emergence of viṣṇu and Śiva images in india: numismatic and sculptural evidence
TRANSCRIPT
Emergence of Viṣṇu and Śiva Images
in India:
Numismatic and Sculptural Evidence
Osmund Bopearachchi
In loving memory of Paul Bernard
Paper presented at:
From Alexander the Great to Kanishka: Numismatic Evidence in Constructing
Early Central Asian and Indian History With Osmund Bopearachchi
May 14, 2016, Education Studios, Asian Art Museum, San Francisco.
This paper is based on the following publications:
Osmund Bopearachchi, “Les premiers souverains kouchans : Chronologie et
iconographie monétaire”, Jounal des Savants, January-June, 2008, pp. 3-56.
Osmund Bopearachchi, “An enigmatic image of Varāha- Viṣṇu from Gandhāra”,
Jnana-Pravaha Research Journal, XII, 2008-2009, pp. 102-4, pls. 14.1-2.
Osmund Bopearachchi, “Emergence of Viṣṇu Iconography in Gandhāra:
Numismatic and Sculptural Evidence” Iconography of the Hindus, the Buddhists and the Jains,
C.P.R. Institute of Indological Research, 8-9 January, 2016, (in print)
https://www.societyforasianart.org/programs/study-groups/alexander-great-kanishka-numismatic-evidence-
constructing-early-central-asian
Agathocles 180-170 BC.
Saṃkarṣaṇa-Balarāma & Vāsudeva-Kṛṣṇa
The discovery of the six bilingual silver drachms issued by the Indo-Greek king, Agathocles, depicting Balarāma-
Saṃkarṣaṇa and Vāsudeva-Kṛṣṇa, hidden in a pilgrim’s water-vessel in a room of the administrative quarter of the
ancient Greek city of Aï Khanum in northern Afghanistan by French archaeologists on 3 October 1970 revolutionised
our knowledge of the Vaiṣṇava imagery in north India.
R. Audouin & P. Bernard. (1974) “Trésors de monnaies indiennes et indo-grecques d’Aï Khanoum (Afghanistan). II.
Les monnaies indo-grecques”, Revue numismatique, pp. 7-41.
Palace in Greco-Bactrian architecture. Aï Khanoum (Afghanistan).
Agathocles 180-170 BC. Saṃkarṣaṇa-Balarāma & Vāsudeva-Kṛṣṇa.
‘Plough Carrier’ (halabhrt), the god ‘Armed with the plough’ (Halāyudha) is Balarāma,
also known as Baladeva, Balabhadra and Halayudha, the elder brother of Kṛṣṇa (an avatar of the
god Viṣṇu).
Pestle (musala), a charateristic attribute of Saṃkarṣaṇa
The other name of Balarama is Saṃkarṣaṇa, meaning a spirit transferred between two wombs.
Balarāma holding the club and plough. Bronze coins of the Indo-Scythian Maues
Wheel (cakra) both military and solar weapon is a distinctive attribute of Kṛṣṇa-Vāsudeva.
Krishna is also known as Govinda and Vasudeva. The stories of Krishna appear across
a broad spectrum of Hindu philosophical and theological traditions. They portray him in
various perspectives: a god-child, a model lover, a divine hero, and the Supreme Being.
Conch shell (śaṅkha) normally characterizes Vāsudeva-Kṛṣṇa.
The divinity holding a musala (pestle) and a hala (plough) is
Saṃkarṣaṇa-Balarāma and the one holding a cakra (wheel) and a
śaṅkha (conch-shell) as Vāsudeva-Kṛṣṇa. The attributes held by each
god correspond to the Indian literary data of the time, such as
Arthaśastra, the Mahābārata, and the Mahābhāsya of Patañjali.
The god on the obverse holding a plough in his left hand is Balarāma
(Rāma the Mighty), elder brother of Kṛṣṇa, son of Vasudeva, as ‘plough
carrier (halabhrt)’ or as god ‘"plough-weaponed" (halāyudha)’ clearly
evoke both his agrarian and warrior character. The musala (pestle) held
in the right hand, according to the Epic and Purāṇic tradition, is
synonymous with Saṃkarṣaṇa, the first of Viṣṇu's (Vāsudeva's) vyūha
forms.
