Finally, after more than a year in Bhubaneswar, could muster the will power that took me right across the road from my residence, to the Odisha State Museum. Galleries displaying Pattachitra, Epigraphy & Numismatics and Manuscripts are worth visiting but the real attraction is the Archaeology one. Stone statues and other articles on display are absolute delight to everyyone interested in ancient India. Odisha offers a confluence of Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism, along with some Shaiv and Tantrik sects. So, not just Uma Maheshwari and Vishnu here but lots of Bhairavs, Dikpals, Chamunda, Manasa as well, not to speak of Tara. Kartikeya dating back from 3rd to 15th century is another pleasant surprise.
Stones often talk, more so once given a shape. Ask the archaeologists and people who study fossils. I met few such stones today that belonged to this category. First one is an 8th century Ardhnarishwar statue. 2nd is 5th century statue depicting Mahisasurmardini Durga and the last one is a stone carving from 8th century, depicting Rath Yatra.
Ardhnaiswar Shiva is an ideal that I have loved since I first saw an image in my early childhood. What a modern and liberating concept! The story is even better. It is said that one great devotee of Shiva declined to offer puja to Parvati when Shiva, pleased with his devotion, granted him the darshan together with Parvati. Shiva, in his majestic idiosyncrasy, decided not to punish him but the duo took the form of Ardhnarishwara and dared the Brahmin to pay offerings to that form. Message was received by the Brahmin and (I hope) entire humanity.
Rath Yatra depiction is interesting as it establishes the very old tradition of this festvity, given that the present Jagannath temple was built in late 12th or early 13th century.
What, however, struck me the most was the Mahishasurmardini Durga. This statue is significant because the pauranik Hinduism, as we know it today, was in its formative years around that period (5th century). Concept of Personalised pauranik deities had just started taking shape. Vishnu, Krishna, Shiva, Brahma were all fighting for their rightful place in a post Vedic Hinduism. Puranas were still being written/rewritten around this time; powerful bhaktas were forcing their lords into expressions like, ‘सर्व धर्मान परीतज्य मामेकम शरणम व्रज’. I, in my blissful ignorance, never gave any chance to the goddesses and always thought their coming to prominence was of later origin. But looks like, in the ongoing fight for supremacy, our goddesses were not much behind! This is no Uma, always accompanying Shiva or Laxmi,seen sometimes with Vishnu. Nor is she some evil demigod. Here, we have a proper goddess with Vedic origin and pauranik glory, a fiercely independent woman who can hold on her own even with the most devious and menacing evil!!
This 5th century statue stunned me simply with its antiquity and potential implications.
