Agnipani was a Yaksha deity in ancient India. His name means "Agni-holder", "Agni" being the fire, for which the later god Agni is well known.[2] The Mathura Museum describes his statue as "Agnipani Yaksha",[3] but Sonya Rhie Quintanilla simply identifies the statue as that of the Vedic God Agni.[2]
Yakshas seem to have been the object of an important cult in the early periods of Indian history, many of them being known such as Kubera, king of the Yakshas, Manibhadra or Mudgarpani.[4] The Yakshas are a broad class of nature-spirits, usually benevolent, but sometimes mischievous or capricious, connected with water, fertility, trees, the forest, treasure and wilderness,[5][6] and were the object of popular worship.[7] Many of them were later incorporated into Buddhism, Jainism or Hinduism.[4]
Sculptures
Some of the earliest works of art of the Mathura school of art are the Yakshas, monumental sculptures of earth divinities that have been dated to the 2nd-1st century BCE. Yakshas became the focus of the creation of colossal cultic images, typically around 2 meters or more in height, which are considered as probably the first Indian anthropomorphic productions in stone.[8][4] Although few ancient Yaksha statues remain in good condition, the vigor of the style has been applauded, and expresses essentially Indian qualities.[8] They are often pot-bellied, two-armed and fierce-looking.[4] The Yashas are often depicted with weapons or attributes, such as the Yaksha Mudgarpani.[citation needed]
Agnipani ("Fire-holder") Yaksha from Bharana Kalan
A statue of Agnipani ("Fire-holder") Yaksha from BharanaKalan, visible in the Mathura Museum, is dated to circa 100 BCE.[9] It was discovered in Bharana Kalan, 32 kilometers northwest of Mathura.[9] In the statue, Agni has a flame-shaped "aureole" with incised tongues of flames behind his turbanned head, and he hold a water flask in the left hand, some fragments of which remain.[9][1] His right hand may have been held out in "Abhaya mudra", as also seen in other statues of Agni.[9]
The inscription in Brahmi script on the base of the statue is in very bad condition, but has been partly deciphered. Some parallels with the contemporary Mudgarpani statue, probably manufactured and dedicated by the same person, also helped interpretation:
Agnipani pedestal inscription (right side).
Right side: (a)[m](a)ty[e]na pratihāre- [na]....jayaghoṣena [bh](aga)[v](a)to ā[gn]isa pra[t]i[m](ā) Left side: [ka]ritā p[rī]yaṃtāṃ[a]ga[ya]
"An image of the Holy One Agni was caused to be made by Jayghosa, the minister in charge of the gate-keepers (?)
A later relief from the 1st century CE, showing Agni (right) with water pot and left hand in Abhaya mudra. He appears with his son Skanda (Karttikeya) on the left.
It is often suggested that the style of the colossal Yaksha statuary had an important influence on the creation of later divine images and human figures in India.[11] The female equivalent of the Yashas were the Yashinis, often associated with trees and children, and whose voluptuous figures became omnipresent in Indian art.[4] A relief is also known from the Mathura Museum, which shown the Mudgarpani with the same attributes.[12]
Some Hellenistic influence, such as the geometrical folds of the drapery or the walking stance of the statues, has been suggested.[8] According to John Boardman, the hem of the dress in the monumental early Yaksha statues is derived from Greek art.[8] Describing the drapery of one of these statues, John Boardman writes: "It has no local antecedents and looks most like a Greek Late Archaic mannerism", and suggests it is possibly derived from the Hellenistic art of nearby Bactria where this design is known.[8] Under the Indo-Greeks, the cult of the Yakshas may also have been associated with the Bacchic cult of Dionysos.[13]
In the production of colossal Yaksha statues carved in the round, which can be found in several locations in northern India, the art of Mathura is considered as the most advanced in quality and quantity during this period.[14]
Sodasa was an Indo-Scythian Northern Satrap and ruler of Mathura during the later part of the 1st century BCE or the early part of 1st century CE. He was the son of Rajuvula, the Great Satrap of the region from Taxila to Mathura. He is mentioned in the Mathura lion capital.
Saunkh, often spelled as Sonkh, is a town and a Nagar Panchayat in Mathura district of Uttar Pradesh, India.
