National Museum of
four main hands presenting the classical
Bangladesh, photo Tommy Guo, Detail.
set of gadā and cakra in the upper right
and left hands, the varadamudrā adorned by the tiny lotus flower and the śaṅkha in the lower
right and left hands. Compared to all the other images mainly discovered in Bengal and of a later
period, we note the absence of the snake-hood, of the dancing Sudarśaṇacakra in a medallion
carved immediately under the god in the pedestal and of the tiny seated meditating male
character at the top of the carving, and indeed the fact that the god has only one face. Two
features distinguish the images from these other examples, i.e., the male character seated in a
relaxed posture above Viṣṇu and the image of the nāga facing Garuḍa in the pedestal.
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Sixteen arms spread around the original and central core of four hands, displaying the
following attributes in the right (R) and left (L) hands: ploughshare (lāṅgala) (R) / pestle
(musala) (L.): both attributes belong to Bālarāma; hook (aṅkuśa) (R) / shield (carman) (L);
sword (khaḍga) (R) / weapon with three points (śūla or paṭṭiśa (?))17 (L); spear (śakti) or javelin
(tomara) (?) (R) / hammer (mudgara) (L); round (fruit, earth) (bījapūra) (R) / bow (śārṅga) (L);
arrow (śara) (draws an arrow from the quiver which stands behind Lakṣmī) (R) / bell (ghaṇṭā,
piece of cloth held in the hand; the attribute as such is partly destroyed but its overall shape
suggests this identification) (L); vajra (R) / pāśa (L); and akṣamālā (R) / kamaṇḍalu (L).
Plate 4.12: Viṣṇu Viśvarūpa, National Museum of Plate 4.13: Viṣṇu Viśvarūpa, National Museum
Bangladesh, photo Tommy Guo, Detail.
of Bangladesh, photo Tommy Guo, Detail.
Viṣṇu Viśvarūpa is described as having twenty arms in the Agni-Purāṇa and the
Rūpamaṇḍana and the present image shares similarities with the attributes listed in two
descriptions,18 a significant difference lying in the fact that here the god has one face whereas
the two texts describe him with four faces – a feature which relates them to two stone carvings
from the 10th and 12th centuries, the later one being most probably from North Bengal (Image 2).
Twenty-armed images of the god are indeed rare: beside the two sculptures presently under
UNPUBLISHED OR LITTLE KNOWN VIṢṆU VIŚVARŪPA IMAGES
Plate 4.14: Viṣṇu Viśvarūpa, Shivasarya,
Kushinagar district, after Srivastava 1994.
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Plate 4.15: Viṣṇu Viśvarūpa, Shivasarya,
Kushinagar district, after Srivastava 1994.
survey (Images 1-2), one was found in the Dinajpur district and is preserved in the Varendra
Research Museum, Rajshahi, and one of unknown provenance is kept in the Rietberg Museum,
Zürich (both of the 9th-10th century ?) (Images 11-12). The Zürich image shows the god flanked
by his two wives and having the boar and lion heads attached to the central face whereas the
Rajshahi sculpture has the god accompanied by two portly seated attendants holding sword and
mallet and evidently serving as protectors – a feature which links the image to the
Purulia/Bankura group. Broadly speaking, Viśvarūpa images include various sets of attendants,
some of them remaining unidentified in the present state of research.19
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Plate 4.16: Sudarśaṇacakra, obverse, Private
collection.
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Plate 4.17: Sudarśaṇacakra, reverse, Private
collection.
Image 2 (Plate 4.5):
A 12th-century highly elaborate carving was most probably produced in North Bengal; it is
now in a private collection, and unfortunately the picture at our disposal does not allow for
detailed study of the attributes displayed.20 It shows the deity with twenty arms and three faces,
attended by the Āyudhapuruṣas of the conch and disk to the proper left and right sides.
Image 3 (Plate 4.6):
Basu 1934, p. 638. The whereabouts of this fragment found in the region of Vikrampur
remain unknown. The god simultaneously shows similarities with the standing three -faced
image considered above and the imposing sculpture from Vikrampur today preserved in the
National Museum of Bangladesh (see below). Stylistic elements link it to the production in
North Bengal (Plate 4.5), such as the monstrous face, the flying semi-divine figure offering
a garland, the head-dress and the jewellery worn by the god, but the short upavīta relates it
to the art of South Bengal. Furthermore, this Viśvarūpa image compares to the previous
image with its three faces and the absence of any set of deities introduced in the upper
surviving part.
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Image 4 (Plates 4.7-4.13):
Discovered in the Amloha Dighi at
Chandantala (Vikrampur area). National
Museum of Bangladesh inv. 98.529, 142
68 cm. See: Akmam 1999, pp. 470-474;
Mevissen 2008, p. 133, 2010, p. 258,
Chattopadhyay et alii 2017, p. 192.21 This
image shows the god richly adorned with
jewellery carved with artistry, and having
eighteen arms. Six standing attendants
and two mounted on an animal are
distributed in the lower part; four-handed
Brahmā seated with his haṃsa and twohanded ithyphallic Śiva are, carved
immediately above him. A floral (?)
element crowns the image. The back slab
is entirely covered with a series of rows
where various sets of deities can be
recognized whereas avatāras are depicted
as if emerging out of the nimbus (Plates
4.8-4.9); starting from the left (for the
viewer) lower corner, we see: Matsya,
Varāha, Narasiṃha, Vāmana, Paraśurāma,
Plate 4.18: Viṣṇu, Archaeological Museum,
and coming down from the right (for the
Mathura inv. D95, after Vogel 1910.
viewer) upper corner: Rāma holding
arrow and bow, Balarāma protected by the snake-hood, the Buddha, four-armed, apparently
holding club and disk and displaying the dharmacakrapravartanamudrā, Kalkin and Kūrma.