How to interpret what Audouin and
Bernard described as “imposing helmet-
shaped headdress’?
It is a misinterpretation of a parasol
(chattra).
Bodhisattva from Mathurā, now in the Lucknow Museum
surmounted by exactly the same type of shaft with the half-moon
shaped chattra.
Charlotte Schmid, (2010) Le Don de devoir. Premières représentations
krishnaïtes de la région de Mathurā, Ecole Française de l’Extrême-Orient, Paris,
p. 90, n. 162.
Vāsudeva-Kṛṣṇa . Agathocles Zeus holding Hecate . Agathocles
Further notable characteristics of the depiction of these gods are their drapes with stiff and starched folds,
their outward turned feet shown in profile and their static frontal pose instead of the usual three-quarter pose
of the Greek gods on the contemporary Greek coins.
Sāñcī StūpaBharuth Stūpa
There are many examples of the formative period of Indian art to show that in early sculptures of the
Bharhut and Sāñcī stūpas the feet are in side-view similar to these coins.
The lack of proportions, ‘awkward rendering’ of the feet and disproportion of the so-called headdress
made Audouin and Bernard to conclude that these coin dies were engraved by an Indian engraver who
was familiar with the conventions of archaic Indian art.
The engraver, copying the Indian prototype, misunderstood the parasol (chattra) and transformed it into
headgear. In the same way, the Greek engraver may have misinterpreted the symbolism of the śaṅkha
(conch) and converted it into a high-necked vase.
Images made of perishable material or even of non-perishable material such as stone, lost forever
or undiscovered until today may have existed before the date of this coin series, in other words
before the 2nd century BCE.
Agathocles Pantaleon
The female figure holding a flower and moving to the left depicted on the bronze coins of Pantaleon
and Agathocles is Subhadrā, Balarāma’s and Kṛṣṇa’s own sister.
Bharuhut Stūpa
Sāñcī Stūpa
Lakṣmī, as goddess of beauty, wealth, fortune, and prosperity and as the consort and the active energy
of Viṣṇu, enjoyed an immense popularity in ancient art. She was given a prominent place in early
Buddhist art, in particular in the Bharhut and Sāñcī Stūpas which date back to the 2nd and 1st
centuries BCE.
Azilises
Bronze coin probably struck by Demetrios I depcting Lakṣmī (reverse).
Private collection
Wilfried Pieper, (2014) “Earliest Garuḍa and Vaiṣṇava deities on ancient Indian coins”,
Numismatic Digest, 38, pp. 36-59.
Wilfried Pieper, (2014) “Earliest Garuḍa and Vaiṣṇava deities on ancient Indian coins”,
Numismatic Digest, 38, pp. 36-59.
We now have solid evidence to show the Bhāgavata cult was popular in these regions as
early as the 3rd century BCE. I agree with Audouin and Bernard and accept the fact that
Agathocles’ coins give us a perfectly clear and explicit illustration of the first forms of
Vaiṣṇavaism in India.
The irony is that the oldest of the
inscriptions relating to the
Bhāgavata cult with historical
implications, is a dedication by a
Greek who proclaims himself a
‘devotee of the Lord-God’
(bhāgavata).
The famous Besnagar column (near Vidiśā in
Madhya Pradesh), was erected in honour of
Vāsudeva, the god of gods (devadeva), by a Greek
from Taxila (Takhashilāka), Heliodoros son of
Dion, ambassador of the Great king (mahārāja)
Antialkidas (Amtalikita) to the local king
Bhāgabhadra the Saviour (trātāra). It was in this
auspicious ambience that the Bhāgavata worship
developed in Taxila and in the surrounding
Gandhāran region during the two centuries
before the Common Era.
Besnagar column (near Vidiśa in Madhya Pradesh)
However, this popularity underwent a significant decline in the Greater Gandhāran region
during the Kuṣān period when Vima Kadphises, grandson of Kujula Kadphises, the founder of
the Kuṣān Empire, openly stated that he was a worshipper of Śiva by representing the image of
the god and by fully proclaiming his profession of faith in the legends in Gāndhārī and
Kharoṣṭhī: sarvalogaiśvara ‘Lord of the whole of the earth’.
