CHAPTER II

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF THE TEMPLE ARCHITECTURE OF

ASSAM

2.1 Introduction

Assam is rich in the field of art, architectures and sculptures from very

ancient times because numerous temple ruins are discovered throughout Assam.

The ancient rulers took active part for development of the temple architectures in

Assam. The development of sculptural activities became increase through the

architectural activities. Under the patronage of the rulers, the temple architecture

developed in large scale because they provided grant land to the religious edifies

for developing the religious as well as cultural environment of the state.

Innumerable sculptural images of different deities along with others elements

from the nature were engraved on the surfaces of the temple's walls to attract the

minds of the devotees.

2.2 Early History of Assam

Assam is situated in the North Eastern part of India and is known as

Pragjyotisa in the earliest time and Kamrupa in the later time. This place has a

great significance during the time of epics, Puranas etc because the name of

Pragjyotisa has been found in the Ramayana, Mahabharata and some other

Puranas like Markandeya Purana, Brihat Samhita, Bhagavata Purana, Kalika

Purana etc (Barua, 1986). Kalika Purana recorded, ''Immediately after Naraka of

Mithila became king and was placed in charge of the Goddess Kamakhya, the

name of the land was changed fi-om Pragjyotisa to Kamrupa. The term Kamrupa/

Kamakhya symbolised a new cult'' (1989).

Assam history was started from the legendary period, where Danavas and

Asuras were the legendary traditional rulers of Assam and they belonged to non-

Aryan tribes. It was thought that demon Mahiranga Danava was the first ruler of

this country and the Ghataka was the last ruler of this dynasty. After decline of the

37

Danava dynasty, a new dynasty, which was founded by Naraka, a prince from

Videha arose. His name was mentioned in the epics and Puranas like the

Ramayana, Mahabharata, Harivamsa and the Kalika Purana. After Naraka,

Bhagadatta, who was the son of Naraka came to the thorn. In the Mahabharata,

he was mentioned as a powerful warrior in the Kurukshetra war. It was known

that the nineteenth generations of Naraka ruled Assam (Barua, 1986).

After the end of the legendary dynasties, the authentic political history of

ancient Assam was started from the Varman dynasty in 4"̂ century A. D.

Pusyavarman, who originally belonged to central India was the founder of

Varman dynasty. With the help of Samudragupta of Gupta dynasty, he established

the Varman dynasty in Assam (Nath, 1948). It was assumed that some of the

emperors of the Varman dynasty were the contemporaries of the Gupta emperors.

Pusyavarman was the contemporary of Chandragupta and Samudravarman of

Samudragupta (Choudhury, 1987). Besides, the historical reference reveals that

Kamrupa had a good relation with the Gupta dynasty (Bahadur, 1933).

The Varman dynasty ruled Assam approximately from the 4"̂ century to

the 7"̂ century A. D. Bhaskaravarman was the last and most powerftil emperor of

this dynasty. He ruled since 594 A.D to 650 A. D (Choudhury, 1987).

Bhaskarvarman was not only a greatest emperor, but also made remarkable

contribution for Assam. During his lifetime, all round activities like political,

cultural etc were developed. Therefore, he was able to occupy a most conspicuous

position in the history of Assam. He was the contemporary of Harshavardhana,

the powerful king of Northern India of the time. Emperor Bhaskarvarman showed

the great respect towards religion, in which he was the devotee of Lord Siva, but

he had also great respect to Buddhism. He invited the Buddhist pilgrim, Hiuen

Tsang to his country. Hiuen Tsang recorded in his account that there were

hundred Deva temples in Kamrupa (Bahadur, 1933).

After the end of the Varman dynasty, a new dynasty, which was known as

Salastambha dynasty came to be focus in the history of Assam and the twenty one

rulers of this dynasty ruled Assam. It was assumed that they ruled during the

period for 650-990 A. D (Choudhury, 1987). Salastambha was the great chief of

Mlechlias and was the first ruler of this dynasty. In addition, Bahadur remarks,

38

" the word undoubtedly means the non-Hindu Mongoloid people of the

kingdom. A tribe of these people is still known by the name Mech which is clearly

the abridged form ofMlechha'' (1933).

