Locating the Lost Gupta Period Ramayana Reliefs from Katingara, Uttar Pradesh
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1558/rosa.38806Keywords:
antiquities theft, epics in art, Gupta inscriptions, Gupta sculpture, Katingara, museum collections, terracotta imagery, visual RāmāyaṇaAbstract
This article collates a fascinating group of early fifth-century ce terracotta temple reliefs, some bearing short Brahmi inscriptions. The panels entered numerous museum and private collections in India and abroad from the 1960s and early 70s. Of the panels, which comprise animated narrative scenes, amorous couples, lesser-divinities and composite creatures, it is those depicting episodes of the Sanskrit epic Ramayana that this article is specifically concerned with. Although the images share a bold, idiosyncratic style, and a likeness in scale, material and finish, they have never been acknowledged as having a shared origin, with most being loosely described as hailing from Uttar Pradesh. The central aims of this article are to analyse the iconography of this remarkable collection of panels and to put forward an argument for their place of origin being a small archaeological site near the village of Katingara, located in the alluvial plains beside the Kali Nadi river (a tributary of the Ganges) in District Etah, Uttar Pradesh. Katingara will also be positioned within the context of recorded early archaeological sites in the region. Importantly, the panels constitute one of the earliest and most extensive collections of terracotta Ramayana images surviving from the Gupta period, and this is the first time since their illicit removal from Katingara that they have been 're-assembled'.
References
Albrecht, Janico, Christopher Degelmann, Valentino Gasparini, Richard Gordon, Maik Patzelt, Georgia Petridou, Rubina Raja, Anna-Katharina Rieger, Jörge Rüpke, Benjamin Sippel, Emiliano Rubens Urciuoli and Lara Weiss. 2018. ‘Religion in the Making: The Lived Religion Approach.’ Religion: 1–26. https://doi.org/10.1080/0048721X.2018.1450305
Banerjee, Priyatosh. 1985. ‘A Terracotta Panel from Bhitargaon Showing a Ramayana Scene.’ Roopa Letha. http://ignca.nic.in/pb0020.htm (accessed 20 December 2015).
Bakker, Hans. 1991. ‘Ayodhya: A Hindu Jerusalem, An Investigation of “Holy War” as a Religious Idea in the Light of Communal Unrest in India.’ Numen 38 (1): 80–109. https://doi.org/10.2307/3270005
Bhattacharya, Gouriswar. 1990. ‘Early Ramayana Illustration from Bangladesh.’ In Maurizio Taddei (ed.), South Asian Archaeology 1987 Part 2. Proceedings on the Ninth International Conference of the Association of South Asian Archaeologists in Western Europe, held in Fondazione Giorgio Cini, Island of San Giorgio Maggiore, Venice: 1043–65. Rome: Istituto per il Medio e Estremo Oriente.
—2002. ‘Visual Epics.’ In Danuta Stasik and John Brockington (eds.), Indian Epic Traditions—Past and Present (Papers Presented at the 16th European Conference on Modern South Asian Studies, Edinburgh, 5-9 September 2000): 111–31. Rocznik Orientalistyczny 54 (1); Wydaw. Naukowe PWN, Warszaw
Brodbeck, Simon (trans.). Forthcoming. Krishna’s Lineage: The Harivamsha of Vyasa’s Mahabharata, Translated from the Sanskrit. New York: Oxford University Press.
Chakrabarti, Dilip K., Rakesh Tewari, R. N. Singh and K. K. Singh. 2002. ‘Kampil, Sankisa and Chakranagar: Sites in the Farrukhabad-Etah-Budaun-Mainpuri-Etawah Region of Uttar Pradesh.’ South Asian Studies 18: 109–19. https://doi.org/10.1080/02666030.2002.9628613
Cunningham, Alexander. 1880. Report of Tours in the Gangetic Provinces from Badaon to Bihar in 1875–76 and 1877–78. Calcutta: Archaeological Survey of India.
Dallaporte, Annamaria and Lucio Marcato. 2001. ‘Where is Kampilya? Archaeological Research in Farrukhabad District.’ South Asian Studies 17: 161–69. https://doi.org/10.1080/02666030.2001.9628598
—2012. Kampil: Archaeological Study of a Site in Ancient Kingdom of Panchala. Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal.
Devakarni, Virjanand. 2007. Prachin Bharat Main Ramayan Ke Mandir. Gurukul Jhajjar: Haryana Pranttiya Puratattva Sangrahalaya.
Dye III, Joseph M. 2001. The Arts of India: Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. Richmond, VA: Philip Wilson.
Evans, Kirsti. 1997. Epic Narratives in the Hoysala Temples: The Ramayana, Mahabharata, and Bhagavata Purana in Halebid, Belur, and Amrtapura. Leiden: Brill.