The entire surface of the back-slab from the god‟s shoulders upwards is covered with rows of
groups of deities:
To the viewer’s left, from top to bottom:
- group of four or five seated pot-bellied male characters seated to the proper right of Śiva,
perhaps the four Manus who are mentioned in the very same verse as the seven Ṛṣis in the
Bhagavad Gitā (BG) 10.6;22
- Navagraha on two rows, with a horse profiled next to Sūrya;23 a male character stands to
the right side of each of the rows (worshipping; pot-bellied and holding, possibly, a pot);
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Plate 4.19: Saptaṛṣis, Private collection.
- Gaṇeśa, Śiva and Pārvatī seated on the bull, Skanda seated on his peacock, and walking
in front of them: the skinny Bhṛṅgin and a pot-bellied character, possibly Mahākāla (holding the
kapāla) or Kuṣmāṇḍa;24
- Seven Mothers;
- Five male characters, one holding a sword and four showing the varadamudrā and
holding a bowl (?), the last one with the right hand on a club (?) (the Pāṇḍavas?);
- Three male characters wearing a jaṭāmukuṭa and holding a triśūla: they probably form a
group with the seven identical deities seen to the left of the god distributed over two rows,
together forming thus the group of the ten Rudras;25
- In the lower part of the back-slab, right above the attendants, we observe eight male
characters distributed on three rows, each showing the varadamudrā and holding a small jar
(Plate 4.10); possibly the eight Vasus (BG 10.23)?26
To the viewer’s right, from top to bottom:
- Seven Ṛṣis with four cows distributed over two rows (BG 10.6);27
- Six standing female characters and Indra with Indraṇī on his elephant; they are most
probably the Kṛttikās,28 wives of six of the Ṛṣis depicted right above them;
- Four standing male characters playing music (Gandharvas?) (BG 11.22);29
- Twelve Ādityas distributed over two rows (BG 11.6 & 22);30
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- Seven depictions of Vāyu, with the wind blowing into the shawl around their head; six
are standing, one sits on his vāhana, the ram and might refer to his function as a Dikpāla;31
- Seven male characters with jaṭāmukuṭa distributed over two rows, each holding a triśūla;
they most probably form a group with the three identical figures seen on the left side and might
possibly be the ten Rudras (BG 11.6 & 22);32
- A further male character holding a sword stands below them at the edge of the slab;
- To our right, a group of three male and female characters sitting or standing is
symmetrical to the group of the eight male characters seen at our left (Plate 4.11). They pay
homage to Viśvarūpa but obviously cannot be human devotees: the couple of donors is correctly
introduced in the pedestal. The central figure, taller than the other two, might be Viśvakarman
holding a hammer-like attribute in his right hand and a second unrecognized attribute in his left
hand; the divine architect had been commissioned by Kṛṣṇa “to build a new city in the sea
…[which was] done in one night, the city is called Dwarka”,33 and, closer to Bengal, he is also
held as the artist having carved the image of Jagannātha:34 his presence would thus not be out of
context here. Could, then, the woman above him and venerating the god be his mother
Yogasiddhā, wife of Prabhāsa, the eighth Vasu and thus part of the group which we suggest
identifying to our left?35 Might the standing character below him be one of his helpers, perhaps
holding tongs?
In the lower part of the composition (Plates 4.10-4.11), we recognize, close to the god, his
two wives Lakṣmī and Sarasvatī, each of them presenting her distinctive attribute, the padma or
the vīṇā. Two male characters stand behind them, probably Pradyumna holding a bow36 behind
Lakṣmī and Saṅkarṣaṇa, behind Sarasvatī, protected by his snake-hood and holding the cup of
wine and the plough in his left hands while displaying two mudrās with his right hands – one
being hidden behind the vīṇā. The presence of Lakṣmī and Sarasvatī in this context takes us to
another level of interpretations: Śrī is identified as the śakti of Saṅkarṣaṇa and Sarasvatī as the
śakti of Pradyumna according to the Pāñcarātra.37 Pre-Pāla images show the god accompanied
by the Gadādevī Kaumodakī and Sudarśaṇacakra standing to his proper right and left sides;
when the goddess holds a lotus, her image makes the transition to identification as Lakṣmī
which will be fully assumed when Sarasvatī replaces Sudarśaṇacakra.38 A major rule in the
composition of images is then applied, i.e., establishing the vertical symmetry, with two
goddesses standing close to the god and two male āyudhapuruṣas placed behind them: for, when
considering iconography, we should not lose sight of the fundamental importance of the visual
impact.39 In fact, this iconographic transformation of the image illustrates a radical modification
in the perception of the deity, no longer the armed royal Viṣṇu, but Kṛṣṇa Vāsudeva.
