Riddle of Indian Iconography (Zetetic on Rare Icon from Tala)

About the Book A gigantic icon with unusual iconographic features, comprising human heads and various animal forms as body components was discovered more than a decade ago from Tala (District Bilaspur, Madhya Pradesh). This image is a masterpiece example of uniqueness; hitherto unknown in the art traditions of India.

The investigation of an image by a group of scholars breaking the barrier of boundaries of nations was an unusual idea to solve the enigma of the Tala icon. The present book is a result of a postal seminar which the editor organized. Apart from Tala Icon, this book also throws light on the history and art-tradition of Daksina Kosala, presently known as Chhattisgarh.

"The range of ideas and images in the text is vast and from this great ocean, formed over several thousand years, art historians can pick-up items that would seemingly explain the various details of the Tala image; but if this is just a random matching of text and image, we will not be able to satisfactorily elucidate the whole."

About the Author L.S. Nigam obtained his M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from Ravishanker University, Raipur. He has been teaching Ancient Indian History, Culture & Archaeology at Graduate and Post-Graduate levels for several years. He has to his credit three books and many research papers on Numismatics, Art History, Historical Geography and Political History. He has participated in many national and international seminars including Conference of the College Art Association of America held in Los Angeles (USA). Currently Dr. Nigam teaches at Govt. College, Shankar Nagar, Raipur (M.P.) and is the Co- convener of Raipur regional chapter of INTACH.

Foreword The site of Thai in ancient Daksina Kosala has always been of great interest to me, but I actually visited the place for the first time in 1984-5. I was then serving as Honorary Advisor for Art and Archaeology to the Government of Madhya Pradesh and was greatly impressed not only by the unique architecture but the superb quality of the sculpture that had been recovered from the ruins, many fine examples being housed in the Bilaspur Museum of which Shri Rahul Kumar Singh was Curator. Convinced that a clearance of the site would lead to the discovery of very valuable materials that would not only be a joy to the eyes but of great use to scholars interested in the art and architecture of the region. I recommended to the Government that the site be cleared: Meanwhile, Dr. Kalyan Kumar Chakravarty, a member of the civil service in Madhya Pradesh, had entered Harvard University as a doctoral student, with the aim of working on the art of Daksina Kosala. On his return to India for fieldwork, he was able to undertake the clearance at Tala in 1988, and so impressed were we by the rather amazing results that he decided to concentrate his attention on Tala. The result was a fine Ph.D. dissertation entitled Tala and the Art of Deksine Kosala which has, unfortunately, not yet been published. I myself visited Tala several times, enjoying the exquisite beauty of its sculpture, grappling with its architectural problems, and being baffled by the iconography of some of its great sculptures, and was actually present at the site when the powerful image being discussed in the book was uncovered. Of my numerous memories, I recall the inspiring leadership of Kalyan, Rahul, and Shri G.L. Raikwar, particularly his skill in inspiring the locally recruited workers who handled huge stones with such easy nonchalance, that it made me realize that the construction of temples in the past must have been as much a joyous and playful as a serious activity. I owe all of them many thanks. It was, therefore, a particular pleasure when Professor L.S. Nigam and Rahul invited me to write a foreword to this volume, even if it primarily deals with but one aspect, or rather one image, that was discovered at that great site, and I hasten to comply. Since the identification of the image is beset with problems, I will just refer to it as the Tala image in what follows.

Let me begin by making a few observations on Daksina Kosala, the ancient name of the region in which Tala lies, now known as Chhattisgarh, in Madhya Pradesh. It is an area which is exceedingly rich in antiquarian remains, though one would hardly realize this by looking at the usual archaeological maps of India. Sometimes the cartographer grudgingly locates the temples at Sirpur but that is about all. The region is fertile, in the past as now, a prosperous country with rivers, forests, mineral wealth and flourishing agriculture. Through it ran roads that led to the Genetic hinterland in the north, Orissa in the south-east, Andhra and areas beyond in the south, and Vidarbha and Maharashtra in the west. It was at the crossroads, thus, of two great routes one of them stretching from the Bay of Bengal to the Arabian sea, and the other from the rich and sacred cities of the middle Genetic valley to Orissa, Andhra and beyond.

