This set consists of 3 titles:
The book presents a comprehensive and critical study regarding the ancient temple sculptures of Assam. The complete work focus upon the aesthetic as well as the historical aspects of the temple sculptures of Assam. The work highlights the sculptural development of Assam with special reference to the Daparbatiya Temple, Kamakhya Temple, Deoparbat Temple, Madan Kamdeva Temple, Pingaleswar Temple and Hayagriva Madhava Temple. A detailed study is accomplish to explore the sculptural motifs of the temples, which are further studied and classified into religious, secular, narrative scenes, erotic scenes, celestial dancers and musicians, flora and fauna, geometrical motifs etc.
Born in Shillong. Dr. Meghali Goswami is an art historian and an art critic. She complete her school education in Pine Mount School Shillong and persuaded her Bachelor of Fine Arts from College of Arts and Crafts Guwahati. Dr. Goswami completed her post graduation in History of Art from National Museum Institute of History of Art. Conservation and Museology, New Delhi and obtained her Ph D from Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee To her credit Dr. Goswami has a number of research paper in international as well as national journals. Dr Goswami also had authored a number of books in visual arts. She is also an editor of Canvas a bilingual Contemporary Art Magazine. She has been guiding a number of PhD scholars in the field of visual arts. She had served an Assistant Professor in the Department of Visual Arts Assam University Silchar. At present she is an Associate Professor in the Department of History of Art, Kala Bhavana, Visva Bharati University Santiniketan.
Born in Guwahati, Assam, Dr. Mousumi Deka is an artist and a researcher. She completed her Bachelor of Arts in Education from Gauhati University. She did her graduation in Fine Arts from Government College of Art & Crafts, Guwahati. Dr. Deka completed her post graduation in Fine Arts from the Department of Fine Arts, Assam University, Silchar and obtained her PhD degree in Visual Arts from Assam University, Silchar. To her credit Dr. Deka has participated in many national art exhibitions and art workshops. She has published a number of research papers in Indian journals. At present she is an Assistant Professor of Royal School of Fine Arts in Royal Global University, Guwahati.
Assam has a long history in the field of culture. The temple sculptures of Assam provided great contribution towards the field of culture. In ancient times, the development of the sculptural art occurred due to the erection of the temple architectures, because the Hindu sacred sculptures were always associated with the temples. Numerous temples ruins, literary works and epigraphic records proved that in ancient times, Kamarupa, old name of Assam, was a great centre for the sculptural activities. The political history of Assam started with the advent of Varman dynasty in 4th century A. D. After this dynasty, two dynasties, which were Salastambha dynasty and Pala dynasty came to be focused. In Assam, sculptural activities reached its zenith from 5th century A. D to 12th century A. D. The introductory chapter concentrates on the origin of the development of temple sculptures with special reference to temple sculptures of Assam. The second chapter highlights about the historical background of the temple architecture of Assam. The earliest sculptural developments of Assam appeared under three dynasties. Varman dynasty, Salastambha dynasty and Pala dynasty played an important role for the development of the temple architectures. The study focuses on the sub topics like evolution of temple sculptures in Assam, growth of indigenous school, sculptural developments under different dynasties of Assam and religious influences on the temple architectures of Assam. The third chapter focuses about the sculptures of Daparbatiya temple, which is the earliest representation in the sculptures art of Assam. At Daparbatiya temple site, an ornamented door frame was found as authentic evidence. On the door frame, the figures of Ganga and Yamuna, which are the characteristic features of the Gupta style, are depicted. This chapter concentrates on the sculptural motifs of the door frame.
Book's Contents and Sample Pages
It has been truly said that there is no part of India which is more interesting in some respects to the student of Hinduism than the Assam Valley. The fundamental streams of the Brahmanical religion had penetrated into Assam at an early period. Saivism, Saktism and Vaisnavism held sway in various forms. These cults underwent certain modifications in Assam. It is true especially of Saktism.
In India sculpture, fine arts and literature are closely connected with religion. It is the religion which fostered the growth of temples and images. In Assam also temple building and the arts of architecture and sculpture grew hand in hand with the spread of religion. The erection of temples in Assam goes back to an early century. At any rate, the existence of numerous shines dedicated to Siva, Surya, Vishnu and Devi and other deities is fully attested to both by inscriptions and contemporary literature. But today not one of these early edifices exist, and the only memorials of ancient times consist of jungle clad mounds scattered in such places as Gauhati, Tezpur, Nowgong, Sibsagar and a few big temples belonging to a comparatively late period.
