An eight-headed Siva icon (4th-5th century C.E.) found in excavations at Mandhal, prompted Dr. Deglurkar to look for literary references. He found a verse in Kumarasambhava, where, while describing Siva’s marriage to Parvati, Kalidasa describes Siva as Ashtamurti.
Another icon thrown up by the Mandhal excavation was a 12-headed Siva. Four heads of the icon faced the main directions. Four heads on top of these faced the sub-directions. There were two heads on the shoulders and two on the thigh joints. Deglurkar found a reference to Siva as sarva parsva mukha, when he went through the index cards of the Deccan College Sanskrit dictionary project. Parsva means side, and sarva means all. So sarva parsva mukha Siva means Siva facing in all directions and the Mandhal icon answered to this description.
Currently President Deccan College Deemed University, Pune, Dr. G.B. Deglurkar, began his career as a historian. But he found history limiting, and switched to archaeology, doing his Ph.D. on ‘Cultural History of Marathwada, with special reference to old monuments.’ His interest in iconography and iconology was whetted by works of art that his excavations yielded.
How would he describe the peculiar image of Siva in Tala, Chattisgarh? “Most people said it had eight heads. But I counted the lion heads on the knees, and two heads in the eyes, and said it had 12 heads. I would describe this image as sarva bhuta vahitra, because different animals form different parts of this Siva. His brows and nose are a lizard, two fishes constitute his moustache, and so on.”
Why did he take into consideration the lion heads when others didn’t? “In the Mahabharata, Siva is known as Sivaga — one who is carried by a lion. Also, his chariot is described as drawn by a thousand lions. So the lion heads in the icon are significant.”
Deglurkar says that those who do not have a sound knowledge of scriptural texts miss the philosophical underpinnings of Indian sacred art.
As an example, he mentions a Siva idol (11th century C.E.) that was discovered in Gadchiroli district in Maharashtra. Here Siva has four legs — two hanging down, with his palms resting on his knees, and two upper legs folded. Europeans said that because Siva’s legs were hanging down, he was seated in a European pose!
“This chatushpada Sadasiva has to be understood in terms of Saiva Siddhanta. The two hanging legs indicate charya pada — services in a temple like sweeping, doing a Rangoli etc, and kriya pada — performing rituals and rites. The two folded legs indicate yoga pada — meditation and jnana pada — gaining spiritual knowledge.”
Bas reliefs
Coming to Vaishnavite representations, he describes bas reliefs in Khajuraho and Dhule, Maharashtra. “The facing head of Vishnu is Vasudeva, the one to the right is Sankarshana (lion face) and the one to the left is Pradyumna (Varaha’s face). The head at the back — Aniruddha (horse face) isn’t represented, because these are reliefs.”
Deglurkar talks of how trade took Indian art beyond the shores of this country. During the excavations in Pompei, in the 18th century, an ivory female image was found. While archaeologists said that it was of Indian provenance, they were unable to say which part of India it came from. Deglurkar supplied the missing link. Excavations in Bhokardhan, in Maharashtra, yielded many finds of the Satavahana period (2nd century B.C.E to 2nd century C.E.).
In Bhokardhan, Deglurkar’s team found the lower portion of an ivory image. “It was like the twin of the Pompei image — the dress and the two female attendants — everything was identical. The Satavahanas had a flourishing trade with many countries, and the image must have gone from Bhokardhan to Pompei,” says Deglurkar.
Did he get a chance to see the Pompei image? “When I visited the Naples museum, the director said the image was too precious to be displayed, and wouldn’t let me see it. I told her that I was particularly interested, because I had found a replica and had even written a paper on it. ‘Are you Deglurkar?’ she asked and then allowed me to see it,” he laughs.
Can he shed light on the structural temples of Maharashtra? “Early temples in Maharashtra in situ belong to the 4th-5th century C. E. although in excavations in Paithan in Aurangabad district, we found plinths of brick temples belonging to earlier centuries. While Maharashtra has both Dravida and Nagara schools, Bhumija type of temples, based on the description given in Raja Bhoja’s Samaranganasutradhara, are unique to Maharashtra.”
