Ūrdhvaretas Gaṇeśa from Afghanistan
The Ūrdhvaretas Gaṇeśa from Gardez, Afghanistan is still worshipped at Daram Sal Hindūwa or Pir Rathan Nāth Dargah in the bazaar of Kabul. The statue was previously settled in a niche of the temple, but has been detached. The height of the pedestal and figure altogether is 71 cm.The crown is damaged on its uppermost part, but still shows a narrow decoration in front, consisting of a standing object in the centre and a crescent as well as two opposing makaras below the crescent. A pair of ears behind the shoulders are probably those of an elephant. The statue originally had four arms, but only the front arms, to the elbows, are extant. The sacred thread depicting a snake, viz., nāgayajñopavīta, crosses the torso from the left shoulder to the right flank. These four arms, as well as the tiger skin wrapped around his waist and thighs are characteristic of Vināyaka, as mentioned in the Viṣṇudharmōttarapurāṇa. A erected liṅga is shown under the large abdomen. This piece and the next one discussed are important, as there are no early examples of the Ūrdhvaretas Gaṇeśa known except for the Gaṇeśa image at the entrance of the Cave №6 at Udayagiri, Madhya Pradeś.
The two-line Sanskrit inscription, in post-Gupta Brahmi script states that this image of Mahā Vināyaka was installed by Parama Bhaṭṭāraka Mahārājādhirāja Ṣāhi Khiṅgala, on the 13th day of the bright half of month Jyeṣṭha in year 8 of the Ṣāhi King’s reign, when the constellation was Viśākha and the lagna was Siṁha. The statue is of course very important from the iconographical point of view and is unique for its ūrdhvaretas (one who practices celibacy, also read as “one who can make semen flow upwards”) feature. Here the elephant-headed deity appears in the ālīḍha pose; the trunk, turned to the left, is broken and so also the tusk. Numismatic evidence shows that the statue of Gaṇeśa in question can, with reasonable amount of certitude, be assigned to the latter half of 5th cent. or at best to the early 6th cent. This is also supported by the stylistic peculiarities of the image. The elephant-headed god is shown standing in the ālīḍha posture; his hands, legs and chest are muscular, suggesting a strong Hellenistic influence. He has on a bejewelled, close-fitting coronet (ardha-mukuṭa) and a beaded necklace (kaṇṭhi). The ornaments are noteworthy and are reminiscent of those met with in Gupta sculptures. The god originally had four hands, all of which are now broken. The sacred thread (sarpa or nāga-yañopavita) on the potbelly has been executed prominently and so also the vyāghra carma (lion’s skin); the tiger’s claws are quite prominent. He also wears another band (udara-bandha) tied to the belly.The Viṣṇudharmōttarapurāṇa makes a specific reference to four-armed Vinayaka (i.e. Ganesa) having a serpent as a sacred thread, and a tiger’s skin as the garment (vyāghra-carmāmbaradharaḥ sarpa-yaiñopavīta-vān).
Much more important is the ūrdhvaretas aspect of the Afghanistan Gaṇeśa. He is shown with his penis erect as we find in numerous Śiva icons. A comparison may be drawn to a similar motif in the fifth-century rock-cut image of Gaṇeśa from Udayagiri Caves in Madhya Pradeś. It is carved on the façade of cave no. 6 and depicts the ūrdhvaretas Gaṇeśa in the seated pose; he holds a cup of sweets in the left hand to which the elephant trunk is applied. These prominent features in the Gaṇeśa from Kabul, appear to have been derived from Gupta traditions, and it appears that this iconography could not become popular at other contemporary art centres of Northern India. The sculptors in Afghanistan really achieved success in presenting these special traits (siṁha carma and ūrdhvaretas pose) for Gaṇeśa, as we notice in early images of Śiva; the son was represented like his own father and that too as a complete ascetic (yogi), with his penis erect and lion-skin spread on the thigh.
Another Ūrdhvaretas Gaṇeśa is also an object still worshipped in a Hindu Temple in Shor Bazaar at Kabul; it is said to have been found at Sakar Darah (Śaṅkara-Dhārā), about 15 km north of Kabul. The right front arm is holding a lotus flower, the left front arm is missing from the elbow, the other two rest on the heads of the gaṇas flanking Gaṇeśa. The gaṇas superficially show both Hellenistic and Gupta influence, and their presence emphasises the status of Gaṇapati as the leader of gaṇas. The iconography of this statue is almost identical with that of the other figure described above, including the nāgayajñopavīta, the ūrdhvameḍhra and the tiger skin. The chest is muscular as is common in Gandharan sculptures. In the Gaṇeśa pieces from the Indian sub-continent, regardless of region and period, there are no examples similar to the Gardez Gaṇeśa with its short stubby trunk curled on to itself, and the Sakar Darah Gaṇeśa, with its short trunk in the air and not holding anything. The stylistic and iconographical peculiarities of the image show that it can be assigned to the transitional period between the Kushan and the Gupta, that is, sometime in the middle of the 4th century, making it one of the very early representations, nay, even the earliest of all the images of the god so far known. In India, although a number of images of Gaṇeśa have been found, most of them are datable to the post-Gupta period while those belonging to the Gupta period are only a few. This has led some scholars to infer that in point of time the god is a late addition to the pantheon, but the god achieves a very exalted position within a very short period of time. In the Śatārudriya of the Maitrāyaṇī Saṁhitā which belongs to the Kṛṣṇa Yajurveda, we come across the epithets of Rudra as karāṭa ( one having the ears of an elephant ), hasti-mukha ( elephant-faced), and dantin (one with tusks). But this particular passage of the Taittirīya Āraṇyaka (tatpuruṣāya vidmahe vakratuṇḍāya dhīmahi tanno danti pracodayāt Tai. Ār, X. 1, 5.) is said to be a very late interpolation, possibly affected in the last quarter of the 1st millennium, when the Gāṇapatya sect was gradually coming into prominence. Archaeological evidence from Afghanistan thus shows that the worship of Gaṇeśa was in vogue during the 4th-5th centuries.
