Archaeology

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Archaeology

Introduction:- The exhibits of the newly renovated section are mainly of sculptures ranging from the third century B. C. to the late medieval period, displayed in three big halls on well-designed pedestals under both natural and artificial lighting conditions. The portion of an Asokan pillar brought from Patna Museum, has been regarded as the earliest specimen of the section. The heavy and crude Naga and Yaksha images collected from the surrounding area of Bhubaneswar comes next. Among other notable sculptures the Buddha image of Khadipada, Amoghasidhi of G. Udayagiri, Lokanatha from Bhubaneswar, Jaina Tirthankaras from Podasingidi and Charampa, Brahmanical figures like Sapta Matrukas from Dharmasala, Dikpala figures from Bhubaneswar, Krishna-Vishnu from Dharmasala and a number of Puranic panels and Gopinath images from different parts of the State. A brief account of each school of sculptures is given below:-

Manjusri

Manjusri

This image was brought from Vajragiri, another Buddhist site of Cuttack district. The Mahayanists consider him to be one of the greatest of the Boddhisativas. They believe that the worship of Manjusri confers upon them wisdom, retentive memory, intelligence and eloquence and enables them to master over many sacred scriptures. The bust of the figure is represented here with both hands in Dharma chakra pravartana mudra.

Padmapani Avalokiteswar

Padmapani Avalokiteswar

This image of Padmapani Avalokiteswar was recovered by Mr. A. Ghosh, former Director-General of Archaeology from Khadipada, a small village in Bhadrak district sometime in 1940.

Vajrapani Avalokiteswar

Vajrapani Avalokiteswar

The image of the four-armed Vajrapani Avalokiteswar carved out of red sand stone stands on a double petalled lotus throne and is in a good state of preservation. Two flying Vidyadharas holding wreath in hands are seen flanking the image at the top.

Tara

Tara

This image of Tara carved out of sand stone is a good piece of sculpture in the (Odisha State Museum. It was brought from village Mangalapur of Puri district.

Lokanatha

Brahmanical Antiquities

Among the Brahmanical sculptures the attention of the visitors is mainly dragged to the group of Mother Goddesses, Gopinathas and the Dikpala figures. Apart from them a series of other sculptures like Ganesh, Parvati, Mahisamardini Durga, Vishnu, Kartikeya, Narasimha, Surya and a set of puranic sculptures often attract the attention f the common visitors. The sculptures have been collected from different areas of Odisha.

Indrani

Sapta Matrikas

We have only four Matrikas of the group of seven collected from the harmasala area of Cuttack district. They have been isplayed in the second hall of the Archaeology gallery. Apart from this group in the Odisha State Museum Saptamatrikas are also available in Jajpur, Bhubaneswar, Ranipur, Jharial, Belkhandi and Puri testifying the popularity of the cult in ancient and medieval Orissa.

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