Indian Antiquary Vol 01

SR No.: 032493
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Jas Burgess
Publisher: Swati Publications
Publication Year: 1984
Total Pages: 430
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 22 MB

Page 59

THE HALABID TEMPLE.
FEB. 2, 1872.]
"The Halabid temple...is regular, but with a studied variety of outline in plan, and even greater variety in detail. All the pillars of the Parthenon are identical, while no two facets of the Indian temple are the same; every convolution of every scroll is different. No two canopies in the whole building are alike, and every part exhibits a joyous exuberance of fancy scorning every mechanical restraint. All that is wild in human faith or warm in human feeling is found pourtrayed on these walls; but of pure intellect there is little less than there is of human feeling in the Parthenon."
Strange to say, both here and at Bailur, this frieze of horsemen appears to have been the more especial object of aversion to the conqueror of the capital. It is with difficulty, and only where concealment has been afforded by some figure in front, that one can find a complete figure of man and horse. All have been more or less mutilated. It appears to have been the custom then, not only among the horsemen but generally, for all men, to wear their hair-like the Sinhalese of the present day-tied up in a knot behind; long boots were always worn by the riders, whose seat is more European than native; in some instances their horses were protected by network, similar in every outward respect to that of the old Norman knight. The cavalry were armed generally with a short Roman-like. sword; and from this it is conjectured they usually dismounted to fight; some however are delineated with lances. The saddle-cloth was indispensable, and stirrups were not unknown.
Fah Hian,* (who, as Col. Sykes conjectures,) visited Elora about A. D. 400, found there "a Sangharáma of the former Buddha Káshyapa. It is constructed out of a great mountain of rock hewn to the proper shape. This building has altogether five stories. The lowest is shaped into the form of an elephant, and has five hundred stone cells in it. The second is in the form of a lion, and has four hundred chambers. The third is shaped like a horse, and has three hundred chambers. The fourth is in the form of an ox, and has two hundred chambers. The fifth story is in the shape of a dove and has one hundred chambers in it."-Now the order of friezes at Halabid, with an interpolation of scenes from the Rámáyana and Mahábhárata, is the same, except that in lieu of the ox we have the croco
Beal's Travels of Fah-Hian and Sung-Yun, Buddhist Pilgrims, p. 189. Compare Julien's Voyages de Hiouen Thaang tom II. p. 101., and Cunningham's Anc. Geog. of
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dile, and the dove is represented by the sacred goose or swan. This similarity in order cannot be considered accidental, and must, as its prototype at Elora, signify something.
A study of the frieze, where scenes from the Rámáyana and Mahábhárata are delineated, well repays any trouble. A clearer and better knowledge of these two great Hindu epic poems is obtained by examining these carvings than hours of tedious weary reading would ever give. Although some of the carvings are to a considerable extent mutilated, yet the attitude of the actors and the position of the scene, with reference to those on its right and left, enabic us to state with certainty what the sculptor meant to represent. Here we see that, as to-day, so eight hundred years ago, the Hindu mother carried her child on the hip. Large earrings were the fashion among the women of those days, for the lobe of the ear is distended to an enormous extent. Like the natives of the Western Ghats of the present day, no covering then concealed a woman's breast. As now, so then, children ran about perfectly naked. Looking-glasses were not unknown; for we find a fair one admiring herself in a circular glass.
Both two and four wheeled chariots appear to have been in use. As is natural, kings affected the four-wheeled one more than the two. The wheels were much lower than the body, which was a sort of raised platform. Each wheel had an independent axle. Improvements in carriage building had, however, taken place, for in one instance the solid circular disc is replaced by spokes. The horses were attached, as bullocks are now, to the pole on which the driver stood. Shurapadma, scorning the more common-place horse, has tamed the lion, which is represented as yoked to his war chariot. In all these eight hundred years, no change has been made in the pounding of rice-the same sort of mortar and pestle is now used.
In the upper and larger frieze, where every Hindu god finds a place, and which consists in all of some 300 figures, is to be seen one whichfrom its peculiar Assyrian-like look-cannot fail to attract attention. In his right hand he holds a disc, in his left a wand. The fingers of both hands are adorned with rings. His dress, a simple long robe descending below the knee, is thrown back showing a Brahmanical cord. What
India, pp. 521-525. It is not at all probable that the Po-loyu of Fah Hian was Elora, but some place considerably to the S. E. of it.-Ed.