Two further smaller male characters stand to the left and right here: similar figures are
observed behind the two wives in the „classical‟ Viṣṇu iconography, where they can be
identified with the āyudhapuruṣas of the conch and disk, but this is apparently not the case here,
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for the figure behind Saṅkarṣaṇa rests his left hand on a club-like attribute, which might indicate
that it is Sāmba who is depicted here, since he holds a club as mentioned in the Bṛhat Saṃhitā,
and the same verse mentions that Pradyumna holds bow and arrows.40 This pair constituted by
Pradyumna and Sāmba had already been observed by Marie-Thérèse de Mallmann when
studying an image from Madhya Pradesh today preserved in the British Museum. 41 Only
Aniruddha remains then to be recognized in the character standing behind Pradyumna to our left.
Finally, this group of seven deities is flanked by Yama riding his water buffalo behind
them to our left and Nairṛta on an emaciated human being in front of them in the right corner.
Both are Dikpālas flanking the central deity and his attendants who face East.42
In the pedestal, Garuḍa is carved in the lower left corner of the pedestal, symmetrical to the
pair of devotees kneeling in the lower right corner and to a male character who holds a sword
and appears to threaten an ascetic seated in the corner (Plates 4.10-4.11). Six nāgas are
distributed on either side of the lotus stalk supporting the god, all with animal tails and wearing
a single snake-hood while venerating the god with hands folded together; while this number
„six‟ might be a reference to the six directions of space, their position refers to the eternal ocean
on which the god is lying during his cosmic sleep; hence, altogether they might indicate the
presence of Ananta, the infinite serpent on whom the god then lies. These nāgas can also be
those of the lowest world under the earth where a special place is inhabited by Ananta, also
named Ādiśeṣa or Saṅkarṣaṇa.43
The god presents in his eighteen hands the following attributes: the four main hands
present the classical display of gadā and cakra in the upper right and left hands whereas the two
lower and now broken off hands most probably had the śaṅkha in the lower left hand while
displaying the varadamudrā with the lower right hand. Other hands hold: pestle (musala) (R) /
ploughshare (lāṅgala) (L) (both referring to Balarāma); ritual spoon (sruk/sruva)44 (R) / flower
(utpala?) (L); sword (khaḍga) (R) / shield (L); stalk lotus (padma) with the flower blossoming
above the right shoulder (R) / jar (L); arrow (R) / bow (L); drawing an arrow (śara) from the
quiver which stands behind (R) /a flower (?) (L); akṣamālā (R) /kamaṇḍalu (L) (Plates 4.12-4.13).
Image 5 (Plate 4.14):
Located in a garden at Shivasarya, Kushinagar district, Uttar Pradesh. 235
130 cm.
nd
Srivastava 1994, p. 206 and 2 figure after p. 208; Srivastava 2011, figs. 27a-b & pp. 59-65;
Mevissen 2012, p. 108. My observations on this image and the following one are based on the
illustrations provided by Srivastava and Srivastava; the illustrations in A. L. Srivastava‟s
publication were also partly reproduced from O.P.L. Srivastava‟s article.
We should not be surprised to discover such imposing images in this part of Uttar Pradesh
where 11th-12th-century sculptures of the god clearly belonging to the school of sculpture which
blossomed in Bihar and Bengal have been discovered up to Ghorakpur and Varanasi.45
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The god shows his lion and boar faces on either side of his central human face. The four
main arms of the god, now destroyed, held the club, disk and conch while the fourth (lower
right) hand most probably displayed the varadamudrā; Viṣṇu holds bow and arrow, shield and
sword in the four intermediary hands.
Large-sized Lakṣmī and Sarasvatī stand on either side of the god whom a couple of nāgas
arising from below the lotus venerate. Two male characters stand at the extremities of this
group: to our left, the first one holds the quiver from which the god draws the small arrow held
in one of his right hands, and to our right, the second one might be Sudarśaṇa if the circular
element supported by his head is indeed the wheel.
The three-faced, pot-bellied and four-armed god at the top is Brahmā flanked by two
ascetics. Rows of deities cover the back-slab below them; going downwards, we see the seven
Ṛṣis; the Navagrahas; the eleven Rudras and twelve Ādityas standing in one single row; fourteen
deities seated on elephants and being most probably the fourteen Indras ruling during the
fourteen Manvantaras;46 the eight bull-headed Vasus being distributed in two groups of four
each, one standing to the proper left of Viṣṇu‟s heads and one to his proper right; a first group of
four Dikpālas sit below this second group of Vasus, their sequence continuing to the proper left
of the god together with a group of three musicians and dancer. Moreover, Śiva playing vīṇā is
seen together with Skanda and Gaṇeśa at the extremity of the row showing the Ādityas and the
horse-headed Tumburu plays music in the opposite corner.
Image 6 (Plate 4.15):
Ujarnath, mound at Sapahi Khas, Kushinagar district, Uttar Pradesh. 215 108 cm. See:
Srivastava 1994, p. 207 and 3rd figure after p. 208; Srivastava 2011, pp. 65-70 & fig. 28. The
artists who carved the second sculpture studied by Srivastava might have been inspired by an
earlier depiction of Viśvarūpa.47 The eight-armed god stands in an elegant stance, holding the
sword, the club, drawing an arrow from the quiver to his right, presenting the bow, the conch,
and one hand placed on the hip to his left. The fourth left and right hands, now broken, probably
held the disk and the shield. Four avatāras heads emerge from behind his shoulders and his face.
