Archaeology Gallery at a Glance (Volume - I & Ii)

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At glance

Museum is the mirror of the culture of society which reflects the history, traditions, beliefs and sentiments of people. The Odisha State Museum is one of, the oldest pioneer and few museums in Eastern India established in the year 1932 with the primary objectives of collecting preserving and exhibiting objects of Eastern India as well as Indian Art with special references to the antiquities of Odisha School of Art. This museum also possesses a very rich collection of sculptures, stone, terracotta and metals, objects of folk arts, coins, epigraphs, numismatics, prehistoric implements, armoury objects, etc. As time passed on, the number of collections and exhibits of the museum has increased over the years with generous gifts from donors as well as collections made by government officials and public. As on day, it has a fairly rich repertoire of antiquities

Though the Odisha State Museum is marching towards for the completion of glorious nine decades, but no substantial effort has been initiated or taken up for the preparation of a compendium of sculptures in State Museum. However, it is augury to note that, at last the said work as a catalogue has seen the light of the day. We have tried our best to bring out the much-awaited catalogue of Archaeological Gallery of State Museum, which is an outcome of holistic and concerted effort shared by us.

It was long felt that the scholars, visitors, students who visit the gallery did not get an opportunity to know and understand much the aesthetic, historical and archaeological significance of displayed antiquities of the museum. In order to get rid of the short comings of the past, the book as in its shape has been designed for academic fraternity and common mass. Hence, the work is a desideratumital prepared with a view to iron out the existing erratic descriptions, chronology and other inadequate details of the objects displayed hitherto in Archaeological Gallery. It is, therefore our proud privilege to do exercise upon this unattended important aspect of the museumto bring to light the comprehensive and best source details in the shape of a catalogue which may inspire to take up work of other galleries of the museum in future. Hence, we hope, it will set as a model for further initiatives.

The monograph has been divided into two parts, Vol. I andVol. II. The book treats Brahminical sculptures of the museum in Vol. I, while the Buddhist and Jaina sculptures in Vol. II. We deliberately ignore the majority of the collection of metal sculptures of the museum which have already been published by D. Mitra entitled as, "The Bronzes of Achyutrajpur".

While dealing with these sculptures it was realized that the sculptures are classified in to three types on the basis of the medium of the sculpting namely Sand stone, Chlorite schist and Khondalite in respect of Brahminical, Buddhist as well as Jaina sculptures. The rich plethora of State Museum are ascribable to date from early Christian era till late medieval times. Further, many sculptures have also been acquired through procedure of mutual loan basis from Patna, Chennai, Saranath and other places in India. So far, 147nos. Brahminical, 45nos. Buddhist and 18nos. Jaina sculptures have been documented to incorporate in the published monograph. The antiquities brought from Patna Museum is in the shape of fragment of Asokan pillar made of Chunar polished sand stone and constitutes one of the earliest historical antiquities of the collections. Similarly, the ones from South India are made of the coarse granite/chlorite stone medium datable to medieval period. On the other hand, most of the Odishan sculptures belonging to Buddhist, Brahminical and Jaina pantheons are of sand stone. A few other exhibits are sculpted of Khondalite especially of Buddhist sculptures of Odisha. Among the other displayed antiquities especially from Khiching, Baripada, Jajpur,areas are mostly made of chlorite schist. Besides, the Brahminical cult images, narrative panels, sanctum-doorways are also made of chlorite schist. Now, we feel that this work can substantiate the research work of scholars, academicians and students of art history and serve their purpose in a better way. Right from the beginning of sculptural art till medieval period, the style and pattern of sculptures appears to be a coherent, homogeneous, thus constituting a distinct Odishan school of Art. Of course, there seems to have been a departure of art in respect of images from Khiching and Baripada areas. As a matter of fact, in total, the artistic exuberance flourished Bot only mere by the patronage of court but also by active interest of the individuals and local social guilds. At present, the rich collection of the museum reflects and symbolizes, the religion, social and cultural ethos of our predecessors. 50 to understand tople aware of the Immense significance of the antiquities and help them to understand the socio-cultural traditions present work in meticulously prepared.

According to the convenience of the visitors, scholars, as well as researchers we have safely dichotomized the displayed antiquities into 3 sections namely, Brahminical, Buddhist and Jaina in two volumes. The Brahminical antiquities are embodied in Vol. 1, while the Buddhist and Jaina sculptures are documented in Vol. II. Many of the Brahminical sculptures have been collected from the ruins of early temples of Bhubaneswar and its vicinity and others parts of Odisha. Even some loose sculptures were acquired from the donors in the past. The Brahminical sculptures again divided into Vaishnava, Saiva and Sakta images along with semi-divine figures like Astadikpala, Navagraha, Dvarapala. Besides, the collection also includes the secular sculptures of Nayikas, Mithuna figure, Naga Nagi, lion motifs and scroll works. The antiquities of Asokan pillar, lion, Yaksa Yakshi, Naga Nagi, sculptures of the Buddha in different postures, Bodhisattva, Manjushri, Tara, Prajnaparamita, Marichi, etc. constitute the veritable plethora of Buddhist art of Odisha. The importance of Buddhist antiquities has been increased in the wake of recent discoveries of antiquities from several explorations and excavations carried out in recent years. Similarly, we have also a few Jaina Tirthankaras image like Mahavira, Adinath, Parsvanatha, Santinatha, Ajitanatha, etc.

The study of the surviving images in the museum isessential forreconstructing a more comprehensive picture of iconographic traditions of Hindus, Buddhist and Jainas of ancient Odisha and increase our overall knowledge of iconography of Odishan art as a whole. We hope that our efforts will cater to the need of the academic world. We are sure that this illustrated compendium can best serve as a source book. It is also hoped that this small endeavour will be beneficial for visitors, scholars in understanding the collection of sculptures of different time and space in the museum in particular and the aspects of the Odishan culture in general.

The authors are extremely thankful to the Principal Secretary, Department of Official Language, Literature and Culture, Government of Odisha for his encouragement and unstinted cooperation in undertaking this job. We record our sincere thanks to Director of Official Language, Literature and Culture, government of Odisha for extending his help as and when required. We are thankful to Shri. M.K. Samal, Librarian, Odisha State Museum Library, for extending his assistance in consulting books. Our sincere thanks to Shri. Sabyasachi Nayak for completion of D.T.P. and carrying out of corrections of the script. Thanks are also due to all the staff members of Odisha State Museum for completion of the work. Last but not the least, M/S. Government Press, Odisha also deserve all praise for bringing out the same as per their commitment.