Gaur, R. C. 1983. Excavations at Atranjikhera. Early Civilization of the Upper Ganga Basin. Delhi: Motilal Banarasidass.
Gaur, R. C. 1988. Selected Art Pieces of Aligarh Archaeology Museum. Jaipur: Publication Scheme.
Goldman, Robert P. (ed.). 1986. The Ramayana of Valmiki II, Ayodhyakanda. Trans. Sheldon I. Pollock. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
—1994. Ramayana of Valmiki IV, Kiskindhakanda. Trans. Rosalind Lefeber. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Goldman, Robert P., and Sally J. Sutherland Goldman (eds.). 1996. Ramayana of Valmiki V, Sundarakanda. Trans. Robert P. Goldman, Rosalind Lefeber, Sheldon I. Pollock, Sally J. Sutherland Goldman and Barend A. van Nooten. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
—2009. Ramayana of Valmiki VI, Yuddhakanda. Trans. Robert P. Goldman, Rosalind Lefeber, Sheldon I. Pollock, Sally J. Sutherland Goldman and Barend A. van Nooten. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
—2017. Ramayana of Valmiki VII, Uttarakanda. Trans. Robert P. Goldman, Rosalind Lefeber, Sheldon I. Pollock, Sally J. Sutherland Goldman and Barend A. van Nooten. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
González-Reimann, Luis. 2006. ‘The Divinity of Rama in the Ramayana of Valmiki.’ Journal of Indian Philosophy 34: 203–20. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10781-005-5018-4
Greaves, Laxshmi. 2015. ‘Brick Foundations: North Indian Temple Architecture and Terracotta Art of the Fourth to Sixth Centuries ce.’ PhD Thesis. Cardiff: Cardiff University.
Gupta, Saurabh. 2017. ‘Mamata Banerjee Compares Narendra Modi to Ravana, Mocks CBI.’ NDTV. https://tinyurl.com/1647863 (accessed 21 November 2017).
Handa, Devendra. 2006. Sculptures from Haryana: Iconography and Style. New Delhi: Aryan Books International.
Kala, Jayantika. 1988. Epic Scenes in Indian Plastic Art. New Delhi: Abhinav Publications.
Kala, Satish Chandra. 1980. Terracottas in the Allahabad Museum. New Delhi: Abhinav Publications.
Lefèvre, Vincent, and Marie-Françoise Boussac (eds.). 2007. Chefs-d’oeuvre du Delta du Gange, Collections de Musée du Bangladesh. Paris: Reunion des musees nationaux: Etablissement public du musee des arts asiatiques Guimet.
Pollock, Sheldon. 1993. ‘Ramayana and Political Imagination in India.’ The Journal of Asian Studies 52: 261–97. https://doi.org/10.2307/2059648
Pollock, Sheldon (trans.). 2007. Rama’s Last Act by Bhavabhuti. New York: New York University Press JJC Foundation.
Poster, Amy G. (ed.). 1986. From Indian Earth, 4,000 Years of Terracotta Art. The Brooklyn Museum: New York.
Sanford, David Theron. 1974. ‘Early Temples Bearing Ramayana Relief Cycles in the Chola Area: A Comparative Study.’ PhD thesis. Los Angeles: University of California.
Shankar, Ajai. 2001. ‘The Threat to Cultural Sites in India from Illegal Excavation.’ In Neil Brodie, Jennifer Doole and Colin Renfrew (eds.), Trade in Illicit Antiquities: The Destruction of the World’s Archaeological Heritage: 33–37. Cambridge: McDonald Institute.
Shrimali, K. M. 1983. History of Pañcala. New Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal Publishers.
Srinivasan, Doris Meth. 1984. ‘Significance and Scope of Pre-Kusana Saivite Iconography.’ In Listening to Icons. Vol. I. Indian Iconographic and Iconological Studies. New Delhi: Aryan Books International. (Originally published in Michael W. Meister (ed.), Discourses on Siva. Philadelphia: University of Philadelphia Press, 1984: 32–46.)
Stadtner, Donald, M. 2015. ‘An Inscribed Gupta Terracotta Panel in the Linden-Museum.’ In Georg Noack (ed.), Tribus, Jahrbuch des Linden-Museums: 207–17. Stuttgart: Linden-Museum Stuttgart.
Vout, Caroline. 2013. ‘Visualising Epic.’ In Helen Lovatt and Caroline Vout (eds.), Epic Visions: Visuality in Greek and Latin Epic and its Reception: 18–31. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Zaheer, Mohammad. 1981. The Temple of Bhitargaon. Delhi: Agam Kala Prakashan.