The lower part of the carving shows his attendants, i.e., a female character holding the
quiver and a male attendant, most probably an Āyudhapuruṣa, and two nāginīs depicted as
emerging out of the pedestal between them and the god. The back-slab is fully covered with
depictions of deities whose identification remains very difficult, if not impossible, in the
available pictures. The artists preserved the classical composition with couples of semi-divine
figures flying on their clouds in the upper part and flanking the nimbus, and with the topic of the
royal throne showing the leogryph roaring above the elephant at the level of the god‟s body:
quite exceptionally, this motif is depicted only to the proper right side, the left one being
covered by the bow. The pot-bellied and three-faced figure at the top of the image is most
probably Brahmā flanked by four seated figures (the Vedas ?).48 A. L. Srivastava identified the
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eleven Rudras distributed at various places (either side of the head, below the bow), but there are
numerous further small images which are distributed, at random so it seems, in empty spaces
around the attending characters.49
Image 7: National Museum of Nepal, 57
sculpture.
34 cm. See: Mevissen 2008 for a study of the
Image 8: Morimaya, Bihar. Private collection, Patna. 84
12 & pp. 133-134 (with further references).
40.5 cm. See: Mevissen 2008, fig.
Image 9: Badgaon, Bihar, Bautze-Picron 1994, fig. 1; Maxwell 1998, pl. 2.5 & pp. 68-70;
Chattopadhyay et alii 2017, p. 192 & note 65 for further references.
Image 10: Panchbethair in Tangail district, North of Dhaka. Dhaka, National Museum of
Bangladesh inv. 80.509. 52 27 cm. See: Bhattacharya 1992; Maxwell 1998, pl. 2.6 & pp. 7173; Mevissen Chattopadhyay et alii 2017, p. 191 & note 64 with numerous references.
Image 11: Unknown origin, now: Museum Rietberg, Zürich. See: Bautze-Picron 1994, fig. 2 &
p. 155 note 68; Chattopadhyay et alii 2017, p. 192.
Image 12: Varendra Research Museum, Rajshahi. See: Chattopadhyay et alii 2017, p. 191 and
footnote 63 for further references.
Sudarśaṇacakra (Plates 4.16-4.17):
A very fine carving of a wheel recently came to my attention, probably produced in West
Bengal around the 10th century. The wheel has eight spikes which emerge from the hub adorned
with a lotus flower as seen on the rear and pierce the rim which is enhanced on the front part
with a row of deep-cut flames. The wheel rests on a lotus seat which extends into a triangular
tenon. A small devotee offers a garland of flowers, kneeling at the feet of the dancing god. The
eight-armed deity is fully armed, left and right, with bow and arrow, heavy club and aṅkuśa,
showing a mudrā (thumb touching the middle finger) in front of the breast and holding the vajra,
with the fourth pair of hands joined over his head and holding a second vajra (the lower part of
the attribute being hidden by the hands, definite identification is impossible).
This particular form of Viṣṇu as Sudarśaṇa resides “in the axle (of the disc)”50 and can
have eight or sixteen arms depending on the danger faced by the worshippers as described in
texts.51 Most images are double-faced with the deity depicted on either side and the wheel
carved between them; early 6th-century depictions show him with two arms and reflect an
iconography „in the making‟. The deity stands in a very peaceful manner, with one hand on his
hip in the earliest example found in the Murshidabad district, wearing the heavy skirt as
observed in the art of Bengal; two similar carvings were found south of the royal and Vaiṣṇava
site of Aphsad, depicting the deity as a young man dancing in a very dynamic manner and
adorned with a necklace of tiger claws, hair braided in thick locks falling to his back. A further
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example from Bodhgaya is similar to the Aphsad carvings.52 These 6th-and 7th-century examples
form a unique early cluster, while later depictions of Sudarśaṇacakra date from the 10th century
onwards and originate from Bengal.53 These images depict the god as four, six or eight-armed;
they share features such as two hands clasped above the head or legs bowed in a typical dance
position, but also display peculiarities, such as the vajra held in the clasped hands in the present
case or the god mounted on Garuḍa.
Two of these images were found in the Bankura district, thus in a region which proves to
have been a major centre where this very specific form of the multi-armed Viṣṇu – often
protected by a snake-hood, accompanied by male attendants and with the medallion of
Sudarśaṇacakra carved in the pedestal has been celebrated. Let us remember that the pedestal is
the „human‟ zone of the carving, the place where humans worship their deities54 and thus also
the place where he can show himself to his worshippers in the form of his cakra, a war weapon,
when, as recalled by the texts mentioned above, these devotees are facing danger and call him to
their rescue. Whether the three-dimensional wheels have eight or twelve spikes, this mere
number confirms its universality and when carved in the pedestal, the disk thus transfers to the
human level the universal power of the god depicted above in his multi-armed form.
