Deities: Shiva, Rama
Location: Tezpur, Assam
Known As: Dah Parbatiya
Best time to Visit: All year around
Introduction:Tezpur is the headquarters of the Darrang district of Assam. It is a railway station on the North-East Frontier Railway and is about 150 kilometres, from the Rangiya railway junction on the main line. It is a fine town and is widely known in India and outside in recent years. It may be noted here that it was the first major town of India to receive Dalai Lama when he came to India after the Tibetan Uprising. Tezpur has all facilities for tourists such as hotels, Dak bungalows, etc.In pre-historic times Tezpur was known by the name Sonithpur or "the city of blood". It was the capital of Banasura, a great friend of Naraka, the Danava king of Pragjyotisa. At that time the whole of the present Darrang district and the North Lakhimpur subdivision were included in the kingdom of Bana.
Bana was a great devotee of Shiva and is said to have constructed the Mahabhairava temple. Bana had many sons and one daughter named Usha who was secretly married by Aniruddha, the grandson of Krishna. Aniruddha was then captured but was subsequently released by Krishna, who defeated Bana in a great battle fought on the site of what is now known as the Tezpur bil.
Even in historical times that Tezpur was the centre of cultural activity is seen by the ruins of a temple discovered at Dah Parbatiya to the west of the present town. Professor R. D. Banerji, who explored the region, gives the following description about the ruins:"Close to the modem civil station of Tezpur is a small village of Dah Parbatiya which possesses the unique distinction of having within its limits the ruins of the oldest temple in Assam. The ruins consist of the remains of a brick temple of Shiva, of the Ahom period, erected upon the ruins of a stone temple of the later Gupta period, Circa sixth century A.D.
The former collapsed, during the earth quake of 1897, revealing the door-frame of the older structure", which, according to him belongs to the Pataliputra school. He has assigned this door-frame to the Gupta period because of its use of,
(1) trefoil medallions in Caitya windows on the lintel,
(2) the use of the figures of river goddesses on the lower parts of the iambs,
(3) the false recessed angles of the lintel,
(4) the flying figure in high relief in the centre of the lower part of the lintel,
(5) the particularly expressive figures of Ganas on the arms of the cruciform bracket capitals of the pilasters.
This beautiful lintel is one of the best specimens of its class of the Gupta period. The carving ran the jambs are continued overhead in four out of the five bands. The lower part of the jambs consists of single panels, in very high relief against which are the figures of the river goddesses with female attendants on each side. The river goddesses exceed the limits of the panel but the attendant figurines have been kept very well within bounds.
There are three attendants in the case of Ganga on the right, but two only in that of Yamuna to the left. Behind the back of each figure appear two flying geese pecking at the halo of the goddess, a new feature in the Gupta art.
There are five bands of ornament on each jamb: -1) A Meandering creeper rising above the head of a Naga.
2) The body of the Naga and the Nagi rising from the top of the square panel at the bottom of each jamb an continued between the first and the second bands of the lintel. The tails of these two serpents are held by the figures of Garuda in high relief against the lower part of the lintel.
3) Ornamental foliage consisting to it. These stem with amorini clinging to it. These three bands are continued overhead on the lintel as its lowermost bands of ornaments.
4) A pilaster, square in section bearing on it square bosses covered with arabesque as projections, which acts as supports to anumber of human or divine figures, and ends in a cruciform bracket capital.
5) A double intertwined creeper forming conventional rosettes which is continued o the side projection of the lintel.
The lintel consists of a separate piece in which the lower part bears the first three bands of the jambs. The fourth band, the pilaster appears to support an architrave bearing on it five caitya windows of two different types:
(a) a trefoil in which all three arcs are of the same size; there are three caitya windows with such medallions, one in the centre and two near the ends;
(b) also trefoils in which the upper are is larger than the two arcs on the sides. The central medallion of these five contains a seated figure of Shiva as Lakulisa.
The ruins have revealed some best sculptural specimens. Among them we may first mention the ceiling slab which bears the carving of an embossed lotus (Vishwa Padma). The second vessel of the Vishwa Padma bears in relief the figure of a vidyadhara holding a scarf or a necklace with both hands and hovering in the sky as if to make obeisance to the deity below.
