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  • 691. Durga-Mahisasuramardini

    Description:
    This image of Durga-Mahisasuramardini in active worship is smeared with black paint and clothed, which obscures the details of the image. It is one of the many images, contemporaneous to the Harsha shrine, affixed in the enclosure of the Bhairon shrine.
    Keyword:
    Rajasthan, Temples of India, Temple, Shakhambari Chahamanas, Harshnath Temple, Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), Sikar, and Architecture
    Creator:
    Temples of India Project Team
    Contributor:
    Anchit Jain
    Owner:
    tushar1.ayyar@jioinstitute.edu.in
    Publisher:
    Jio Institute
    Location:
    Sikar
    Date Uploaded:
    09-05-2024
    Date Modified:
    09-05-2024
    Rights Statement Tesim:
    In Copyright
    Resource Type:
    Image

  • 692. Ganesha, Surya and Chandra

    Description:
    The trio of Ganesha, Surya, and Chandra is one of the several loose sculptures that were affixed on the later structures at the site. The three figures may have once been part of a larger panel depicting the nine heavenly bodies or the navagraha. While the dancing Ganesha is four-armed, the images of Surya and Chandra have only two, broken in both cases. The erect uplift posture or the samabhanga of Surya contrasts with the dynamic posture of Ganesha and the tribhanga pose of Chandra. The halos of the three figures are quite similar to the Surya figure of Image 18. Both Surya and Chandra have broken heads but can be identified through the boots of the former image and the depiction of a crescent behind the neck of the latter.
    Keyword:
    Rajasthan, Temples of India, Shakhambari Chahamanas, Harshnath Temple, Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), and Sikar
    Creator:
    Temples of India Project Team
    Contributor:
    Anchit Jain
    Owner:
    tushar1.ayyar@jioinstitute.edu.in
    Publisher:
    Jio Institute
    Date Uploaded:
    09-05-2024
    Date Modified:
    09-05-2024
    Rights Statement Tesim:
    In Copyright
    Resource Type:
    Image

  • 693. Vinayaki

    Description:
    This is a rare image of Vinayaki, the feminine aspect (consort in some traditions) of Vinayaka or Ganesha. It is one of the several images, once contained in the lost temples of the hill, which were later affixed on the walls of the Bhairon shrine complex. Only a partial image is visible as the lower portion was subsumed by the stairways built next to it. Locals wrongly identify this image as Ardhanarishvara-Ganesha, which they believe to be a fusion of Shiva, Shakti and Ganesha. She is holding a cup in one of her hands, an attribute found in many of the Shaiva and Shakta images of the site and associated with tantric tradition. She is likely a tantric Shakti and suggests a syncretic fusion of the Ganapatya and Shakta traditions.
    Keyword:
    Rajasthan, Temples of India, Temple, Shakhambari Chahamanas, Harshnath Temple, Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), Sikar, and Architecture
    Creator:
    Temples of India Project Team
    Contributor:
    Anchit Jain
    Owner:
    tushar1.ayyar@jioinstitute.edu.in
    Publisher:
    Jio Institute
    Date Uploaded:
    09-05-2024
    Date Modified:
    09-05-2024
    Rights Statement Tesim:
    In Copyright
    Resource Type:
    Image

  • 694. Lingodhbhav-murti

    Description:
    This is a depiction of Shiva in the form of lingodhbhav-murti. Stella Kramrisch described this particular image from Harṣha: ‘In the universal night the pillar there was nothing; fiery pillar appeared above the waters. Other than it had no beginning no end. Brahmā flew into the empyrean and failed to reach its top; Viṣnu dived into the depth of the sea and failed to find its bottom. The two great gods thereupon submit and become the acolytes of the Fiery Pillar. The Fiery Pillar is in its splendour. to its greatness and Śiva; he reveals himself. The stele is traversed in its middle by the Fiery Pillar. On the left Brahmā is seen soaring upwards; he is also seen standing, his self-appointed mission unfulfilled, an attendant divinity of the Fiery Pillar. To the right of the Pillar, Viṣnu, blowing his conch, hurls himself downward with the same result; he becomes an acolyte of the Pillar and his standing image swings in the same rhythm as the image of Brahmā. The top of the slab, the high region traversed by the pillar, is a palpitating mass of movement and its shapes are Hamsa-birds and celestial spirits. The vision of the flaming pillar has been given form in this image competently though not adequately; the form is sleek and slight but succeeds in translating the Fiery Pillar into the trunk of the Tree whose branches are Brahmā, Viṣnu and the celestial host.’ (Hindu Temples, vol 2, Plate LXVII, page 402). This is one of the most iconic and celebrated images of Lingodbhava Murti, reputed for the delicacy of the figures, sense of movement and visual impact. In the incorporative landscape of Harsha Hill, having shrines dedicated to various deities, this image marks the Shaiva domination and supremacy at the complex. Image courtesy: Akbari Fort and Museum, Ajmer
    Keyword:
    Sikar, Temples of India, Shakhambari Chahamanas, Rajasthan, Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), and Harshnath Temple
    Creator:
    Temples of India Project Team
    Contributor:
    Anchit Jain
    Owner:
    tushar1.ayyar@jioinstitute.edu.in
    Publisher:
    Jio Institute
    Location:
    Sikar
    Date Uploaded:
    09-05-2024
    Date Modified:
    09-05-2024
    Rights Statement Tesim:
    In Copyright
    Resource Type:
    Image