Conclusion:
Whereas the most „classical‟ image of Viṣṇu in Eastern India shows him four-handed and
with a very specific group of attendants,55 we observe the presence of a particular form of the
god in Western Bengal, and more particularly in the districts of Bankura and Purulia from where
it spread to other parts of Bengal. Here the god, often having more than four arms, may be
protected by a snake-hood attached to his shoulders, with possible depiction of a dancing figure
in a medallion carved in the pedestal and with the miniaturized attributes placed on lotuses.56
But none of the images examined here, from North Bengal and Vikrampur, fits into this group.
The three-headed image from North Bengal has an earlier counterpart located in the Surya
Mandir at Badgaon, Bihar (Image 9). Another form of the multi-headed Viṣṇu found at
Panchbethair in Tangail district, North of Dhaka, shows him with the heads of his main avatāras
emerging on either side of his face (Image 10). An image most probably from the region of
Gaya, but now preserved in Kathmandu, presents the sets of eight Grahas and eight Lokapālas
forming a bow along the upper edge of the sculpture, but they are not to be seen here as parts of
the central god; they emerge behind clouds and look down at the deity, just as they do in other
iconographic topics (Image 7).57 As a matter of fact, images of Vaikuṇṭha and Viśvarūpa are
rare, which might explain why, when comparing them with other representations from other
regions, disparities are very frequent. The textual descriptions offer a literary iconography which
runs parallel to the visual one and likewise show differences amongst themselves.58
Even though their iconography isolates them from all other depictions of the god, they
emerge within a context which has to be taken into consideration in order to account for their
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existence.59 As mentioned above, a very specific form of the god was worshiped in West Bengal
and the first image studied here might be a predecessor to this group; similarly, the medallion
published here also relates to the region of Purulia/Bankura.
As to the image found in the Vikrampur area and unique as far as the Viṣṇu iconography is
concerned in Bengal, it is none the less consistent with the religious iconography that emerged
in the region in the 11th and 12th centuries: images of the four-armed god most often include
depiction of the series of ten avatāras distributed all around the central deity, while Sūrya
images may display the Ādityas and the Navagrahas, and sets of Aṣṭadikpālas and Navagrahas
can also be integrated in various forms of Śiva,60 while Śaiva images may include a set of five
deities distributed in the upper part of the back slab (Skanda, Gaṇeśa, Viṣṇu, Brahmā, the bull or
Śiva, for instance). We can surmise that behind this accumulation of sets of „smaller‟ deities, a
unique idea of displaying the entire universe in a single image must have prevailed: around the
central god, forms of himself are distributed as if emanating out of the central axis in a
centrifugal movement, while the integration of these sets could be seen in terms of all the
deities being assimilated in the world of the main god by a centripetal force. A similar tendency
is encountered in Buddhist iconography with the production of highly elaborate images of the
Buddha: seen at Bodhgaya in the central image, the other seven „great‟ events of his life are
distributed all around, while further events are illustrated in the pedestal, the seven Buddhas of
the past together with Maitreya crown the composition and the full group of Hindu deities
(Viṣṇu, Śiva, Durgā, Dikpālas, etc.) form Māra‟s army attacking the Buddha,61 clearly
displaying here an image with political bearing – and the Brahmanical images mentioned above
could also be perceived as affirming the fundamental stronghold of the temple in the region.
Better than any other depiction of Viśvarūpa in the region, this sculpture presents the god as
ruling over the entire pantheon, being present behind any deity, but also as encompassing the
entire physical universe referred to by some sets of deities: the nāgas in the pedestal being those
of the lowest of the seven levels under the earth, the seven Vāyus being most probably the winds
animating the seven upper levels. In a very refined manner also, the artists carved the initial
avatāras of the fish and the tortoise, both making reference to the water, on either side of the
lower part of the nimbus, thus presented as if sustaining the other eight ones who emerge out of
the nimbus above them.
While recognising the uniqueness of this sculpture in the context where it was found we
should not lose sight of the fact that it compares to similar images found in other sites of North
India, outside Bihar, Bengal and East Uttar Pradesh, and that it relates to the extremely
elaborate images of Viṣṇu Vāsudeva and the four emanations which were created at an early
date in Mathura from where this concept migrated to West India, turning into Viśvarūpa. 62
Two images from Bihar, dating back to the 8 th and early 9th century, include sets of gods like
the Lokapālas, the Grahas or the Ādityas, 63 the first two groups often being encountered in
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various other iconographies, but the present image includes the full pantheon and sets of
deities and characters which are mentioned in the Bhagavad Gitā by Kṛṣṇa revealing himself
as being present in every other deity. Mathura had remained a major centre related to the god,
and we cannot rule out the possibility that the depiction of the god as presented here, with the
full pantheon carved around him and most probably the members of the Vṛṣṇi clan flanking
him, might indicate a link to the holy city – suffice it here to mention the discovery of a stela
from South Bengal at Brindavan (Plate 4.18).64
Such images, outstanding as they may be, should, however, be considered within the
broader context of the cult paid to Viṣṇu which held a major position throughout the centuries in
Bihar and Bengal. The iconography of the god is indeed rich and displays many aspects which
evolve over time and differ from region to region adapting to different social, political and
economic contexts, and these images conclude a development which had arisen during the postGupta period, worship of the god evidently becoming part of royal discourse in the second half
of the 7th century. These images very clearly confirm the cosmic and eternal nature of the deity,
not only made present through his avatāras, but through the depiction of sets of gods and
goddesses related to very specific functions, protecting space, ruling time, but also alluding to
the passing of time – like the fourteen Indras, or to the multiplication of worlds superimposed
over each other – like the seven Vāyus. Topics rarely depicted in art can also be introduced like
the seven Ṛṣis (Plate 4.19), the eight Vasus, or the six Kṛttikās, e.g. The extreme wealth of the
Brahmanical pantheon makes it simply impossible to be displayed in its entirety and choices had
to be made, which accounts for the variations between these sculptures, all richly displaying a
deity in his eternal and infinite power.
