Adoption, adaptation, transformation: the Mahisamardinī imagery in pre-Kusāna and Kusāna art

• Autorzy: Elena Restelli
• Języki publikacji: EN

Abstrakty

EN

The origin of the goddess killing the buffalo-demon is very obscure. Sculptural evidence starts with the beginning of the Common Era. The early specimens of Mahiṣamardinῑ motif are dated in the pre-Kuṣāṇa and Kuṣāṇa periods (c. 2nd century B.C. – 2nd century A. D.) and are found mainly in North Central India. This paper deals with the study of the icons of the goddess coming from Mathurā and belonging to this period. Here the Devῑ is shown while pressing the hind part of the buffalo with one of her hands and breaking the animal’s neck with another. By analysing the distinctive features of the icons we will show their composite nature. The multiple arms of the goddess give strong indication that there is much in the nature of the deity that relates to the indigenous traditions; however, the goddess displays in her attire some traits which can be at home in more than one culture. We will assume that, due to the specific historical and cultural period, the goddess has absorbed into her iconography a few motifs originating from non-Indian areas but sufficiently familiar in the local traditions so as to be assimilated; in fact, during the pre-Kusāna and Kusāna ages, the pathways between the territories beyond the Northwest frontiers and North India were more than connective routes carrying goods. Ideas and cultural innovations also travelled. Adoption, adaptation, transformation. These may be the hallmarks characterizing the vitality and creativity of pre-Kusāna and early Kusāna art, as can be represented by our goddess. In an attempt to understand where the notion of the multi-armed goddess with the buffalo comes from, we will analyze the iconographic units and stylistic idiosyncrasies of her imagery explaining why this occurs only in the Doab and how the components merged together in the iconography of the goddess. This process will be treated as being representative of the cultural and political climate fostered by pre-Kusāna and Kusāna rulers who were evidently interested in integrating motifs and foreign prototypes and in transforming them into new artistic idioms affecting the indigenous output.

Słowa kluczowe

EN

Goddess; North India; cult; Kusāna; buffalo-demon; art; assimilation

• Wydawca: Księgarnia Akademicka
• Czasopismo: Cracow Indological Studies
• Rocznik: 2012
• Tom: 14
• Strony: 17-33

Twórcy

autor

Elena Restelli

• Università degli Studi di Torino

Bibliografia

• Agrawala, V. S. (1951). A Catalogue of the Brahmanical Imagesin Mathurā Art. Lucknow: Historical Society
• Azarpay, G. (1976). Nanâ, the Sumero-Akkadian Goddess of Transoxiana.In: Journal of the American Oriental Society, 96, 4: 536-542
• Basu, C. (2001). Redifining the Nature of Cultural Regions in EarlyIndia: Mathurā and the Meaning of “Kuṣāṇa” Art (1st – 3rd centuries AD).PhD Thesis. University of Pennsylvania
• Berkson, C. (1995). The Divine and Demoniac, Mahisa’s Heroic Struggle withDurga. Delhi-Bombay-Calcutta-Madras: Oxford University Press.
• Biardeau, M. (1981). Autour de la déesse hindoue: études. Paris: Editionsde l’Ecole des Hautes Sciences Sociales
• Errington, E. & Cribb, J. (1992). The Crossroads of Asia. Cambridge: AncientIndia and Iran Trust
• Geer, A. van der. (2008). Animals in Stone. Indian Mammals SculpturedThrough Time. Leiden: Brill.
• Gill, S. (2000). Phantasmic Anatomy of the Statues of Mathurā. New Delhi:Munshiram Manoharlal Publishers
• Ghose, N. (2006). Nana. The “Original” Goddess on the Lion. In: Journal ofInner Asian Art and Archaeology, 1: 97-112
• Härtel, H. (1993). Excavations at Sonkh: 2500 years of a town in MathurāDistrict. Berlin: Deitrich Reimer Varlag
• Hooja D. R. (2004). Artefacts and Interpretations of the Past: Early Hinduismin Rajasthan. In: World Archaeology, 36, 3: 360-367
• Lohuizen-de-Leeuw, J. E. van. (1949). The “Scythian” Period: An Approachto the History, Art, Epigraphy and Paleography of North India fromthe 1st Century B.C. to the 3rd Century A.D. Leiden: Brill
• Maxwell, T. S. Ed. (1992). Eastern Approaches. Essays on Asian Art andArchaeology. Delhi, Bombay, Calcutta, Madras: Oxford University Press
• Mitterwallner, G. von (1976). The Kuṣāṇa Type of the Goddess Mahiṣāsuramardinīas compared to the Gupta and Medieval Types. In: GermanScholars on India. Vol. 2, Bombay: Nachiketa Publications, pp. 196-213
• Mitterwallner, G. von (1986). Kuṣāṇa coins and Sculptures. Mathurā: GovernmentMuseum
• Mukherjee, B. N. (1969). Nana on Lion. A Study in Kuṣāṇa Numismatic Art.Calcutta: The Asiatic Society.
• Mukherjee, B. N. (2004). Kushāna Studies. New Perspectives. Kolkata: FirmaKLM Private Limited
• Munshi, D. (1986). The Origin and Development of Nana – The Popular KuṣāṇaMother Goddess. In: Journal of Oriental Institute, 35, 3/4: 249‑256.
• Rosenfield, J. (1967). The Dynastic Arts of the Kushans. Berkeley, Los Angeles:University of California Press.
• Rowland, B. (1956). Gandhara, Rome and Mathura: The Early Relief Style.In: Archives of the Chinese Art Society of America, 10: 8-17.
• Salomon, R. (1998). Indian Epigraphy: A guide to the Study of Inscriptionsin Sanskrit, Prakrit and the Other Indo-Aryan Languages.New York: Oxford University Press
• Sims-Williams, N., Cribb, J. (1996). A New Bactrian Inscription of Kaniṣkathe Great. Part 1: The Rabatak Inscription. Text and Commentary. In: SilkRoad Art and Archaeology, 4: 75-142.
• Sims-Williams, N. (1998). Further Notes on the Bactrian Inscription ofRabatak, with an appendix on the Names of Kujula Kadphises and WimaTaktu in Chinese. In: Proceedings of The Third European Conferenceof Iranian Studies held in Cambridge. 5th – 11th September 1995. Part 1.Old and Middle Iranian Studies. Wiesbaden: Sims-Williams, pp. 79-92.
• Srinivasan, D. M. (1997). Many Heads, Arms and Eyes: Origin, Meaning andForm of Multiplicity in Indian Art. Leiden, New York, Köln: Brill.
• Srinivasan, D. M. Ed. (2007). On the Cusp of An Era. Art in the Pre-KuṣānaWorld. Leiden, Boston: Brill
• Stietencron, H. von (2005). Hindu Myth, Hindu History. Religion, Art, andPolitics. New Delhi: Permanent Black.
• Tartakov, G. M., Dehejia, V. (1984). Sharing, Intrusion and Influence:The MahiṣāsuramardinīImagery of the Calukyas and the Pallavas.In: Artibus Asiae, 45, 4: 287-345.
• Thapar, R. (1984). From Lineage to State: Social Formations in the Mid-FirstMillennium B.C. in the Ganga Valley. Delhi: Oxford University Press
• Thapar, R. (1992). Interpreting Early India. Delhi: Oxford University Press.
• Tiwari, J. N. (1985). Goddess Cult in Ancient India, Delhi: Sundeed Prakashan.