History Review of Stone Sculpture-Fine Arts in Chand Dynasty Period in Kumaon

 (History of Kumaon from 1000-1790 AD)

       Characteristics of Chand Rule in Kumaon    

                          

History of Uttarakhand (Garhwal, Kumaon, Haridwar) - Part 241

                                              By: Bhishma Kukreti

                Sculptures of Kumaon in Chand  Period

           Kumaon also followed Indian custom that initially people used to worship images and later became idolaters.

  There were sculptures in medieval temples of Champawat, Lakhnapur Patan, Baijnath, Dwarhat, Almora, Katarmal, Jageshwar, Bageshwar, Rameshwar, Gangolihat, Nainital, Bhimtal, Vinsar etc. Muslim looters destroyed many valuable sculptures whenever they attacked Kumaon. English administrators also took many sculptures. The thieves did harm to sculptures of Kumaon too.

          Lesser numbers of sculptures than what were erected are left now. These sculptures are from seventh century to thirteenth century. The sculptures after fourteenth century are not so artful as used to be in past.

              The stone used on these sculptures are local and are blue or sandy structure.  It is believed that the stones were from nearby areas of temples. There were families of sculptors at Jageshwar, Champawat, Katarmall, Bageshwar, Dwarhat, Baijnath and it was family traditions of sculptors to carve sculptures from stone. The similarities among older sculptures of eleventh century and later stage sculptures (seventeenth century) shows that the sculptors had traditional families and were engaged in this business for many centuries. From art point of view, the standard felled down in later stage temples and sculpture.

      

                    Shiva Cult Sculpture from initial Stage till twelfth century

The initial stage sculptures are in the line of Lakuleesh Shivlinga custom. Phallus sculpture is the characteristics of initial sculptures. There is influence of   Lakulish sects on initial stone carving arts in Kumaon. There are carvings of Shiva, Shiv Parvati, Shiv Mukh, Panchmukh on Linga.

                       Sun Stone Sculptures

 Boot wearing Sun sculptors were found in Kashmir too as found in Kumaon. Sun deity is worshipped as Aditya, Badaditya, Gunaaditya, Suryanarayan etc.

  The Sun sculptures from second century to twelfth century are found in Joshimath, Shrinagar, Gopeshwar, Dwarhat, Baijntha, Belar, Pavai (Gangoli), Rakam (Kali-Kumaon), Naini (Chagarkha), and Jageshwar. There a few Sun sculptures with seven horses pulling chariot.

                 Vishnu Cult Sculpture

         From seventh century onwards sculptures related to Vaishnava cult were also found in Uttarakhand. The sculptures of Barah incarnation of Vishnu, Narsingh, Trimukhi Vishnu and Trimukhi Narsingh of seventh century are also found.

             Other deity cult sculpture

  There are Har Gauri , Mahishmardini, Vakratund Ganesh, Kartikey , Durga sculptures made after seventh century onwards are also important examples of sculpture art of this period.

               Influence of Art Culture from other Parts of India

      Uttarakhand was famous for religious place and the promoters of all sects used to visit Uttarakhand. Those promoters built temples or donated for temple building process. Therefore, at all stage, the art from other parts of India continuously influencing Uttarakhand arts. The influence pattern on Uttarakhand temples and sculpture art still exist.

 The auras of sculpture of Kushan period are simple. The ornamentation of aura of sculptures started from Gupta period.

 Showing the naked form of upper part of woman sculpture started from Kushan period.

 In Gupta period, the ornamentation of Vishnu also started. From this period, showing the weapon in hands of deity or goddesses also started. Small sculptures of other deities near the feet of Vishnu or Shiva to show the supremacy of Vaishnava or Shaivya sects, especially Vaishnava sect also started in Gupta period and was present till fourteenth century.

           The stone sculptures in Uttarakhand of Gupta period are carved from brown sandy stone, blue or green stones. The black paste was painted to make sculpture black.

              The sculpture of Mahishamardani and Garud are made by mud, Babad, lakh and cotton. There are fine wires inside the sculptures. Since, the sculptures are painted by black paste, the sculptures look like black stone sculptures.

 Many Ganesha sculptures on top of temples are made by mud.

Copyright@ Bhishma Kukreti -bckukreti@gmail.com 8/1/2014

                                      References

Dr. Shiv Prasad Dabral, Uttarakhand ka Itihas Bhag 10, Kumaon ka Itihas 1000-1790

Badri Datt Pande, 1937, Kumaon ka Itihas, Shri Almora Book Depo Almora

Devidas Kaysth, Itihas Kumaon Pradesh

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Kumar Suresh Singh2005, People of India

Justin Marozzi, 2006, Tamerlane: Sword of Islam

Bakshsingh Nijar, 1968, Punjab under Sultans 1000-1526 

The Imperial Gazetteer of India, Volume 13 page 52 

Bhakt Darshan, Gadhwal ki Divangit Vibhutiyan

Mahajan V.D.1991, History of Medieval India

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Rizvi, Uttar Taimur Kalin Bharat

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The Tazuk-i-Jahangiri

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Ramayan Pradeep

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Sailendra Nath Sen, 2010, An Advanced History of Modern India

Kanti Kumar Nautiyal , Archeology of Kumaon including Dehradun , Chaukhamba Prakash

Hema Uniyal Kumaon ke Mandir (Book and Cassette Disc)

(The History of Garhwal, Kumaon, Haridwar write up is aimed for general readers)

                           

History of Garhwal – Kumaon-Haridwar (Uttarakhand, India) to be continued… Part -242   

History of Kumaon (1000-1790) to be continued….

Himalayan, Indian History of Chand Dynasty rule in Kumaon to be continued…

  (Himalayan, Indian History (740-1790 AD to be continued…)

History Review of Stone Sculpture-Fine Arts in Chand Dynasty Period in Kumaon; History Review of Stone Sculpture-Fine Arts in Chand Dynasty Period in Pithoragarh Kumaon; History Review of Stone Sculpture-Fine Arts in Chand Dynasty Period in Champawat Kumaon; History Review of Stone Sculpture-Fine Arts in Chand Dynasty Period in Bageshwar Kumaon; History Review of Stone Sculpture-Fine Arts in Chand Dynasty Period in Almora Kumaon; History Review of Stone Sculpture-Fine Arts in Chand Dynasty Period in Nainital Kumaon; History Review of Stone Sculpture-Fine Arts in Chand Dynasty Period in Udham Singh Nagar Kumaon; History Review of Stone Sculpture-Fine Arts in Chand Dynasty Period in Gangoli Kumaon; History Review of Stone Sculpture-Fine Arts in Chand Dynasty Period in Kali Kumaon Kumaon; History Review of Stone Sculpture-Fine Arts in Chand Dynasty Period in Jageshwar Kumaon; History Review of Stone Sculpture-Fine Arts in Chand Dynasty Period in Dwarhat Kumaon; History Review of Stone Sculpture-Fine Arts in Chand Dynasty Period in Katarmall Kumaon; History Review of Stone Sculpture-Fine Arts in Chand Dynasty Period in Bhimtal Kumaon;