Acknowledgments:
I am extremely thankful to Tommy Guo for a stimulating exchange of ideas and sharing his photos
of the image preserved in the National Museum of Bangladesh, and to Shubha Majumder for a fruitful
correspondence relating to the images from the Purulia/Bankura region and his photo of the Viṣṇu kept in
the Balurghat Museum.
Notes and References:
1.
Following earlier publications of such unusual images by G. Bhattacharya, Enamul Haque, Thomas
Maxwell and the present author; see Chattopadhyay et alii 2017 provide an extensive bibliography
on the topic.
2.
Maxwell 1988, 1990, 1998 among other papers; Joshi 1990.
3.
This is a unique example of the two wives attending the god in this particular multi-armed form;
similarly Chattopadhyay et alii 2017, p. 165 refer to a much-damaged sculpture from Mahisantosh
preserved in the Varendra Research Museum, inv. 302, illustrating the classical four-handed Viṣṇu
with his two wives but showing the dancing character in a medallion at the centre of the pedestal
(Rahman 1998, pl. 81 & pp. 63-64).
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4.
As a matter of fact, numerous images of the god dating back to the first part of the 9 th century and
found in Bihar, mainly south of the Rajgir Hills, from Bodhgaya up to Makanpur, located East
from the Rajgir Hills share this feature – later images were to preserve the opening of the back-slab
only around the body and the nimbus would be carved on the space behind the head (Bautze-Picron
1985, pl. VII f). An ongoing survey of the development of the Viṣṇu image in Bihar and Bengal in
the post-Gupta period might lead us to a better understanding of some iconographic features and
composition aspects of the sculpture under scrutiny.
5.
Inv. 60.1474: Bautze-Picron 1985, pl. Vb.
6.
Asher 1980, plate 168; Bhuiyan 2015, figs. 4, 6 and passim.
7.
Bautze-Picron 2002, pp. 5-10 (passim) & note 14.
8.
Joshi 1979, pp. 32-37.
9.
Bautze-Picron 1994, p. 145; Chattopadhyay et alii 2017, pp. 188-189 and passim.
10.
Joshi 1979, pp. 37-38.
11.
Cave 3 at Badami: Banerji 1928, pl. XVIIa; Tarr 1970, fig. 29. Lintel of the entrance to the
Deogarh temple: Desai 1973, fig. 19.
12.
A wood-carved image of Viṣṇu was recently discovered in Burdwan district (Sen Gupta 2016,
plate 15.1; 2017, fig. 6): carved in a tree trunk, it shows the god seated astride his vāhana Garuḍa
and protected by a snake-hood; if Viṣṇu and Garuḍa wear only a few jewels, e.g. a necklace and
possibly armlets on the arms of the god, the god‟s tiara is outstanding, being very tall and wide and
presenting the lion face spitting large bejeweled arches against a background of twisted scrolls, this
ornament being deeply carved and highlighted by the contrast with the plainness of the bodies of
both deities. On the whole, this recalls of Gupta carvings (Bautze-Picron 2012b, plates 12-15). A
further early, pre-9th-century image is preserved in the Jiaganj Museum, Murshidabad (here Plate
4.4): he stands with four arms held downwards, hands set on the āyudhapuruṣas or the magnified
cakra and gaḍā and holding the śaṅkha and the fruit, protected by the snake-hood. Another similar
image of the god is situated at Dharmaranya, East of Bodhgaya (Asher 1980, plate 149 & p. 78).
13.
For the find spots, see Chattopadhyay et alii 2017, pp. 186-187.
14.
Asutosh Museum, from Prambua, Hugli district (https://huntingtonarchive.org/ : photo 6031);
Balurghat College Museum (http://vmis.in/: photo D1268). Early 9th-century images from Bihar do
not show the same boldness in carving through the back-slab which is slightly recessed behind the
lower part of the legs and may be open only in the space between the body and the arms (BautzePicron 1985, plates III-IV).
15.
Rahman 1998, plate 70 and pp. 53-54; Haque/Gail 2008, pl. 65 & p. 176 cat. 117 (Varendra
Research Museum, Rajshahi).
16.
Haque/Gail 2008, pl. 147 & pp. 247-248 cat. 350 (Mahasthangarh), pl. 145 & p. 239-240 cat. 327
(Paharpur), pl. 167 & p. 273 cat. 441 (Khulna, but from Bogra district).
17.
Concerning this attribute, see Mallmann 1963, p. 251 with further references.
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18.
Mallmann 1963, pp. 19-21; Chattopadhyay et alii 2017, p. 193 for further references.
19.
The portly characters in the Rajshahi sculpture relate to similar male figures in images from
Purulia/Bankura region: on such characters, see Bautze-Picron 1994, pp. 142, 146-147, 154;
Chattopadhyay et alii 2017, pp. 162, 173, 175, 178, 181-184, 198-199.