On the bronze coins, written in Gāndhāri and Kharoṣṭhī, he declares that he is a
sarvalogaisvara ‘Lord of the whole of the earth’
Vima Kadphises
Compared to Śiva on the later series of the king Vima
Kadphises the naked Śiva on the first series is not
ithyphallic.
Demetrios I Kujula Kadphises
Vima Kadphises
Kailasanathar Temple Kanchipuram
triśūla (trident)
paraśu (battleaxe) Kailasanathar Temple Kanchipuram
cakra (wheel) Kailasanathar Temple Kanchipuram
Indra (Gandhāra)
The British Museumvajra (thunderbolt)
kamaṇḍalu (water pot)
When the Kuṣāns were nearing their apogee,
cultural interactions with the Hellenistic, Iranian
and Indian worlds in these frontier regions gave
birth to a progressive Indianisation. The result of
these interactions was the emergence of a
composite iconography.
The identification of a deity holding attributes
described in sacred texts as belonging to several
gods of the Hindu pantheon is often confusing.
Former Pontecorvo collection
now in the Museo Nazionale d’Arte Orientale in Rome
The erect liṅga, as well as the triśūla and the third eye
are characteristics of Śiva.
The kamaṇḍalu and akṣamālā are, above all,
attributes of Brahmā.
The cakra and the head of boar with protruding
tusks, evoke Viṣṇu and his boar-avatāra (Varāha).
Viṣṇu and his boar-avatāra (Varāha)
Salt Range (Pakistan) - Hindu Shahi
Former Pontecorvo collection
Vaikuntha Chaturmukha Murti. Gujrat. 11th century.
Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya. Former Price of Wales Museum, Mumbai
The god is three-headed: the frontal head is beardless, the one to the right that
of an old man, and the one to the left that of an antelope
The divinity depicted on these coins is meant to be Śiva. He is three-headed. The head on
the left appears to be that of mṛga (antelope) and the one on the right is human. The head of
an antelope, we can identify Śiva as Paśupati, one of eight forms of Śiva named Bhāva.
Vima Kadphises
Umā-Māheśvara from Dargai in the Malakand region in Pakistan
Śiva stands here with Umā his consort, holding the akṣamālā, kamaṇḍalu and
triśūla. In the broken back left hand, there would have been a nīlotpala (blue lotus)
or most probably a ḍamaru, (pellet drum) both attributes of Śiva.
akṣamālā
kamaṇḍalu
triśūla
Their son, Skanda-Kārttikeya wearing a cataphractus (scale armour) and holding the
śakti (spear) and a cock, is shown at their feet.
Mαασηνo (maaseno, Mahasena)
Skanda Kumara and Bizago Skanda-Kumara (Kārttikēya) - Gandhāra
Mαασηνo (maaseno, Mahasena). Huvishka. Short sword, holding cock.
Hindu war god Karttikeya or Skanda.
Σκανδo koμαρo (skando komaro, Skanda Kumara) with staff with knob
finial and Bizago with trident and sword
Skanda-Kumaro, Massena and Bizago with trident and sword
Skando Kumaro (Skanda Kumara) was treated as one god, while Bizago (Visakha) and
Maaseno (Mahasena) were worshipped as different deities, and only later identified
with Skanda
Śiva is shown with four heads. The central face is human; the left lateral head is of
an old man; the turban and beard are evocative of the ascetic nature of Śiva; the
right lateral head is of an antelope, thus Śiva as Paśupati; and the fourth head
with bulging eyes is evocative of his demonic and angry manifestation.
Kashmir Smast
Prov. Kasmir Smast. Hauteur 42 cm
Banu
Prov. Banu. Ht. 56 cm
Ithyphallic ŚivaAn ithyphallic Śiva,
wearing a short dhotī like
an ascetic, is shown
frontally with his right leg
standing firmly on the
ground and the left
slightly bent. The toes of
both legs of the god are
placed on the palms of a
female devotee emerging
from the pedestal.
akṣamālā (chapelet)
mātuluṅga (citron)
A symbol for creation as
its seeds are the atoms
that constitute the
universe.
The main cave or the Shiva cave, Cave 1, Elephanta.