His legs are so arranged as to be symmetrical with the circular course of the seed-vessel, a feature generally met with in Gupta and Pala sculptures of Bengal. While the facial type is local, the decorative and anatomical details of the vidyadhara recall late Gupta and Pala features. A high crown (kirita-mukuta) with a frontal coronet adorns his head, perforated patra-kundala are seen in the ears while his under-garment reaching the ankles has an elegant central tassel.
Another frieze shows a royal archer shooting a deer couple when in coition. The scene seems to represent, according to T. N. Ramachandran, the Mahabharata story of Pandu, the father of Pandavas, who was cursed to die with his sexual desires ungratified as a result of his having shot a deer couple (really a sage and his wife in the guise of deer) in coition.
A more interesting and complicated dancing figure of the time is recovered from the ruins. Here is shown a shikhara of foliage with amalak and lotus-bud finial flanked by a god and goddesses both dancing with their legs resting on elephants in turn supported by lotuses. Both the gods and goddesses have four hands holding bow, arrow, rosary and sword and with perforated patra-kundala in the ears and a kirita-mukuta on the head with a frontal tiara.
We have the earliest dancing scene in a slab recovered from Tezpur. The slab is divided into a number of sunken panels by means of circular pilasters, each containing a male or female, two females, or two males. Beginning from the right we find a man fighting with a lion, a male playing on a flute, and a female dancing by his side, one playing on a pipe, another on a drum, a male playing on a drum and a female dancing, a man playing on cymbals and a woman dancing, a male playing on a lyre and another dancing to his right, a male playing on a drum and another dancing to his left.
The whole composition seems to be natural, full of action, and lively, and is represented with considerable success. The temple walls were generally decorated with sculptures depicting various scenes from the Epics and the social and domestic life led by the people of the period. We have already noticed a frieze from the ruins of this temple, which illustrates the Mahabharata story of Pandu.
Another frieze from the same ruins, having five panels, shows Rama and Lakshmana seated, the latter behind the former, while Sugriva is kneeling before Rama in supplication and Hanuman and another monkey are watching the scene with reverence. The scene portrayed evidently relates to the incident from the Ramayana, in which Hanuman succeeded in securing the friendship of Rama for the protection of Sugriva. Another frieze found in the same place represents the well-known scene from the Mahabharata, namely, the Garuda-garvabhanga, or the extermination of Garuda's pride.
Another frieze belonging to the 10th century A.D., and consisting of three panels, illustrates
(i) a woman in her toilet,
(ii) a man dragging a fallen woman from a scene where another is about to thrash her, while a second woman is dissuading him, and
(iii) a man advancing with a raised mace.
A second frieze from the same place, which is divided into four panels, contains the following scenes from left to right:
(a) an ascetic pushing a goat before him,
(b) another ascetic dancing with shula and dhakka in his hands and Kamandalam hanging from his right arm, and
(c) a seated woman in an ecstatic mood. Yet another frieze divided into two big panels illustrates a combat between two warriors. The actual combat is shown in one panel, while in the other, one of the warriors marches off in triumph with the severed head of the other held in his hands, the headless trunk staggering behind.
These sculptures give us some glimpse of the contemporary life of the people. But the diversities of scenes of these sculptural depictions are so numerous that we have only pointed out a few leading varieties. Of the sculptural, designs, we may mention the caitya-windows of two different types on a lintel. One of these patterns is a trefoil in which all the three arcs are of the same size, in the other the upper are is larger than the two arcs on the sides. The interior of the sunken panel is entirely covered with geometrical patterns with a half rosette in the centre.
In the delineation of vegetable life the artist was in the height of his form. Combined with a considerable amount of faithful representation and integrity there is an amount of luxuriance of decoration and of picturesque arrangement. As floral ornamentation could be employed for any decorative purpose and any vacant space could be filled up with such devices, naturally they became varied in form and numerous in numbers. Of the floral designs, the lotus was by far the greatest favourite, and it was carve in various forms, in bud, in a half open state, and in full-blown flowers.