  • 695. Ascetic worshipping the Linga

    Description:
    The pillars in the manḍapa of the Harsha Temple are enriched with beautiful images of apsaras and female deities like Parvati (as depicted in this image) in the niches of the pillars. These female figurines correspond to the plethora of female figurines (Parvati and damsels) depicted inside the sanctum on the walls. Beneath these pillar niches are panels depicting musicians, dancers, celestial beings, deities like Ganesha and ascetics. These Shaiva ascetics align with the overall Shaiva theme of the temple. The depicted image shows an ascetic worshipping the shivalinga. The four-armed Parvati is holding a kamandalu and mala in her lower hands and likely flowers in the upper two. On either side of her are attendant dwarfs. The ascetic shown in the panel below, with long matted hairs, is shown in deep adoration to Shiva.
    Keyword:
    Rajasthan, Temples of India, Shakhambari Chahamanas, Harshnath Temple, Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), and Sikar
    Creator:
    Temples of India Project Team
    Contributor:
    Anchit Jain
    Owner:
    tushar1.ayyar@jioinstitute.edu.in
    Publisher:
    Jio Institute
    Location:
    Sikar
    Date Uploaded:
    09-05-2024
    Date Modified:
    09-05-2024
    Rights Statement Tesim:
    In Copyright
    Resource Type:
    Image

  • 696. Yogini

    Description:
    This is one of the many images of yoginis found at the site hinting towards a lost yogini temple compound. Contextualizing this image with several other relevant images suggests a maturity of Shakti and tantric traditions at the site. She is holding a cup in her left hand, often associated in tantric traditions with the cup containing the symbolic nectar of spiritual bliss attained after the completion of tantric sadhana. The two-armed yogini is seated in the lalitasana pose. She holds a mala in her right hand and a cup in her left hand. Her head is lost. Image courtesy: Government Museum, Sikar
    Keyword:
    Sikar, Architecture, Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), Shakhambari Chahamanas, Rajasthan, Temple, Temples of India, and Harshnath Temple
    Creator:
    Temples of India Project Team
    Contributor:
    Anchit Jain
    Owner:
    tushar1.ayyar@jioinstitute.edu.in
    Publisher:
    Jio Institute
    Date Uploaded:
    09-05-2024
    Date Modified:
    09-05-2024
    Rights Statement Tesim:
    In Copyright
    Resource Type:
    Image

  • 697. Surya

    Description:
    This majestic image of Surya must have once been placed inside the sanctum of a lost Surya shrine. Coupled with multiple other Surya images at the shrine (Surya, Chhaya, etc.), it suggests the maturity of Surya tradition at the hill, which was present at the hill at least from the eight century - much before the emergence of Harshadeva-Shiva as the royal shrine at the hill. He is holding two fully bloomed lotuses in each hand. He is flanked on either side by his companions, Danda and Pingala, immediately near his legs, and the pair of horse-faced Ashvin brothers, at the back. On the above register is an elegant pair of bow holders about to unleash an arrow. Surya is wearing a kirita-mukuta and the halo in the form of a fully bloomed lotus appropriately suits the radiant glow of the majestic Sun God. Image courtesy: Akbari Fort and Museum, Ajmer
    Keyword:
    Rajasthan, Temples of India, Temple, Shakhambari Chahamanas, Harshnath Temple, Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), Sikar, and Architecture
    Creator:
    Temples of India Project Team
    Contributor:
    Anchit Jain
    Owner:
    tushar1.ayyar@jioinstitute.edu.in
    Publisher:
    Jio Institute
    Date Uploaded:
    09-05-2024
    Date Modified:
    09-05-2024
    Rights Statement Tesim:
    In Copyright
    Resource Type:
    Image