The Pala dynasty was the last dynasty of the first phase of political history

of Assam. Brahmapala was the founder member of this dynasty. It was estimated

that their ruling period was 985 A. D-1125 A. D (Bahadur, 1933). Some of the

most powerful emperors of this dynasty were Ratnapala, Indrapala and

Dharmapala. They gave great contribution towards the cultural development of

Assam. The Pala dynasty of Assam was the contemporary of Palas of Bengal.

Brahmapala of Pala dynasty of Assam was the contemporary of Mahipala, who

was the ruler of the Palas of Bengal (Baruah, 1997). It was known that

Brahmapala of Pala dynasty of Assam took the title 'Pala' imitating the Palas of

Bengal (Bahadur, 1933). The Pala dynasty of Assam played a vital role in

developing the cultural background of Assam because numbers of inscriptions

revealed that the temple architectures were developed in large scale during their

period.

2.3 Evolution of Temple Sculptures in Assam

The temple building activity in Assam was started from early 4"̂ century

A. D and reached its peak of excellence in the 9"̂ century A. D and continued up

to the end of the 12' century A. D. During these periods, the architectural

activities were done by the stone materials. Evidences showed that most of the

temples were built by granite and sand stone.

The temple architectures of Assam basically follow the Nagara style or

the Northern Indian type, in which the sikhara part is curvilinear. The sikhara part

symbolises a mountain, which is mythical mountain, Kailasa. It is noteworthy that

to construct, the temples are based on the theory of Vastupurusha Mandala, which

is a magical ritualistic formula. It is not known that how the original shape of the

temple was developed. Different views are observed regarding the form of the

temple tower. According to Longhurst, the shape of the temple tower was derived

from the Buddhist Stupa (1974). Another source informed that the form of the

temple tower was copied from the shapes of the chariots or Rathas, which

prevailed in Vedic period (Sundaram, 1974).

39

It was accepted that the conceptions of different parts of the temple

architecture were borrowed from some other ancient elements. For example, the

base of the temple was imitative of the Vedic sacrificial alter. The conception of

the sanctum was borrowed from the prehistoric dolmen. The garbhagriha of the

temple was constructed by the massive walls with dark room represented the cave.

In the earlier times, the temple was of flat slab-roof The mature phase of the

temple architecture occurred during the period of Gupta having the jagati,

garbhagriha and the sikhara and continued up to the mediaeval period (Agrawala,

1979).

It was observed that the temples of mediaeval period of Assam carried the

stylistic features from Orissa and Bengal in structurally as well as in execution of

the images. In addition, according to Rao, "Viewing broadly the conditions and

characteristics of Hindu sculpture, it may well be said that there are four different

schools representing four different regions of India. The fourth school, which

resembles closely the third in respect of ornamentation and grouping, is chiefly

represented by the sculptures of Bengal, Assam and Orissa. It is at once

recognised by the human figures therein possessing round faces, in which are set

two oblique eyes, a broad forehead, a pair of thin lips and a small chin (1914). In

general, the temples of Assam have different architectural chambers such as the

garbhagriha or sanctum, in which the main worshiping idol is installed, the

antarala or vestibule, which serves as a corridor and the mandapa or pillared hall,

where different types of mandapas exist like bhogamandapa, natmandapa etc.

Evidences revealed that the sculptural art of Assam was started from the

Gupta time. The Daparbatia temple of 5''̂ -6''̂ century A. D was the earliest

example of the sculptural art of Assam. The carving door frame bears the

characteristic feature of the early Gupta School of sculpture (Choudhury, 1988).

Banerji remarks, ''The artist's sense of proportion, the beautiful symmetry of the

figures and ornamental devices and the excellence of execution tend to prove that

this door lintel belongs to the same period as the great schools of sculpture which

existed at Pataliputra and Benares in the fifth and sixth centuries A.D"{\92A-25).