Indo-Greek art is the art of the Indo-Greeks, who reigned from circa 200 BCE in areas of Bactria and the Indian subcontinent. Initially, between 200 and 145 BCE, they remained in control of Bactria while occupying areas of India, until Bactria was lost to invading nomads. After 145 BCE, Indo-Greek kings ruled exclusively in parts of ancient India, especially in Gandhara and the area of Punjab. The Indo-Greeks had a rich Hellenistic heritage and artistic proficiency as seen with the remains of the city of Ai-Khanoum, which was founded as a Greco-Bactrian city. In India, several Indo-Greeks cities are known such as Sirkap near Taxila, or Barikot, where some Indo-Greek artistic remains have been found, such as stone palettes. Some Buddhist cultural objects related to the Indo-Greeks are known, such as the Shinkot casket. But by far the most important Indo-Greek remains in India are the beautiful and numerous coins of the Indo-Greek kings, considered as some of the most artistically brilliant of Antiquity. Most of the works of art of the Greco-Buddhist art of Gandhara are usually attributed to the direct successors of the Indo-Greeks in India in the 1st century CE, such as the nomadic Indo-Scythians, the Indo-Parthians and, in an already decadent state, the Kushans. Many Gandharan works of art cannot be dated exactly, leaving the exact chronology open to interpretation. With the realization that the Indo-Greeks ruled in India until at least 10-20 CE with the reign of Strato II in the Punjab, the possibility of a direct connection between the Indo-Greeks and Greco-Buddhist art has been reaffirmed recently.
Government Museum, Mathura, commonly referred to as Mathura museum, is an archaeological museum in Mathura city of Uttar Pradesh state in India. The museum was founded by then collector of the Mathura district, Sir F. S. Growse in 1874. Initially, it was known as Curzon Museum of Archaeology, then Archaeology Museum, Mathura, and finally changed to the Government Museum, Mathura.
Manibhadra is one of the major yakshas. He was a popular deity in ancient India. He is also called "Manibhadra veer". His name in his last birth was Menkshah. He is the protector of Tappagaccha of Jainism. He is worship at Aglod, Ujjain, Magarwada, etc.
The Northern Satraps, or sometimes Satraps of Mathura, or Northern Sakas, are a dynasty of Indo-Scythian rulers who held sway over the area of Eastern Punjab and Mathura after the decline of the Indo-Greeks, from the end of the 1st century BCE to the 2nd century CE. They are called "Northern Satraps" in modern historiography to differentiate them from the "Western Satraps", who ruled in Gujarat and Malwa at roughly the same time and until the 4th century CE. They are thought to have replaced the last of the Indo-Greek kings in the Eastern Punjab, as well as the Mitra dynasty and the Datta dynasty of local Indian rulers in Mathura.
The Mitra dynasty refers to a group of local rulers whose name incorporated the suffix "-mitra" and who are thought to have ruled in the area of Mathura from around 150 BCE to 50 BCE, at the time of Indo-Greek hegemony over the region, and possibly in a tributary relationship with them. They are not known to have been satraps nor kings, and their coins only bear their name without any title, therefore they are sometimes simply called "the Mitra rulers of Mathura". Alternatively, they have been dated from 100 BCE to 20 BCE. The Mitra dynasty was replaced by the Indo-Scythian Northern Satraps from around 60 BCE.
The Yavanarajya inscription, also called the Maghera Well Stone Inscription, was discovered in the village of Maghera, 17 kilometers north of Mathura, India in 1988. The Sanskrit inscription, carved on a block of red sandstone, is dated to the 1st century BCE, and is currently located at the Mathura Museum in Mathura. The inscription notes the donation of a water well and tank to the community in 1st century BCE, built by a Brahmana.
The Art of Mathura refers to a particular school of Indian art, almost entirely surviving in the form of sculpture, starting in the 2nd century BCE, which centered on the city of Mathura, in central northern India, during a period in which Buddhism, Jainism together with Hinduism flourished in India. Mathura "was the first artistic center to produce devotional icons for all the three faiths", and the pre-eminent center of religious artistic expression in India at least until the Gupta period, and was influential throughout the sub-continent.
The Mountain Temple inscription was found near Mathura, India. It is on a broken slab, and now housed at the Indian Museum, Kolkata.
The Mora Well inscription is an ancient Sanskrit inscription found in the village of Mora about 7 miles (11 km) from Mathura, India. It is notable for its early mention of pratima (images), stone temple, and the Pancaviras.