The sculpture, dated to the sixth century at Elephanta, depicts Sadāśiva or
Maheśa (the Great Lord), holding in his lower left hand mātuluṅga
triśūla (trident)
Śiva holds the trident, his most
important attribute as the
destroyer, in the left back
hand. It is also noteworthy that
the triśūla is adorned with a
paraśu.
paraśu
kamaṇḍalu
The face on the proper
right with bulging eyes
represents the terrible and
angry manifestation of
Śiva.
The juvenile face on the
left may be of Vāmadeva
or Umā, Śiva’s śakti.
The third eve on the frontal
face and on the lateral
right face of Śiva
symbolises fire with which
the god periodically
destroys the universe.
This sculpture could be considered as one of
the earliest depictions of Chandrasekharmurti,
since Chandra (the moon) is tucked up in
Śiva’s crown. The crescent moon symbolises
his divine power.
The tiger claw attached to the necklace
reminds us of the episode described in the
sacred texts when riṣis, wild with rage,
against Śiva, the seducer of their wives,
discharged snakes, an Apasmārapuruṣa, a
paraśu, a bull, a lion and a tiger. The lion and
the tiger were killed by Śiva and their skins
were worn by him as garments. The tiger claw
that Śiva wears on his chest may be a token
of his triumph over the wild beast.
Bahirava. Archaeological Museum of Sarnath. L’Age d’or de l’Inde classique, fig. 40
paraśu
The paraśu (battle axe) fixed to
the triśūla is also evocative of
the same āyudha that the riṣis
discharged against Śiva.
Apasmārapuruṣa?
The small gaṇa-like dwarf
standing in adoration at the
feet of Śiva could be
identified as
Apasmārapuruṣa venerating
Śiva after the defeat of the
former.
Perhaps, it would be more
appropriate to consider the
dwarf figure as a simple
worshipper.
Chola bronze, 11th c. Archaeological Museum, Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka
ApasmārapuruṣaIn the fight, Śiva trampled
Apasmārapuruṣa under his feet. In
conventional iconography this
creature is depicted as a foot-stool,
which is not the case in the present
sculpture.
Butkara. Musée nationale de l’art oriental. Rome
Asi
Vajra
śakti
Cakra
G. Gnoli, Śiva
R.C. Agrawala, Viṣṇu, Śiva and Indra
M. Taddei, Skanda-Kārttikkeya
Śiva’s sword (asi)
Indra’s vajraSkanda-Kumāra’s
śakti (spear)
Viṣṇu’s cakara
Sibi jataka. The British Museum
Hot & Cold Water Btah
Rabatak. Afghanistan
(Vajra = Indra)(Vajra = Indra)
Cakra = Viṣṇu
The British Museum
The British Museum
śaṅkha = Viṣṇu
Varaha, the third Avatar of the Hindu God Vishnu, in the form of a Varaha (Boar).
He appeared in order to defeat Hiranyaksha, a demon who had taken the Earth
(Prithvi) and carried it to the bottom of what is described as the cosmic ocean in
the story. The battle between Varaha and Hiranyaksha is believed to have lasted
for a thousand years, which the former finally won. Varaha carried the Earth out
of the ocean between his tusks and restored it to its place in the universe. Vishnu
married Prithvi (Bhudevi) in this avatar.
Varaha is depicted in art as either purely animal or as being anthropomorphic,
having a boar's head on a man's body. In the latter form he has four arms, two of
which hold the wheel and conch-shell while the other two hold a mace, sword or
lotus or make a gesture (or "mudra") of blessing. The Earth is held between the
boar's tusks.
Anthropomorphic Viṣṇu-Nārāyaṇa and a zoomorphic Viṣṇu-Varāha. Ht. 60 cm
Cakra (wheel)
Padma (Lotus)
in the front right hand a
flower,
daṇḍa (club)
śaṅkha (conch)
āyudha-puruṣa
or Bhū Devī (Earth)
Viṣṇu-Varāha. Badami. Chalukya dynasty
Viṣṇu-Varāha. Varaha Cave at Udayagiri, Vidisha, Madhya Pradesh.
Viṣṇu-Varāha. Varaha Cave. Mahabalipuram. VIIth c.
anthropomorphic Viṣṇu-Nārāyaṇa and a zoomorphic Viṣṇu-Varāha. Ht. 60 cm
Viṣṇu-Varāha from Banu, National Museum of Pakistan, Karachi.
