Szilágyi András (szerk.): Ars Decorativa 14. (Budapest, 1994)

RENNER Zsuzsanna: A Pála-korszak szobrászatának emlékei a Hopp Ferenc Kelet-Ázsiai Művészeti Múzeum indiai gyűjteményében

NOTES 1

. The items donated by Imre Schwaiger were described and classified by Ervin Baktay, Indologist of the museum at the time. Zoltán Felvinczi Takács, the then director of the museum, also formed opinion in certain questions. See: Baktay, E.: Indian Stone Sculpture in the Budapest Museum of Eastern Asiatic Arts. In: Acta Orientalia Hungarica, Tom. III. Fasc. 1-2. pp. 142-145. 2. Sürya's figure became assimilated into Indian mythology very early on: he is already mentioned in the Rgveda, where he is called Savitar (sur-, svar-: ..shine"). The deity's western origin is supported by the fact that his cult was always the strongest in West India, where the Iranian influence was felt the most strongly, although he is known and respected all over India. Sec: Huntington, S. L. - Huntington, J. C: Leaves from the Bodhi Tree. The Art of Päla India and Its International Legacy. Dayton Art Institute, Seattle and London, 1990. p. 126. 3. Huntington & Huntington, 1990. p. 109. 4. Parallel with the representations becoming more and more complex in Päla sculpture, pedestals were divided into more and more sections, with the result that the initially used ekaratha pedestal was first replaced by the triratha pedestal, followed by pancaratlia, saptaratha and even navaratha pedestals. The date of our stele seems too early for the saptaratha pedestals to be common or extensively used; this is also confirmed by the fact that the sections here are not as well-marked and emphasized as they would be later. However, the choice of seven sections could follow quite naturally from the number of horses pulling the chariot. On this ground, too, we are of the opinion that the date of our stele is somewhat later than the similar but ekaratha Sürya representation published by Huntington & Huntington, 1990 (plate 10) and dated to the ninth century. 5. Huntington & Huntington, 1990. p. 95. 6. The emergence of the characteristic Päla style can be put to the ninth century. See: ibid. 7. The Monghyr district, situated between Magadha and Bengal in the territory of the old Anga, played an intermediate role between the two neighbouring regions in the art of the Päla period. Sürya's clothing and jewellery, for example, are not significantly different from those familiar in the areas cither to the east or to the west of Monghyr, yet there are a number of stylistic peculiarities which appear to be distinctly Monghyrian; see above and below. 8. See, for example: Visnu, Singhrikee, Monghyr District, Bihar, ninth century: Huntington, S. L.: The „Päla-Sena" Schools of Sculpture. E. J. Brill, Leiden, 1984. Fig. 147; or the Sürya representation mentioned in note 4. 9. See: Uma-Mahesvara, late eighth century: Surya. late eighth century; Visnu, ninth century. Huntington & Huntington, 1990. plates 145, 146. 147 and 148. 10. Similarly shaped steles have not been found anywhere else so far. Sec: Huntington & Huntington, 1990. p. 124. 11. An earlier Sürya representation of a much simpler composition from Monghyr is published by Huntington, 1984, plate 146. Although no Sürya representations of a later date from Monghyr have been found, many are known from further east: for example, there is a twelfth-century Sürya from North Bengal in the Museum für Indische Kunst (Inv. no. MIKI 310) of Berlin, see: Museum für Indische Kunst Berlin. Katalog 1986. Cat. no. 99. 12. Huntington & Huntington, 1990. p. 133. 13. For a comparison of the jewellery, see, for example: Huntington, 1984, plate 221, although the hair style is different. 14. Zoltán Felvinczi Takács identified the fragment as Visnu. Ervin Baktay first thought that it was a Buddhist deity; later he, too, was more inclined to identity it as Visnu. Sec: E. Baktay, op. cil. p. 143. 15. Harihara, Madhya/Uttar Pradesh, eleventhtwelfth century. National Museum. New Delhi, inv. no. 62.474. Published in: Palast der Götter, Museum für Indische Kunst, Berlin, 1992. p. 156. plate 103. 16. A similar stupa fragment is kept, for example, in the Museum für Völkerkunde, München; published in: Vogel, J. Ph.: Buddhist Art in India, Ceylon and Java. Oxford University Press. 1936. Plate 32.: and also in: Fischer, K.: Schöpfungen indischer Kunst. Cologne. 1959. Plate 236.: another similar piece is kept in the Prince of Wales Museum, Bombay, see: Franz, H. G.: Der Stupa mit Kultnische, in: Artibus Asiae, Vol. XXIII. 3/4 (1960), pp. 239-253. plate 16. Theoretically, the possibility of our fragment originally being part of a small Buddhist temple (for a miniature version, see: Huntington & Huntington, 1990. plate 41), rather than of a stupa, cannot be excluded; however, the size of our fragment is such that the corresponding temple would have to be considerably larger than the one referred to above, and the existence of temples of this size is not supported either by literary evidence or by archaeological excavations. 17. See, for example: Franz, op. cit., plates 8 and 11. The kudu arch was an equally popular closing element but in that case the representation of the Buddha was usually surrounded by a rectangular frame, and the kftda arch was carved out above the frame. See, for example: Franz, op. cit. plates 6 and 14.. 18. Franz, op. cit. p. 250. 19. Huntington, 1984, p. 109. 20. A similar votive stupa is published, for example, by Franz, op. cit. plate 15; and also, by Bénisti, M.: Le