In Deo Parbat there is a beautiful representation of a cluster of lotuses in full bloom and appears to be issuing from a pond. Another illustration from the same place exhibits a row of busts with hands holding lotuses; their patra-kundala was also designed like full-blown lotuses.
In the delineation of vegetable life the artist was in the height of his form. Combined with a considerable amount of faithful representation and integrity there is an amount of luxuriance of decoration and of picturesque arrangement. As floral ornamentation could be employed for any decorative purpose and any vacant space could be filled up with such devices, naturally they became varied in form and numerous in numbers.
Of the floral designs, the lotus was by far the greatest favourite, and it was carved in various forms, in bud, in a half-open state, and in full-blown flowers. In Deo Parbat there is a beautiful representation of a cluster of lotuses in full bloom and appears to be issuing from a pond.
Another illustration from the same place exhibits a row of busts with hands holding lotuses; their patra-kundala was also designed like full-blown lotuses.
Among the images of Gods mention may first be made of a four-armed Shiva as Tripurari and in dancing pose, now in Assam Provincial Museum. The image, in its two main hands holds bow and arrow. A tiara is seen on the head while circular patra-kundala adores the ears.An interesting figure of Siva as Lakulisa is found carved on a caitya-window in the ruins of Dah Parbatiya. Lakulisa is usually represented as seated on padmasana, with penis erect and a matulinga (citron fruit) in the right hand and a staff in the left. Our Lakulisa is a seated figure with a rope tied round his leg. A female is holding a cup to his left while another stands to his right.
We have given above an exhaustive account of the ruins of the Dah Parbatiya Siva temple, the oldest and the finest piece of architectural work in Assam. It points to the fact that both architectural and sculptural skill of the Assamese craftsmen had reached its height during the period under review. In the present state of our knowledge we are not in a position to say definitely about the mode of worship at the temple, as the temple is found only in ruins.
OTHER REMAINS:The other temple remains that exist in or near Tezpur are undoubtedly 'extensive and varied in character.' Some of these remains came to light by chance excavation. At the time of the construction of a Deputy Commissioner's office in Tezpur in the year 1906 the remains of an ancient building of great artistic merit were discovered. These remains were removed, in the first instance, to the compounds of European officers and the Tea-planters Club from where they were finally shifted to and arranged at the Cole Park. Prof. R. D. Banerji who visited the park gives the following description about the artistic merit of these remains: -"On examination of the remains in the park at Tezpur and those preserved in the Planters' Association or Club at the same place I find that the carvings belong to three different periods of history and therefore must have belonged, at least to three separate buildings.
The most remarkable sculptures of the first group are two shafts of pillars at the entrance to the Planters' Club and heavy lintel of a stone door-frame now lying in the public park. The shaft of one of these pillars is sixteen sided, the upper end being ornamented with a broad band having kirtimukhas at, the top and the lower with dentils.
Over this band the shaft is round and appears, to be lathe-turned like the upper parts of the western Chalukyan columns of the Bombay Presidency. In the second pillar the upper part of the shaft is dodecagonal and near the top is divided into three raised horizontal bands two of which contain 'kirtimukhas and third a series of diamond shaped rosettes. In style, both of them belong to the same period and appear to have come from one and the same building.
The lintel of the stone doorframe in the public park also belongs to the same period and most probably to the same building. It is divided into two different parts. The upper part represents five miniature temples with phallic emblems of Siva in each of them.
In the lower part we see a continuation of the ornamentation on the jambs, viz., two vertical bands containing meandering creepers and two others consisting entirely of rosettes which turn an angle and are continued on the soffit of the lintel. In the centre of the lower part of the lintel is a small niche containing a miniature of Ganesh. It appears from the nature of the carvings that the temple to which these three architectural specimens belong was erected late in the tenth century A.D. The length of the lintel is 6' 10" and the breadth 1' 5 1/2."The second group of sculptures at Tezpur consists of specimens from a massive, temple on the ruins of which the office of the Deputy Commissioner has been built. On each side of the entrance of the Planters' Club at Tezpur lie the door sill and the lintel of the principal entrance to the enormous temple. The size of the lintel enables us to determine the size of the door-frame and consequently of the principal entrance to the sanctum. The enormous lintel is 10' 3" in length and 1' 8" in breadth. There are three raised panels on it, one in, the centre and one on each side and each of them is divided into a large niche in the centre with a smaller one on either side.