Sculptural art of Assam was very similar to the art of Gupta and the Pala

art of Eastern India. This matter was proved with the help of authentic evidences

40

and valuable references. During the period of Varman dynasty, the Gupta art

influenced the sculptural art of Assam. The establishment of the rule of Pala

dynasty towards the middle of the 8'*̂ century A. D was an event of great

significance in the history of India and concentrated in Bihar and Bengal in

particular. During these periods (8"̂ century A. D-12"^ century A. D), a new school

flourished in the eastern part of the country during the early mediaeval period

under the patronage of the Palas, came to be designated as the Pala art or the

Eastern Indian School of Mediaeval sculpture (Banerji, 1981). The Pala sculptures

were influenced by the Gupta art tradition of sensuous lips and smoothness body

of the images (Sahai &French, 1983). A notable feature of this art style was the

stele carving, which was borrowed from the Gupta classical sculpture. The images

of deities were placed on the stele carvings, which were decorated by the

Kirtimukha motifs and floral designs at the top of the steles. These were the

special features of the Pala art.

In early time, the Pala art concentrated on creating of the Buddhist

sculptures. According to Kramrisch, 'T/ze images of the P" century are mainly

Buddhistic, but there are also Brahmanical images; in the 10' century Brahmanic

sculptures begin to increase in number; in the 12' centwy Vishnu images are so

abundant that they scaicely can be counted, but the images of the various

Goddesses are equally widely spread, whereas Saivitic and Jaina images are less

frequently met with" (1983). The temple ruins of Assam revealed that mostly

sculptures were done basing on the Hindu religion. Sometimes, Buddhism was

also given important to create the sculptures in temple art of Hinduism.

Another important aspect of the Pala art of Bengal was the influence of

Tantricism. Therefore, Tantric elements were introduced in Pala art. It was known

that under the Pala art of Bengal, Buddhist art was greatly influenced by the

Tantricism. Due to the effect of Buddhist Tantricism on the art, images of

Goddesses showed different mudras and asanas along with terrific aspects.

Besides, the erotic nature of the sculptures was derived from the Tantric

inspiration. In addition, ""The Tantric ideas including the Sakti worship greatly

influenced the Brahamanical faith, and the Hindu divinities represented in the art

hardly display any difference from the Buddhist ones, excepting in their attributes

and vehicles''' {^dincr]\, 1981).

41

The emergences of the stele carving and the Tanthcism of the Eastern

Indian Mediaeval School of art were the great impact on the sculptural art of

Assam. But Tantricism deeply influenced on the sculptures of Brahamanical as

well as in Vaishnavism of Assam. The Kamrupa emperors from Indrapala to

Dharmapala of Pala dynasty of Assam were the followers of the Tantric tenet and

during their periods Kamakhya became an important seat for Tantric Buddhism

(Choudhury, 1987). In approximately 12"̂ century A. D, which was the last period

of the Palas of Bengal, the Buddhist Tantricism gradually blended with the Hindu

Tantricism (Banerji, 1981). It can be said that both the sculptural activities of

Bengal and Assam were almost contemporary to each other, therefore, sculptures

of Assam display the influence of art of Bengal. In addition, 'T/ze East Indian

School of Mediaeval Art in Assam are found from the 9"^ century A. D The

evolutionary stages of the school are gauged through some dated sculptures"

(Dutta,1990).

The sculptures of Assam also showed some other influences. Sculptures

of Akasiganga executed the Chalukyan style. Sculptural designs of Gosaijuri

recalled the art style of South India, even of Ceylon (Ramachandran, 1936-37).

Carving door jambs of Gachtal in Nowgaon, showed the features of Pala School

of art (Choudhury, 1987). Choudhury mentioned that sculptural art of Assam had

a strikingly similarity with the Sena art of Bengal. The Sena artists of Bengal were

influenced by the lavish ornamentations of Hoysala art and they reflected this

style on the Pala School of art. Therefore, Assam sculptures belonging to the

period of 11"" -\2^^ century A. D were the style of Sena art (1985).

The sculptures of Assam were influenced by the central Indian style. In

this regards, the art style of Orissa is in particular. Dikshit remarked, ''The

affinities of Assamese art would seem to lie more with the schools of Bihar and

Orissa, than with the contemporary Pala art of Bengal" (1927-28). Sculptural

evidences showed that sculptural representations of dance and erotic postures of

Madan Kamdeva temple are very similar to the sculptures of Khajuraho.