Bronze coin of Huviška (Kuṣāna)
The British Museum
Bronze coin of Huviška
from Kashmir Smast
It is in this context I wish to discuss the two depictions of Viṣṇu on two bronze series of Huviṣka, the Kuṣāna
king who reined in a vast empire, after Kaniṣka I. His reign is placed during the second half of the 2nd
century CE. Compared to both gold and bronze coins of Huviṣka where the name of the divinity is written on
the reverse, the two types depicting Viṣṇu bear the legend yodhavade written Kharoṣṭhī. Harry Falk explains
the legend as being composed of the Sanskrit yodha (warrior) and va(ṃ)de (praise), “In praise of (our)
warriors” possibly relating to Huviṣka’s extensive military expeditions (personal communication). .
Bronze coin of Huviška (Kuṣāna)
The British Museum
The bowman standing holding a bow in the left
hand and probably an arrow in the right is
identified as Rāma by Joe Cribb.
The first coin now in the British Museum (former
Rawlings collection) was first published by V.A. Smith
(1897, p. 3, pl. I, no. 6). Smith identified the reverse
type as Heracles with a question mark, describing the
arrow held by the God as a club. He also published a
second specimen in the Indian Museum of Calcutta,
but this time he does not identify the archer holding a
bow (p. 81, no. 46, pl. XIII, no. 4). Robert Göbl (1984,
p. 93, type 894) republished both coins and identified
the god on the reverse as Heracles. He did not read
the legend either. Joe Cribb in republishing the British
Museum coin read the legend, but identified the god as
Apollo (see p. 78, no. 67 in The Crossroads of Asia.
Transformation in Image and Symbol in the Art of the
Ancient Afghanistan and Pakistan, edited by E.
Errington and Joe Cribb, The Ancient India and Iran
Trust, Cambridge, 1992). Cribb identified the god as
Rāma in 2010 (p. 152, cat. no. 97). It was republished
by D. Jongeward and J. Cribb, 2015, p. 292.
Devendra Handa identifies a group of copper coins of the Ujjain region datable to the 2nd or
1st century BCE showing two men standing holding a bow on either side of a female figure,
as the earliest numismatic depictions of Rāma, Sītā and Lakṣmaṇa.
Handa, (2013) “Divinities on Ujjain coins”, Indian Coin Society - Newsletter, 51. pp. 3-58.
Bronze coin of Huviška (Kuṣāna)
depicting Rāma. The British Museum
The bow the god holds corresponds to the description given by Nearchus, the Cretan
chronicler who accompanied Alexander into India, who noted that the bowmen had to
rest the bow, as tall as them, on the ground and steady it with the left foot. They shot
arrows almost of three cubits long to which no shield or armour resisted (Arrian, VIII,
16, 6-7).
The most ancient depiction of a similar bowman in India is to be found in the verandah of
the cave no. XIX of the Bājā cave complex.
Bronze coin of Huviška from Kashmir Smast depicting elephant rider and eight armed Viṣṇu.
Private collection, Peshawar
Bronze coin of Huviška from Kashmir Smast Bronze coin of Huviška from the British Museum
The second series known so far from two bronze coins certainly depicts Viṣṇu with eight arms. The first one was
reported from the Kashmir Smast, a series of limestone caves, situated in the Babozai and Pirsai mountains in the
Mardan Valley in Northern Pakistan. Nasim Khan, who published it first, correctly identifies the god on the reverse as
Viṣṇu, but instead of eight arms he sees only six (Treasures from Kashmir Smast (The Earliest Śaiva Monastic
Establishments), New Awan Printers, Peshawar, 2006, pp. 134-7, coin no. 3.) In the same book he also published a
second specimen of the same series conserved in the British Museum without further commentary (M.N. Khan, 2006, p.
137). The British Museum coin was the published twice (First by J. Cribb, “The Kushan pantheon” in Gandhāra. The
Buddhist Heritage of Pakistan Legends, Monasteries and Paradise, Exhibition Catalogue, 2010, p. 152, cat. no. 98 and
then by D. Jongeward & J. Cribb, 2015, p. 292). Cribb correctly counts eight arms and identifies the conch shell, cakra
and club. Like Nasim Khan, J. Cribb also sees the ‘plant sprouting between the legs’, but does not discuss its
symbolism.