The Vasu Doorjamb Inscription is an early 1st-century CE Sanskrit inscription in Brahmi script dedicated to the deity Vāsudeva, related to the Vaishnavism tradition of Hinduism. It is also one of the several dedicatory inscriptions from Mathura bearing the name of the Indo-Scythian Northern Satrap ruler Sodasa, which are useful as historic markers for the first half of the 1st century CE.
Dhanabhūti or Vatsiputra Dhanabhūti was a 2nd or 1st-century BCE Buddhist king in Central India, and the most prominent donor for the Bharhut stupa. He appears in two or three major dedicatory inscriptions at the stupa of Bharhut, and possibly in another inscription at Mathura. Dhanabhuti may have been a feudatory of the Sunga Empire, or a ruler in a neighbouring territory, such as Kosala or Panchala, or possibly a northern king from Sughana in Punjab. He may have also been part of the Mitra dynasty of Kosambi.
The Kimbell seated Bodhisattva is a statue of a "bodhisattva" from the art of Mathura, now in the Kimbell Art Museum. The statue is dated to 131 CE, by an inscription recording its dedication in "Year 4 of the Great King Kanishka", since the date of the beginning of Kanishka's reign is thought to be 127 CE. The Kimbell seated Bodhisattva belongs to the category of the "Seated Buddha triads", which can be seen contemporaneously in the Greco-Buddhist art of Gandhara and in the art of Mathura in the early Kushan period.
A Mudgar is a type of "Gada" mace from India, and it is generally considered to be made of wood, but can also be made of iron.
Mudgarpani was a Yaksha deity in ancient India. His name means "Mudgar-holder", the Mudgar being an ancient form of heavy cub, usually made of wood, but it can also be made of iron.
The Parkham Yaksha is a colossal statue of a Yaksha, discovered in the area of Parkham, in the vicinity of Mathura, 22.5 kilometers south of the city. The statue, which is an important artefact of the Art of Mathura, is now visible in the Mathura Museum. It has been identified as the Yaksha deity Manibhadra, a popular deity in ancient India.
The Vrishni heroes, also referred to as Pancha-viras, are a group of five legendary, deified heroes who are found in the literature and archaeological sites of ancient India. Their earliest worship is attestable in the clan of the Vrishnis near Mathura by 4th-century BCE. Legends are associated with these deified heroes, some of which may be based on real, historical heroes of the Vrishni clan. Their early worship has been variously described as cross-sectarian, much like the cult of the Yakshas, related to the early Bhagavata tradition of Hinduism, and with possible links to Jainism as well. They and their legends – particularly of Krishna and Balarama – have been an important part of the Vaishnava tradition of Hinduism.
The Jain stupa was a type of stupa erected by the Jains for devotional purposes. A Jain stupa dated to the 1st century BCE-1st century CE was excavated at Mathura in the 19th century, in the Kankali Tila mound.
Indo-Scythian art developed under the various dynasties of Indo-Scythian rulers in northwestern India, from the 1st century BCE to the early 5th century CE, encompassing the productions of the early Indo-Scythians, the Northern Satraps and the Western Satraps. It follows the development of Indo-Greek art in northwestern India. The Scythians in India were ultimately replaced by the Kushan Empire and the Gupta Empire, whose art form appear in Kushan art and Gupta art.
↑ "The folk art typifies an older plastic tradition in clay and wood which was now put in stone, as seen in the massive Yaksha statuary which are also of exceptional value as models of subsequent divine images and human figures." in Agrawala, Vasudeva Sharana (1965). Indian Art: A history of Indian art from the earliest times up to the third century A. D. Prithivi Prakashan. p.84.
↑ "We have no way of knowing whether there was any direct association between the cult of the Yashas and Dionysos during the Indo-Greek era, but this is a distinct possibility" in Carter, Martha L. (1968). "Dionysiac Aspects of Kushān Art". Ars Orientalis. 7: 141. ISSN0571-1371. JSTOR4629244.
↑ "With respect to large-scale iconic statuary carved in the round (...) the region of Mathura not only rivaled other areas but surpassed them in overall quality and quantity throughout the second and early first century BCE." in Quintanilla, Sonya Rhie (2007). History of Early Stone Sculpture at Mathura: Ca. 150 BCE - 100 CE. BRILL. p.24. ISBN9789004155374.
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