I recently came across an article dated 1st September 2022 in the newspaper, Live Hindustan, reporting the discovery of two terracotta panels on the south side of the pyramidal brick monument known as ACI or Bhimgaja situated at the heart of the ancient city of Ahichhatrā, Bareilly district, Uttar Pradesh. These panels, dating to circa the 5th/6th century CE, were unearthed during excavations in 2022 and were regrettably damaged in the process. The panels are exciting additions to the corpus of panels retrieved from ACI during the 1940–44 excavations, now divided between the National Museum, New Delhi, and the Lucknow State Museum. I am still trying to ascertain the whereabouts of the ‘new’ panels in order to study them in person, but meanwhile, I have to make do with the slightly blurred images from the newspaper article.
I suggest that the more damaged of the two panels might potentially represent the beautiful enchantress Mohinī – a female manifestation of Viṣṇu – standing in front of Mount Mandara and holding the vessel of amṛta (nectar of immortality) churned up from the ocean of milk. The figure on the left is too fragmented to identify.
The second panel represents Śiva as the devastatingly handsome naked mendicant, Bhikṣāṭana. This is a rare, if not unique, sculptural relief of the supreme beggar encountering Viṣṇu and a group of ṛṣis (sages), three of which are severely emaciated. Viṣṇu partly conceals a figure who looks remarkably similar to the woman in the previous panel. Interestingly, in this early image, Bhikṣāṭana is not furnished with several of the features and accoutrements that later come to distinguish him in temple sculpture, for example, having four arms, sandals, bells to announce his approach, and a pet dog or deer.
The Bhikṣāṭana myth features in various purāṇas, each telling distinct. More investigation is necessary to establish which version the imagery is most closely aligned with, if any. The presence of Viṣṇu, however, could point to it representing a segment of an episode in which there is an altercation in the Deodar forest (see below), or alternatively, an episode in which there is an altercation in Vaikuṇṭha, Viṣṇu’s abode, after Bhikṣāṭana has cut-off the head of the gate keeper of Vaikuṇṭha.
Regarding the Deodar myth, a version in the Kūrma Purāṇa tells how Bhikṣāṭana enters the forest accompanied by Viṣṇu disguised as Mohinī with the objective of teaching a lesson to some arrogant ṛṣis who, obsessed with austerities and rituals, have lost sight of supreme knowledge. Upon meeting the pair, the sages’ wives are immediately enamoured with the dashing Bhikṣāṭana and likewise, some of the sages find themselves attracted to Mohinī. Angry at this state of affairs, the sages insult Bhikṣāṭana, and curse his liṇga to fall off, which it does, albeit transforming into a radiating shaft of light. Anusūyā, the wife of Sage Atri, then recognises the pair as Śiva and Viṣṇu.
One tentative identification for the woman standing behind Viṣṇu in the Ahichhatrā panel is Mohinī, Viṣṇu having just ‘stepped out’ of her. Another option is Anusūyā, with the healthy looking sage in the upper register being Atri. Or it could be another woman altogether!
That Viṣṇu looks angry in the panel somewhat jars with the Deodar forest story and would suit the Vaikuṇṭha episode better. On the other hand, ṛṣis do not play a role in the latter episode.
Significantly, there is another panel of Bhikṣāṭana from ACI (now in storage at the Lucknow State Museum), very different in character and clearly produced by a different pair of hands.
I plan to spend more time studying this panel (it’s in a queue!), especially if I have the opportunity to view it in person, and my hope is that both panels will one day be reunited with the other finds from ACI – perhaps in a gallery of their own.
Art of South Asia 