Moreover, in the ornamentations of Tezpur ruins contained the characteristics

features from the temple art of Orissa. Another slab of Tezpur ruins depicted

Caitya window pattern, which was commonly found in the temples of Central

India especially from Rewa state and in Khajuraho (Banerji, 1924-25). Observing

42

the stone sculptures of Assam, Banerji remarked, "The medieval architecture and

plastic art of Assam were closely related to the general architecture and art of

Northern India" (1924-25).

Influences of South Indian sculptures upon the sculptural art of Assam

are found. Among the different sculptural sites of Assam, the sculptures of

Deoparbat temple showed the influence of the South Indian sculptures because a

good number of sculptural images are depicted like the South Indian images. For

example, Siva's various images like Vinadhara Dakshinamurti, Kankalamurti

Bhairava were commonly met in South Indian sculptures. The literary evidence

informed that the artists of South Indian migrated to Assam. Nath mentioned that

during the time of Ratnapala of Pala dynasty of Assam, a large number of

architects and sculptors migrated from Tanjore, Mysore and Travancore and the

emperor made them settle in his country (1948). According to Ramachandran, the

sculpting image of Venugopala in the western gate of the Kamakhya temple

recalled the decorative features of the Gupta and Pallava period in North and

South India respectively (1936-37). Depictions of makara and Kirtimukha

ornamentations were found in most of the temple ruins. Some of them were found

very similar to Java and China motifs (Choudhury, 1988).

In some cases, the appearances of the images revealed Mongolian look.

Amalgamations of late Gupta, early Pala and the Mongolian feature were

prominent on some of the sculptural images. In some of the specimens of art from

Bengal, there were marked Mongoloid elements, which must had been due to

ethnic infiltrations through the North East. This tradition was surely passed to

Assam through Bengal (Choudhury, 1985).

2.4 Growth of Indigenous School

Assam produced a separate art style with the amalgamations of different

foreign artistic influences. But regarding this mater, in art history of India, there

are not found any available references. According to Banerji, ''Assam is the only

province of India, the history of the architecture and sculpture of which is still

practically unknown" (1924-25). Numbers of scholars provide different views

regarding this matter. Kakati mentioned that Kamrupa had a separate school of

art, which was known as Kamrupa School of Sculpture (1941). But some scholars

43

did not accept his idea. Choudliury mentioned, ''Local variation does not prove

the existence of a separate school of arC (1985).

The literary evidences mentioned that a local art style, which was known

as Deopani School of Art, was developed in ancient Kamrupa and revealed a

separate identity. This group of sculptures came to be focused for the first time at

the place, Deopani, Golaghat of Assam. It was assumed that this new art style was

practiced in between late 7"̂ century A. D - 8' century A. D. The Deopani

sculptures retained the characteristic features of the last phase of Gupta classical

style. Deopani sculptures specify the ethnic affinity of the Bodo people of the

region (Dutta, 1990). The classical features like transparent drapery, limited

jewellery, drooping eyelids, finely polished body were found in this new style.

Besides, sculptures were carved out on black sand stone. Some other

characteristic features such as the round face with thick lips, broad and pointed

nose, long ears, broad forehead, long hair and thick eye brows, and broad shoulder

are illustrated (Dutta, 2007).

In ancient Kamrupa, it can be said that the development of sculptural

activities are found in three styles such as pre Gupta art, Gupta art and Pala art.

The first two styles displayed the sculptural activities in limited numbers. But

majority of the sculptures were produced in Assam during the time of Pala and

Sena period of Bengal. During this period, naturally the artists of Assam

amalgamated their regional variations with the Bengal style in the sculptural art

and created a different type of art style.

2.5 Sculptural Development under Different Dynasties of Assam

In Assam, sculptural development occurred in two distinctive phases, the

first phase belonged to the period between the 4"' century A. D to the 12"' century

A. D. During these period, three dynasties ruled ancient Assam namely Varman

dynasty (4"̂ century A. D-7"' century A. D), Salastambha dynasty (7"̂ century A.

