lesser known terracotta motif_UHRJ_Ray.pdf

Agamkala Prakashan , 2025

Walnut Publication, 2020

This edited book entitled "Recent Developments in Historical and Archaeological Researches in Odisha", incorporating seventeen essays on Odisha’s past from prehistory to the modern period. All the seventeen essays are original research papers based on primary and secondary data. These essays are arranged in chronological order and focused on different aspects of Odisha in time and space i.e. prehistoric, protohistoric and early historic archaeology of Odisha, Epigraphic studies, the political and economic history of the ancient and medieval period, temple architecture, modern and contemporary history, and tribal studies.

Gangga sudhi, ‘purification by Ganga’ This monograph is about the link provided by dharma-dhamma to an inquiry into the meanings (artha, significance) of the bhasmarati of Ujjain Jyotirlinga Mahakala, the veneration of dagobas, Indus Script hieroglyph-multiplexes in iconography of ancient temples of Hindu civilization tradition. This is dedicated to Prof. Shrinivas Tilak. Shrinivas’ guidance is ādeśa for me. He suggested that Indus Script can be deciphered beyond the mere metalwork lexis into the gestalt of our ancestors. In tantra yukti traditions of research methodology followed by Panini and Caraka, lokokti is to be complemented by lokottara yukti, the real intent of the speaker behind his or her words. Lexis is but an instrument for conveying thought and knowledge, transiting from the mundane to the transcendent. I find that the traditions initiated by Indus Script Cipher extended into metaphors of hieroglyph-multiplexes (or symbolic hypertexts to use the expression of Dennys Frenez and Massimo Vidale) signified in icons and temples of worship from very ancient times. It is a tough task indeed to date the start of the temple tradition in ancient India. This task cannot be wished away and has to be undertaken by students of civilization studies. Dharma-dhamma, esha dhammo sanantano, are defined as upholding principles handed down from ancient times, of the cosmic-consciousness order. Why does the tradition hold that a bath in the Ganga is a sacred, purifying act for pilgrims? I will not venture into answering this question but trace some evidences attested linguistically, iconographically and archaeologically. The ancient literary texts of Indian sprachbund are treasured in over 1 million manuscripts which have to be unraveled,. A beginning has been made with the task of compiling Catalogus Catalogorum of Ancient Manuscripts of Indian sprachbund (language speech union). This task is monumental like the Ellora or Ajanta monuments which convey profound messages of our ancestors. The messages conveyed through Indus Script Corpora are also monumental and provide a lexis of metalwork of ancient Bharatam Janam, ‘metalcaster folk’. The vahana of Ganga is Makara. Why Makara? Makara is a hieroglyph-multiplex with components: crocodile, fish, elephant, tiger. KharA ‘crocodile’ rebus: khAr ‘blacksmith’; aya ‘fish’ rebus: aya ‘iron, metal’; karibha ‘trunk of elephant’ rebus: karba ‘iron’ ib ‘iron’; kola ‘tiger’ rebus: kol ‘working in iron’ kolle ‘blacksmith’ kole.l ‘smithy, temple’. Thus, Makara is a temple, a smithy on the banks of ganga, ‘river’. This explains the evidence that, out of 2600 archaeological sites, over 2000 sites are on the banks of Himalayan river Sarasvati and ‘civilization’ is dateable from ca. 8th millennium BCE in the Sarasvati-Ganga doab river basins. Ganga. Makara. Ivory. Begram 1st-2nd cent. BCE This statuette once decorated a piece of wooden furniture that turned to dust. The woman may represent the Indian river goddess Ganga, whose mount is the mythological makara, a creature that is part crocodile, part elephant, and part fish. 1008 Lingas carved on a rock surface at the shore of theTungabhadra River, Hampi, India sahastra linga: Kbal Spean. (ក្បាលស្ពាន) Angkor, Cambodia alaninsingapore.blogspot.ae Why Gangga sudhi? Why Sivalinga? Why bhasmarati for a Jyotirlinga? Are the six Harappa sivalinga stones the earliest manifestations? Are the two stone pillars of Dholavira the Skambha fiery pillars of light? Beyond mere speculative excursus, it is possible to trace the roots from the lexis of Indian sprachbund with the start provided by the metalwork lexis provided by Indus Script Corpora. Both Mekong and Ganga are Himalayan rivers sourced from the glaciers of nagadhiraja and flow, perennially, as jivanadi, for over 2000 kms. The great rivers sustain the lives of a billion people of the rashtram. Both Mekong and Ganga are etymologically traceable to the root kong- ‘river’. A hieroglyph which signifies this gloss of Meluhha lexis is kanga ‘eye’ (Pe.) The expression Gangga sudhi recorded in the Candi Sukuh inscription on the monolithic Sivalinga (over 6 feet tall) is composed of the two words: Gangga and Sudhi. What do these words mean when combined together into an expression denoting the veneration of ancestors in a shraddham? The Candi Sukuh inscription on the Sivalinga also has a hieroglyph: khaNDa, ‘sword’ rebus: kanda ‘implements’ kanda ‘fire-altar’. kándu f. ʻ iron pot ʼ Suśr., °uka -- m. ʻ saucepan ʼ.Pk. kaṁdu -- , kaṁḍu -- m.f. ʻ cooking pot ʼ; K. kō̃da f. ʻ potter's kiln, lime or brick kiln ʼ; -- ext. with -- ḍa -- : K. kã̄dur