20.
The sculpture was sold by Natesan‟s Antiqarts (Mumbai) P Ltd and can be seen on
http://www.natesansantiqarts.com/antiquities.html. No further picture or information regarding this
carving, now in a private collection, could be sent to me in spite of my request. Attributes can be,
however, recognized, such as the sword, the club, the rosary, the shield, the bow, e.g.
21.
All the authors relied on Akmam for the description: However, the author mistakenly counted
twenty instead of eighteen arms: The „classical‟ two lower hands which traditionally present the
varadamudrā and the śaṅkha (forming the set of four with the hands holding the disk and the club
seen at shoulder level), are broken at the level of the elbows, which led her to count twenty arms:
two corresponding to the elbows and two corresponding to the hands which rested on lotuses, the
shape of which can still be seen on top of their stalks climbing up the legs of the god. The lion and
boar heads identified by the author behind the god‟s ears are in fact the folded short ribbons.
22.
“The seven mighty seers of old, likewise the Manus four… were born [the children] of [my]
mind…” (Zaehner 1973, pp. 24 & 293).
23.
Akmam 1999, p. 471 recognizes this group and the group of the Mothers, leaving the other groups
of deities „unidentified‟. The horse might allude to Sūrya‟s carriage, but also to Uccaihśravas,
Indra‟s steed, said to be himself by Kṛṣṇa, just as he declared himself in the same verse to be
Airāvata (BG 10.27) (Zaehner pp. 80 & 299).
24.
Mallmann 1963, p. 70 and note 6 (referring to the presence of Bhṛṅgin and Kuṣmāṇḍa in a
depiction of Śiva‟s marriage from the region of Dhaka).
25.
Below note 32 with Śiva above, forming the group of eleven Rudras.
26.
Zaehner 1973, p. 79; see also Viṣṇu Purāṇa, chapter 15 (Wilson 1840, p. 120); Kirfel 1920, p. 5;
Mani 1975, pp. 65-66.
27.
Zaehner 1973, pp. 78 & 293.
28.
Kinsley 1988, p. 151-152.
29.
Zaehner 1973, pp. 83 & 308.
30.
Ibid., pp. 82, 83 & 304, 308.
31.
This is a rare topic which can only be tentatively identified: Vāyu is said to be “the soul of all; he
is the lord of all [seven] worlds through the [seven] (spatial winds) Āvaha, Pravaha etc.” (The
Brahmāṇḍa Purāṇa 1.2.13.132: English translation, p. 132; Williams 1867, note 1 pp. 275-6). The
list of the seven Vāyus is given by Mani 1975, p. 572 and Williams 1867, ibid.).
32.
Zaehner 1973, pp. 82, 83 & 304, 308.
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33.
Archer 1957, p. 54 (after the Bhāgavata Purāṇa). Being a deity of secondary importance, the
divine architect does not have a well-established iconography and images of him remain rare
(Sanyal/Biswas in press; Tanabe 1995-96).
34.
Wilkins 1882, p. 251.
35.
For the genealogy of Viśvakarman, consult the Viṣṇu Purāṇa, chapter 15 (Wilson 1840,
pp.120-121).
36.
Akmam 1999, p. 470 sees here “Arjuna or Rama with bow…” The very same pairing of two male
characters is observed in the Badgaon stele (Image 9) where they were identified by Maxwell (1999,
p. 70) as being Rāmacandra and Balarāma; we rather suggest recognizing here Pradyumna and
Saṅkarṣaṇa, two members of the Vṛṣṇi clan, both Rāmacandra and Balarāma (as an avatāra) being
part of the set of the daśāvatāra distributed around the nimbus. Pradyumna is also considered to be
an aspect of Kāma who has bow and arrows for attributes (also Schmid 2010, p. 156; and below note
40), and Puṣṭi, a name also designating Sarasvatī, is the śakti of Kāma (Mallmann 1963, pp. 47-48),
the equivalence is thus clear between the couples Pradyumna-Sarasvatī and Kāma-Puṣṭi.
37.
Maxwell 1988, pp. 42-43; and Aniruddha is paired with Rati: Gupta 2003, pp. XXIX-XXX.
38.
Bautze-Picron 1985, pp. 465 & 467 on this development.
39.
These two secondary figures, which are the āyudhapuruṣas of the disk and the conch as
traditionally identified, could have been selected for such a visual purpose, the disk being a motif
showing formal closeness to the padma; and padma and conch had since a very early period
formed the pair of nidhis which flanked the entrances to monuments (Bautze-Picron 2002;
Prematileke 1966). The question would merit specific research, but we cannot rule out the
possibility that the two portly male characters standing or seated, often above an elephant, in
outstanding images of Viṣṇu mainly from the Purulia/Bankura area, might be related to this pair
(Chattopadhyay et alii 2017).
40.
Sāmbaścagadāhastaḥpradyumnaścāpabhṛt… (Bṛhatsaṃhitā, LVIII, 40: Sastri/Bhat 1946, p. 513;
quoted by Schmid 2010, p. 336 note 699). Akmam 1999, p. 470 identifies the two characters as
“maybe Lakshana and Hunuman [sic!]”. The male character standing in the same position in the
image at the Surya Mandir in Badgaon (Image 9; https://huntingtonarchive.org/: photo 3757) has
the left arm resting on a similar weapon (and is definitely not Lakṣmī as identified by Maxwell
1998, p. 70); he forms a pair with the Buddha standing in the left corner (thus replacing
Aniruddha), see above note 36 for the other characters standing in this carving.