D-IO"" century A. D) and Pala dynasty (lO"' century A. D -n"" century A. D).

Sculptural activities of during these periods gained its zenith. When the Pala

dynasty declined and their practising of art works became slow due to the lack of

royal patronage, another class of people, which was known as Ahom came to be

focused and they started to rule Assam till the advent of Britishers. These people

44

practised another style of art works of second phase to develop a cultural

atmosphere in Assam. During these long periods of sculptural developments, each

dynasty showed a distinctive changing style. Each dynasty performed an

important role for constructing the temple architectures in ancient Assam. During

the first phase of sculptural activities, most of the temple architectures were

constructed by stone material because a great number of temple ruins indicate this

matter. The emperors of all dynasties gave prefer to build the temples by stone

materials like other parts of the country, but now most of the old temple

architectures were totally disastrous due to the violent earthquakes, natural causes

and invaders who attacked Assam many times.

The information about the temple building activities was found from the

numerous inscriptions and literary sources. The emperors of different dynasties

recorded their cultural activities in the written form of inscriptions on the stone

slabs, copper plates etc. According to the inscriptions, it was assumed that the

temple architectural activities of Assam started from the Varman dynasty. A

limited number of temple sculptures were found with the influence of Gupta art

during this period. Though Assam was not included under the rule of Gupta

emperors, but the Varman dynasty appeared approximately with the Gupta

dynasty. A literary source spoke that the Varman emperors had direct relation

with the Imperial Guptas and what developed in the Gupta Court was at once

copied in Assam (Nath, 1948). From this reference, it can be said that the art and

architectures in Assam were done with the help of Gupta influence. An earliest

rock inscription of S"' century A. D, Umacal rock inscription recorded that a cave

temple was constructed by Surendravarman on the Nilacala hill (Sharma, 1978).

Surendravarman is identified as Mahendravarman, who was the ruler of Varman

dynasty from 450 A. D to 485 A. D. It was known that in early phase of Gupta

architecture, numbers of cave temples were produced in the Udayagiri hills near

Vidisa (Sharma, 1985). The inscription of Balavarman III, recorded that the

Salastambha ruler, Vanamala, who ruled approximately from 835 A. D to 860 A.

D constructed a huge palace consisting of numbers of rooms, which were

decorated by numerous carvings. The Indrapala inscription stated that the Pala

ruler, Ratnapala built numerous white temples of Siva in his country duringlOOO-

1030 A. D (Bahadur, 1933).

45

Besides the inscriptions, numbers of ancient texts recorded about the

temple architectures of ancient Kamrupa. For example, the Markandeya Purana

speaks about the construction of a Surya temple in Kamrupa. Some other most

important Tantric works, the Kalika Purana and the Yogini Tantra are informative

sources regarding the temple architectures of Assam. It was believed that the

Kalika Purana was composed in Assam during the time of Pala ruler, Dharmapala

who ruled for the period of 990 A. D-lOlO A. D. The Yogini Tantra also recorded

about the information of religious architectures of Assam (Choudhury, 1987).

AH these sources informed that the architectural activities were given great

importance by the ancient rulers. These religious edifices were dedicated to

different Gods and Goddesses like Surya, Siva, Vishnu, Mother Goddess and

some other deities. It can be said that through the development of architectural

activities, the emperors showed their great respect towards the religion as well as

the cultural activities.

2.6 Religious Influences on the Temple Architectures of Assam

Religion is the prime factor to construct the temple architectures. Religion

played a predominant role to inscribe various images on the temple buildings.

Like other places, temples of Assam were ornamented with numerous sculpted

images giving importance on the religion under the rules of different emperors.

Numerous inscriptions, literary evidences, the temple ruins etc said that God Siva

prevailed in ancient Kamrupa. Almost all ancient rulers of Kamrupa worshipped

Siva as their main worshipping deity. Besides, architectural evidences proved that

not only Siva was the main worshiping deity, but also Vishnu, Sakti and Surya

were the major cults in ancient Kamrupa. According to the Kalika Purana, the

fifteenth sacred places of Siva existed in ancient Assam. On the other hand, five

sacred places were provided to Devi and five sacred to Vishnu (Kakati,

1989).This reference reveals about the popularity of Lord Siva than other deities.