m. ʻ oven ʼ. -- Deriv. Pk. kaṁḍua -- ʻ sweetseller ʼ (< *kānduka -- ?); H. kã̄dū m. ʻ a caste that makes sweetmeats ʼ. (CDIAL 2726) Shraddhm is a process of venerating the memory of ancestors who have given us our identity and a process of enquiring into our roots. This is indeed a process of purification of our attitudes, an understanding of our locus as sentient beings realizing the imperative of leading lives of satyam and rtam for abhyudayam of the rashtram, the lighted path of progress. This shraddham is sudhi. Sudhi has two meanings: ‘purity’ and ‘knowledge’. This is comparable and analogous to the two meanings of the word, artha. Artha has two meanings: ‘material wealth’ and ‘meaning’. Artisans of yore find that mere earth and stone yield metals which could be forged into implements used for life-activities. Mere earth and stone mediated by the Sun and fire in a fire-altar get purified into metals. The word to signify the instrument used to create this awe-inspiring wonderful process is: kanga ‘brazier’. Hieroglyph kanga ‘eye’ rebus: kanga ‘brazier’. The brazier purifies dhatu, elements, minerals, earth and stone to yield muhA, ‘metal ingots’ from the blazing pillars of light from the brazier, smelter muhA is signified by the hieroglyph muh ‘face’. The knowledge gained that fire purifies mere earth and stone to produce metal from the crucible is a revelation. This knowledge is sudhi. This process is sudhi, ‘process of purification’. The Candi Sukuh artisans have explained and proclaimed through the inscription and the hieroglyph-multiplex of the Candi Sukuh Sivalinga, hypertext expression: gangga sudhi, rebus kanga sudhi, ‘brazier purification’. I suggest that the same process of gangga sudhi is enacted every day morning in the bhasmarati of Ujjain Jyotirlinga Mahakala. The use of bhasma is a veneration of the ancestors who are also venerated in the dhatugarbha, dagobas which are now Vaishya tekri and Kumbhar tekri in Ujjain as stupa mounds. The dagobas are also temples with the living dhatu, ‘elements, minerals, mere earth and stone’ which had yielded the metals and ingots of hard alloys in crucibles. The yielkds are muhA signified by the creation by the purifier priests, Potr of the mandiram of a face of the hunter-warrior with three eyes on the Sivalinga. The face of the hunter-warrior so created denotes: muh ‘face’ kanga ‘eye’ kolmo ‘three’ Rebus: muh ‘ingots’, kanga ‘brazier’, kolimi ‘smithy, forge’. This reenactment of the smelting smithy processes takes place every day as bhasmarati in the Jyotirlinga temple as a process of purification of the minds, the atman of the worshippers mediated by the Potr, purifying priests The Sivalinga itself is a metaphor for the Kailasa parvatam, the Himalayan peak where sits in penance, Isvara yielding the life-sustaining waters out of the locks of his hair. This Kailasanatha is jatadhara who holds the waters in the locks of his hair and releases the waters for abhyudayam of the rashtram. This realization, this understanding results in the perpetual abhishekjam of the sivalinga in all temples of the globe with dripping waters in perpetuity venerating the water-giving divinity, Isvara; hence, life-giving divinity. This paramaatman is celebrated in the bhasmarati performed daily bringing the bhasma from the vicinity of the dagoba-s. Bhasmarati is the message of gangga sudhi, purification of atman in the life-journey from Being to Becoming, from every atman trying to reach out and unite with the paramatman. This awe-inspiring spectacle is a mirror process of the equally awe-inspiring results of smelting yielding metals from mere dhatu, ‘minerals, earth and stone.’ As an extended metaphor, this bhasmarati becomes a replication of the Cosmic Dance of Isvara, Nataraja in his tandava nrtyam. The artisans of yore have documented their processes of metalwork on over 7000 inscriptions of Indus Script Corpora. The people of today venerate the processes in the temples of Ujjain, Gudimallam, Candi Sukuh and thousands of other mandirams of Indian sprachbund such as the temples in My Son, Vietnam or Angkor Wat, Cambodia. Gangga sudhi is thus a purification process based on the knowledge that paramaatman is the supreme divine who accounts for the phenomena witnessed by the metalwork. Candi Sukuh is a metalwork celebration. So is bhasmarati. So are the dagobas, dhatugarbha temples, venerating the ancestor artisans who have left for us a heritage from the tin-bronze, cire perdue metal casting revolutions of the Bronze Age. This is a narrative traceable from ca. 8th millennium BCE on the banks of Himalayan rivers and in the contact civilization areas extending from Hanoi in Vietnam to Haifa in Israel. This can also be called the ancient maritime tin route leading to the Silk Road which united the peoples of Eurasia. Bhasmārati at Ujjain, veneration at stupa mounds https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JuIQ57qswb0 (1:26:54) Bhasma Aarti Shri Mahakal Jyotirling Temple Ujjain with Shringar, Poojan, & Aarti Published on Jan 13, 2013. An entrancing puja tradition unparallelked in any civilization of any time. This puja performed for 1 hr. 25 mins. is a metaphor of the cosmic dance of Isvara, rendered through the creation of the hieroglyph-multiplex face of Mahākāla, celebrating the mirroring of the smelting processes.

