Page 152 - Art and Crafts of Bangladesh

SCULPTURE 149

Notes and References
1. A very clear presentation of the available information has been recently published by Abu Imam
‘Samatata, Mainamati: Some Observations’, in Archaeology of Eastern India: New Perspectives, (G.
Sengupta & S. Panja, (eds), (Kolkata 2002), 613-23.
2. Such rituals are evoked by Xuanzang in relation to a hill located near Gaya in Bihar. Samuel Beal, Si-
yu-ki, Buddhist Records of the Western World, Translated from the Chinese of Hiuen Tsiang (AD 629),
London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co., n.d. (popular edition, two volumes in one), 2, p. 113,
they relate evidently to the Southeast Asian concept of the “temple mountain”, where a temple is
actually built as image of Mount Meru, centre of the universe and of the kingdom; moreover, Mount
Meru, being also the centre of the Buddhist cosmology, the Buddhist themselves might have been
involved in such rituals. Only one Brahmanical temple has been traced on the hill whereas nearly fifty
Buddhist sites have been listed: this reminds of the situation in Pagan, where only one Brahmanical
temple, the Nât-hlaung, had been erected within the precincts of the old city, being most probably used
for rituals at the time of enthronement.
3. For a good summary of the historical and geographical background, see Krishna Biswas, The
sculptural Art of Ancient Bengal (Vanga and Samatata), (New Delhi 1995), pp. 11-26.
4. Ibid., pp. 16-17. The Sarvani is illustrated by: Huntington Susan L. Huntington, The “Pala-Sena”
Schools of Sculpture, (Leiden 1984), fig. 26 (& p. 205); Biswas, op.cit., 1995, pl. 2; Sisir Kumar Mitra,
ed. East Indian Bronzes, (Calcutta 1979), fig. 61.
5. Joachim Bautze, “Stucco Decoration in Bengal and Pagan during the Pala Period,” Journal of Bengal
Art 4: 359-72, 1999, pls 19-23 & pp. 365-9.
6. Claudine Bautze-Picron, The Art of Eastern India in the Collection of the Museum für Indische Kunst,
Berlin, Stone & Terracotta Sculptures, (Berlin 1998), cat. 282 & pp. 14 notes 75-76, 105 notes 22-24,
106 notes 31-32.
7. Naseem A. Banerji, ‘The Mihrabs in the Fourteenth Century Adina Mosque in Pandua, India:
Evidence of the Reuse of late Pala-Sena Remains,’ in Studies in Hindu and Buddhist Art, P.K. Mishra,
(ed.), pp. 207-22, (New Delhi 1999), Banerji considers that the mihrabs in the Adina Mosque, Pandua,
have been elaborated by re-using “late Pala-Sena remains”; this might be true in some cases, but the
author observes (p. 213 concerning fig. 14) that the upper part of what should be a monstrous face has
been partly replaced by a triangular element consisting completely of foliated scrolls; now, the two
halves match each other perfectly and it is highly probable that the whole composition was carved by
the same artist(s). For a presentation of architectural stone carvings in Bihar and Bengal, see Bautze-
Picron 1998, pp. 14-15 & 104-13.
8. Sandrine Gill, ‘Notes on Chronology and Style: Evidence from Mahasthan,’in Archaeology of Eastern
India: New Perspectives, G. Sengupta & S. Panja, (eds), pp. 41-65, (Kolkata 2002), pp. 45-46, where
the rare elements of evidence are listed (conflict between Jains and Buddhists in the Mauryan period;
2nd c. BC inscriptions on the vedika of the main stupa of Sanchi, of pilgrims hailing from
Pundravardhana; terracottas in “Mauryan” and “Sunga” styles discovered in Bengal; ceramics
stamped with “Buddhist” (?) prophylactic symbols, from the early centuries of our era, found at
Mahasthangarh).
9. Ibid., pp. 41-51 & figs 1-2 concerning the Buddha found at Mahasthan where it is kept in the site
museum, and notes 11 for the Buddha found at Biharail, Rajshahi District and now kept at the Varendra
Research Museum, and 33 for the Kushan fragmentary image preserved in the Asutosh Museum {add
to it: S.K. Saraswati, Early Sculpture of Bengal, Calcutta 1962, pl. I.1, Anasua Sengupta, Buddhist Art
of Bengal (From the 3rd century BC to the 13th century AD), Delhi 1993, pl. 5}.
10. S.K. Saraswati, op.cit., pl. I.3 & pp. 11-12; Frederick M. Asher, The Art of Eastern India, (Delhi
1980), pl.3 & p. 11 for discussion of the date; A.K.M. Shamsul Alam, Sculptural Art of Bangladesh,
Pre-Muslim Period, (Dhaka1985), pp. 47-48.
11. Visnu: Saraswati, op.cit., pl. I.4; Asher, op.cit, pl. 12 & p. 21 (4th c. AD); 2) Visnu: Ibid., pl. 37 & p.
32 (5th-6th c. at the earliest); Shamsul Alam, op.cit, fig. 1 & p. 48 (2nd c. AD); 3) Surya: Asher, op.cit.,
pl. 14 & p.21 (4th c. AD).