The fact that this Gaṇeśa was discovered in Afghanistan is not surprising, given that parts of eastern Afghanistan formed a part of the Kushan empire. The images of a number of Brahmanical gods and goddesses found in Afghanistan amply testify to the patronage of the Hindu kings of Afghanistan. The worship of the elephant-headed god in Afghanistan in ancient times is also attested by the testimony of that most celebrated Chinese traveller, Hsüan-tsang, who visited India during 629–645 A.D. He travelled through Central Asia and Afghanistan on his way to India in 630. During his prolonged journey he spent considerable time in visiting the Buddhistic monastic establishments in Afghanistan where he spent a whole summer in the ancient city of Kapiśi. “To the south-west of the capital [Kapisl] was the Pi-lo-sho-lo Mountain. This name was given to the mountain from its presiding genius who had the form of an elephant and was therefore called “Pi-lo-sho-lo”. The pilgrim’s testimony amply demonstrates that during the 6th-7th centuries the peoples of Kapiśa were worshipping their tutelary god who had the form of an elephant. It is necessary to emphasize that Hsüan-tsang merely records a tradition which was in vogue long before he visited Kapiśi. This tradition is confirmed by the evidence furnished by an important coin type of Eukratides, an Indo-Greek king, who ruled over a part of the Asiatic possessions of Alexander the Great. This type has been described as having Zeus sitting on throne holding a wreath and palm to the right of the throne; to the left, the forepart of elephant and a pilos (mountain); above is seen his indistinct monogram; the Kharoshti legend: kavi(pi)shiye nagara devata.
Note: To begin with the name Kapiśa signifies a place ‘endowed with elephants’. So also is the case of Puṣkaravatī, for Puṣkara means elephant. It is also significant that the ancient Hastanagar is named after king Hastin, the hero of the eponymous was a city of elephants like the Hastināpura of the Kauravas and Vāranāvata of the Pāṇḍavas.
It may incidentally be noted that this association of Gaṇeśa with mountains continued in Southeast Asia where he was worshipped in the later period. In the region of Kom pong Thom in Indo-China an inscription of the 9th cent, was discovered. It contains a reference to a donation given to Gaṇeśa of Chandanagiri, that is, the Sandal mountain. The mountain has been identified as the Chocung Prey near which on a hill in the vicinity of Prah Pada is the ruins of a temple that is believed to have been dedicated to Gaṇeśa. This inscription is important because it refers to Gaṇeśa as an independent and locally important deity and emphasizes the tradition which followed him from India to Japan of being worshipped in connexion with mountains. In Japan, he was supposed to be seated on a mountain and was referred to as the King of Elephants.
Another factor that merits a very careful attention is the name of the deity as given by Hsüan-tsang which is ‘Pilusāra’. Literally, it can be taken to mean “elephant essence”. It is remarkable that Gaṇeśa has been referred to in the Kung-hsien statue inscription as the ‘Spirit King of Elephants’. It is highly probable that the name Pilusāra was connected with that of the city of Kapīśi. Kapīśi was a city endowed with elephants; for kapi also means ‘elephant’ in Sanskrit. However, the name Pilusāra can also be compared with Piḷḷaiyar, the Dravidian name for Gaṇeśa still in use in South India even today. It is supposed to be a corrupt form of his ancient Dravidian title and is derived from the Dravidian words paḷḷu or peḷḷa, both signifying ‘tooth’, that is, the tusk of the elephant, although in the present form there is no meaning of tusk. Piḷḷa is a Tamil word for child and piḷḷaiyar means ‘noble child’. But according to Pāi-sadda-mahāṇṇava, pille meant ‘the young of an elephant’ and the Pali word pillaka has the significance of ‘a young elephant’. Even in Sanskrit, the word pīla or pīlu means elephant. The Dravidian name Piḷḷaiyar, therefore, in all probability, might have derived from the ancient Sanskrit Pilusāra, for linguistically also the derivation is feasible. There are a number of examples in which we find that when a word was borrowed from Sanskrit into Tamil, with the Sanskrit sa and śa changed into ya in Tamil. It should therefore be amply clear that the concept of the elephant-headed god originated in Afghanistan and that his ancient name Pilusāra still survives as Piḷḷaiyar in South India, where incidentally several Hindu traditions still persist in their purest form.
References
- The Turki Śāhis and Relevant Brahmanical Sculptures in Afghanistan Author(s): Shoshin Kuwayama Source: East and West , September — December 1976, Vol. 26, №3/4 (September — December 1976), pp. 375–407
2. Ūrdhvaretas Ganeśa from Afghanistan Author(s): R. C. Agrawala Source: East and West , March-June 1968, Vol. 18, №1/2 (March-June 1968), pp. 166- 168
3. A Note on Two Gaṇeśa Statues from Afghanistan Author(s): M. K. Dhavalikar Source: East and West , September-December 1971, Vol. 21, №3/4 (September December 1971), pp. 331–336
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