Tag: history

The Birth of Śakuntalā: An Early Gupta Period Terracotta Panel from Chausā, Bihar

This early Gupta period terracotta panel has been identified by the excavators as representing Viśvāmitra, Menakā, and their newborn daughter, Śakuntalā.

I was recently in Bihar where I visited the Sita Ram Upadhyaya Museum in Buxar with the purpose of studying early fifth-century terracotta temple panels and architectural elements excavated from a large archaeological mound, 10 metres in height, in the nearby village of Chausā in 2014, for an article I am working on. This mound is perhaps most famous locally for being the site of the 1539 battle of Chausā in which the Afghan ruler, Sher Shah Suri, defeated the Mughal Emperor Humayun. Chausā has been known to scholars of Indology and art history since 1931 due to the important hoard of 18 early Jain bronzes that were unearthed in a field here. Some of these bronzes are distinctly Gupta in style. Chausā is also known for being the place of origin of a terracotta panel depicting a Rāmāyaṇa scene housed in the old Patna Museum (possibly transferred by now to the new Bihar Museum). This panel belongs to the same lost temple as the panels excavated decades later.

In this post I am going to discuss a single panel from the Chausā collection which might constitute the earliest extant temple image of the birth of Śakuntalā. This story features in chapters 71–72 of the Sambhava Parva of the Ādiparvan (first part) of the Mahābhārata. It tells of how Indra, king of the gods, was becoming perturbed at the increasing power of king-turned-sage, Viśvāmitra, who was performing advanced austerities. Indra, keen to protect his throne, sent the most beautiful of the asparas‘ (celestial nymphs), Menakā, to tempt Viśvāmitra away from his penances. Menakā, aware and afraid of the great power of Viśvāmitra, asks Indra to send the gods of wind and love with her to ensure her success. When Menakā arrives at the āśrama of the sage, the wind god causes a great gust to blow away her clothes which she then shyly attempts to retrieve. Having witnessed this mishap, Viśvāmitra falls in love there and then and invites Menakā to live with him. They spend many happy years together frolicking; years that feel like no more than a day.

Vishvamitra and Menaka by Raja Ravi Varma (1848–1906)

When Menakā becomes pregnant, she leaves the sage, her task having been completed. She gives birth to a girl on the bank of a river in the Himalayas and then returns to the heavens leaving the infant behind. The vulnerable baby girl is protected by forest birds and so receives the name Śakuntalā (the one protected by birds). She is discovered by Sage Kaṇva who becomes her foster father.

We turn now to the Chausā panel and its exuberant iconography.

In the top register we observe Viśvāmitra and Menakā departing at speed in opposite directions, conveying the end of their relationship and the abandonment of their daughter Śakuntalā, who is depicted in the lower register lying on lotus pads in a forest glade. In the upper midpoint of the panel, a foot each of the erstwhile couple touch, perhaps an intentional reminder of the love and intimacy they shared. On the lower left of the panel is an Ashoka tree (saraca asoca), while to the right is a tree that could be a young Peepal (ficus religiosa) or a type of ficus palmata. The leaves of a palm tree are visible behind the fleeing figures. Despite being deserted by her parents, Śakuntalā has a smiling, content countenance.

Viśvāmitra has wonderfully characterful appearance. His matted hair is worn in a top knot and he sports a thick moustache and a suave pointed beard. He has tripuṇḍra (three lines, usually made from sacred ash) smeared on both his head and chest, marking him out as a devotee of Śiva.

Menakā’s face is sadly lost so I include here an image of one of the graceful terracotta women of Chausā to give an approximate indication of what she might have looked like.

The panel imagery does not precisely align with the Mahābhārata telling. Most significantly, both Viśvāmitra and Menakā appear to be airborne in the panel. For all his powers, there is, to the best of my knowledge, no surviving textual account of Viśvāmitra having the ability to fly without the aid of a vehicle. Secondly, in the Mahābhārata, the couple separate before the birth of Śakuntalā. And finally, there are no birds represented in this panel – perhaps they would have featured in a lost sequential panel. There are various tellings of the relationship between Viśvāmitra and Menakā in ancient and early texts including one in the Rāmāyaṇa, but this and many others do not include the birth of Śakuntalā. The panel then, might constitute a unique take on the myth, or might illustrate an oral or textual telling that has not survived in another medium.

There are possible traces of red and white paint on the panel but this would need to be confirmed via scientific examination.

Bhikṣāṭana at Ahichhatrā

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.

ACI/Bhimgaja following excavation in the early 1940s. Photograph courtesy of the Archaeological Survey of India.
The ancient walled city of Ahichhatrā. Google Earth.

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.

A terracotta panel of Bhikṣāṭana from ACI. Photograph courtesy of the Archaeological Survey of India.

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.