Assam was an important centre for practicing of the religions like Hindu,

Brahamanic, Buddhist and the Saivism and all the religions were practised

without losing their own identities (Barua, 2003). The ruins of the Sun temple at

Surya/>a/?a/- of Goalpara spoke about the practice of Sun worship in early Assam.

46

Taranath mentioned that the people of Kamrupa were transferred from the Sun

worship to Buddhism (1970).

2.6.1 Influence of Saivism

Siva was the most popular deity in Assam from ancient times. Abundant

temple ruins proved that Siva was worshipped in his iconic form as well as in

symbolic form, which was the form of linga-yoni. Numerous linga-yonis

discovered throughout Assam. Earliest evidences showed that Siva was worshiped

in his various manifestations. Siva was the most well known deity amongst both

the aborigines and the Aryanised people. It was thought that most probably

Aryans borrowed phallic worship from some aboriginal tribes (Choudhury, 1995).

It was known that Siva worship was first introduced in ancient Assam by

Jalpesvara, a ruler of North Bengal, which region was formerly included within

the Kamrupa kingdom. The emperor built a Siva temple is knovsTi as Jalpesvara in

his region (Kakati, 1989). Before the introduction of Devi worship in Kamakhya

temple, Siva was regarded as the guardian deity of this land (Choudhury, 1987).

The Yogini Tantra also stated about the worship of this deity in linga form. This

text also mentioned that Siva lingas of Kamrupa exceeded a million (Choudhury,

1985).

Most of the emperors of ancient Assam showed great respect towards Lord

Siva because numerous temples which are in ruin now are dedicated to Siva.

Banabhatta in his Harsacarita mentioned about Bhaskarvarman's devotion to

Siva (Choudhury, 1987). The Nidhanpur inscription of Bhaskarvarman mentioned

that Siva was tutelary deity of the emperor. The Vanamala inscription of 9"'

century recorded Siva as Kameswara. Again the inscription mentioned that the

emperor built another Kamakhya temple on the Kamakuta hill near Silghat

(Bahadur, 1933). The Vanamala inscription recorded that emperor Vanamala

rebuilt a lofty temple, which was dedicated to Lord Siva as Hetuka Sulin and is

offered a numbers of girls to the temple. It was mentioned that original temple

was constructed by his father Harjjaravarman of the Salastambha dynasty. The

inscription of Dharmapala said that Siva appeared as Ardhanarisvara, who is the

embodiment of two principles (Choudhury, 1987). Indrapala's inscription

47

mentioned that his grandfather Ratnapala constructed a large number of Siva

temples in his country (Bahadur, 1933).

From various references, it was clear that the Lord Siva was worshipped in

large scale in his various manifestations. But authentic documentations of these

temples are rarely found because they became disastrous for many reasons.

Besides, religious information can be found from the different images, which are

inscribed in the temple architectures.

2.6.2 Influence of Vaishnavism

The worship of Vishnu was practised in Assam from the very early time.

This was known by numerous iconographic images as well as epigraphic

evidences. In addition, "The worship of Vishnu was evidently prevalent in Assam

from early times, for as has been said before, the kings ofKamrupa traced their

lineage to Vishnu through Naraka" (Barua, 1986). God Vishnu appeared in the

Vedic period, in which Rig Veda mentioned him as Adityas (Choudhury, 1987).

The deity is compared with the Sun God. The Harsacarita and numbers of

epigraphic records mentioned that the Varman rulers and the Pala rulers of

Kamrupa were the descendants of Vishnu (Choudhury, 1985). The earliest

inscriptional evidence, Umachal rock inscription of Surendravarman of 5"̂ century

mentioned Vishnu as Balabhadra (Borpujari, 1990). The inscription of

Dharmapala also said about the worship of Vishnu (Barua, 1986). Evidences

proved that the worship of Vishnu in his various incarnations was also famous in

ancient Assam.