  • 698. Surya

    Description:
    This is arguably the oldest sculpture at the shrine, dated by Ambika Dhaka to the eighth century CE. The sculpture significantly precedes the Harshanth Temple, built in the second half of the 10th century. The Harshnath stone inscription records the devotion towards Lord Harsha of an early founding figure of the Chauhan line, Guvaka-I. He was a local chieftain and feudatory of the powerful imperial Pratihara dynasty, who lived roughly during the first quarter of the ninth century CE. The Shaiva association with the hill could have fairly preceded the time of Guvaka, but what can be said with full certainty was the much older Surya association of the hill. The figure carries standard iconographic features of the Sun God like the fully bloomed lotuses in two hands, long tunic, boots and retinue figures in pairs like his companions - Danda and Pingala, his wives and his sons, the Ashvins.
    Keyword:
    Sikar, Architecture, Temples of India, Shakhambari Chahamanas, Rajasthan, Temple, Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), and Harshnath Temple
    Creator:
    Temples of India Project Team
    Contributor:
    Anchit Jain
    Owner:
    tushar1.ayyar@jioinstitute.edu.in
    Publisher:
    Jio Institute
    Date Uploaded:
    09-05-2024
    Date Modified:
    09-05-2024
    Rights Statement Tesim:
    In Copyright
    Resource Type:
    Image

  • 699. Parvati in penance

    Description:
    Inside the sanctum of the temple are preserved beautiful sculptures of nayikas on the wall, while at the centre of the principal/back wall, there is a colossal image of Parvati in penance or the pancagni tapa. Interestingly, their names are scribed in the 10th-century Kutila script. The inscribed epithet calls her vikata, a possible explanation for this unusual name would be Gauri treading the vikata-marga by performing penance. Interestingly, the unusual epithet, Vikata, also appears in the Harsha stone inscription of VS 1030. Shiva, who occupies a central place in the sanctum in the form of a linga placed on yoni, is coupled with the representation of Shakti on the surrounding walls inside the sanctum. A four-armed Parvati is performing the penance of the pancagni tapa, also shown visually depicted with fires on either side. She stands erect on an iguana and hence has been labelled as Godhasana Gauri. On either side are two standing and two sitting female attendants.
    Keyword:
    Rajasthan, Temples of India, Temple, Shakhambari Chahamanas, Harshnath Temple, Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), Sikar, and Architecture
    Creator:
    Temples of India Project Team
    Contributor:
    Anchit Jain
    Owner:
    tushar1.ayyar@jioinstitute.edu.in
    Publisher:
    Jio Institute
    Location:
    Sikar
    Date Uploaded:
    09-05-2024
    Date Modified:
    09-05-2024
    Rights Statement Tesim:
    In Copyright
    Resource Type:
    Image

  • 700. Shesasayi Vishnu

    Description:
    Despite the overall Shaiva mood of the Harsha Temple complex, there were once multiple Vaishnav temples on the hill. This particular image of Shesasayi Vishnu or the reclining Vishnu on the serpent Lord Shesa, was likely once the main cultic image inside a now-lost Vaishnav shrine. Nine planets adorn the top of the image, while Vishnu is served by Lakshmi near his feet. Three ayudhapurusa (personification of his weapons) are placed behind him. The reclining Vishnu is shown in his standard iconography wearing a kirita-mukuta, vanamala and with four arms holding a chakra in his left hand above, mace in his right hand which is also supporting his head, flower in his lower right hand while the left lower hand is broken. Image courtesy: Government Museum, Sikar
    Keyword:
    Rajasthan, Temples of India, Temple, Shakhambari Chahamanas, Harshnath Temple, Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), Sikar, and Architecture
    Creator:
    Temples of India Project Team
    Contributor:
    Anchit Jain
    Owner:
    tushar1.ayyar@jioinstitute.edu.in
    Publisher:
    Jio Institute
    Location:
    Sikar
    Date Uploaded:
    09-05-2024
    Date Modified:
    09-05-2024
    Rights Statement Tesim:
    In Copyright
    Resource Type:
    Image