The reason for this total obliteration of old-sities as given by Gait, is that nature has vied with man in destroying them. The Brahmaputra Valley is an alluvial country, and the impetuous, snow-fed rivers which debouch from the Himalayas find so little resistance in its friable soil that they are constantly carving out new channels and cutting away their bank; consequently no building erected in their neighbourhood can be expected to remain for more than limited time, except at few points like Gauhati, Tezpur, where solid rock pierces through the alluvium. Further though occurring at distant intervals, violent earthquake are, in Assam quite as great cause of destruction as Fluvial action. A less sudden, but almost equally potent, cause of damage is found in the luxuriant vegetation of the country. Instances are also not wanting where religious zeal led the early Moslem invaders to raze the temples to the ground.
We have therefore very little material for the study of temples in Assam although there are quite a few legends. We have here selected some of the important ones and have also added a chapter on Vaisnava religious centres or Satras so as to make them intelligible to those outside Assam.
The book is a joint work of Dr. B.K. Barua and myself. In fact, immediately after the receipt of the letter from the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan Dr. Barua invited me to associate with him in the preparation of the work, before we could take it up we had to complete the work in hand which was a revision of A history of Assam by E.A. Gait. After the completion of it, we took up the present work and prepared the draft. But before we could finalise the draft, Dr. Barua left for USA as visiting Professor in the Indiana University. After his return from the States, we finalized the draft and were about to send it for typing, when suddenly Dr. Barua was taken ill and passed away. Therefore I have written this preface on the lines we had thought out originally.
I would like to take this opportunity to place on record my deep debt of gratitude to Dr. B.K. Barua for giving me an opportunity to associate myself with this publication. I am grateful to Mrs. B.K. Baura for kindly permitting me to send the manuscript for publication; I am indebted to Mr. M.S. Prabhakar, M.A. in English, Gauhati University, for correcting the typescript; to Mr. Divya Kishore Singh. M.Sc.., Lecturer in Geography, Gauhati university, for writing the map of Assam showing the sacred religious centers: and to Mr. S. Shankara M.Sc. Lecturer in Physics, Gauhati university, for helping me in typing the manuscript.
My thanks are due to the Director General of Archaeology to the Government of Indian and to Sri Ganga Prasad Sharma of the Gauhati University library, who have kindly lent me a few photographs of monuments and permission for the reproduction.
We are thankful to Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, the sponsors of this scheme, for providing us an opportunity to study this problems and to the Publishers and authors of works quoted in this book.
We have tried our best to present the account in its true perspective and for any shortcomings we crave the indulgence of the reading public.
About the Authors
Litterateur, historian, author and teacher, Dr. B.K. Baura received his education from the Calcutta and London University in 1948, he joined the Assamese Department as Reader and later became Professor. He also served the University in various other capacities. He went to USA in 1963 where he lectured at the Indiana University as Visiting Professor of Indian Folklore. Among his English works may be mentioned-A Cultural History of Assam, Vol I, Early Geography of Assam, Assamese Literature Sankarakeva-a Vaisnava Saint of Assam etc. In Assamese, his mother tongue, Dr. Baura is one of the foremost writers of novels, short-stories and plays. He has also edited a number of old Assamese classics. His work Assamar Lokasamskriti received the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1965.
Dr. H.V.S. Murthy at Honnavalli, educated by Mysore University, took the Master's Degree in History securing the First position. He joined the Gauhati University in 1956 as Lecturer in History and worked under Dr. B.K. Baura for his Doctorate. He obtained his D.Phill. degree in 1961 and the thesis entitled Vaishnavism of Sankaradeva and Ramanuja: A Comparative Study is under publication. In addition to a number of research papers, he has also published A History of Ancient India and has collaborated with Dr. Baura in editing and revising gait's A History of Assam.
**Contents and Sample Pages**
Inumeral studies on the temples of India, more particularly on those of South India have been made by scholars of repute of India and abroad while the temples of Assam are still awaiting a proper attention of the scholars. The author of this work has made an attempt for a comparative study on the management system of the temples of Assam and Odisha and thus have opened up a vast and virgin field of research on the socio-economic and politico- cultural life of the two parts of our great country - "India' in the true sense of the term.. The present work will certainly be of great help for them who are seriously engaged in studying history and management of the temples of Assam and Odisha in particular. Its prime beauty that one can enjoy and utilize is the theory of 'unity in diversity' has been convincingly portraited here without a single layer of any kind of emotion and reservation. It will definitely serve the purposes of the general readers as well.
