South Indian Inscriptions

ARCHITECTURE SCULPTURE AND PAINTING

...The figure of the goddess is beautifully modelled. She has a multi-stringed pearl lalāṭikā in her hair, round kuṇḍalas on the ears, jewel and pearl necklaces, one of which hangs down between her plump breasts, as well as a beautiful raśanā, bracelets and anklets. A long garland hangs down over her left leg. Her face shows perfect grace. This is one of the best sculptures of that age.

... There is a similar panel of the river goddess Yamunā¹ to the right of the entrance door. She is standing on a tortoise under a mango tree. She has held its branch with her raised left hand and is plucking a fruit with the right. She has a male and a female attendant on her right and left respectively. Both of them are standing on lotus stalks.

... This temple at Tigowā has a flat roof and is therefore of an earlier age than the Gupta temple at Dēogaḍh which had a low piramidal spire. The latter is referred to the early part of the sixth century A.C.² The temple at Tigōwā may therefore be dated about the middle of the fifth century A.C. Some time later its portico was turned into a maṇḍapa by closing the opening on both the sides by means of sculptured slabs, and another portico was added in front. The latter has now totally disappeared except for a slab on the right with the sculptured image of the Buddha incarnation of Vishṇu, which appears to have been added in a still later age.

... Of the sculptured slabs used to close the opening of the original portico on the left, the upper one contains an image of the eight-armed goddess Kālī. She holds in her hands a bow, a paṭṭiśa and other weapons as also two shields. She is surrounded on both the sides by skeleton figures who are praying or making offerings to her. The lower panel on the same side shows the four-armed god Vishṇu sleeping on the coils of the serpent Śēsha, who has spread his hoods over the god’s head. The god holds the discus and the conch in his left hands. His upper right hand supports his head, while the lower one is in the abhaya-mudrā. On the lotus which has sprung from his navel sits the god Brahmā. Lakshmī, the consort of Vishṇu, is shampooing his feet. The upper slab on the right side has another panel of the goddess Kālī, while the lower one shows the Boar incarnation of Vishṇu. On one of the pillars of the portico there is the following inscription in three lines; Siddhiḥ Sētabhadra-sthāna-sāmānya-bhaṭṭaputra-Umadēvaḥ. Karṇṇakuvja.sanīpah. On the evidence of Paleography this inscription appears to be of about the eighth century A.C., which may also represent the age when these sculptured slabs were added to close the openings on the two sides of the original portico. As stated before, the panel of the Buddha incarnation must have been added in a still later age

... Another temple of the Vākāṭaka age exists at Nachnā in former Vindhya Pradesh.³ Both at Nachanā and Ganj which lies only about two miles to its east, stone inscriptions of Vyāghradēva, a feudatory of the Vākāṭaka king Pṛithivīshēṇa II, have been discovered.⁴ As shown before, this Vyāghradēva is probably identical with the Uchchakalpa prince Vyāghra who flourished in the last quarter of the fifth century A.C. This territory was, therefore, undoubtedly included in the empire of the Vākāṭakas in that period. Cunningham found two temples at Nachnā, of which the earlier one, said to be dedicated to the goddess Pārvatī, probably belongs to the Vākāṭaka age.⁵ The garbhagṛiha has now no image on its pedestal.
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¹ See Plate G.
² The Gupta Temple at Deogarh (M.A.S.I., No. 70), p. 11.
³ See Plate H. ⁴ Nos. 20-22. ⁵ C.A.S.R., Vol. XXI, p. 96. Banerji thought that this temple was decidedly of the early Gupta period, i.e. 4th-5th century A.C. P.R.A.S.I., W.C. for 1918-19, p. 61.