The numerous inscriptions speak about the worship of Vishnu in his image

form. Besides, a large number of Vishnu images and his incarnations in the

sculptural representations are found from the temple ruins throughout Assam. An

ancient Vishnu temple, which is known as Hayagriva Madhava temple is found at

Hajo as an authentic documentation. But there is controversy among the Hinduism

and the Buddhism. The composite form of Vishnu, which is found in the

garbhagriha of the temple, is known as Hayagriva. Besides, some of the

incarnations of Vislinu are found in the image forms on the outer walls of the

temple. The Daparbatia temple is influenced by Vaishnavism because an image of

Garuda in flying attitude is inscribed on the lintel of the door frame. The temple

48

ruins showed that at least from 5"̂ -6"̂ century A. D Vishnu was worshipped in his

iconographic representations in Assam (Choudhury, 1987). The inscriptional data

and the numerous discovered images revealed that the worship of Vishnu in his

iconographic representations prevailed in Assam form the Varman dynasty to the

Pala dynasty.

2.6.3 Influences of Saktism and Tantricism

The Saktism and Tantricism reveal their nature in almost same mode. The

Saktism as well as the Tantricism influenced a special type of sculptural images of

the temples. Kamrupa is regarded as the great centre for the Saktism and the

Tantricism from the very early period. In this regard, Kamakhya is closely

associated with these aspects. Numerous temple architectures of Assam are

influenced by both the religious modes. The concept of Sakti deals with the

female energy while female Goddesses appear in the terrific aspect of

iconographic representations such as the images of Parvati, Durga, Kali, Tara,

Bhairavi, Chamunda, Ugra Tara etc. In fact, all these forms are the incarnations of

Devi Parvati.

Saktism was a mode of worship became popular along with Saivism and

Vaishnavism in ancient Assam. Kamrupa was regarded as the great centre for the

Saktism. This land was an important centre for Devi worship representing the

symbolic and iconographic aspects. The Kamakhya temple was one of the

Saktipithas in India. In any ancient inscriptions, there was no any mentioned about

the Sakti worship, but the inscriptions of Vanamala and Indrapala spoke about the

temples of Kamesvara Mahagauri and Mahagauri Kamesvara (Choudhury,

1985). Regarding the matter of silence, Barua remarked, 'Saktism represents a

particular phase of religion which was in the main personal and esoteric.

Consequently it had no connection with any public religious order or

establishment. Personal in origin, its tents and history were preserved in a special

class of magical and sacramental literature, commonly known as the Tantras"'

(1986). In addition, Choudhury mentioned that the Goddesses of this cult were

worshipped by the Saktas as symbolic fonn (1985). In the Saktipitha, Kamakhya

temple, there was no any image or deity in the garbhagriha, but an image of

'yoni' is inscribed on the stone block as the symbolic representation. The

49

Kamakhya temple contains a number of female divinities in the sculptural

representations.

Tantricism is another major influence for the development of special type

of images in the temple architectures. Tantricisim was another form of Siva and

Sakti worship that was known as Tantra of non-Aryan origin (Barua, 2007).

Hutton believes that the Tantricism possibly originated with the incorporation into

Hinduism of a fertility cult, which preceded the faith in Assam as the religion of

the country (1987). About in 9'*' century A. D Tantric faith was developed under

the Palas of Bengal as an offshoot of later Buddhism (Choudhury, 1987). It can be

said that Tantricism is associated with Buddhism because sometimes temple

carries the sculptures of Buddhism along with Hindu sculptures.

From the inscriptions, it was known that Tantricisim appeared during the

time of ancient rulers. The Pala ruler, Indrapala himself was well knowledge

about Tantras. Tantricisim was the branch of Buddhisim of the Mahayana school

of the ninth century under the Pala rulers of Magadha. During the period of Pala

ruler, Dharmapala, Buddhist University at Vikramasila was the famous centre of

the Tantrik doctrines. Through this centre, Tantricisim probably spread into

Kamrupa and Tibet. During the period of Kamrupa emperors, Kamakhya became

the important centre of Tantric sacrifices, mysticism and sorcery (Bahadur, 1933).