This essay explores the notion of textual tradition in Odia unknown Kamsutra and its proper understanding through the medieval illustrated manuscripts and several colophon; which is dealing with the behavioural activities of 'royal family members' or 'particular individuals' generally related to t he 'sexual activities.' Such as the process of any creativeness 'monumental activities' or may be the production of any art form for the public sphere as well as for individual interest, these large numbers of manuscript played a significant role to reframe the ideas. As per the assumption of economic-historian clearly point out that; the surplus of revenue mostly converts to the 'pleasure' (?) and 'passion' (?) through the various way; it may be the literary/illustrated manuscript played a important role to producing such 'erotic literature' which are painted/scribed in palm leaf rather than construction of gigantic traditional temple style Odisha. There are some cultural inquisitiveness persons of the royal family, rich class community has more or less associated with the development of cultural legacy, which one chiefly the production of the sexual related literature, paintings, sculpture, and the engraving or illustrated manuscript as the medium of representation for the public 'or' individual. In essence of the courtly culture in medieval period their patrons donated for enriching the literature as well as illustrated manuscript tradition in portable form like palm leaf. This is basically observed in Odisha the form of pothi or tala patara pothi's .These described about the sensual pleasure as well as the nayaka and nayika played the important role basically from mythic character and they performed as several sexual-poses or 'bandha'. This essay highlights the theme of courtly culture and its member's behaviour regarding sexuality. The outstanding contribution of classical literatures and erotic illustrated manuscript's idea; how touched the public sphere and in the later stage became more important like Kamasutra, which is only restrict in the higher class community and how these Odia manuscript became a passionate for every sphere basically the commoner or mass.

2022

Kolkata, who took keen interest of this Felicitation volume. Prof. Dr. Diagambar Patra, Beirut (Lebanon) is our another source of inspiration. He has drafted the Personal profile of Dr. B. Mishra, for which, we are delighted and thankful to him. Mrs (Dr.) Priya Sasidharan, Asst. Prof. of English, Kalahandi Engineering College, Odisha has perform ed the language correction of the MSS for which we are grategful to her. Computer work was successfully done by Sri. Satya Narayan Mahapatra and Sri. Sisir Ku. Pattnaik. We appreciate their technical performance. Last but not the least, we thank to Praveen Mittal, Proprietor, B.R World of Books, New Delhi, to bring this Felicitation volume to scholarly domain through publication. We humbly recognise considerable delay in editing and publishing this Felicitation volume due to the Pandemic Covid 19.

Journal of Bengal Art, 2020

Lokāyata, as a word, primarily denotes the philosophy of the masses – spread or found among the common-folk. In that sense, it could largely be traced in the history of human culture and art, in various forms of architecture, sculpture, painting, music, dance, drama etc. But, whether the terracotta-ornamentation on religious-architectures of Bengal could also be included in the lokāyata-genre has always been a matter of great debate. Some are of opinion that even after having a kind of mass-expression in nature and style, the temples and mosques of Bengal lack the other symptoms of folk-tribal character. Most of them were built for and by the riches and hence couldn’t connect with the folk-tribal traditions of rural-Bengal. On the other hand, others have identified the terracotta-plaques from Paharpur, Mainamati and Mahasthangarh as specimens of folk-tribal art. They discovered inspiration and characteristics of the local folk culture in the works of Sultanate-era, considering their strong, lively and soulful motifs as to be extracted from the lokāyata archetype. But, in both the cases, these terracotta-ornamentations exhibit two prominent features: • their sprawling geographical-presence among the common populace of Bengal • their cultural-evolvement and unanimous-acceptance among the natural artistic-sense and aesthetic-belief of the rural-folk. No matter what the scholars say, these temples, mosques and their various ornamentations have been evoking for centuries a kind of awe and esteem in the minds of the local people, instigated by a diversified expanse of mass-culture typical to Bengal. Right from the core-philosophy or source-religion till the final result in form of viewers’ experience – the entire process was monitored by a continued analysis and deconstruction of various cultural-units through a series of conscious-thinking and subconscious-acts. This paper aims to analyze the source and evolution of this wonderful history spreading across fourteen-hundred odd years.

2014