South Asian Studies 2012 - Vol. 28,1

Robin Coningham, Prishanta Gunawardhana, Christopher Davis, Gamini Adikari, Ian Simpson, Keir Strickland, Krista Gilliland & Mark Manuel:

Contextualising the Tabbova-Maradanmaduva ‘Culture’: Excavations at Nikawewa, Tirappane District, Anuradhapura District, Sri Lanka, S. 1-14
DOI: 10.1080/02666030.2012.659877

Abstract: Terracotta figurines and artefacts discovered throughout Sri Lanka, especially in the North Central Province, have been traditionally assigned to the Tabbova-Maradanmaduva culture. Not a single stratigraphic excavation has been conducted at any site where a terracotta assemblage has been recovered, leading to a variety of divergent opinions as to the date of such artefacts. In addition, the corpus is often presumed to represent ‘folk art’ spontaneously created by individuals or local communities to suit and satisfy immediate ritual, economic, and social concerns. Recent fieldwork conducted as part of the Anuradhapura (Sri Lanka) Project: The Hinterland (Phase II) has addressed the uncertainty surrounding the Tabbova-Maradanmaduva culture. Not only has excavation at the site of Nikawewa (D339) provided the first absolute scientific date for such an assemblage, but data collected from the project's sample universe suggests that the terracotta corpus exhibits a high degree of uniformity and that these assemblages may represent a formalised ritual structure parallel to that provided by Buddhist monasteries.

Verena Widorn & Gerald Kozicz:

The Temple of Triloknath – A Buddhist Nāgara Temple in Lahul, S. 15-35
DOI: 10.1080/02666030.2012.659897

Abstract: The small temple of Triloknath, also called Re phag, is spectacularly located at the edge of a cliff high above the Chandrabhaga River in Lahul and a popular pilgrimage center for both Hindus and Buddhists. The temple complex tries to fulfill the demands of both religious groups and contains a wide courtyard, decorated with Śiva-symbols as well as Buddhist prayer flags, a ligam shrine and a chapel with a huge prayer-wheel. The temple itself possesses a modern anteroom that leads to the old, original part of the monument, namely the sanctum with a square ground plan, of the Nāgara type with a rather massive śikhara and a richly decorated doorway. A careful art historical and architectural analysis of the building reveals that Buddhist elements, such as Buddha-figures in the brackets of the columns and vajra-motifs, as well as the main image, a special form of an Avalokiteśvara, indicate the Buddhist origin of the temple, probably before the tenth century. However, the simple Nāgara structure with the spire, and later additions to the monument, also attract Hindu pilgrims and make the Triloknath temple one of the most famous pilgrimage centres in the Himalayan area.

Rajesh Kumar Singh:

The Early Development of the Cave 26-Complex at Ajanta, S. 37-68
DOI: 10.1080/02666030.2012.659906

Abstract:Ajanta's Cave 26-complex seems to hold a special position in the history of Indian rock-cut architecture for many reasons. It was the largest and most elaborate caityagha-complex in its time. It transformed Ajanta from just another saghārāma of Buddhist India to a catalytic force that engineered the rejuvenation of Indian rock-cut architecture in general and the renaissance of Ajanta in particular. Contrary to the long cherished and still officially held view that it was a late Vākāaka phase caityagha, fresh facts are presented here that support Walter M. Spink's proposition that in terms of chronology it was only the second excavation of the Vākāaka period after Cave 8.
   It was the first caityagha to be built after a gap of two and a half centuries, but it had a rare arrangement of four flanking wings. In due course, further adjuncts were added in the form of large leas (Caves 21, 23, and 24) – all probably patronised by a single monk named Buddhabhadra. The donor's taste is visible in the introduction of many unique features, some unprecedented, that heralded the era of individualism in Buddhist art and architecture. It dispels the notion that all saghārāmas were the handiwork of the sagha and that individuals had no role to play in the construction of edifices.
   The study documents some fresh evidence, and interprets this together with other known data, shedding a new light, in a new context, on the development of the site in general, and the caityagha-complex in particular. In the process, some caves that were largely neglected by existing scholarly studies have also been fruitfully analysed. Since artistic, iconographic, and architectural descriptions have long governed the core of Ajanta studies, an attempt is made here to look at the circumstances and factors that initiated and shaped specific initiatives, the practical problems which were encountered at specific stages of excavations, and the solutions which were implemented.
   In the end, two individuals are brought into focus, Dharmadatta and Bhadrabandhu, who were thanked by the donor in his inscription for ‘seeing to the execution of the work’ on his behalf. They must have been the architects (sthapatis or sutradhāras who masterminded the grandest rock-cut project known until then. The value of their accomplishment is properly realised when we come to know about the trying circumstances under which they performed. They may be considered the first known Master Architects of Indian art.

George Michell & Sugandha Johar:

The Maratha Complex at Ellora, S. 69-88
DOI: 10.1080/02666030.2012.659928

Abstract: The cave-temples at Ellora, dating back to the sixth century, are well known to scholars and visitors, in contrast to the nearby Hindu memorials (samadhis), temple, and tank associated with the Marathas. These later monuments were sponsored by figures belonging to the Bhonsle and Holkar Maratha families, who at different times held the estate of what was then known as Verul. The samadhis of the early-seventeenth century Bhonsles, ancestors of the great warrior king Shivaji, are built in the prevailing Nizam Shahi architectural style, giving visual expression to the close link between these figures and their Deccan sultanate overlords. Indeed, the samadhis appear at first to be Muslim tombs, but, being merely commemorative in function, they contain no corporeal remains. The samadhis are clustered around the Ghrishneshvara, a temple that enshrines a sacred jyotirlinga erected by the Holkar queen Ahilyabai at some date in the second half of the eighteenth century. Significantly, this is a replacement edifice built in an archaic style that recalls the sacred architecture of the Yadava rulers of this part of the Deccan in the eleventh to twelfth centuries. Nothing can now be seen of this earlier monument, other than the odd worn sculpted panel. Presumably the temple was severely damaged as a result of the depredations of the Delhi sultanate invasions of the Deccan in the late thirteenth and the fourteenth centuries, prompting Ahilyabai to finance its reconstruction. The tank a short distance away, known as the Shivalayatirtha, has an inscription that records Ahilyabai as its sponsor, and 1769 as the date of completion. The sacred function of this water monument is confirmed by eight small linga shrines arranged symmetrically around a central square pool.