Dr. Tapan Kalita, M.A. in History from Gauhati University, Assam and currently he is an Associate Professor in the Department of History, Nirmal Halol College, Patacharkuchi (Bajall District) under Gauhati University. He obtained his Ph.D. degree from Gauhati University, for his dissertation "Management System of the Temples of Assam and Orissa: A Comparative Study". In connection with academic activities he visited several Universities in India. Three text books for degree level and more than 15 research papers published in journals of National stander. Number of popular articles in magazines and periodicals are there to credit of Dr. Kalita. He is a life member of North East India History Association (NEIHA) and Kamarupa Anusandhan Samiti (Assam Historical Research Society) where he also served as an Executive Member (EM). He was even a founder member of Axom Buranji Sabha.
Assam formerly known as Prägjotisa- Kamarúpa maintained a close relation with its neighbouring provinces of Bengal and Odisha since hoary past and vice-versa. Bhauma-Naraka, whom is regarded to be the progenitor of all the pre Ahom ruling dynasties viz., the Varmanas, the Salastambhas and the Palas as tradition claims, was a political adventurer from Mithla, a part of early Odisha region. Likewise, the origin of the Bhauma-Kara dynasty of Odisha is also evidently claimed from the same Bhauma-Nararaka line of kings of Kamarupa. The epigraphs of early Assam record, under the patronage of her rulers a number of brahmanas from northern India including Odisha region came to Assam and got their proper settlements as per the provision of Hindu scriptures. Similarly, brahmanas from Kamarupa like Vishnusomacharya of Parisara gotra went to Odisha at the royal invitation of the Eastern Ganga king Anantavarmana, received Brahmottara grant of land and then stayed there permanently. The same Indradunnya legend of Lord Jagannatha of Puri is found connected with the images of the presiding deities of Hayagriva temple at Hajo in Assam.
The temples were and still are being popular places of festivals and community gatherings, they helps in strengthening intermixing the people of different strata of the society. Earlier the temples and the royal authority always maintained a mutual relation. In order to win over the people, the local deities mostly non-Aryan were often made identified by the Sastrakāras with their counterparts extolled in Vedic and Puranic literatures.
A number of temples including that of Mahagauri, Kameśvari, Hatakasulinśiva and Vasu Madhava were some centers of the 'nuclear areas' in early Assam under the rule of the Varmana, Šālastambha and the Pala Kings (C.E 4-12 Century). Likewise, the Hindu temples including the famous temple of Lord Jagannatha at Puri, Lord Lingaraja at Bhubaneswar and that of Goddess Virajā at Jajpur were some of the nerve centers of the kingdoms of Somavamsi and Süryavamsi Gajapati Kings (CE 9" Century - 16" Century). These temples were also endowed lavishly with men, lands and other valuables both movable and immovable by the kings of the respective dynasties.
According to an estimate made in CE 1954 Assam owns 103 temples of which 44 belong to Saiva, 26 to Säkta and 24 to Vaisnava sect, while in Odisha out of 153 central and state protected temples 79 belong to Saiva, 23 to Säkta and 34 to Vaisnava sect.
A temple is a house of gods and goddesses or any other objects of worship. The word temple has been derived from the Latin Templum' meaning a square place of a deity. It has therefore a great resemblance with the Sanskrit word Devagrha and all of its synonyms viz., Dol, Devalaya, Devayatana etc. Banikanta Kakati however finds its Austric origin which connotes the same thing. Whatever may be the truth, the word temple carries the meaning of a residence of a god. In the texts of the Indian art and architecture more than 101 terms are found to mean a Hindu temple. Among these grha, Pitha, Matha, Mandira, Saudha, Präsäda have been commonly used. To suit our purpose here we have used the word temple to mean a place of worship of the Hindu or Hinduised gods and goddesses with a masonry or brick built building in standing order or in ruins bearing endowments of land, men and valuables, wherein daily and regular worship was performed and still being performed.
For privacy concerns, please view our Privacy Policy
Vedas (1347)
Upanishads (656)
Puranas (826)
Ramayana (885)
Mahabharata (314)
Dharmasastras (163)
Goddess (463)
Bhakti (241)
Saints (1236)
Gods (1285)
Shiva (323)
Journal (132)
Fiction (42)
Vedanta (313)
Send as free online greeting card
Email a Friend
Manage Wishlist