The size of the lintel enables us to determine the size of the door-frame and consequently of the principal entrance to the sanctum. The enormous lintel is 10' 3" in length and 1' 8" in breadth. There are three raised panels on it, one in, the centre and one on each side and each of them is divided into a large niche in the centre with a smaller one on either side. The panel on the left contains a standing figure of Brahma in the central niche with an attendant on each side.
The central panel is occupied by a figure of Surya with two attendants while the panel on the extreme right contains a standing figure of Siva with an-attendant in each of the side niches. The space between these raised panels is divided into six niches, three to the left of the central panel and three to the right. They contain six, divine figures which cannot be identified. All the niches are separated from each other by a round pilaster 2' in height, the height of the lintel itself being 2' 7 1/2".
According to the general practice in Hindu temples, the presiding deity of the temple generally occupies the niche or panel of the lintel of the stone doorframe of the sanctum. It appears certain, therefore that this gigantic temple was dedicated to Surya or the Sun-god. The sill of this door-frame is also of gigantic dimensions and shows a vase in the centre flanked by two lions satatant.
Each end is occupied by a niche containing a male and a female and flanked by a smaller and narrower niche on a recessed corner, containing a single human figure. It is a pity that the jambs of this enormous door-frame have not been discovered as yet. The large jamb in the public park appears to belong to a much later period. It is impossible therefore to deduce the height of the door-frame correctly, but it is obvious from the length of the lintel and the sill that the height of this' door-frame could not have been less than 15'.
If the height of the stone doorframe of the main entrance to the sanctum was 15' then the height of the interior of the chamber must have been 20'-25, leaving us to imagine the total height of the spire or shikhara of the original temple, which must have been considerably over 100'. The majority of the carved stones in the public park at Tezpur are taken from the plinth mouldings and string-courses of the gigantic temple, the door-frames of which have been described above.
The string-courses were ornamented with kirtimukhas of various shapes and sizes and sunken panels containing ornamental rosettes and meandering creepers. Some of them are evidently portions of enormous capitals, which were held together by metal clamps or dowels. In the centre of some of these pieces there is a projecting niche flanked by round pilasters containing divine figures.
In one of these niches we find a fat female squatting on the ground, holding a piece of cloth over her head, while a female stands to her left with her hand clasped in adoration. The second specimen of the same type contains the figure of a goddess holding a lyre in her hands, evidently Sarasvati, the goddess of learning.
Another slab bears on it a conventional representation of a Chaitya-window pattern, so common in the temples of Central India, especially those in the Rewa, State and at Khajuraho. The interior of the sunken panels is entirely covered with geometrical patterns with a half rosette in the centre. The second group of sculptures at Tezpur belongs to a temple erected in the twelfth century A.D. if not later.
The size of the stones indicates that the temple was very large in size and provided with a very tall spire. There are two specimens in the public park at Tezpur, which appear to belong to another temple of some later date. One of these is a high door-jamb and a second a slab bearing three sunken panels occupied by very crude human or divine figures.
The entire collection contains only a single specimen carved in the round, a lion, presumably on an elephant. The conventional representation of the lion shows that the inhabitants of the Assam valley were not, familiar with the king of beasts.
We need not be apologetic for giving this long quotation. Prof. R. D. Banerji's description of the remains brings in full measure the artistic talents of the Assamese craftsmen which can be easily compared with those of craftsmen of Central and 'Eastern India. It also gives an idea of aesthetic achievement, which the people of Assam attained during this period. The stone sculptures and rock carvings that have been discovered here not only indicate the geographical limit of the circulation of art specimens and the spread of Hindu culture into the remotest comer of the province, but also fully reveal how closely Assam' followed the general art tradition and motifs of Northern India.
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Deities: Lord Shiva (Muthappan)