2.6.4 Influence of Buddhism

In Assam, the temple ruins reveal that most of the temples are influenced

by the Buddhism. In the Hindu temples, along with the Hindu sculptures, the

Buddhist sculptures were also discovered. Choudhury mentioned that the Hindu

temples were established with the materials from the old Buddhist temples (1988).

Buddhist scholar, Hiuen Tsang spoke that there were a few Buddhists in the

country, but they performed their devotional rites secretly (1933). Taranath

mentioned that the people of Kamrupa were converted from the Sun worship to

the Buddhism during the time of Dhitika, who came to be focused as early as third

century B. C (1970). These references revealed that the Buddhism prevailed in

Assam in very early period.

50

The Vishnu temple, Hayagriva Madhava temple of Hajo, is the major

pilgrimage centre for Buddhists, who come from Tibet, Nepal, Bhutan etc.

According to their tradition, Buddha died at Kamrupa, where the Hayagriva

Madhava temple existed. They believed that the main idol of the temple was

Buddha's image. Regarding this matter, Choudhury mentioned that some relics of

Buddha were brought to Assam and enshrined in a place, which was supposed to

be Kamakhya temple, where a casket of stone had discovered containing some

relics probably ashes of Buddha. Over these ashes, Stupa or Caitya was

constructed (1987).

Moreover, emperor, Bhaskaravarman himself was not a Buddhist, but he

showed deep respect to Buddhist pilgrimages. During his time, Buddhist scholars

visited Kamrupa. During the period of Pala rulers of Assam, Kamrupa was an

important place during the Tantric- Buddhist period. Some ancient inscriptions

said about prevalence of Buddhism in Kamrupa. Some small images of Buddha

exhibited the Abhaya mudra and the Bhumisparasa mudra. In this context,

Bahadur mentioned that these types of miniature images of Buddha might easily

have been imported by the pilgrimages from the outside (1933). It can be said that

there was a great impact of Buddhism on the sculptural art of Assam.

2.7 Conclusion

The chapter concludes with the following analysis.

The emperors of Assam perform the major role to develop the temple

architectures of Assam. Since, abundant temple ruins as well as numerous

inscriptions recorded about the development of the temple architectures of Assam.

By constructing the temple architectures, actually, the emperors showed their

great responsibilities towards the development of the cultural background of the

country.

The three dynasties such as Varman dynasty, Salastambha dynasty and

Pala dynasty play major role to develop the architectural activities as well as

sculptural activities in Assam. Each dynasty carries the distinctive characteristic

features of the temple sculptures in their executions. Evidences reveal that the

51

Pala dynasty plays a major role for the construction of temple architectural

activities.

Though a very small number of sculptures was found as the earliest

evidences, but the practices of art work were actively started from the Gupta

period in Assam because numbers of evidences reveal the influence of Gupta art.

The ancient emperors provided great contributions towards the art and

architectures like other parts of India. In fact, sculptural art were developed

through the building activities. The temple ruin at Daparbatiya was the earliest

example of the Gupta art.

In the sculptures of Assam, the regional variations are amalgamated with

the foreign influences. The temple ruin of Deoparbat revealed the Javanese art.

Besides, numbers of sculptural ruins revealed that the sculptures of Assam closely

associated with the art of other part of countries like South Indian art. North

Indian art, art of Orissa, art of Bengal etc. With these influences as well as

regional variations, the sculptures are displayed with a new style.

Impact of the religions is the major matter to depict the sculptures on the

temple architectures. In Assam, sculptures are influenced by the different religions

like Saivism, Vaishnavism, Saktism and Tantricism etc. Most of the temples

reflect the influence of Saivism. The temple of Vaishnavism is found in limited

numbers. On the other hand, Saktism and Tantricism are prominent in most of the

temple architectures. Due to the influence of Tantricism, the divine images show

the terrific aspect. Influence of Buddhism is also found in most of the temples.

52

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54

Ibid,?. 149

Ibid,?. 167

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//7/J, P. 477

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Ibid, P.34

Ibid,?.413

Ibid,?.4\5

Ibid, P.94

Ibid,?p. 11-12

55

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57