Daksina Kosala, thus, cannot be thought of as an isolated region, for it was hardly ever that, except in fairly recent times and this is reflected in the art ofthe area which easily fits into the established patterns of pan-Indian art, and indeed is often more sophisticated and accomplished.

Introduction The south-eastern part of Madhya Pradesh, comprising Raipur, Bilaspur and Bestir division is known as Chhattisgarh. The area of Bastar situated in the south of Telinaghat forms the ancient territory of the Dandakaranya or Kantara (Mahakantara), also known as Cakrakotya in medieval times. Remaining portion of the Chhattisgarh region forms the ancient (Daksina) Kosalajanapada in which present Sambalpur, Kalahandi and Bolangir area of Western Orissa were included.

The name of the Kosalajanapada is found in the puranic list of janapadas situated at behind ofthe mountain Vindhyas. 1 It is worth to note that references of another Kosala janapada with its capitals Sravasta and Ayodhya are also available in the ancient texts. To distinguish these two janapadas, Kosala with Sravasta and Ayodhya was named as Uttara Kosala while another Kosala situated on the South of the Vindhyas was known as Daksina Kosala. The (Daksina) Kosala was referred to by Pay).inI2 among the countries situated in the south. In the Ramayana;' it is mentioned that the territory of Kosala was divided into two parts after Lord Rama. Lava becomes the king of Uttar a Kosala with its capital at Sravastl, while area of Daksina Kosala was ruled by Kusa with capital at Kusavatl. Thus it has been generally presumed that the Daksina Kosala janapada came into existence due to partition of Iksvaku empire. But we have the reference in the Ramayana itself that Kausalya, the chief queen of king Dasaratha and mother of Lord Rama was the daughter of Bhanumanta," who himself was the king of another Kosala, which seems to be present Chhattisgarh (or Daksina Kosala). Thus it is clear that even at the time of Dasaratha another (Daksina) Kosala was' in existence, The traditional accounts of the origin of Kosalajanapada is preserved in an unpublished manuscript, the Kosala.

It gives information that there was a capital named as Naga-pattana to the south of Vindhya, which was ruled by a mighty king Kosala. His territory was later on named after him as Kosala. In his family, after a few generations, the kingdom passed to a king Bhanumanta, His daughter Kausalya was married to Dasaratha, the king of Ayodhya. Since Bhanumanta had no son, his son-in-law Dasaratha became the successor too. Thus entire empire ruled by Dasaratha was known as Kosala. This Kosala janapada was again divided into two parts after Lord Rama as Uttara Kosala and Daksina Kosala. We have detail information in the literary and epigraphic sources about the origin, location and territorial jurisdiction of the Kosala. The Kosala janapada was surrounded by various countries. Accordingly, in the north countries of Tripura (Jabalpur district of M. P.) and Mekala (Amarakantaka region), in the south, Kantara or Mahakantara (Bastar division of M.P.), in the east Kalinga, Dhaull, Odra and Utkala (roughly covering the present state of Orissa); in the west Venatata region upto the river Vainaganga, (in Maharashtra) were situated."

Famous Chinese pilgrim Yuang-Chwang (also known as Hiuen Tsang), who visited this area in the seventh century A.D. threw light on the location and territorial jurisdiction of the kingdom. According to his travel account he proceeded from the Kalinga to north-west about 1800-1900 lid (300-317 miles or 480-500 kms.) and reached the kingdom of Kiaosalo (or Kosala). This kingdom was 6000 Jip (1000 miles or 1600 kms.) in circuit.' At the close of tenth century A.D. a branch of Kalachuris of Tripuri established their capital at Tummana, which was later on shifted to Ratanpur. Both the places are situated in Bilaspur district of Madhya Pradesh. The entire territory was named after its capitals as Tummana, or Tummana-Ratanpur or Ratanpur state. The word Chhattisgarh was used for this area in the 14th-15th century A.D. which became popular during Maratha-British rule.

Cunningham 8 has referred to this area as under: "Mahakosala or Great Kosala was so called to distinguish it from smaller Kosala in Oudh to the north of the Ghaghara river. The later is often styled as Uttar-Kosala or Northern Kosala while the large province is called Daksina Kosala or' Southern Kosala".

In this connection it is noteworthy that this area was never referred to as Mahakosala in any, literary or epigraphic sources.

Book's Contents and Sample Pages