Bronze coin of Huviška from Kashmir Smast Bronze coin of Huviška from the British Museum
The poor condition of the two coins led all two authors (Nasim Khan and Joe Cribb) to be cautious
in identifying the attributes, though all of them agreed to consider him as Viṣṇu, thanks to the conch
held in front of the chest.
Eight-armed Viṣṇu
from Gandhāran.
Private collection
A hitherto unpublished sculpture of Viṣṇu made of schist and of Gandhāran style has
three notable characteristics already observed on the coin series: first of all the god has
eight arms, secondly he holds śaṅkha in highest pair of hands and thirdly he is seated
behind a tree.
He holds śaṅkha in highest pair of hands and thirdly he is seated behind a tree.
The śaṅkha (conch) of terrific sound having the lustre of the moon
Cakra, the discus with the lustre of the Sun, two of Viṣṇu’s attributes
The broken spherical head of the daṇḍa (mace) posed on the ground has survived.
Viṣṇu. Allāhābād Museum Viṣṇu. Varaha Cave at Udayagiri, Vidisha,
Madhya Pradesh.
Viṣṇu’s crown resembles the headpiece representing
city walls or towers (corona muralis) worn by Tyche
or City goddess mainly during the Hellenistic period.
Loriyan Tangai, Schist, 48 x 54 x 8.6 cm; IMC
Viṣṇu from Kashmir dated to the 9th century
Viṣṇu wears a long garland (vanamālā) reaching below his knees as seen on many Kashmiri
sculptures
The tree in front of the god deserves our
attention. The species of the tree in question on
the coins and of the sculpture cannot be
identified for sure due to the absence of leaves.
If it is a Pipal tree (ficus religosa in Latin or aśvattha in
Sanskrit), we have a reference in the Bhagavat Gītā (10.
26) where Kṛṣṇa says “I am the aśvattha, lord of trees”.
For an exhaustive discussion on this theme, see Nandita
Krishna & M. Amirthalingam, Sacred Plants of India,
Penguin Books, Delhi, pp. 222-3.
In this source it is stated that this sacred tree is a symbol of Viṣṇu who is believed to have
been born under it. It further says that if a person does not have a son, he may consider
the pipal to be his own child. Could the child emerging between branches be then the
personification of the tree?
The female figure emerging from the ground supporting the weight of Viṣṇu in her
palms and looking at god in adoration is the Earth Goddess (Bhū Devī), consort of
Varāha, an avatāra of Viṣṇu.
Viṣṇu vanquishing the
titans Madhu and
Kaitabha
Los Angeles County
Museum
Some sculptures from Jammu-Kashmir of a later date depict her between the feet of the
supreme god.
VIIIth century copper
alloy sculpture from
the Asia Society, New
York.
See Osmund Bopearachchi, “In search of
Utpalavarṇā in Gandhāran Buddhist art", In Un
impaziente desiderio di scorrere il mondo. Studi
in onore di Antonio Invernizzi per il suo
sttantesimo compleanno, edited by Carlo
Lippolis & Stefano de Martino, Le Lettere,
Firenzee, 2011, pp. 353-367, particularly pp.
363-5, fig. 12.
The descent of the Buddha at Sāṃkāśya
from the Trayastriṃśa Heaven with
Utpalavarṇā greeting him at the foot of the
ladder has a portrayal of a female figure
emerging from the underworld providing a
comparable iconography.
Gandhāran relief depicting the
descent of the Buddha at
Samkashya from the Tāvatiṃsa.
Gandhāran relief depicting the
descent of the Buddha at
Samkashya from the Tāvatiṃsa.
Private collection, Tokyo
The emergence of Hindu imagery in north India can now be dated to the 3rd century
BCE and that we can no longer pass over in silence the importance of the numismatic
evidence. In Gandhāra there was a transitional period characterised by composite
images and innovative attempts seen on coin types and in plastic art. These efforts are
the results of a multitude of interactions taking place in a region where civilisations
from diverse horizons merged at the crossroads of Central Asia and North-West
India. These unusual images gave way to the more strictly regulated and codified
iconography of later Indian art.