41.
Mallmann 1983, pp. 25-26 and plate I.
42.
Other Dikpālas are distributed on the back-slab (Vāyu, Indra, Īśāna/Śiva); it is however impossible
to recognize the full group as traditionally depicted (Mevissen 2002).
43.
Mani 1975, p. 581; Wilson 1840, pp. 205-206.
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44.
For the attribute as held by Brahmā, see Rahman 1998, plates 272, 274-275, 277 and Haque/Gail
2008, plates 425-429: whether Rahman retains the term sruk to designate the square sacrificial
spoon, Gail prefers to name it sruva.
45.
Joshi 1989, figs. 3-5 & pp. 178-179, 190-191.
46.
Mani 1975, pp. 326 & 482-486 (passim and naming the Indras). A.L. Srivastava 2011, p. 64
suggests to recognize here the sovereigns of fourteen worlds.
47.
Joshi 1989, fig. 28 & pp. 206-207. A similar position is presented by a very damaged image also
preserved in the State Museum, Lucknow, where the upper part is still fully covered by groups of
deities shown as if irradiating out of the god (ibid., pp. 207-208).
48.
Srivastava 2011, p. 69 recognizes here Vaikuṇṭha with heads of his avatāras.
49.
Their identification would only be speculative: two vertical rows run along the left and right edge
with around five characters on each side; a deity mounting a vehicle is seen above the nāginī at our
left, two further ones above the one at our right (one being perhaps the limping Śāni).
50.
Gupta 2003, p. 173. For a detailed study of the topic in Eastern India, see Begley 1973, pp. 58-64
51.
Ibid., pp. 173-174. Following this meditation, the worshipper should meditate on four-armed
Sudarśaṇa, thus limiting the danger threatened by the extreme power displayed by the god.
52.
Asher 1980, plates 38 (& pp. 32-33; 6th c., from Murshidabad District; also reproduced by Begley
1973, fig. 10 & pp. 45-46), 91-94 (& pp. 54-55; 7th c.; two examples from the region of Aphsad),
153-154 (& p. 79; dated around 800; from Bodhgaya).
53.
Besides the image reproduced here plates 4.16 and 4.17, a double-faced wheel with the eightarmed god depicted on either side was found in Deulberia, Bankura district (Annual Reports of the
ASI for the years 1930-1934, Part Two, pl. CLIa, b & pp. 306-307, also reproduced by Begley
1973, fig. 44 & p. 63; Chattopadhyay 2010, pl. LXXX & p. 156). A further wheel showing a sixhanded deity in a similar dancing position is located in the village of Kantore (Bandyopadhyay
1371 BS, unnumbered plate 7 at the end of the volume; Chattopadhyay 2010, p. 169, quoting R.D.
Banerji 1929, p. 642 who refers to J.C. French as the discover of the sculpture). A later (11 th-12th
c.?) double-faced example was found at Sarisadha, 24-Parganas district (Begley 1973, fig. 43 & p.
62, with further reference to J.N. Banerjea 1956, p. 538); this differs from the other examples in
having the four-handed god standing on the wings of Garuda, his vehicle.
54.
Bautze-Picron 1995.
55.
The development of this image has been studied by Bautze-Picron 1985.
56.
Chattopadhyay et alii 2017, pp. 193-4; Bautze-Picron 1994, pp. 137-140.
57.
Other sculptures from North India show such sets of deities regularly distributed in rows above the
central multi-armed Viṣṇu image, suggesting a double use of them made in this context, as
auspicious deities and as deities irradiating out of the central god. The fact is that various
iconographic topics include the depiction of such groups topping the carving in the art of Eastern
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India where they evidently act as auspicious deities (see papers by Mevissen 2002, 2006, 2008,
2008b dealing with such groups having this function).
58.
And as rightly noted by Chattopadhyay et alii 2017, p. 193 “attempts to relate this form of
Viśvarūpa to descriptions in texts … prove futile as there are too many discrepancies”, the authors
also recall Thomas Maxwell‟s dictum that there exists no “direct correspondence between
iconographical content and a literary structure…” (ibid., note 73, after Maxwell 1990, p. 136).
59.
Thomas S. Maxwell notes that the problem of variances in iconography “cannot be resolved purely
on the basis of art-historical considerations but … through new archaeological research, and
…through an attempt at establishing a historical framework” (1998, p. 51).
60.
See Mevissen 2002, 2006, 2010 for these various iconographic programs in the region.
61.
Bautze-Picron 1992, 1995-96.
62.
A highly detailed analysis of the Mathura images was made by Charlotte Schmid 2010, p. 316ff;
these images and those from Western India were the object of a thorough in-depth study by
Thomas S. Maxwell 1988, who also authored a number of papers dealing with Mediaeval images
of Viśvarūpa.
63.
Mevissen 2008 for a detailed study of these sculptures.
64.
Vogel 1910, pl. XVIII & p. 101; http://vmis.in/: photo 5685.
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